Almost seven months into a sale - a week after we agreed to exchange - the buyer’s bank have flagged an “issue”

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We accepted this offer almost seven months ago. It has been an endless, tortuous sale with excruciatingly slow back and forth from their solicitor. We have threatened to ditch these buyers twice, but haven’t because of promises that an exchange could happen “next week” if we just hang on (those “next weeks” were months ago).

We finally agreed on a completion date (end of this month). Every day last week we were supposed to exchange.

At 5:30pm on Friday, we discovered exchange won’t happen because the buyer’s solicitor said the lender’s legal department have flagged a problem that the solicitor has answered and now they have to wait for the bank to okay it all. My experience with these buyer’s solicitor says to me that no completion will happen this month.

How is it that the bank - SEVEN MONTHS after we accepted their offer - have JUST flagged an issue?!

And what kind of issue would it be anyway?!

Not completing this month is going to have a bit of a disastrous financial impact for us. I don’t know what on earth to do.

Is the old house suitable for AirBnB? No idea if the practicalities of this I hasten to add, but it might offer some income without needing to have a tenant while you continue to look to sell. Assuming that it’s practically and legally possible and all that - like I say, it’s something I have no experience of, but a friend of mine does it with their family home (they decamp to stay with relatives while people let it out) and it seems to be quite lucrative for them.

How did that work? Was it like an extra amount added to the sale price?

Or - can you take a mortgage holiday?

I’m not sure actually! That’s a good shout, I will ring my bank. We did it over covid (both lost a lot of income) so I’m not sure we’ll be able to do it again…

I think you can just ask, tell them this or property goes back on the market immediately

Just a wild thought, instead of short term let, could you airbnb? I literally have no idea how it works from the landlord side, but it might work??

Or switch to paying the interest only for the remainder of the time?

I'd be telling them they have to pay your mortgage this month if they want the house, its their fault you are having to pay it by delaying. If not I'd put it back on the market

My mums house move was delayed for so many reasons, the seller asked my mum to pay a months rent.
She did and it gave them a month to get the shit together and complete.

OP the only good thing about the fact that you haven’t yet exchanged is that you can change the price to anything you like. Seven montha is an unusually long time to be messed about by buyers and the market has risen significantly.

Some buyers exchange and xompletenon the same day.

In your position, I would write to the buyer’s solicitor stating that their client’s various delays have caused you significant financial loss and either
(a) they exchange and complete before 31 May, which can be simultaneous exchange and completion, or
(b) they exchange in May and complete on 10 June, in which case the purchase price will now be £X, or
(c) they do not exchange in May in which case the property will be relised for sale.

Have you ever heard of a contract race? It’s usually frowned on but might be appropriate here. It’s where you tell two (or more!) potential buyers that you will sell to whoever can exchange contracts first.

Nothing stops you relisting it for sale today at a higher price and telling the current buyer you are happy to sell to them at £X but if someone else gets there first then it isn’t your problem.

We were trying to buy a house for 6 months and we’re constantly being lied to . It was a new house and end of chain . Our buyer in the end bought our house and rented it out to us for 10 weeks and said complete by then or go into rented . On the day of completion we pulled out of the purchase . Found another house . Made an offer and completed exactly 10 weeks later . We had to exchange and complete within 4 days. It was one of the most stressful times ever . I felt Ill the whole time.the only consolation is that we love the house we got , and now 7 months later the original house we wanted is still on the market because there are still legal problems. Something has to change in this country . I know someone who has bought houses in france with none of this hassle.

Would they pay it June 1? Or add it to the purchase price whenever we complete?

This is great! Thank you!

Four months after our mortgage was approved, there was a paperwork review and the bank asked our solicitor some additional questions about the partially converted loft, and then took a week to come back and say that they wanted a physical valuation. Then they didn't, then they did again. Finally it was all sorted.

Absolute pain in the arse all round, if I'm honest, but it did get sorted.

You need to find out from your estate agent what the issue is. As a previous poster mentioned it’s more than likely something your buyer’s solicitor has reported to the lender rather than the other way round. It may be the mortgage offer has expired, some are only valid for 6 months. Once you know what you are dealing with, you can decide to either put property back on market or wait for the matter to be resolved.

I’m going to ring my agent and my solicitor first thing. I want to know what the issue with the bank is - and I want to talk about compensation for waiting until June to complete.

This thread is so helpful, thank you! I was feeling quite hopeless before I started it!

Re the deposit coming from a third party, this was my buyers parents. They had to sign a letter stating that their money was a gift, not a loan, and that they had no claim in the property. It took a few days, as first the buyer had to get the signed letter together, then the document had to go through the bank's processes.

If I were you, I'd go back to your agent and see if the cash buyer is still interested before cancelling your current purchaser. Given the market has moved, I'd increase the price from where you were previously, and if the cash buyer is still looking, they'll probably bite your arm off!

I say this as someone who had a purchase collapse 3 months ago after 7 months of conveyancing work. Vendor simply changed her mind. It was such a gorgeous house that if the vendor came back to me tomorrow, I would still love to buy it (even though I'm in the process of buying another place now ).

That’s interesting as I’m pretty sure the vendor’s parents are buying the property for them - that’s what they said when they came round anyway!

(But they also said they could be cash buyers if they wanted to, and that they’d exchange and didn’t, so 🤪)

I am going to back to them and say if they want to complete in June it will cost X more and that they need to pay our mortgage for June! (Is that cheeky!? But if they complete in May, then no price rise etc. As tempting as the extra money is, emotionally I just want to move on now!).

Otherwise it’s straight back on and someone else will buy it.

I would contact your solicitor first thing this morning and ask them to find out exactly what the problem is
You have had lots of suggestions but that’s all they are
Once you know that you can decide what to do next
I would almost certainly give them a deadline of a week failing which you will re list
Also contact agents to ask them to prepare to re list , they won’t want that and it might spur them into chasing the buyer

Unless the lender has separate legal representation it is very unlikely the lender would raise a legal matter,that’s not how it works

The solicitor raises any legal matters with the Bank who then decide if it is an issue

Let us know how u get on today!

I’ve spoken to our solicitor - who is writing to theirs to ask what the bank objection is - and to our EA who is going to tell the seller that if we don’t complete by the end of the month the price has risen and we want our mortgage paid.

Our EA said the seller’s dad won’t go for that (I guess proving the seller’s father is paying for the property), but then that means they’re out, I guess!

I wonder if somewhere the seller thinks we’re being unreasonable?

I am so stressed out! I will update the next time I hear from anyone…

We were messed around years back and I found they had offered on another property. When confronted buyer said he could buy both - as if. If it doesn't make sense, it isn't true.

The only plus for you is relisting it at a higher price. Give them an ultimatum and mean it op. By the way, I found another buy quickly for £8,000 more.

OP, we bought a couple of years ago from a lovely elderly lady who was "chain-free, going to move in with her daughter". We were cash buyers living at in-laws with a little kid, so desperate to move fast - and her chain-free status contributed to our offer.

After 3 months of delays, we had an update from the EA that "she was trying her hardest to match our pace but her own vendor couldn't move yet" - it turned out that she'd never been chain-free, had just said that to get our offer on the table.

I threw a major tantrum and said that going forward, for every week that her move held us up, our offer was being dropped by £2K - and bear in mind that I had no specific loss to cover, except my frustration!

The threat worked like rocket fuel up their rear-ends, and we moved that week.

Honestly I think you're being much too British and patient with this. Since you have a quantifiable cost, make it very clear that they will be compensating you or the property is going back on the market at a higher price.

With some people attaching a monetary penalty to their incompetence really focuses their minds! Wish you the best of luck.

Can't see why they need extra time. You can exchange and complete on the same day though it's risky (you'd have to book movers etc and it may not happen).
Frankly you should have made good in your threat and pulled out when they didn't exchange those weeks ago.
Unless they have pretty good reason (what reason does YOUR solicitor give for saying it had to be Monday) I'd say end of the month or else (and mean it).
As gif tu e bank - who knows. I find things sit in some ones in tray until the last moment and then they notice something. My buyer suddenly needed a drains report two months after their survey and three days before exchange 🙄.

I feel for you OP. We were in almost exactly the same situation 8 years ago - we had had to move areas and the house was empty while the sale was going through, plus we were paying rent in our new area. Our buyers were a complete nightmare. The bizarre thing was that we actually knew them - they were already renting in the same village where we were selling to them - and our DC were in the same class at school and we had a lot of mutual friends. They treated us appallingly, I think because they knew we had to move at whatever cost and we therefore wouldn’t - and couldn’t - tell them where to go. We missed deadline after deadline due to dancing to their tune, and (having put in a low offer in the first place and putting in writing that they wouldn’t lower it any further) at the last minute they did exactly that. Between them dicking around with the price and us having to pay more rent whilst they wasted time doing nothing, they left us over £3,000 out of pocket. I occasionally think about them and am still angry 8 years on - whilst wondering how on earth they’d treat strangers if they treat acquaintances like that! Hope you get it sorted OP.