Should I threaten to pull out of sale?

[Argyllsocks]

We’re moving abroad and selling our shared ownership home. A buyer was allocated at the end of Feb (FTB who lives with parents) and we were really clear we needed to complete as quickly as possible and absolutely by 31st July.

We’re now 14 weeks in, our flight out is booked for next Thursday 4th August, and we still haven’t exchanged. We’ve left the flight as late as possible - my husbands job starts 3 days later.

We’ve been ready for weeks but there’s been constant delays on their side through just being slow. (Eg mortgage valuation happened beginning of July).

We’ve now reached the point that the buyer has finally gone in and signed the contract today but now her solicitor says they are waiting for the mortgage company to agree to release funds on the proposed completion date so can’t guarantee when we’ll exchange.

As far as I can tell it’s because they’ve left the pre-exchange stuff too long so that it’s now too close to our proposed completion date for them to be able to assume that it will be ready.

Essentially, it’s us that’s suffering all of the consequences and it’s getting so close to the wire it’s looking like it won’t even exchange before we go.

I never wanted to complete from abroad, but if I’m going to have to (or worse, stay behind to get it sold while the rest of the family go) then I’d rather try my chances with someone who’s actually motivated. I’ve lost all faith in the buyer and their solicitor now and I feel like one or both of them is taking the p*ss.

So I’m thinking I’d rather give them a deadline to exchange by the end of play Monday or we pull out. (2 days before we are due to complete and 3 days before we fly).

My partner is more pragmatic and says if we pull out we’re back to square one and it’ll take longer, but that also we’re so close it might complete after we go but it can’t be too long afterwards.

I’m not so sure.

What would you do?

But you were in a chain! This was a straightforward no chain sale, so I wouldn’t expect it to take anything like as long as yours. If I’d gone into a chain I’d have known it would be more unpredictable.

None of this means you should pull out to make some sort of point.

This was a straightforward no chain sale

I would argue there's no such thing as a straightforward sale. A chain free sale is often less stressful than being part of a chain, but there are always hiccups and unexpected hold ups along the way.

Yep that’s my concern is that the solicitor just doesn’t seem to be moving fast at all. Honestly it’s so frustrating. All of the enquiries etc have been sorted for several weeks, so all of the delays could have been avoided.

I think not having an Estate Agent means that the buyer needs to be willing to chase him, and I’m not sure she has the experience or confidence to do it.

Oh have you sold without an estate agent? Yes that does usually make it harder to push through

ive bought a few places and every time it’s taken longer than i thiught

the problem is you don’t make much money from conveyances so they take on large volumes

but tbh this is a pretty standard timeframe

why do you care about being overseas if you’re completing? You’re presumably all packed up?

Your DH is right.

And I'm not quite sure what they've actually done to justify you pulling out?

Annoying it's going slower than you'd hoped, but that's just the way it goes sometimes.

So we are currently buying a home with nothing to sell (renting out existing property). We are 3 months in and NOWHERE near exchange and the delay is our mortgage lender. We have been on the phone almost daily chasing different parts to progress and our broker has advised us that the AVERAGE for the mortgage at the moment is 78 days to process!!!!!

if your first buyer is having this issue, so will any other buyer so you won’t be doing yourself any favours! The other day I got through to my lender in 58 mins and considered it a win… some days I have been on hold for up to 3 hours chasing various elements.

Why on earth would you pull out when you are now so far through the process? That makes no sense at all.

Exactly

Don't pull out, you're so close to the end. I would stick to the plan and fly out, IF exchange has happened. You won't need to do much on completion day, can you get a lock box for the key and give the seller the code once funds are with your solicitor?

When I sold my shared ownership I got frustrated that it all seems to be on the buyers to dictate when they want it all finished. But it’s probably not them holding it up in this case. So you’d be daft to pull out but I know where you’re coming from, I was tempted when I sold mine because my buyers wanted a certain date to complete on but I was away that week so wanted the week before or after. They didn’t budge so I begrudgingly agreed to the date they wanted, but I think I was being a bit petty by that point!!!

Thanks everyone, I appreciate all of your honesty.

In the cold light of day, I realise I’m just really stressed and upset. This is so much harder than just a normal move and it feels like we’re the only ones carrying uncertainty or consequence. (Even if that’s not actually the reality of it).

I’m autistic so I find it really hard to cope with uncertainty and people saying one thing and doing another. Its the fact that their solicitor is still saying ‘oh yes still aiming for 3rd completion’ but in another breath saying they’re not ready to exchange yet even though it’s just a few days before. I’d much rather everyone was totally upfront and told us if it’s not going to be doable.

If we aren’t completing as planned then I’m going to need time to work out what the heck I’m doing instead (ie if I’m staying behind, there are loads of arrangements that need to be made or if I’m going we’ve got to find ways of managing it all financially with no completion funds). I just can’t face it going right up to the wire not knowing whether it will complete or not 😢

I just don’t know what to do for the best.

If we aren’t completing as planned then I’m going to need time to work out what the heck I’m doing instead (ie if I’m staying behind, there are loads of arrangements that need to be made or if I’m going we’ve got to find ways of managing it all financially with no completion funds). I just can’t face it going right up to the wire not knowing whether it will complete or not 😢

Obviously it's stressful, all house moves are and that's without the added stress of moving abroad but I think this is a case if better the devil you know. Even if does indeed take a little longer surely a few extra days whilst everything is getting sorted is a million times more preferable to starting the whole process from scratch? I just can't understand the logic of beginning the process all over again.

@Argyllsocks I live abroad and have purchased/sold property in the UK whilst floating between Uk and wherever home is at the time. What is it you think is worth staying behind for? If I can help to order your thoughts I'm happy to. What are your concerns?

its because we’ve been set to exchange for several weeks and the exchange date keeps getting put back, and the buyers solicitor goes silent. Someone isn’t telling the truth, and for us it’s causing undue stress. There’s no guarantee that we’ll exchange before we even go, based on events so far. If we’re not going to, I’d rather have time before we go to reassess and makes decisions rather than being shocked by it while we’re over there.

I’ve been looking into other options and it might be possible just to rent it out.

It's perfectly possible to exchange and complete on same day. There is a small fee to pay but worth it.

How is pulling out even an option?

It would cause far more stress to pull out and rent it, OP. I don't know how you can think that's a better option than waiting!

Three months is nothing at all, we moved in 2019 in the simplest chain.

Our buyer was a first time buyer, the house we were buying, they were downsizing to a park home place so no onward chain at all.

We had our offer accepted in Aug & didn’t move until Dec, it’s just how long these things take unfortunately.

OP we've just completed a very very straightforward chain-free purchase that took almost four months, with four attempts to exchange before we finally managed it. It's not unusual at the moment.

There's no need to be there at completion. We sold our old house last year to relocate for work and were 200 miles away for both viewings, exchange and completion! It actually makes things more straightforward if you've already gone as you move out and there's no stressing about moving on actual completion day. All you do is wait for the phone call confirming completion has happened.

You are nearly over the line.. hold your nerve. Any alternative would be much more complex.

I’ve been looking into other options and it might be possible just to rent it out.

Instead of selling? I’m not sure what you’d gain apart from starting from scratch on a totally new process, wouldn’t you still need to sell at some point anyway?

I would hang in there, DM sold her share ownership house, no onward purchase and purchaser was FTB, ,however it still took 6 months, in DM situation it was the HA that kept holding everything up.

I cannot even begin to tell you how much paperwork is involved in requesting special circs permission to let out a Shared Ownership house.

It's amazing they've managed to get so far in 14 weeks, frankly. This time last year I was offered a quick cash purchase for a property. The buyers weren't concerned about condition issues or guarantees. It still took four months for the solicitors to get all the paperwork, searches etc sorted and there was no mortgage involved.