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?

OP if you have to stay behind to complete (which you don't, unless you want to) surely you'll have to stay behind for MONTHS if you put it back on the market?

We bought chain free and it took just over 4 months. Exchange and completion on the same day is something I've done, so as long as their bank release the funds the day before that can happen too. You don't need weeks between exchange and completion.

At this point you'd be completely cutting off your nose to spite your face to pull out. If the buyers sols are slow, that's not their fault. I'm imagining from their pov, with money spent on a valuation etc that they would also be devastated if you pull out at this late stage.

Oh I’d not considered that, yes - my brother had a shared ownership flat and wanted to rent it out and had to sell in the end because it was an absolute nightmare.

I mean, so it should be really. It's not what the scheme is for unless you staircase to 100% ownership first.

Hang in there! We moved abroad and rented out our house. We then decided to sell it and had a deadline in order to avoid paying capital gains tax where we now live. It was the simplest possible chain-free transaction - our sitting tenants were the buyers so no one had to move anywhere! It still took from October to March (pre-covid so none of that as an excuse) to complete, and DH was calling our solicitor every morning for a week to keep things moving in time. It seemed our solicitor was the slow one and there was absolutely no reason for it.
Good luck, I hope the sale and the move overseas goes well. It's stressful for sure but in our case it's been a great experience

I would strongly advise that you do not pull out- you're so close to the end!

Definitely hear your frustration!

It sounds like it is the uncertainty that is making you so stressed. I get it. I’d be the same.

How about building in the certainty yourself? Can you postpone your flight for a week? (DH should still go, for work and to set up new home)

Tell yourself you’re staying that extra week regardless. Book a flexible hotel room somewhere interesting but relatively close to home for you (booking.com usually allow you to cancel up to 24 hours before the stay) and use the week to do any admin that needs doing and to relax a bit.

As long as the buyer has a mortgage offer in place, I would be comfortable with the situation and just move abroad and leave the estate agents and solicitor to sort it between themselves. Ask the Ea to read meters etc and send them over to you upon completion. It's very stressful selling property so hope you get to exchange contracts asap as I can't see why you can't right now to be fair.