Our seller is a widowed hoarder - how to handle

[fancyaflatwhite]

Our buyers have been hanging in there since Spring, as we've had trouble securing a house to buy.

Now we have found somewhere - offer has been accepted early August. The agents made us aware the seller has had a difficult time as she sadly lost her husband some years ago, and has been hoarding since.

The seller's agent tells us they're recommending a removal/sorting service to help her sort her stuff. It's not like the house is stacked to the roof, but there is a lot there for her to go through, including two full outbuildings.

Agent told me she's "having to remind the seller what vacant possession means", which got me worried. She has instructed her solicitor, but it's now nearly a month and our conveyancer (who we've instructed and paid to start searches) is still awaiting the draft contract pack to get cracking. One good thing is, she's chain free.

Our agent has asked our seller for an exchange/completion timeframe that all parties can agree to. Our buyer, however, is starting to get quite uneasy that it won't go through.

How long could we be looking at if our seller is slow to get packing? What's the best way to handle this and get things done efficiently?

Hoarding is actually an anxiety disorder so it's not easy for the person just to clear out their belongings. This could not end well so I would be arranging a couple weeks in air bnb.

Speak to your solicitor about arranging to hold back an amount which would cover cost of house clearance in case this is required. Get this in writing that you will be doing this.

Someone can inspect the house on handover day and if its empty then pay full amount, if it's not then some is held back to cover clearance.

Make sure all the pre-exchange legals are done, searches and surveys etc. and put pressure on entire chain for this to happen.

Set early exchange and completion dates ASAP to assure your buyers.

Get your solicitor to draft clauses saying that the costs of skips and or house clearance will be retained from funds to be transferred to your vendor if vacant possession is not achieved.

You should be clear on your vendor’s position by the end of the week if you do all of this right away. Communicate to your buyers that you are doing this as a matter of urgency.

Get your solicitor to draft clauses saying that the costs of skips and or house clearance will be retained from funds to be transferred to your vendor if vacant possession is not achieved.

This is the best plan

@VerveClique

Thanks for the detailed advice

Our buyer is a FTB and the seller is chain-free.

Our buyer have done their survey, searches etc.

Our solicitor is poised to do ours (have already paid for searches to begin) as soon as the seller's solicitors prepare and share the draft contract - we shouldn't spend on a survey before this, should we?

You only get the keys after you've transferred the money so you wouldn't even know beforehand if you needed to retain any money! I can't see any clause of this type working at all.

The survey is always the first thing we do when buying a house, the searches are probably the end of the process - I'd get on with the survey if I was you, OP.

Depending on the hoarding a survey might not be as thorough as you’d like it to be.

In your situation earlier this year, my elderly vendorpulled out on the day of exchange, a week before completion, 7 months after accepting my offer and completing conveyancing. I lost thousands.

I'd focus on making sure you get to exchange stage, as you could always put a clause in the contract that solicitor will partially withhold sale funds until vacant possession holds true.

IDK about hanging back on surveys. We powered on with ours. Our chain was the same as yours then. Just keep your buyers happy.

It was a condition of our sale that we would withhold funds, and indeed our vendor did not achieve vacant possession. The house was great but the garage was completely full to waist height with all sorts. We withheld £500. Took us three skips to get rid of it all, we did it ourselves in the end. Found lots of useful stuff in there that we kept too.

Start making lots of noise in your chain. You want to test the commitment of your vendor ASAP. We hung on for grim death with ours as we were only selling to move to this particular house. Our buyers were understanding but only had one week left on their six-month mortgage offer at completion!

Depends how much you love the house. If you love it, move into a rental and offer to sort the belongings yourself- I’d even potentially say you’ll store some stuff in a shed/ container for a couple of months (so the seller can sort it out later) rather than throw it away- a hoarder will find this easier to stomach.
If you don’t love the house, pull out. Then decide whether to go into rental- if you don’t you may well
lose your buyer and not find another that quickly (around me it’s definitely a buyers market now).

I really hope your vendor doesn't mess you around and pull out like Starseeking's did, but I do suspect that it's quite likely to happen. Hoarding is a mental illness and sufferers are not always rational. I would have a plan B, keep searching for another house in the area you want and go into temporary accommodation if necessary to keep the ball rolling for your buyer.

My MIL was supposed to be selling her house. She let the buyers pay for searches and messed them around before pulling out just prior to exchange. She genuinely felt ill with anxiety over the process and probably also because she didn't really want to leave, even though the house was too much for her and we didn't see any alternative long term. I felt so sorry for the buyers, it wasn't their fault at all. I can picture your vendor having similar cold feet and pulling the rug at the eleventh hour. It's not personal, just that the stress, anxiety and anguish of selling might be too much for her to take. Hopefully it won't be the case 🙏