Seller wants to exchange three months before they can complete

[mullingitallover]

Our seller does not want to complete until March 2023 as they would need to pay a mortgage rebate.

They are however pushing for an exchange of contracts before Christmas.

Weirdly they said they would complete before March, but only if we agreed to pay half of their mortgage rebate

Thoughts or advice please?

A mortgage offer being withdrawn between exchange and completions is phenomenally rare, and generally only happens when there is a fundamental change in the buyer's circumstances.

The only real risk here is if the OP thinks there is a possibility of losing their job between now and March.

In this situation it would not be uncommon for the responsibility of insuring the property between exchange and completion to remain with the seller.

It seems I am in the minority, but this wouldn't bother me.

I'd be wary. I don't know the laws surrounding it but this looks risky to me. You'd be tying yourself into this house legally and they can do a lot to it in 3 months. What if there is a fire? What if they can't afford the heating and pipes freeze or develops significant damp/mould issues? I'd have a good chat with your solicitor about this and your liabilities.

To update: our sellers now say that "as a compromise" they would be willing to try and persuade the vendor of the property they are buying to exchange early January with completion 2nd March. They are saying that this time period between exchange and completion is "pretty standard"

It seems to me to be in your interests as well as theirs.
You get your house purchase locked in, reducing the risk of losing the house you want, with completion just before your rental ends, reducing the ££ wasted on doubling up on rent and mortgage.

mullingitallover the period between early January and 2 March - the best part of 2 months is not 'pretty standard'. 28 days between exchange and completion is standard. Have they told you how much the redemption fee is that is causing them to hold everything up? What does your solicitor say now?

Double check your mortgage
Barclays have a clause that once the funds are requested you have 28 days to complete and exchange
if you don’t do it within this time they they assume the sale is void and you lose your mortgage .
This is what happened to my son last month because of his fucking dipshit solicitor
The new mortgage will cost my son a further 8.5k over five years because of the higher rates

No fucking way , they are making sure you are locked into buying their house before the market price drops.

That timeframe isn't standard at all. 28 days is at the longer end of standard. They don't appear to be making any compromises either.

The sellers should go ahead and incur the cost of an early redemption or accept exchange 28 days before completion (personally I'd prefer 14 days). If they didn't want to sell right now, they really shouldn't have been on the market but it's a bit late for that and I'm sure you have your heart set on the property. Just don't let it lead you into making all the compromises.

I've only heard this for a new build. I've exchanged and completed very quickly on my houses all in 24 - 48 hours. Sounds very dodgy.

Most people aim for 14 days in between, 24-48 hours or same day is not unusual but more stressful.

28 days at the longer end. Is it an issue for who they are buying from?

Sounds like they aren't being upfront about WHY.

The poster who says this is a lock in is right. They want that price whatever, before the market drops.

You could go back and say you'll do it for £x reduction in price 🤣

@RandomMess

our sellers' seller is the one pushing to exchange ASAP (before Xmas/early Jan latest)

Our seller is the one that wants to delay completion until March due to their mortgage issue.

Sounds dodgy to me. Its quickly becoming a buyer's market in my area , you could say yes but I want another 5 percent off the purchase price and I'm not paying your mortgage redemption fee. Or you exchange and complete close together. They can't have it all their own way.

We did this last year but it was nearer 5-months between E&C.

We were buying a newbuild with 12-months between R&C and 10-months between E&C. Couldn't move into temp accom (late parents house) straightaway so agreed long gap between E&C with our buyer.
Both parties were happy and it worked very well.

Different market conditions last year. I would not gamble on this it's not a new build so not standard and prices are falling.

I'm just wondering what they thought was going to happen when they put their house on the market and started the selling process. If they had a 2nd March at the earliest completion date they should either have waited to market their house or made it really clear to everyone from the beginning so people could make informed decisions on whether to proceed. I'm presuming you are weeks down the road if there's a realistic notion of exchanging in the next couple of weeks OP. Such entitlement to expect everyone else to just fall in line and so many legal issues/risks for others with what they are proposing.

we did it (15 years ago), the sellers wanted to know they'd sold but remain in place while they renovated their new property (and secured a school place on their current one).
I think we added something to the effect that we would not be out of pocket if something changed on their side to prevent completion but it was all fine

I would proposing exchanging end of February then you are still protected.

If you are locked into a rental anyway this suits you well surely? You have the security of an exchange.

From a slightly different angle, our Sellers wanted a short period of time between exchange and completion and we asked for 3 months. They agreed. However just before exchange they changed their minds and said it had to be one week. At which point it was up to us to decide if we wanted the new house enough to suck up the financial implications. Not their problem at all and neither should it be yours that your Sellers want to save money on their side.

It's not 'pretty standard'. That's simply not true.
Pretty standard is a couple of days to a couple of weeks.

As @Peedoffo says, they probably want to lock you into a price before the market falls further in 3 months. You do not need to do this just because it suits others in the chain; your priority should be to protect yourself.

As nearly everyone has said, follow your solicitor's advice. Good advice from @Yabado about checking the mortgage t&c. How annoying for your son!

However, you don't need to request funds at exchange, so this shouldn't need to become an issue. Funds just need to be requested in time for completion, most banks requiring around 5 working days to ensure funds are available.

Other than the possibility of job loss, what is it about this period between exchange and completion that makes everyone so nervous?

To me it seems less stressful than a simultaneous exch/completion.

no chance - so much can go wrong

i would be pushing exhange and completion now, december not march!!

their mortgage is not your problem, they should have factored this cost in!