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Original poster

What do you do when your house sale and purchase dont meet up?

28 replies

Poppysmom22 · 31/01/2023 12:49

Just that really - we have a sale to conclude around mid march but new house wont be ready until mid may - what do you do? ive explored rentals but they will all run credit checks which could impact credit scores for mortgage, at the moment im veering between a camper van or a caravan? airbnb? honestly i have no idea what to do? we dont have any family or friends with space for us.
Has anyone been in this situation and what did you do?

OP posts:
Overgrowngrasslady · 31/01/2023 12:50

I made them meet up, but otherwise your stuff will need to go into storage and you need to find someplace to live.

Youcancallmeirrelevant · 31/01/2023 12:52

I've never not had them meet, it wasn't even a discussion, i always move from one house to the next on the same day. You chose the completion dates for properties

Original poster
Poppysmom22 · 31/01/2023 12:52

that's just it we cant make them meet up - we already considered storage etc but i just wondered if other people had done this and there was something i was overlooking.

OP posts:
Original poster
Poppysmom22 · 31/01/2023 12:53

it really wouldn't be fair to our buyers to make them wait any longer - its taken us ages to find somewhere and they have been so patient - its their first home and they are keen to get in

OP posts:
TheRookie · 31/01/2023 12:59

It is going to cost you a lot if you air BnB for 2 months. If you already have your mortgage in place, then a credit check should affect it?

Can you run it past the buyers and see if they agree? Maybe offer some kind of incentive?

bilbodog · 31/01/2023 13:03

Have you looked at a holiday rental? Put your belongings in storage.

also speak to local estate agents - they might have a house which is coming up and owner happy to rent out short term or a house which is taking a long while to sell for various reasons and owner might do a short let.

CatOnTheChair · 31/01/2023 13:07

Short term rentals over Easter will be tough.

Try and delay your sale as much as possible. How likely is the purchase to slip further?

sandranista · 31/01/2023 13:08

My daughter had this. She stored all her stuff for a couple of months and moved in with us

YukoandHiro · 31/01/2023 13:09

Airbnb or relatives. Stuff into storage.

sunseaandme · 31/01/2023 13:09

I work for a new build mortgage broker therefore lots of my clients discuss this exact situation with me. Majority of the time they live with family until the new build is ready, or short term rentals. Bear in mind though OP it is obviously very common for the builds to be delayed even further time and time again. Fingers crossed that won't be the case for yours!!

YukoandHiro · 31/01/2023 13:10

Just make sure you've exchanged contracts and set a completion date for your purchase before you complete on your sale. Otherwise you may be without a permanent home for months

Oakbeam · 31/01/2023 13:13

A friend of ours put his furniture into storage and lived in a touring caravan on Caravan Club sites for two or three months. Four of them plus a dog and a cat.

It was summer so not too much of a hardship.

Overgrowngrasslady · 31/01/2023 13:19

Ah ok if it’s already taken a long time. Then you need to proceed. You will need to organise removals. Get the stuff in storage, move into any accommodation you can find, organise removals again when entry date is confirmed,

plesde note as a pp said new builds are notorious for delays.

Sunriseinwonderland · 31/01/2023 13:21

I lived in a holiday chalet for three months. Cost me 1K a month.

2bazookas · 31/01/2023 13:27

Rent holiday accommodation to fill the gap.

fruitbrewhaha · 31/01/2023 13:34

Im not sure why you are concerned about an agent running credit checks for rentals. It's not an unheard of situation so shouldn't be a problem.

Have you costed it all? removals, storage, rent, admin cost, removals again, exit clean etc. If you feel 'bad' for putting the sale back again are you happy to spend £x for not feeling bad and putting out people you will never see again?

Lulu2171 · 31/01/2023 13:35

fruitbrewhaha · 31/01/2023 13:34

Im not sure why you are concerned about an agent running credit checks for rentals. It's not an unheard of situation so shouldn't be a problem.

Have you costed it all? removals, storage, rent, admin cost, removals again, exit clean etc. If you feel 'bad' for putting the sale back again are you happy to spend £x for not feeling bad and putting out people you will never see again?

Very sensible points all these

Twiglets1 · 31/01/2023 18:34

Poppysmom22 · 31/01/2023 12:53

it really wouldn't be fair to our buyers to make them wait any longer - its taken us ages to find somewhere and they have been so patient - its their first home and they are keen to get in

Equally it’s not fair on you to be homeless for 2 months! You’re being too kind to your buyers. It’s not normal. They can wait 2 more months to move into their first home.

Chippy1234 · 05/02/2023 09:14

I like the idea of the caravan club. Not ideal and you will have to put your furniture in storage but what if you tell your buyers what has happened and see what they say because if you refuse to move then they cannot move either.

I find by being open and honest sometimes really does play dividends. What I hate with house purchases is the drip feeding of situations. Going through a sale for a elderly relative. Very early days but goodness knows what is going to happen.

With our last place we had an offer from a chap who said he was a cash buyer. He wasn’t and our excellent EA found that out very quickly. What he meant is that he needed a mortgage but as it was HIM there would be no issues in getting one so he said he was cash.

What really surprises me is people living with all sorts of issues in their house, one ring on the hob working only, bucket in roof to catch drips when it rained heavily, etc.

OhhhhhhhhBiscuits · 05/02/2023 09:18

You will probably be looking at a minimum of 5k by the time you have arranged housing, storage 2 x removals etc. ...... you need housing at an expensive time of year for Airbnb and holiday parks etc....... I would try and negotiate with your buyers.

nca89 · 05/02/2023 09:28

We rented for a month (but wasn't through a lettings agent so didn't come with all the usual contracts and checks etc)

nca89 · 05/02/2023 09:30

Just to add that was so we could move to a new build, we had to exchange really quickly and I just felt like too much of a dick to push through a massively quick exchange and then delay completion, and as we had the option to move somewhere temporarily we decided to break the chain.

Chippy1234 · 05/02/2023 12:43

What about exchange and then a fair gap between that and completion? We had 5 weeks and our buyers weren’t in a chain. It also meant I wasn’t rushing but everyone knew it was their house.

good96 · 05/02/2023 12:54

Airbnb would be expensive - as you’d be there for at least 8 weeks - it’d be more expensive then a conventional let (unless you can agree a deal with the owner) - depends really if they expect a demand of bookings - as some ABNBs can rent out for £500 a week. That’d be around £4000 that could go towards your new house. Could you not see if there are any private landlords around? Explain your situation and they should be ok -

Original poster
Poppysmom22 · 02/06/2023 14:03

So an update on what we did.
We completed as planned and the sale went through. Stuff to storage. Then four weeks in an air BnB and then hurray we are in our new home. We really had to push hard with the vendor and solicitors popping paperwork back by hand collecting etc rather than waiting for the post. It was a bit of a palaver . Not something I would recommend to anyone but it did work. Cost £2000 for Airbnbs overall.

OP posts:
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