SELLER'S DATE FULL STOP??

[tiersta]

Hi there,
Advice please -
First time buyers - purchased a house in January.
Solicitors advised up to 12 weeks til completion.
Seller has now advised her preferred date is Beg of July. (Waiting for fixed term mortgage to end)
Is this fair!? Do we have any say?

You can walk away. You can't force her to do anything but she might compromise if she doesn't want to lose the sale.

Put pressure on for sooner - I’d see it as a negotiation

Vendor is taking the mick. Ultimately though it all boils down to how sought after the house is and how much you want it, as to whether the ball is in your court. I can't see their mortgage redemption fee being anything significant so close to the end of the term though. I'd push back and see what happens.

Well if you put in offer end of Jan, 12 weeks is Feb, March April, so beginning of May. Note you did not "purchase the house in January". You only purchase the house on completion. At the point of exchange (before completion) you have still not purchased, but withdrawal from purchase from either side after that point can become very expensive depending on the terms of the agreed contract. Up until the point of exchange either side can normally pull out with no penalty. This is for England - in Scotland it works differently.

They say beginning of July, so only 8 weeks later, not exactly a huge amount in the grand scheme of things.

Ultimately both sides have to agree an exchange completion date, so if you are not happy with anything you can usually freely walk away at any point up to exchange in England.

But if you did walk away do you think you would get a place before July now ?

I wouldn't wait that long personally, your mortgage offer would run out and you would have to start again. I wouldn't want to do that again

Yes, she probably wants you to offer the redemption fee.

She is a CF but you have to keep a cool head if you want the house. Remember that, if you walk away you are very unlikely to complete and move before July - and she knows that. If she is willing to lose the sale, she holds all the cards.

So it comes down to how much you want that house and how much you want to move soon. If you are not that bothered, just call her bluff and walk away - but remember that you will still be liable for solicitor fees to date, and you'll incur them again on any new house. However infuriating, it may be cheaper and quicker to contribute to her redemption fee.

You negotiate. If your mortgage offer is going to expire before then then let them know, if you’re incurring extra rent costs then negotiate a reduction. If you really cant wait then tell them you’ll walk away if you can’t exchange by x date.

How much do you love the house? How much have you paid in conveyancing so far. Is there anything else on the market currently that's a better fit? If the answer is no then try to negotiate an earlier date at least for exchange. Do you pay where you are now or are you in rented? Maybe she needs to pay your accomodation costs from the originally agreed 12 weeks.

Is the seller saying they simply refuse to sell to you if you don't agree? If so, are they planning on finding someone else within their timeframe? If it's just a preference, you could say they could pay your rental costs if they prefer?

If you offered in January where are you actually up to in terms of buying? All searches done, forms exchanged, survey back and ready to exchange? Or nowhere near that yet?

(I've never sold in 12 weeks despite always being told it would only take 12 weeks. Average was 18 weeks.)

You could ask o exchange sooner so you know she's on the hook for it and can't back out?

Conveyancing can take longer than 12 weeks, depending on what turns up in the process. Our mortgage companies have always been dead slow when arranging the mortgages. It is up to you, but if you lose this house, you'll be waiting longer than July to move in, probably.

There are more sellers than buyers out there at the moment which puts you in a strong position. I doubt they would want to lose the sale.

If this isn't acceptable to you say so. Tell them what you would accept and be clear you'll walk away if you don't get it.

What annoys me is why put your house on the market if your not prepared to pay the redemption fee, it's only going to be a few hundred at the point. You know when you put the house in the market there's a chance your house will sell quickly.
It's really cheeky just to expect everyone to hang on!

Her redemption fee her problem. We sold about 2 months before the end of our fixed term and we payed up and moved to agreed timescales.

Your mortgage offer will no doubt expire before beginning of July, she needs to move to your timescales as that is the biggest risk for the chain.

When we last moved we had the top of the chain fannying around and wanting to push the timescale for "convenience" reasons. Our mortgage offer would have expired and collapsed the chain if we had all agreed to her timescale. In the end our seller bunged the top of the chain (his seller) a couple of hundred quid and essentially told her to shut up and get on with it and move.

Oh, and the redemption fee doesn't decrease on a monthly basis (ours didn't anyway). Even though we had only 2 months left on the fixed term, the charge we paid was the 12 month charge. Perhaps your seller has only just realised this and doesn't fancy the couple of grand she will have to cough up.