Disposal of seller stuff post exchange

[Knownoone]

We are close to exchange and completion, 1 query pending and then they will decide the exchange date. Our solicitors informed us that the seller can only clear the garage of this house once he is back in September (he has relocated to Canada) which would be post exchange and completion. Our solicitors cannot guarantee this and this is an understanding between us and the seller. We haven't even see the garage from inside since the keys are with the seller who is in different country. Please advise if this is normal. Any advice/suggestions would be greatly helpful.

Good. Keep us updated please?

Are you getting a mortgage?

All lenders require completion of vacant possession. If that's not the case then you can't complete.

I don't think there is any legal recourse after completion and if he had left his stuff there- you'd be able to dispose and bill accordingly.

Your solicitor should be guiding you through all this.

Can you delay completion until after he comes back - with a fixed date for him to do so?

I'd like others have suggested, you withhold some monies until it's cleared.

Sorry- that should say completion on vacant possession.

I would delay exchange until he's cleared out his crap and give a date at which you'll pull out, if it's not done.

Yes I can wait until he is back in September but who knows I wait for a month and he ends up not coming back to county. I wouldn't know what to do next then :(.

Yes , already told can't exchange and complete without vacant possession.

@Knownoone
Time to take a last go at him seeing sense - no mortgage company will go with anything except vacant possession. So unless a cash buyer turns up he effectively can't sell it.
Now your mortgage providers know you can't even complete and then change the locks - in that sort of scenario I'd have an independent witness to provide an affidavit.
Your only other alternative do nothing more until Sept and see if he arrives - the EA really should have declined to market the property until he's sorted this.

1. Complete post the seller travels back to UK, around 1st week of September.

1. Keep a retention money of £750 pounds, which the seller will give is, and return this money to seller once clears our the garage. The latest he can clear is by 10th September post which we can dispose off his stuff using the retention money. This would be an agreement between the sellers and ourselves and the solicitors won't be involved.

We need to vacate our current house by end of Aug and was hoping for exchange and completion by end of Aug so that we can get the Asbestos clearance post the exchange and then move in on the completion date, not sure which option to take.

the Seller has to sign a contract which says they’ll leave the property empty apart from items agreed on the contents form, so he’s breaking the contract terms. I’d ask solicitor how it can be enforced, and hold back funds to pay for the clearing if he doesn’t do it

@Laughingravy My solicitor defines vacant possession as follows,

Vacant possession means that nobody will be living in the property on completion.

Hence, stuff and no stuff doesn't count as vacant possession.

I think it needs to be more than £750 - it needs to be enough so that he actually does it. I'd withhold £5k.....

Agreed, that could easily go on a couple of skips, before factoring in any help you might need!

@HouseIsOnFire Not sure how we can withhold it, the solicitors are not getting involved in this process. Hence the entire deposit amount need to be transferred to the sellers so that the mortgage lender release their funds.

Your solicitors should be advising you on this, I can't believe they aren't?

They did, stating that they can't guarantee the seller will clear the garage post completion and this would be a civil matter post completion. Hence we need to decide if we are comfortable with they clearing garage post completion:(

We didn't see inside the garage when we bought our first house (confused elderly vendor forgot to leave key twice!) but our surveyor did so we knew it was empty and the condition it was in.

I'd be very wary of this one though, we had a vendor (different one!) leave masses of stuff behind, including shed and garage contents, which we then had to sort out house clearance to get rid of. We did get money back from the vendor but it was hassle and would have been even worse if we'd intended to move straight into the house. Some stuff like paint, chemicals, heavy equipment is difficult to get rid of!

There doesn’t need to be vacant possession or an empty property on exchange.

Are you in England? It is normal to require the property to be empty of stuff! And for solicitors to arrange a retention. Often for significant sums, for damp work or whatever. They just keep part of the sale money back and pay it over once the agreed work is complete.

I wouldn’t exchange without having seen inside the garage. There could be a huge deep hole in the floor, anything. And ‘stuff’ could potentially cost a lot more than £750 to dispose of.

I would say no exchange until there is access to the garage, and I would start looking at other properties.

No point in pulling out until you have found something else, IMO.

OP: you can commission the asbestos work on exchange but you couldn’t get it done before completion. It has to be your house before you get access to do any work.

How are you getting the asbestos work done between exchange and completion? It's not your house until completion.
£750 isn't enough if you end up clearing the garage.

If there are 2 contracts
The house sale contract
The storage contract
ask them for a professional referral

They should be advising you of how much they would expect to charge you and other cost involved in the "civil matter". Thats one baseline cost for the sum to be withheld.

I will bet it is more than £750.

My solicitor defines vacant possession as follows,

Vacant possession means that nobody will be living in the property on completion.

Hence, stuff and no stuff doesn't count as vacant possession.

If the seller has a legally held shot gun and half a million hidden in the loft and 4 in a gun safe in the garage.

You have possession, do you end up with half a million to spend after your get out of jail for possession of (1 - 4) guns?

I think at this point i'd be pulling out Op.

You're basically buying the house and he's keeping the garage.

Completely understand that he wants his personal stuff locked away from all including EA. Especially if he's out of the country.

Not seeing the inside wouldn't put me off if the outside pointing and roof appeared sound.

But I'd get your solicitor to draw up an agreement to keep some funds back until a set date with the understanding that if the garage is not cleared by this date that they money will be used to fund a removal company to place it in storage at the sellers expense.

Get a quote or two from reputable insured removal companies, ask them to quote for storage and add this cost plus new locks.

Keep this back and make sure the date for this removal is documented and signed by both parties.

Then if he doesn't come back you aren't left with his stuff indefinitely.

I had funds held by the solicitor and not released to the buyer until certain conditions were met. I can't say what, but this agreement can be made and solicitors oversee it as they are the ones handling the exchange and completion.

You're unlikely to get quotes from removal companies without knowing what's in there. The ones we've used couldn't transport things like paint or some garden/outdoor chemicals.

I would be put off, who knows what state the garage is in? Our garage has both water and mains electricity and over the years both have caused problems and have needed work. We once had a frozen pipe thaw and leak and fortunately I was able to have it fixed before it caused any damage. I’m not sure I would be willing to buy a house without being able to access the garage.