Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Flip

1 2

Original poster

Should I pull out of never-ending house purchase...

39 replies

Greenwitchhorse · 02/08/2023 21:16

I made an offer on a house in early March and we still have not exchanged. I am in a rental having sold my property already last year.

There were several delays caused by the sellers appointed rubbish solicitors who would ignore communications and then blame their clients for being slow in responding to queries and providing the right paperwork.

I only offered at the time because I was assured this was a small chain of 3 (with no onwards purchase for the people at the top of the chain) and that the estimated timescale for a maximum of 4 months.

I made it clear to the agent early last month that I was unhappy and thinking of pulling out.

in mid-July I was told we were finally ready to exchange. But no exchange took place on the day or the day after and now no alternative date is being provided. It turns out that the people at the top of the chain conveniently forgot to mention that they have to repay a Help to Buy loan on completion which is adding bureaucracy and prevented the exchange from taking place as planned.

Basically I am fed and feel that the agents lied to me (surprise, surprise) about the chain and let me believe that we would complete in mid-July only because I was threatening to pull out at the time due to the lack of progress, although the reality was that with the Help to Buy issue it was never going to happen.

The sellers/solicitors at the end of the chain are unable to say how long Help to Buy will take to get back to them and whether this will happen before they need to renew their loan redemption period/valuation which would add even more delays.

So yesterday I informed the agent and my solicitor that I would pull out next week unless exchange had taken place by then as I am unwilling to stay in limbo any longer and was fed up with the lack of transparency (aka lies).

Delays are now causing me issues with my rental, will cause additional expenses if I can't give notice to my landlord as planned and my mortgage expires next month. My rental flat is tiny (as I was only supposed to be there for a few months) and affecting my ability to work from home so I need this to end.

The house is OK but not a dream house. Also financially it realistic has gone down in value since I made my offer in March (the market here is really quiet and prices are reduced by 10/20K). My sellers already have a failed sale behind them for this house which I suspect is to do with the previous buyer also getting fed up and walking out.

I am curious as to how people would have approached it.

I am exhausted by the thought of starting again from scratch but realistically we could be in the same position next month and I am done being used in this way. I made it clear to the agent I was viewing other properties over the weekend. I also told them that if my sellers want to save this they always the opportunity to break the chain and move with relatives so we can complete and they can then deal with their flaky sellers...

Sorry if this is long and rambling. I am really tired and buying on my own so I don't have many people to turn to for advice.

OP posts:

electriclight · 02/08/2023 21:22

I think you've done the right thing. The market is moving in your favour so, as it wasn't your dream home, keep looking and cut your losses. In six months you'll be in something better and it'll probably still be on the market or sold after a reduction.

WhatADrabCarpet · 02/08/2023 21:33

Sorry OP but I'd be backing away.

Ilikewinter · 02/08/2023 21:40

I agree, set your deadline and pull out of its not met. Especially as this is a 'just ok' house and with the drop in house prices. Although theres the chance that if your mortgage expires the rates may go up. Its shit trying to buy a house!

FieldsAndFountains · 02/08/2023 21:48

Personally I would pull out, you've been more than fair to them. Does any other country have such a nonsensical system as ours??

Nemesias · 02/08/2023 21:48

I had a help to buy loan in my last house which my utterly crap conveyancer forgot to deal with until the last minute - we managed to get the redemption sorted in a matter of days by being very highly motivated. You have to get the property looked at by a chartered surveyor - we rang round every single one in our nearby towns until someone agreed to fit it in. Once that was done we had to ask the help to buy people very nicely and they agreed to do it quickly.

if the sellers wanted to sort it out they could do but they have to take matters in their own hands and not sit back and wait for solicitors to sort it out.

WallaceinAnderland · 02/08/2023 21:58

I agree, that is a shocking time to wait. I would pull out.

Original poster

Greenwitchhorse · 02/08/2023 22:00

Thank you everyone for all the comments so far! It is reassuring to see that people are suggesting I am doing the right thing.

@Nemesias absolutely! I made a similar comment to the estate agent this afternoon: if the sellers really wanted this sorted out they would have been chasing Help to Buy daily and doing everything they could to hurry up the process.

I am feeling really gutted about it all but deep down I know this could not be allow to carry on and that there will be another house around the corner (and a better financial deal to be had in this market).

OP posts:

OsirisservesAnubis · 02/08/2023 22:04

I've bought and sold many houses. I don't think 6 months is that bad to be honest. Shortest for me was 4months and longest 9 months.

If you don't want to buy the house, then that's a different matter.

justaweeone · 02/08/2023 22:18

I'd reconsider, the market has dropped since your offer.

DrySherry · 02/08/2023 22:21

I have to agree. Values are starting to fall quite rapidly and it might well be in your favour to pull out and take your time finding another property - assuming you can take a bit longer in the rental market..

Original poster

Greenwitchhorse · 02/08/2023 22:27

Yes, this is a very different market and I was concerned about buying something that was near the top of my budget, so pulling out actually will make financial sense even after paying the solicitors fees.

I just feel uneasy renting as there is so little security.

I have booked viewings for tomorrow and the weekend and I have extended my search to other nearby towns as well to widen my options.

OP posts:

AncientQuercus · 02/08/2023 22:31

We moved mid June having had offers accepted etc in early November. I didn't think it was possible for it to take so long, but apparently it is normal now (although the house next door that wasn't even sold when we viewed ours has been occupied for 3 months!)

ImGonnaHaveToTurnMyBackOnYou · 02/08/2023 22:33

I'd normally reply in my head to a thread like this and say pull put.

But I'm currently the middle of three where our buyer is a first time buyer, the home we are buying is vacant, but the buyers for ours have been slow, slow, slow, and we are meant to have exchanged already, moving next week - but they won't exchange til they've seen our property again (tomorrow). The stress I'm dealing with has made me really ill.

If either the buyer or vendor pulled out now, I'm not being hyperbolic when I say it'll be a drive to the cliffs. My mental health plummeted through this and I'm leaning right over the edge.

I hope things work out for you, whichever way they go.

Original poster

Greenwitchhorse · 02/08/2023 22:44

@ImGonnaHaveToTurnMyBackOnYou

I hope things work out for you!

I must say my mental health is starting to seriously suffer which is why I want a resolution soon and to move on.

If the agents had been honest from the start about Help to Buy and explained in advance that exchange might be delayed for 10 days but would happen then, I might have been OK with it. Instead I went through the relief and excitement to finally be exchanging and telling everyone I finally had a home to the crushing realisation that it was just yet another fib. But the way they went about it was just sneaky.

I would never purposely mess around a decent seller/buyer but if the other side is constantly being useless and/or less than honest then I have no issue with collapsing the whole chain.

OP posts:

MetaverseMavis · 02/08/2023 22:48

Pull out you are in such a strong position you could make a seriously cheeky offer on something else.

Molehillminnie · 02/08/2023 22:51

Just pull out. They’re wasting your time.

Original poster

Greenwitchhorse · 02/08/2023 22:57

Thank you everyone.

Yesterday I gave the estate agent a deadline for exchange of end of play on Monday or I would then pull out on Tuesday morning and I also informed my solicitor of my decision.

I am 99% sure they won't meet the deadline at this stage.

I should not have let this go on for so long as there were so many issues...

OP posts:

caringcarer · 02/08/2023 22:59

OP I feel your pain and frustration. I'm in a similar position but with a btl house. I had my offer for the full asking price accepted in the middle of February. My mortgage offer arrived and was valid for 6 months. The flaky vendor seems to spend most of his time in Spain at a holiday home. We were supposed to exchange contracts last week of July. He went to Spain without signing his exchange document. Now my mortgage offer has expired but luckily I've been given a 1 month extension. My solicitor has asked for exchange and completion on August 8th. I have told her if the vendor comes up with one more excuse not to complete I'm pulling out as I paid an insurance premium in case completion did not go through. I am so fed up of this onerous little man who spends almost all his time in Spain. I thought since Brexit he could only spend 90 days in 6 months but it turns out he has dual nationality and can come and go as he pleases.

TakenRoot · 02/08/2023 23:17

I would be communicating this to their solicitor via your solicitor.

TakenRoot · 02/08/2023 23:19

Also, don’t actually pull out until you have had an offer accepted on somewhere else.

Keep all your irons in the fire.

Frecklespy · 02/08/2023 23:30

This article from MSE was published yesterday and might explain why there are delays in redeeming the HTB loan:
HTB problems

I don't normally defend Estate Agents, but do you understand that the agent is not involved in the legal work that solicitors do, so they are very unlikely to know who has done what or when? When you say they lied about certain things, it is far more accurate to say they don't know and so they say anything to placate you and keep the chain intact. But anything they do say is not legally binding, it is pure speculation.

KievLoverTwo · 02/08/2023 23:40

I am going to play devil's advocate here. You are tired, emotionally exhausted and hate living in a tiny home, but am I the only one who has counted and it's only actually been five months from the beginning of March to the beginning of August?

Average conveyancing times have recently fallen to 115 days but before it was five months. So you are now at the average conveyancing timeline for a chain as of about April or May.

If you walk away from this, are you going to be happy to walk away, start again, have 115 days until completion, and possibly deal with a whole other web of lies from deceptive sellers and EAs?

What is currently on the market also seems to be utterly trash. It's slim pickings. It's either vastly overpriced homes, those that haven't been touched for 40 years and need 80k spending on them, or 'problem' homes (on top of railway lines, on busy roads with no privacy, family homes with a garden big enough only for a toddler).

I would definitely take steps to make them take you seriously. Give them due warning that if completion doesn't happen by 17th August you will be offering 10k less.

But, remember to look after your mental health, step away from the anger and frustration for a moment, and ask yourself 'am I really prepared to do this all over again for another house that's only likely to be just about good enough and not my dream home? If your budget only stretches to just about good enough, why go through it again?

user1471530109 · 02/08/2023 23:50

I also think you may be being hasty because you're stressed and fed up.
I sold (to FTB apparently -they were but we're relying on another sale for deposit). Took 7 months. There was no chain as I went into rented. I then bought a no chain house, it took 5 months.

If you're not keen on house or think prices have dropped enough to make waiting another 6 months worth it (rent!) then agree, pull out. But don't let anger and frustration sway you. It will be solicitors. Ring the estate agent of the above chain and insist the vendors are hassling solicitors at the top.

Twiglets1 · 03/08/2023 05:09

I agree with @KievLoverTwo that although 5 months is long, it isn’t actually excessively long. If you feel you overpaid (and I sense you do) a better approach might be to knock money off the price because it is all taking longer than expected and in the meantime, prices have fallen.

If they say No and drop you as a Buyer, you’re in a no worse a position than you are now with planning to walk away.

Your story is like a cautionary tale of why Sellers need to be motivated at the moment. They should not have allowed this Sale to drag on and if you feel like punishing them, better to do it financially assuming you still do like the house and want to buy it.

Original poster

Greenwitchhorse · 03/08/2023 08:56

Thanks again everyone for the additional comments.

@TakenRoot

'I would be communicating this to their solicitor via your solicitor.'

Yes, I absolutely did that but then the agent then started calling/emailing me to try to make me change my mind so I spoke to them as well.

Yes, I think that people are right to say that another option is to say that I will reduce my offer if this does not complete on 18th. Bu the issue with that though is that you then have to update all the contracts and the mortgage offer...which again will cause delays.

The other option is to ask the sellers to cover my conveyancing and rent cost...(as their lack of set exchange/completion date means I can't plan and give my notice so would end up paying rent and mortgage for one if not two months).

I am going ahead with my booked viewings to see what's out there today and over the weekend in the meantime.

OP posts:

Flip

1 2