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

[Greenwitchhorse]

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.

@Frecklespy Thank you for this. That was a really helpful read actually at least it shows there is a genuine issue and at the same time they are showing that the homeowner needs to be proactive (and not just their solicitors) in chasing them.

Other properties might be in longer chains. It’s often 6 months from viewing to completion now. Exchange to completion can be one week so once you exchange, it can be quick. Mortgage costs have really held up sales and although you are in a good position, others are not. Yes, you have some complications, but others are worse. You could negotiate a price reduction! If it remarkets, won’t they have to?

Keep your eyes on the true position of vendors and chains of your viewings. Some people list a house for sale but cannot find anything to move to! Or don’t have finance in place. Etc etc. it’s a minefield.

I think this is good advice. I would negotiate on the price. Five months isn’t excessive, but over paying for a house that isn’t a dream house sounds like a mistake.

'Some people list a house for sale but cannot find anything to move to! Or don’t have finance in place. Etc etc. it’s a minefield.'

One property we like the look of isn't accepting viewings because they want to move to a specific estate that has no houses for sale on it right now <facepalm>
There's a lot to be said for giving empty properties priority in a search.

I don’t think that it has been too long. I have bought more than enough houses. And only one was shorter than eight months.

To update everyone my solicitor called me this morning to say we were exchanging today.

But of course it is now late evening and I did not get any confirmation that the exchange took place...

So I am glad that I gave that deadline of next Tuesday. I really can't take this constant nonsense anymore and it will be a relief to pull out.

Yet another twist: we did exchange in the end so it looks like my ultimatum worked out.

Pleased for you that you don't have to start again from scratch and that you have finally Exchanged contracts.

Now you only have to worry about the saga of Completion!

But if the agents don’t actually know what’s going on, then telling the OP any old thing to keep her happy is still a lie, isn’t it?

Congrats on the exchange, @Greenwitchhorse.

Yes congrats @Greenwitchhorse

If the agents don't actually know what's going on, then they're not lying, it is what they term as an "educated guess" based on what they think is going on and what they think will placate you.

An educated guess would be right if they were offering explanations for a delay. Telling you things they think will keep you happy is different isn’t it?

Good luck OP! We had something similar last year - EA claimed property was chain-free, then it later emerged the vendor needed to wait for probate to be granted on his onward purchase...

You can get through quicker - we sold in 30 days to very motivated cash buyers and we managed to complete our purchase in under four months despite the EA shenanigans. So there isn't much excuse if everyone is motivated and a decent conveyancer is used.

However you want to term it, agents can't and don't always know what is happening with a transaction because they are not party to it. They can speak to the solicitors and the sellers and buyers but the information they gain from doing that, together with little to no knowledge of the legal aspects of conveyancing means that what they understand, plus the limited knowledge they have, often amounts to a misinterpretation of what has been done and what still needs to be done. It is difficult for them to explain a delay if their understanding is limited. Their job is to keep the sellers and buyers and the chain intact and to ensure progress on all sides in order to achieve exchange.

And as a client I would far rather they were totally honest and told me they had done all they could but had no more knowledge than they bullshitted me to ‘keep me happy’. That is dishonest to me, and I’ve been on the receiving end of it often enough to know that ultimately it damages trust if they get it wrong.