Ready to exchange but our vendor’s aren’t at the same stage as us

[LittleMissPenny]

We are ready to exchange contracts but the vendor’s solicitor is unable to give me an estimated completion date yet as the vendors onward sale isn’t as advanced as ours, I hope to move in by the end of March as my tenancy ends then but does this seem unlikely? The house they are buying is practically a new build and the owner of it is moving in with the parents so able to move anytime so I have no idea what the hold up could be.

Could be many things, but 6 more weeks is not unrealistic assuming things are in hand.

Impossible to say. The owners of their onward purchase being able to move anytime is neither here nor there really- there could be hold ups with the conveyancing process, waiting for searches, survey results, complications with the legal answers.

Just so you know you don't have to move out at the end of your tenancy. Have a conversation with the landlord and explain that you may need to extend the tenancy by a couple of months and that you'll give a month's notice when you're ready to move. They can't make you move out so they will have to accept it.

You need to keep on the case, keep hassling your estate agent to find out what the delay is.

You need to understand what the hold up is. My experience of chains is that people can be unpredictable and lots of people that say they’re moving to rented/with family etc, end up deciding to buy somewhere and adding more properties to the chain.

Thanks, I emailed the EA and my solicitor today and asked them to chase things in order to speed up the process a little.

oooh this sounds awful. If they're still taking the piss, then you could be super firm and say your tenancy is ending and you are under pressure to renew and if this happens, will withdraw from exchange. That might scare them?

Probably not if they know the law and know the OP is under no pressure to renew the tenancy!

They’re also not going to magically be ready to exchange just because you want them to hurry up.

Unfortunately you have to wait for everybody to be at the stage of exchange.
There are always hold ups in the process with one party (or more) being ready and others not.