Seller threatening to put house back on market

[Jbdollyday]

So we have had a nightmare of a house sale/purchase due to issues further down the chain - we are now at the last lap where every query on the earth has been answered, every person and their dog has been asked a question and a date by the solicitors has been put forward - woohoo and agreed by every person in the chain! However…… out twat of a vendor has now decided to say if we are not exchanging contracts by the 31/5 he is putting their house back on the market - this is a full week before completion! Now we and our buyers are ready as we are cash buyers but the other two in the chain are reliant on mortgages and have to deal with all of that! Spoke to him today and although I do agree with what he said as it was the lower part of the chain that’s caused the delays we have no control of them at all so the only people that would suffer is me and my husband if we don’t exchange by the 31/5! Our solicitor said it may go through but she said there is a good chance it might not as she is not privy to their circumstances and can only press the urgency of the exchange! I have made an appointment to view a back up property but I will be honest I feel like telling him to shove it as he has caused me so much stress of this and stuff I can’t control! He knows the 31/5 is my mams first anniversary of her death and I am recovering from surgery but he is still saying I’ve got decisions To make! AIBU to want to bin the house off and save my self the hassle next week incase we don’t exchange??

I would call his bluff. You can’t guarantee you can complete on that date so tell him that and say you understand if he pulls out but there is nothing further you can do. Remember, he now also has to find another buyer which is likely to have another chain whereas you are pretty much ready to go.

I think you would be cutting your nose off to spite your face if you pulled out now. By all means look at other houses but you've no guarantee that the next vendo wouldnt be worse. I am sorry about the anniversary and all the hassle - really stressful

I wouldn't say anything at all. See what happens on the 31st - if your buyer is ready then you can exchange, and if not then you can't. Your buyer needs to be aware that 31st could be a deadline. Your solicitor could phone around to see what's what; it sounds like this has been dragging on for a long time, and I'd be asking why they still haven't got mortgage offers. It suggests there could be a problem as mortgage offers do not normally take long to be issued. Have the surveys all taken place?
I'd say the Vendor is not being unreasonable. Be aware that he can remarket and proceed with you until such time as he has a proper offer, and even then, there could be a contract race.

If the questions that have been raised are required by mortgagees, then that had to happen. If not, how long has this been going on - they should have had a mortgage offer within four weeks and should be ready from that point of view.

From your point of view, I would ensure the whole chain is aware of what they're saying. In reality I think they just want certainty and 12 days is quite a reasonable amount of time to give if it's been going on.

I think your mam would be proud of you if you push on through the stress, even on the anniversary of her death. Then when you are sat in your lovely new home, you can raise a large G&T to her, happy in the knowledge that she would have been impressed with how you soldiered through.

I am sorry for your loss.

Thanks everyone it’s been an absolute nightmare and I totally understand where our vendor is coming from as it’s been going on since January!!! The issue has been further down the chain a deed of variation has been needed as the first house in the chain is a newish build that has a management company who looks after the grass etc and it is just coming out when these properties are sold on it is a nightmare getting the deed of variation (DOV) to be signed off! And the cost to the seller of the property is nearly £1k on top of normal fees incurred. The whole thing has just been one thing after another and honestly we had other buyers who hadn’t sold their properties who put offers in for ours who have sold and moved in the time we are still sat her waiting with all this stress!!

All mortgages needed have been in place for months it’s just the Deed of Variation for the first house in the chain!!

I think people get stressed close to exchange especially if there have been a lot of delays and sometimes threaten pulling out if certain things aren't done by x date. It's a way for them to feel like they are taking back some control but in reality, they are not in control of the exchange date and it may or may not happen by x date.

I would just do your best to assure them that you are doing everything in your power to exchange by x date and complete a week after.

Don't cut off your nose to spite your face by pulling out yourself at this late date. Just let everything unfold and you very likely will be moving home soon.

If you are cash buyers can’t you complete the purchase and then complete the sale of yours? Or do you mean you are using the proceeds from your sale, rather than being cash buyers? in which case, could you get a bridging loan to complete?

I can understand the stress and frustration for all of you but really your vendor has the best chance of timely completion by sticking with you.

Odd use of the term cash buyers. People now seem to use it for both actual cash buyers and for buyers who aren't using a mortgage. I think there needs to be a new term for the latter

I know I just feel that he has been threatening me so much on how he will need to ‘make a decision on how to move forward’ because of the delays that I have no control over and we are moving 100miles away from our home town as I can’t stay near home after losing my mam - I just feel bullied by him which is not a nice feeling!

Sorry yes we don’t have a mortgage and using our house plus cash to buy the next one

That just seems to be the term that used by the solicitors - maybe it should be non mortgaged people?

Shrug and tell him to put it back on the market if he wants. It will set him back months so would be a stupid plan on his part.

Sorry for your loss, a very hard time for you.

Have you spoken with his estate agent? They won't want to lose the sale at this stage. Sometimes it's good not to be in direct contact.

Tbh that’s what I want to do but DH says no as I’m over reacting! I really do understand his frustration at the length of time it’s took as I feel the same but I wouldn’t take it out on our buyer

If stop dealing with him directly. Call the estate agent (the one he is selling with) and see if they can shed any light on the issue and why the date is important to him. See if they can knock some sense into him. The agent won’t be paid until the sale goes through (unlike solicitors who will keep charging throughout) so it’s in the agents interest to seal the deal

I understand how you feel and that it is an emotional time, moving house always is and you have just lost your mum too.

I just think - try not to react to his comments (easier said than done). He is probably stressed too and yes, being a bit of a dick. But now is the time to have a clear head and stay as calm as you can.

What he does is outside of your control. All you can do is focus on what you can influence which is to encourage your chain to exchange and perhaps see if his estate agent can talk to the seller. A bridging loan is also a good idea if it comes to it.

You're not a cash buyer. If you were you would just buy the house. You wouldn't. E stuck in a chain.

I didn't mean withdraw completely, just tell him to crack on with finding a new buyer. He'll soon just deal with it taking a week or two.

I think most buyers get a little bit wobbly close to the finish line however much you want the property , getting the exchange out of the way gives you all a bit of security

A week between exchange and completion isn’t huge , If we are talking about a property that is to be lived in straight away I would prefer slightly longer , packing and moving are hard work even if you have a company in to do it for you there are still logistics/ utilities and loads of changing of addresses etc to be dealt with that can only be managed by the owners, this all takes up time

Moving is always a bit stressful and emotional coupled with the difficult time for you with your DM anniversary and you post surgery but once you have moved it should be a bit less emotional and you can start to recover and relax

Wishing you well

What you might find, it that the bottom of the chain suddenly get their act together due to the fact that if they their mortgage offers within four weeks (possibly less), then some of those offers will shortly run out.

We were on the same timescale as you - offer early January, bottom of chain messing everyone around (that's a different issue). Suddenly, realised their mortgage offer would run out in mid June. We then called the shots ourselves and said if we couldn't exchange by noon 12 days before that date, it was off as we had a holiday inbetween and needed to arrange removers/utilities before going (we arranged a holiday knowing the whole chain was working towards mid April and the whole chain was ready except bottom). All went quiet, then suddenly at 2pm a call came from solicitor, everyone ready to do, was it still too late to exchange. Again, called the shots, had to happen within 10 mins as we were leaving at 3pm - it happened.

As I said, make sure the whole chain knows there's a deadline and that you're ready to go as well.

Well we were told we wouldn’t be exchanging today and he said just to make it clear I am breaking the chain and relisting my property - he then went on to say - you carryon with the rest of the chain if you want and if you do sell we potentially look at selling to you when you are a cash buyer and have no chain!!! When we told our solicitor that we wanted to withdraw from the sale today as it wasn’t exchanging and read her the email he sent and his solicitor was chasing exchange which we were told we couldn’t achieve - so we pulled out! Then we got a call 3pm saying it had exchanged and did we want to go back to our seller - err no not now he has totally spoilt everything and we will now be a cash buyer next Friday to buy something else - everything happens for a reason!