Vendor is cross because we don’t want to complete and exchange on the same day

[housebuya]

We have been clear throughout that we want to exchange on set date, but need to give 28 days notice on our rented home which we won’t put in until we’ve exchanged. Happy for some period of overlap like a couple of weeks but not the entire month.

Vendor is very annoyed we won’t exchange and complete on the same day. Their onward purchase is vacant and they are temporarily going to stay with family. AIBU? I don’t really know what to do as we didn’t want to annoy them.

You want them to wait an entire month after exchange so that you can avoid paying rent + mortgage, but they have to stay in temp accommodation?

Err, what? The vendors can live in their house between exchange and completion. Exchange is a commitment to buy on a certain date with a financial penalty if it doesn’t happen. It’s not an act that turfs out the vendor.

All the moves happen on completion day.

Most common is a week, I think. This gives time for legal and bank transfer tidying as required and means that the the cascade of money movements can start at 9am
on completion day instead of waiting for exchange first of all the various contracts.

28 days is pretty unreasonable OP.

From a legal standpoint, same day completion and exchange is the best possible case scenario for the OP who has 28 days to move regardless of when they complete, I'd bite the vendors arm off

But this isn’t the issue. OP wants to give notice to her landlord once she has exchanged and has a definite completion ie move date.

If she exchanges and completes two weeks apart, she will pay two weeks rent for somewhere she isn’t living; one week apart and she pays three weeks rent; four weeks apart and the dates line up with no double payments for her.

OP’s behaviour is reasonable considering only herself, but she need to compromise.

2 weeks is pretty standard. You might not be happy but that's not really their problem. From their perspective you want them to pay more money so you can move 2 weeks earlier.

OP not exchanging and completing on the same day is normal. An overlap of 2 weeks is standard. Just be clear you cannot do exchange and completion on the same day and hold firm.

Ultimately in the big scheme of a house move 2 weeks is nothing. It's an inconvenience to the seller if they have to move 2 weeks later than they would like, but its an expense to OP

It's unreasonable to expect someone to pay more money so you can move into a house 2 weeks earlier when you aren't the one taking on the expense of that.

No it isn’t

The vendor, for example, will have the cost of insuring their new property for an unnecessary extra 4 weeks and - although they are moving into an empty property which may imply probate or new build, the sellers of that property will have a need for the completion proceeds.

And there is the risk of the “limbo l” period - house burns down, if the sale is cos person moving to care home, they die eyv

So incorrect to say that the only extra cost is to Op - the rest of the chain has extra cost and risk if there is a delay

Do you know from the vendor they are annoyed, or have the agents told you they are annoyed?

Agents will always say they other party is annoyed, angry, furious, going to pull out etc, it's always bullshit, they'll just say anything to try to get the sale through ASAP.

At any rate, stick to your guns if it doesn't work for you.

Do two weeks that way you can have a leisurely move in

Exchange and complete on the same day has always been, and always will be, ridiculous.

But there's two parts to this scenario:

We have been clear throughout that we want to exchange on set date, but need to give 28 days notice on our rented home which we won’t put in until we’ve exchanged. Happy for some period of overlap like a couple of weeks but not the entire month.

Why the "set date" for Exchange? - is this dictated by your ability to release funds for the deposit?

Normally I'd assume the Vendor was being unreasonable, but here I'm wondering if you're wanting to have your cake and eat it by being picky over the exact date of Exchange and Completion.

we did this once. Total nightmare. We were the sellers and agreed to same day as the buyers wanted it and we were going to an empty house so didn't think it was a problem. The buyers let us down on the money transfer. Never ever again.

True. Ours tried to pressure us in a similar situation, even saying that the vendor would pull out.
OP, 2 weeks seem fair, I would say that is the earliest you can offer and that you expect the vendor to compromise as well.

You are being EXTREMELY unreasonable not exchanging contracts sooner.

It takes the worry out of the last few weeks - until contracts are exchanged you can pull out.

No you can't - exchanging the contracts isn't completing - you just can't pull out of the sale once exchanged.

@beanii I meant exchange, complete two weeks later. Then op will have a two week overlap on rental so can move in over the two weeks

At the end of the day you are so far along in the process now that if you pulled out because they are stamping their feet then they can’t move anyway. Their problems are not yours and sounds like you were upfront about this.
it’s expensive but if there is an overlap in rented and new house then you have time to get in new house and clean it,
decorate etc. and then ensure rented property if ready for move out inspection

“Their problems are not yours”

Yes, they are!

No one moves until the chain is complete. The problems of one link are the problems of all links.

And it may be the vendor’s vendor with a need to go quicker.

It depends on the chain really - we were a large chain and further down were threatening to pull out if we didn't complete so was very nerve wracking. I understand buyer wanting to save money on rent but could have cost everyone dearly if chain collapsed. Luckily it didn't and we moved 6 days before lockdown so glad we didn't agree to 4 weeks or it would have collapsed for sure. I hope this house move goes well and you love your new home.

If they are going to have to move all their stuff twice that is a massive inconvencience. But I dont really underatand if their onward property is vacant why they cant exhange and complete on their property when you do yours?

How did that work, can you exchange contracts without a set completion date? Is there a deadline for completion in case you delay it indefinitely?

2 weeks is meeting in the middle. We had to exchange and complete in the same day during COVID as that was the guidance at that time in case someone in the chain came down with COVID after exchange and would have been at risk of breaching the contract if they hadn't been able to move on completion due to isolating. It was a nightmare as we had all the risk of paying our removal company to load their van the day before without in knowing if we'd actually be moving the next day.

On the other hand your solicitor will advise not to have a long period between exchange and completion in case something catastrophic happens like a serious illness, the house being trashed or burning down, or redundancy, anything that could mean you can't keep to the contract and are liable for any delays or pulling out.

It’s a week since @housebuya posted this thread, surely there is an update by now?

I told them to ask the vendor for 2 weeks back. Are they really going to quibble over that?

And the bit between exchange and completion is a grey area as someone else has pointed out

Why do you think solicitors don't advise long completions?