HELP! Chain about to collapse!

[Mummyto4WM]

Hi, Can anyone shed any light on this please? I fear our chain is about to collapse. This has been going on since March, and we believed the chain was ready for exchange 2 weeks ago but on the day of exchange our buyer stalls.

Today, days before we were supposed to be completing we recieved the following:

“I have just called [the bank] again and they have advised that they cannot fax over any correspondence to us as it is a closed file so there is nothing to reference the letter against. She confirmed that the referral to remove the charge has been approved so should be submitted in the next couple of days and once it has been submitted, we will receive a letter in the post. Once the discharge application is showing on the Land Registry Day List, we will be able to exchange. I know it is not the news that your client wants to hear but I have tried my best to get something in writing. We cannot proceed on verbal confirmation as I am sure you can appreciate.

Further to my previous email I have spoken with the Estate Agents who have advised if we don’t exchange today then the bottom of the chain will be withdrawing. The only way we would be in a position to exchange would be to remove the charge from our replies to requisitions as we cannot give an undertaking for this to be removed on a verbal conversation with [the bank]. Please confirm if you are happy to proceed on this basis and if so, I will send over updated replies to requisitions.”

As you will appreciate I cannot exchange without the TA13 undertaking from my seller solicitor that the charge will be removed. We still hope to work towards completion on the 30th September.

Will let you know as soon as I hear further”

Does anyone know what all this means, and what we should be doing? It's all so confusing and our solicitor sent this at 5.29pm today and now we can't get hold of them, as it's closed!

TIA

Sorry OP, I’m a bit tired so apologies if I’ve read this wrong.

So you are buying and selling a property and your solicitor has forwarded you an email from the sellers solicitor of the property you are buying. It sounds like there is an old charge still on the property you are buying (common in probate properties) that has been paid off but never removed from the title deeds. The sellers solicitor is saying that the bank have verbally confirmed the charge can be removed and will send over the paperwork in their own sweet time asap. The sellers solicitor is not willing to give an undertaking as they will be liable to pay the charge if the bank has missed something and refuse to remove it and your solicitor is equally unwilling to proceed without the undertaking as it would leave them/you liable for paying the charge instead. So it’s a stalemate but neither party are wrong. You just need to wait for the sellers solicitor to confirm they have everything from the bank and are able to give the undertaking.

The bottom of the chain (are these your buyers?) are just panicking and trying to push the chain into exchange so they can secure the 30th for completion, order mortgage funds, book removals etc. Your solicitor needs to speak to the estate agent and explain the situation clearly and that their hands are tied. No estate agent will support a collapse of a chain that’s been going on since March for the sake of maybe a week’s delay. Obviously the bottom of the chain could be completely unreasonable and go against everyone’s advice and pull out but I think it’s unlikely. It’s not much to be waiting for and will probably come in this week.

Completion on the 30th will rely on everyone ordering mortgage funds in time (usually need 5 working days) and I think it would be more realistic to aim for the following Friday for completion.

@Nosleepforthismum thank you so much for making sense of it all. I dont know whether I'm tired or emotional after what feels like the longest journey with this purchase, or I was just confused and clueless.

It's actually top of the chain and my sellers having this exchange in communication. That filtered down to me and my buyers today.

It's a total mess as we were promised exchange on the 13th. Howevrr, on the 13th, top of the chain stated "we are waiting on a response from the bank, and will be in a position to exchange on the 17th. So my partner exchanged on his property on the 13th with a completion on the 30th.

Now we are in a mess with him needing to move his stuff into storage for a week, if things are delayed from the 30th. My buyers are annoyed as they stated they've ordered Internet, new beds and carpets to be delivered on the week of the 30th and are panicking themselves. But they are threatening to pull out but you're right, we shouldn't panic.

Thank you!

Ah okay. What a pain! Sorry, the only thing I will say is this should have been dealt with much earlier in the transaction but that’s the top of the chains fault and nothing your solicitor would have known about.

You could call your solicitor tomorrow and see if everyone is willing to order mortgage funds for completion for the 30th anyway with a view to exchange as soon as this document comes in. However, it’s a gamble and relies entirely on the top of the chain being truthful about how ready they are. Obviously the date is not secured until exchange (you can simultaneously exchange and complete on the same day) but the risk is that everyone gets removals organised for the 30th and it doesn’t happen for whatever reason.

The other option is to play hardball with your sellers and suggest they break the chain as it’s their sellers who are holding everything up. So they could exchange with you and the rest of the chain down and they accept they will have to move into temporary accommodation if their sellers can’t complete by the 30th.

I’d definitely at least suggest the latter as you can honestly say that the chain may collapse altogether if the 30th can’t be achieved for completion and hopefully your sellers will acknowledge that this is their problem to solve.

Good luck anyway! It’s so stressful buying and selling as you are entirely at the mercy of whoever is in the chain.

How are things looking @Mummyto4WM ?

@Nosleepforthismum - thank you so much! We played hard ball and requested politely that our sellers broke the chain. And on the 25th, almost by magic we exchanged!! Thank you so much, for your advice

@Brobdingnagian - we exchanged. And currently packing, removal van booked. Monday we will move into our dream house! It's finally happening after 6 months!

Yay! Glad it all moved along without any extra stress or delays.