What would you do? Please help!

[0hshutupshirley]

So we are in a chain of 4 sets of people/ 3 properties. A couple buying ours (they're chain free) us moving to next house, those guys moving to top house in chain - those guys moving out to a property they already own. We were meant to be exchanging this week, completing 15th November.
Top of chain have said they want longer as they're going away on holiday and want longer to pack when they get back 🙄. Problem is our buyers are going nuts because they have already put their stuff in storage and they're effectively homeless - sofa surfing. We're trying to just be as accommodating as possible. But just now we've had a spanner thrown in the works of our vendors have apparently just had a specialist survey (why now FFS???) come back revealing a problem. They want to get quotes and negotiate the price of the place their buying downwards, which would mean getting a new mortgage offer apparently. I also think they're a bit deceitful if I'm honest. Lied about what they do for a living to make their job sound more important so that everyone would go with whatever dates THEY want.
So I'm really worried our buyers will pull out. Especially if it means being potentially homeless over Christmas. Plus like I said I don't really trust the sellers.
A property we offered on before (but got beaten to the market by a day!) has come back on market as their buyer had a change of financial circumstances and had mortgage offer withdrawn. These sellers are chain free and very motivated. We're thinking of contacting that EA and seeing whether we could buy searches and survey from the buyer that lost out. Thinking they might agree if their financial situation isn't great. And if we had all that it potentially could be pretty quick. We do really like both houses and could be happy in either. Neither is the DREAM house but if we took aspects from both and combined them.it could be 😁
WWYD? I really don't want to lose our buyer. If I'm honest the one we're currently in the chain with I think I like slightly more because the road is nicer. But the other house is bigger and they're only about a mile from each other.
Help and opinions very gratefully received.
Thank you

To be honest it was a bit stupid of your buyers to do that before exchange. We had similar, where they had booked a van before we'd even exchanged based on a theoretical completion date. Then they got pissed when it changed!

I don't think they'd pull.out though because surely they'll be sofa surfing even longer?!

Changing houses sounds like a faff and will take the same amount of time if not longer than your vendor situation to resolve.

The only other thing I can think of is completing with your buyers and going into a short term rental or staying with family.

So in your existing chain there are 2 weak links, and you are justifiably worried that your buyer might pull out if there’s any more delay?
I would tell your current vendors (or their agents) that you need an exchange by close of business Friday, failing which you will have to consider whether to proceed.
Then tell the agents for the new place that you are interested but need to go ahead very quickly with an exchange by x date and completion x days later.
Then see which seller is ready to exchange first.
If the new sellers are serious, they could get the paperwork to your solicitor in a day.
If you need to get a new mortgage offer, that’s what might cause a delay, so get on it quickly. You will incur extra costs going with the new seller but tbh it doesn’t sound as if your current chain is going to be ready an time soon, so it’s probably worth it.

I'm not too worried about the mortgage offer because we"re porting our current and increasing by max £40k (if we pay full asking price on the new one) which is about 6% LTV and our total LTV would be about 20% so I'm confident that wouldnt take more than a day or 2 to sort.
Nationwide - so we got our offer 2 days after we applied on the one that's got stuck.
The 2 houses at the top who are being difficult are both on with the same agent though so they'd be losing commission on 2 sales if our chain didn't complete. I realise the agent can't control what sellers do but they are presumably VERY motivated to try.

We could also - potentially, I haven't actually asked yet! - move into a house that a family member has just moved out of after inheriting another house. I think they would probably let us stay there for a limited time either rent free or very low rent. The problem is that they're getting work done so that would be held up while we're there. But we have 2 kids and 2 cats so short term rental elsewhere would be tricky for sure.

I think the biggest worry is that I don't really trust the vendor. After this last minute curve ball and the fact that they've lied about their profession to make their original reason for delaying sound more important. Yes I googled them 😬.

I think the first thing I'd do is ask about that house. Then at least you'll know!! You could also look around on airbnb etc for longer term rentals. Over winter you could be in luck!!

id ask about the paperwork the first buyers of the 'new' house, but will it hold water for anything if it was prepared for someone else & you needed to rely on it in the future?

best of luck x

How long will Nationwide keep your 'port' portion open for??

I'm not sure. 6 months I think so maybe 4.5 more? I did look and we'd have to pay an ERC if we couldn't complete on a new purchase within 180 days of the one we're selling. But the ERC is fairly small. About half a month's rent on a short term let.