Buyers trying to break chain.

[Greatrainplane]

Hi All, house selling has become a headache!!

We’re doing a big move across the country with kids.

We’ve just got the 3 month mark since all offers were accepted and the offer on ours was on the basis that we were in a chain and could take as much time as we needed. The chain is only three houses (chain free at each end). However, despite not being fully ready themselves the buyers have been pushing for 2 months for us to complete and move out. Every Friday we get a request with some reason why this should happen. They still need to issue a statement of truth regarding some access they’re worried about.

Our surveyor has been delayed so we haven’t yet had our survey back (due this week) and we had to renegotiate the purchase price on the onward move so we need a new contract and TR1. We’re waiting for the council to process school applications and our solicitor has made mistakes in some documents so they (and we) need to review everything.

Other than that everything has moved really quick and 3 months is pretty standard (especially considered quick with the pace of solicitors currently).

They announced a few weeks ago that she’s pregnant and they want to move in before the birth in early February. Our solicitor told them that wasn’t possible (and they hadn’t mentioned the pregnancy previously when negotiating). Now they’re saying she’s about to go on Mat leave, they’re mortgage offer ends next month and if they have to apply again they won’t get a good offer because she’s on Mat leave (??). We’re trying to find out the date their offer ends. They’re also saying exchange will secure their mortgage (??). Does this sound plausible or are they just trying to get their way?

We offered to exchange next week but they’re now pushing us to complete in 3 weeks. 5 weeks works better for us. In previous house moves we’ve always felt a bit bullied by this stage - should we hold our ground?

If we were to break the chain and complete the sale first we do have a potential option (family home to move in to temporarily) but it would cost us in storage and extra removal fees. Considering that we accepted their below asking price offer on the basis of the chain and having lots of time would you tell them only if they upped the price to cover this?

The school place issue needs to be separated from the move admin in your mind. It's difficult, but nothing in the chain is reliant on that.

Mortgage offers are time limited! If she going on Mat leave and taking some time off unpaid and maybe reducing her hours, it may well affect any new mortgage offer. Mortgage offers are based on annual salaries both could potentially come into play. To be honest who wants to move house with a new born, it’s bad enough moving whilst pregnant. at the 12 week mark I’d expect to be at the point of exchange if not completion. I’ve moved 3 times and on each occasion have completed by the 6 week mark.
The OP is using all the delaying tactics, like no school places, that’s not the buyers problem and most EA’s won’t consider school places until a new permanent address is confirmed!

School places are irrelevant in this! Most EA won’t offer a place until a new address is confirmed. You may actually find your children are actually out of school for a bit. My friend moved last September and her 12 year old only started his new school in January! Everything you say is not your buyers problem, you need to have this mistakes that may prove costly out with your solicitor! To be honest if I was buying your house I’d be royally pissed if now as you clearly are not at all bothered how long this is taking. Remember the phrase time is money and the more work your solicitor has to do, the more your bill will be!

The survey wasn’t booked straight away because the lender highlighted issues with the valuation and we spent weeks renegotiating the purchase price

This implies that actually offers weren’t exchanged with prices agreed in mid October as this happened afterwards for you and your purchase - ?

Again, this delay wasn’t the “fault” of your buyers but they wouldn’t have necessarily expected it.

I suggest recent contributors go back and read the posts more carefully!

Offers were agreed on October but our purchase price had to be revised after the valuation. School places are not reliant on exchange of contracts in the county we’re moving to and the head of the school has said they can guarantee places next week. Schools haven’t been mentioned to the buyers- their outstanding contracts and reliance on our solicitors to produce paperwork for them have been mentioned as reasons for delay though! We have been moving as quickly as possible. the buyers also scheduled a survey in December and so have hardly been rushing this through. Telling us at the 11th hour that they’re 8 months pregnant, their offer is running and the assurances that we would have “as much time” as we needed were bullshit is not our fault.

Everyone saying they completed in two weeks needs to have a word with themselves and get a grip! It’s been 3 months since offers were accepted. 3-6 months is totally normal for a house sale, and currently this is running up to 8+ months in some circumstances. Our buyers took 8 months just to make an offer on ours after accepting an offer on theirs! We’re ready to exchange next week and we can complete before their mortgage offer ends at the end of Feb. Completing in 2 weeks does not work for us or our sellers so we will be pushing to complete mid Feb!

Our buyers took 8 months just to make an offer on ours after accepting an offer on theirs!

Hang on - in your first post you said you were in a chain of three houses and it was chain free at either end. I took this to mean your buyers were FTB and your sellers were moving to eg a rented retirement flat.

If your buyers are also selling, how are you in a chain of three houses?

Realistically no buyer would say take as much time as you need , and mean it - You're basically giving someone carte blanche to dick around , so I don't believe that .
You have 2 options , refuse and stand firm but risk losing the sale or move out , it's your decision and yours alone , nobody can predict what the buyer will or won't do in these situations.

14/1 - They announced a few weeks ago that she’s pregnant and they want to move in before the birth in early February.

Reading your posts carefully, as you have exhorted us to do, then they cannot have told you she was 8 months pregnant at the 11th hour. It seems from this that they told you sometime in December. So, 7 months or 7 and a bit months.

For those saying about the mortgage offer and maternity leave - it does effect it - we bought a house when I was pregnant and it was clear the mortgage offer was for the wage I was earning and unless I had a maternity package of 100% of my wage, I would have to reapply with the lower amount or wait until I’d returned to work. Mortgage offers in principle are for the amount you are currently earning, not potential future income, even guaranteed income like post Mat leave wage. (there may be some companies that don’t run this system, but if the OPs buyer isn’t with one that doesn’t help).

@Greatrainplane - the rights and wrongs of this are irrelevant. If they cant be in the house before the baby is born you’ve lost that buyer. Make plans based on that. You may well have lost this buyer if you can’t complete in that time frame, will that lose you the house you want to buy?

@SheilaFentiman pedantic-much? OK, they told us at 7 and a bit months that she was pregnant, still the 11th hour and they STILL haven’t completed everything their side the be able to exchange!

And yes, we are a chain of 3. They took so long finding a house that after making an offer on ours they were forced to sell and move in with family. They are fully aware of the current pace of the housing market being the point, and having taken so long to find a house, it’s unlikely they were pull out based on having to wait an extra 2 weeks than is ideal for them, especially as there is a reason they particularly want our house.

We broke the chain because we had a good buyer who paid an extra £10k because she wanted to move quickly. We planned to move in DM for 2 weeks until our purchase. The week after we sold and moved into DMs tiny bungalow, our our purchase fell through.

We did end up finding a better home to move to but those 4 looong months living in a tiny bungalow were horrendous, I would not have broken the chain had we known this would happen.

@FancyBiscuitsLevel if they can’t be in the house by the time they want (I.e. have to wait a couple more weeks) why does that automatically mean we’ve lost the buyer? They were looking for a house for 8 months before they found ours - why are you so sure they’d willing by ku be back in that position? If they back out now they definitely lose their mortgage offer and the ability to move out of their parents house until after maternity leave.

For previous purchases we’ve made requests to complete by certain dates and haven’t been able to agree them - we compromised!

OP, thanks for the updates. It's great things are progressing and soon you'll exchange. Your EA was very unprofessional, glad she has been replaced. I think the buyers have more to lose if it falls through, so don't think that will happen.

Best wishes for the rest of the process, Hope you enjoy your new house soon.

The '3 month' thing hasnt been true for at least 10yrs unless no chain.
Your buyers solicitor should be able to confirm (to yours), via proof from their client, of the impending mortgage issues and their new baby.
Tell your EA that she's very much giving you the impression she works for them not you - that needs to change pronto. Remind her of the price compromise and that your buyers failed to disclose the pregnancy. NB: it's in her interest to tug your heart strings and get her commission asap.
It seems like you're being very accommodating re price and pushing things along at your end. Your buyers are not, they knocked you down on price and now stressing you out to move ASAP without full disclosure.
Take a few deep breaths and step back for a moment: how much do you want your new house? How much have you spent already and are you prepared to lose that?
Good luck.

Because if their mortgage offer is dependent on her income, they may not have a valid mortgage offer once she’s on maternity leave.

at exchange, even if you have an offer still valid for say another 4 months, your lender will often check again (some will check again on just before releasing funds if there’s a long gap). If your income has dropped- for example you are now on maternity leave, then you can lose your mortgage. You are told to call your lender and tell them of changes of circumstances /potential changes, and if your buyers are pushing like mad to be in before the baby comes, it could well be they’ve informed their lender they are expecting a baby and have been told their mortgage offer isn’t valid if she’s on maternity leave when the sale completes.

they might not be in this situation, they might just prefer for their own convenience to be in before the baby arrives than moving with a newborn, but you need to consider they aren’t being tricky, they might have to walk away if you can’t complete before she starts Mat leave.

I'm with you OP. Last time we moved, we had accepted the offer on ours on 2nd May, offered on another house ourselves within 2 week and completed 17th August. We,and our buyer did everything we could
Still had endless pressure from others in the chain saying that they would pull out etc.
I just stared them down.

Oh from what you’ve said, I think they are being difficult because they’ve finally through through and decided moving before the baby arrives not after would be easier (true), but there’s a chance they are pushing to be in as they could lose their mortgage. Worth prodding to check which it is.

also your estate agent might be under pressure to confirm commission by a certain date and is using their “nice to have” as a way to get the commission in on time.

Honestly, it sounds like your buyers are either taking the P or can't really afford this move. Getting your solicitor to do their documents!? These cheap online 'conveyancers' are not qualified solicitors and should be used with caution.
Some of these comments are unreal. Ignore them.
Sounds like you've got this on track now - well done. Hope the move goes well🙏

@FormidableMizzP thank you! Reading through other posts this group does seem quite anti-seller so despite the effort we’ve been putting in to get this over the line, for some it’s a forgone conclusion that we must be “playing the system” and screwing the buyers over in some way.

Their solicitor finally sent us the contract on Friday after push back from ours and it’s terribly written and sounds like they’re attempting a land grab of land with shared access with our lovely neighbours. We’ve had to go back with refinements to the text because it’s not representative of the situation- another delay!

At this point I would get on with it and just move, otherwise you could be back to square one completely, pay for storage for a couple of weeks and stay with family.

It’s not an anti seller thread - you started off by talking about your buyers as being bullying and manipulative.

And you can call me pedantic if you wish, but if you are going to moan about people not reading your updates, you really ought to be consistent across your posts.

Good luck. I’m out.

@SheilaFentiman you’re delightful!

you don't see motivated to move asap.

You don't sound in a rush to move. You sound like you're cruising along and mocking your buyer for being stressed about moving and her pregnancy?? Lovely! With all due respect, no one in the chain cares about your kids' school places, just as little as you care about her impending birth.

@Lavenderflower 26 phone calls to estate agents, solicitors and schools last week, school applications completed and confirmation of places last night, 9 emails to solicitor the week before and 15 to them this week, 4 calls to surveyor and 3 emails to surveyor over the last 3 weeks, cross-country visit to the house to measure-up last weekend and visits to 3 schools (and an expensive overnight stay in a hotel for the family), review of survey and 4 follow-up emails this week plus 3 evenings of staying up until 1am to review all documents again yo make sure all documents are correct after finding errors, 6 visits arranged and conducted with removal companies and 6 follow up emails to confirm removal company and review of t&c’s, arranged company before Christmas to visit last week to remove all electrical items we’re taking with us, spent the last 8 weeks clearing out the garage, 3 lofts, understairs cupboards, multiple tip runs and visits to charity shops to donate.

This is just what we’ve been doing over the last few weeks but we’ve been working at this pace since we accepted their offer because of the pressure they’ve been putting us under, all whilst working full time on demanding roles and looking after 2 children.

We’re moving our lives and the children across the country. The paperwork has to be correct, and we’re asking that we move 2 weeks later than they’ve asked for which fits in with their mortgage offer. I don’t think that’s a lot to ask considering the stops we’ve pulled out to accomodate them this far after being given reassurance there was no rush.

“you don’t seem motivated to move asap” is a rather flippant comment to make when you’re not privy to the enormous effort we’re going to to get this sale completed.