Buyers solicitor blocking sale- positive outcome vibes needed

[YourGoldMentor]

Our buyers solicitor is blocking the sale of our house, I believe because they have confused themselves with some terminology regarding a rentcharge company on our new build development.

We need action and the buyer to do this as its a problem with thier solicitor so we aren't able to influence the outcome.

Has anyone experienced something similar?
What was the outcome? Did it take long to resolve? Did the buyer end up buying?
Can they tell their solicitor to drop the last query as its not going to get resolved?

Frustrated as we can see the finish line, all other enquires, surveys etc sorted, last hurdle before exchange.

What have they confused themselves with? What is their reason for “blocking” and what do you actually mean by that?
Are they waiting for answers to questions?

you need to explain more to get any advice

I have no idea what the issue is, but surely you need your solicitor to negotiate with theirs and explain the issue / evidence from your pov ?

What does your solicitor say?

So blocking- their solicitor had told the buyer they can't sign of the last enquiry without 3 years of accounts from the managment company.

The problem is we pay money to a rentcharge company who are not a managment company and so don't legally have to provide 3 yrs of accounts. The rentcharge company have said no to the request. The solicitor has confused rdntcharge companies and managment companies.

Our solicitor is not helpful says they have chased the rentchargd company again, but their answer will still be no.

The solicitor may not be confused at all. The rent charge company might not legally have to provide 3 years accounts but the solicitor could be advising the buyer that it is prudent to look at 3 years to ensure finances are robust. They can’t obviously insist and the final decision to accept sits with the buyers but they can give advice - the buyers may have cold feet in the absence of the financial history. Your solicitor needs to liaise with the buyers solicitors to understand situation and whether the buyers will accept the position.

Is the rentcharge company registered at companies house? https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/companies-house If so there may be accounts on that site.

Is it a leasehold property?

No its freehold

There should be no need to provide accounts at all for a rent charge - just proof that it’s paid up to date should suffice. If the buyer’s solicitor still refuses to proceed, would the buyers be happy to agree to you paying for an indemnity policy (usually a small sum of money and worth it to save yourself the hassle and delays)?

Thankyou, yes possibly but what would we be indemnity policying against?

We have provided lots of evidence of payments.

The solicitor is advising, ultimately it’s the buyers decision. Can you speak directly with them or via the estate agent?

Yes we are going via the estate agent

Do you want to send the name of the rent charge company? Someone might be able to find it. All limited companies in the UK have to file accounts so it should be possible. They don't always include a P and L but they would show a balance sheet at least.

Could you just redeem the rentcharge (pay all future instalments due till the cutoff date of 2037 plus the admin charge - probably less than £300 - rather than do it the official way which could take ages), since it will cease to be collected in the next 10 (?) years anyway? I'm sure you've thought of this, but it might be the best way of arranging things so that the buyers don't have to worry about it.

My impression is there are only rare people who are actually well informed about these rent charges (I'm not one of them) and many of those are likely to be people who've got into a spot of bother with them and have frantically researched previous cases...even solicitors who work in areas in which they're common don't seem to know the ins and outs of them, still have outdated info on their site etc.

I agree with Valadon68, and look at the possibility of redeeming the rentcharge so that it is no longer an issue. The Uk gov website has more information on how to do this.

www.gov.uk/guidance/rentcharges#:~:text=A%20rentcharge%20is%20an%20annual,other%20interest%20in%20the%20property.