Should we complete our purchase before selling our current house?

[KrankyKumquat]

We're in the very fortunate position of being able to buy our next house with cash. Our current house is SSTC, local searches are due back mid-Sept, with our FTB wanting to exchange and complete a week later. This doesn't work for us due to the lack of time to confirm a moving date with our removers. We also have a holiday booked for early October so time is very tight and might get even tighter if there's a delay with the searches and follow-up.

We're beginning to think we could complete and move into our onward purchase before completing on our sale. We can cover the costs, including the substantial extra stamp duty. But it feels very risky. Our buyer may pull out (feels quite unlikely but you never know), or use their position to gazunder (again, no evidence to suggest they'd do this but always a risk). There would also be extra costs - utilities for 2 houses, insurance, council tax which would really add up if things ended up dragging on for more than a month or two.

Alternatively, we could insist on a completion date for sometime after 19th October after our holiday. Buyer is in rented, contract ends 25th Sept so not sure what they'd do, but is this our problem to solve? Our onward house is empty - buyer has bought and moved on. They aren't exerting loads of pressure but wanted us to complete in August and not sure how they'd react to a late October date.

It's hell of a dilemma which we need to figure out pretty quickly as we will be discussing next steps with our solicitor next week. What are people's thoughts or similar experiences?

I’d speak to the removers. Last time I moved we had a week between exchange and completion, and the removers were happy to take a provisional booking, confirmed on exchange of contracts.

@SoManyTshirts
Yes, good idea. As someone who can hardly think of a worse job than being in removals, i have just assumed that our company would need more than a week's notice after exchange but maybe not.

My mum lost her buyer at the last minute due to a gap in renting coming about through her inflexibility / awkwardness with moving date. That was the excuse they gave, but they probably were having second thoughts any way. If you can afford to, I wouldn’t give them any reason to act on those second thoughts.

Removal companies deal with this all the time. You actually need to get a provisional booking with them NOW or they may all be booked up and unable to move you when you require.

Having said that, yes there is risk but I'd get on with it if you are in a position to do so. Worst case is your sale falls through and it goes back on the market. You don't loose your purchase and you don't muck your buyer or seller around.

Not sure why the local searches will be back mid September, they should only take a few days.

You are making it very easy for your FTB, so no, don't accept any negotiation now, they should be thankful for a dream scenario such as this.

I don't see any dilemmas OP. You are making this into an issue when there are many solutions that work, and make it easy, for everyone involved.

We did this! We were also doing it from abroad. We ended up exchanging/completing on the same day - mostly due to the logistics of booking an international removal.

Don't forget that once your sale completes you can claim back the additional stamp duty that you will pay if you end up buying before you sell.

@Tortephant
The date of 17th Sept for searches back was given to us Friday by our EA who spoke to buyer's solicitor; we were surprised it's so long too. Up till then, we'd had no update on where they were up to, following a survey mid-July. They're an online conveyancing company and have been slow throughout so maybe this is just how they roll! My worry is that they'll be equally slow completing their report and doing any follow up.

It would definitely suit us to complete our purchase first. We could then move any day to suit our removers (we're already signed up with them) - at the moment, we don't even know what would be the provisional date as on balance 25th seems pretty overly optimistic.

@AppleButterGutter yes, we've factored in that we'd get the extra stamp duty back if we sold in 3 years. It'll just be a bit tight while this happens- the difference is over £20k!

I would tie in your sale and purchase if at all possible.