Advice needed - pressure to exchange on our sale next week

[MrsDiamonds]

Hi everyone, really hoping for some advice.

We accepted an offer on our house back in April. They are living in rented at the moment. For some reason they have jumped the gun and handed in their notice to their landlord and have to be out by the end of the month. They want us to exchange contracts next week and complete by the end of the month, even though our onwards purchase is not ready for exchange yet.

We told them it won’t be possible as we have nowhere to go. They have now asked us to exchange contracts next week and complete in mid October, regardless of whether our onwards purchase is ready. They have asked we cover their extra months rent as they don’t have it apparently.

The estate agent told me we should agree to this, as it should give us enough time to find a rental should there be any delays with the property we are buying.

We were wanting to buy and sell simultaneously and not have to find a rental in between, it’s easier said than done in my area!

They could go in an air bnb for a couple of weeks. They could also back out although they wouldn’t another house by the end of the month.
I would try and speed up my onward purchase and suggest they had an Airbnb for a couple of weeks and if necessary I would have one for a week.

If the offer was accepted in April I would have expected to have exchanged by now or be very close. 12-16 weeks from offer to completion ideally.

They made their offer six months ago, they have been more than patient at this point.

April was 4 months ago and chain are taking longer to get up and running at the moment so I don’t think it’s outrageous. Where are you with your purchase? Can you suggest an alternative date?

Well no, you’re not in the wrong. You can’t control your onward purchase.

i have no idea why they’ve handed their notice in at all and why they’re saying they can’t afford it, makes no sense 🤷‍♀️ they’re currently paying for it, they’re not paying double by paying a mortgage on yours at the same time, they should just have rolled their contract over month to month until the whole chain was ready.

Your agent works for you, why on earth are they attempting to pressure you to move into rented ?!? Obviously you say no to that or you’re going to be getting a six month let !!

The couple below you are in the wrong, their problem !

It doesn't matter that they've given notice, they can stay in the rental and carry on paying rent there. Their landlord won't be able to evict them.

if you could control the completion date, great, everyone would be happy, but as it is you can’t (nobody can) and so potentially someone might have to find temporary accommodation. Why should that be you and not them? You didn’t create their rental deadline, they did!

I would take this to your solicitor to deal with. I had similar from my buyers (who, to be fair, also waited a long time, but I couldn’t control that) I spoke to my solicitor and they sent an email to the buyers solicitor confirming that everyone was doing their jobs and moving things along as far as possible, but that we have no control over completion dates so the process will have to take as long as it takes. They didn’t ask again.

unfortunately when a sale takes a long time you do risk the buyer getting fed up and pulling out, but they’d then be back at square one and could face just as long a wait with another property, so they do have a strong incentive to stick it out in your chain

October will be 6 months since their offer was accepted. If I was in rented and ready to move and the house I had put an offer in for was not available 6 months after, with basically no fixed date by which it would be I would walk away, tbh.

Why can’t you exchange and complete by the end of the month?

How close are you to exchange with your onward purchase - it sounds like you are nowhere near if you can't even imagine getting it in place for mid-October.

Whilst they are daft to have handed their notice in and their point about not being able to afford the rent makes zero sense, I can have sympathy for their frustration if nothing seems to be moving with your purchase.

Be Jase the onward purchase isn’t ready to exchange

@MrsDiamonds without any further context, I don't blame your buyers for wanting to speed up the process, it's been months with no exchange, I would be itching to get to exchange and completion.

I would urge you to get clarity and timelines from the people you are buying from. Sounds like you need to pushing them.

Having said that, this is a problem of their own making unless their was an agreement that this would be done and dusted in 6 months

Bear in mind that your buyer's mortgage offer may be about to expire if they've had it for 6 months - and that mortgage rates are rising so it may cost them more when they try for a new deal. I think it's possible to get one short extension but this may be what's worrying them and why they're looking for completion mid October.

Our solicitor thinks we should be able to exchange and complete on the house we are moving in to by the end of the month but they can’t guarantee it.

If we go ahead and exchange contracts next week, and our onward sale is not ready in time, we will be homeless.

There really aren’t any Air BnBs in my area when you factor in the pets and the children’s school and our work. It’s not feasible. Not to mention too much risk if our seller were to pull out.

I don’t know why the buyers gave in their notice, perhaps it’s just a pressure tactic. And I have no idea why they would ask us to contribute towards their rent, perhaps to sweeten the deal as they have waited so long? Not sure

From their perspective we changed our minds on the house we were buying 8 weeks after accepting their offer.
From our perspective we had to pull out of the first house, as the seller had not found their onward purchase. We then chose an empty property to speed along the sale!
I hoped the estate agent would have kept the buyers in the loop, and I didn’t know we were under such time pressure until last week when the estate agent passed along a shirty email from them.

It's not remotely shitty to be fed up that you have been waiting 5 months to exchange, plus their mortgage offer may be about to expire! They are fed up of waiting and understandably so. Why is your purchase on an empty property taking so long? Why would you not be able to exchange at the end of the month? To be honest I'd be pushing your solicitor to get completion by the end of the month for the house you are buying and getting a move on for your buyers. I wouldn't blame your buyers for walking away in despair to be honest.

We had all this after nearly a year from going on the market. Sold ours 3 times in the end! But onward was the same. We ended up exchanging on the Thursday and moving on the Friday after being told it can all happen on the Wednesday! All in the same week. It can happen really fast. We had deadlines from sellers below ours. Any decent solicitor won’t exchange until the whole chain is ready. And they still have to have your go ahead. Have faith. If we hadn’t had moved when we did we would have been looking at another 4 weeks at least due to what was expiring.

You need to find out what the delay is with the empty property and try to push it forward not just 'let it happen'. I sold an empty property earlier in the year - it took 10 weeks from going onto the market to completion and the buyer moved in at the start of week 11. My solicitor was on it as she knew the buyers were in rented and that I was paying for insurance and utilities on an empty property so moved it along. Even the searches were fast!

We're actually in a similar position - we've agreed to try to complete with our FTBs on 23rd Sept but our purchase of an unoccupied property is still up in the air due to a problem with the deeds needing to be amended by land registry (don't ask me, I've currently no idea what this about or how serious it might be, willbe hopefully finding out next week). Its a scary position; our buyer's tenancy finishes on 25th so not alot of leeway. Our total timescales are much shorter, however, with offers accepted both ways mid-June so if push comes to shove, I suppose we will have to talk to our buyers and see what we can sort as they decided to give their notice very early.

Completely understand that you prefer to buy and sell simultaneously but five months is quite a while for your purchaser to wait.

What is the market like in your location, how likely are you to receive another offer, if they drop out now ?

if things are dragging on for your purchase of an empty property, could they be waiting for probate ?

Agree with this, but also wondering what is holding up your completion on your own new property if it's empty.

Are you willing to lose them completely if their mortgage offer expires and they can't afford whatever they're next offered?

Six months is a long time to wait. You've had plenty of time to sort out the empty property purchase. What exactly is the hold up at your end? Your solicitor must have told you why they aren't certain you can exchange / complete yet.

There seems to be little sympathy for the op in this thread but, honestly, hold ups can occur for reasons which are nothing to do with the buyer's slowness or whatever. Our purchase of an unoccupied property is being held up due to an issue with the deeds which has to be sorted by Land Registry; this only came to light apparently after our survey and searches. No one seems able to tell us when this might be resolved. We actually accepted the offer on our property on the same day as our offer on our forward purchase was accepted - our sale has been straightforward but unfortunately, our purchase has turned out not to be. Shit happens, as they say.

(1) what is the delay with the property you are buying, if it is already empty?
(2) I can understand their frustration, if their mortgage offer (likely at a lower rate than current offers) is about to expire.

You may find you lose your buyer. If you are prepared to take the risk and the Local market is strong then, it is up to you what you do. If, however, the market is slow and you need to move then I would probably try and meet them half way or expedite your own purchase. 5 months is a long time to wait, with no progress so I can understand their frustration. Equally, if there are legitimate reasons for your slow purchase it is up to you how to proceed.

Personally I would say it’s their own problem and they’ll have to stay with friends/family. Why on earth would you cover their rent, when you’ve not confirmed an exchange date with them. The estate agent will say to do it because they won’t get their commission until the sale completes and this helps that happen.