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!

Yes, it does. But if your buyer's mortgage offer will expire while you're waiting for it to be resolved, and they can't afford an offer at new rates, you have to decide whether you'll take the hit and find a solution or tell them it's their problem.

The OP may not wish to lose their buyer, at which point she'll have to find a solution. If she doesn't mind losing her buyer, then it's totally their problem.

So tell your solicitor thats what's happening, non negotiable.
Don't loose your sale.
you are moving into something that's empty so what's the problem there?
If necessary then put your things in storage and take a holiday let, a pub with rooms, a yurt.... TBH it's much easier not to complete and move on the same day, I never do.

Respect your buyers.

People should never hand in their notice on a rental until they had exchanged. There are such a lot of third parties involved in a conveyancing transaction which means that exchange and completion dates cannot be predicted. While your transaction has taken a few months, it is often these third parties that delay proceedings and the buyer should have been aware (and advised by their solicitor), that handing in their notice when exchange had not taken place, was a very silly thing to do and totally of their own making and up to them to sort out how they are going to manage this.

Unless the OP doing that means she'll lose her buyer. It's not always black and white.

The estate agent would say that you should agree - they want their commission asap.

It depends how desperate you are not to lose these buyers. However I’d be saying no, I’ll exchange when things are ready on the new house and not before.

As for asking you to cover their extra rent, what CFs.

They haven't, they are pushing OP to complete as they are rightly frustrated.

I didn’t know we were under such time pressure until last week when the estate agent passed along a shirty email from them.

So you haven't discussed any time frames (even in your own head), asked, set, chatted about....how do you envisage this working then? just wondering along in a bubble until somebody gives you a date? no wonder your buyers have given you an ultimatum.

It’s their problem to fix, don’t listen to the Estate Agent, in my experience once they have found a buyer they seem to forget who’s paying their fees.

We were told they hope to move by end of August initially , we agreed and worked to that timeline but we didn’t know they would go ahead and hand in their notice to their landlord.
A boundary issue has cropped up with the empty house, we were assured this would not cause delays, but lo and behold it has.

Just to add, we don’t want to lose the buyer but if they can’t wait any longer, we are confident we will find another buyer quickly. The type of house we live in is usually in demand from first time buyers.

DH thinks we should go ahead and exchange contracts with them next week on the basis that everything will work out fine , and if push comes to shove we can find a caravan - all of us, the pets and working from home in a caravan for an indefinite period, yikes!!

In this market I would go ahead and sell your house asap. It will be hard to find a buyer and being in a chain risks it all falling apart very easily

Good point about the mortgage offer, it came through mid- May

So you hand a timeline, so what’s the surprise? If you were them how would you feel?

I agree with DH. Just sort it out and deal with temporary accommodation if you need to. No Yikes, no drama.

its up to you to manage the solicitors. Unexpected boundary dispute ok, not planned for but please don’t shrug your shoulders and say “not my fault”. If you want to move you need to deal with situations like this practically. It’s rude and disrespectful to everyone else involved not to.

You should have been chasing along your purchase and keeping the buyers informed when it became clear August wasn’t an option. So I can see why they are annoyed and if their mortgage offer is expiring that’ll complicate it.

But you are where you are. I wouldn’t exchange on the sale because what if the purchase takes ages or falls through? I’d go back to your agent and ask them to find out what the buyers main issue is to see if you can compensate them to wait (eg if they need to renew their mortgage offer or put their stuff in storage). And then I’d speak to your solicitor to ask what the issue is with your purchase, a timeline and that they really try to pull out all the stops to get it over the line asap.

1. Do not listen to your agent. They have no one’s interest at play apart from their own.
2. Find out exactly what the boundary issue is from your solicitor, what action has been taken so far and what they need to resolve it. If it’s a LR issue get the details from your solicitor (I mean the reference number - if they don’t have it tell them to obtain it from the vendors solicitor and give it to you) then chase the LR directly and ask your seller to do the same.
3. Check the MO of your buyer and yours. If you have an ERC this will only be waived if you simultaneously complete on your onward and if you need that waived you may not have sufficient funds if you complete on your purchase if you complete on your sale first.
4. Make sure there is nothing pending but your boundary issue so you can proceed quickly. You have 3 weeks so it can be done for the end of the month.
5. The buyers rental issue is not your concern - they should have been advised not to hand in their notice until they were ready to exchange. Do not agree to cover their rent either.
6. If they are FTB they are just trying to save money and push for more - you need to be firm but fair - just push it back onto the solicitors to deal with.
7. Ensure you are aware of all the details pending and tell your agent they need to contact your solicitor for updates.
8. Don’t chase your solicitor daily this is unnecessary and won’t make anything go quicker. Outline the timeframes you need and the urgency and an update a few times a week or at the beginning and end of the week is sufficient. You are not their only client.

Good luck!

@MrsDiamonds If August was the last agreed timeline with no further updates given to the buyers, I can completely understand their urgency.
They will have made plans around this timeframe

The thing is, if you say no, they are likely to need to get a rental for a few months. Chances are they’ll ask for a contribution. Worst case scenario, they might have to take a 6 month rental in which case they’d probably start thinking about putting an offer in on something completely chain free. Basically they might pull out completely. So I think it comes down to how much you want to keep this sale.

In the current market unless you’ve got a queue of cash buyers I would definitely consider either moving into a rental/ in with family myself for a few weeks or making a contribution to their rent.

The buyer has handed in their notice. They are pushing OP because their notice period is ending shortly so they are frustrated because they've assumed they could complete when they thought. Now they find out that there is a problem with a boundary issue, which is the main reason this is delayed. That does happen in transactions occasionally, which is why the buyer shouldn't have gone ahead and handed in their notice, without taking the advice of their solicitor first.

This.

What if you had been made redundant? What if they had? What if someone got ill? They are stupid for handing in their notice before exchange. They’ve created a problem and are now trying to pass it up to you.

They’ll be homeless regardless if you couldn’t move out in time!

My point is they almost certainly haven't. They have said that to OP because they are exasperated. They want her to react, which she finally has done in her head and posted here, let's see if she takes any action.

Do not make their problem your problem

do not be pushed around

In principle I agree, however when somebody is in the wrong, which OP is here, then she needs to step up, acknowledge that and respect the other people involved. Or pull out and stop messing her buyer around.

"My point is they almost certainly haven't"

I'm sorry, but exactly what haven't they done?

If you are referring to the buyer not handing in their notice, then read the thread. OP has said twice that the buyer has handed in their notice to their landlord.

@Nerdippy , yes and "when somebody is in the wrong, which OP is here, then she needs to step up"?

Not sure what op has done wrong here; she's just had the misfortune to choose a house with unexpected boundary issues. Her buyers have jumped the gun on giving notice on their tenancy before it was clear and confirmed that others in the chain were all ready to complete. The house moving process should not rely on one party making themselves homeless to ensure success - there has to be a bit of flexibility and pragmatism from all parties.

"We were told they hope to move by end of August initially , we agreed and worked to that timeline"

The buyer has added an extra month by giving notice to leave the rental at the end of September. I think thats pretty reasonable.

"For some reason they have jumped the gun and handed in their notice"

They really haven't OP, they gave notice for a month later than the timeline you agreed to work to which was end Aug ? I think you should offer to pay their rent if it now spills into October. Keeping things moving forward in a difficult housing market needs a bit of flexibility. They have already given you that with an extra 4 weeks to be fair.