Chain collapsed- but our vendor STILL stringing us along. WWYD?

[faraday]

We're cashed up and renting.

We have had an accepted offer on a local house since July 7th. Vendors wouldn't commit to exchanging- til they'd gotten us all into a 4 long chain. We signed the contract 3 weeks ago at which stage we were told the vendors wanted a Sept 24th completion. Fine. We found out this chain had collapsed yesterday ('Told to us as 'Good news!' by their EA - on the basis the vendors would now rent! But THAT'S what they said to their EA the day they accepted our offer, 2 months ago).

We are wondering what's now holding up exchange seeing as there's no chain to satisfy anymore.. of course! The vendors are now going to fanny around LOOKING for a suitable renter, meanwhile refusing to exchange with us!

It strikes us that we are being taken for a ride. As it is, the EA (whom I find to be a patronising little git) just said the vendors were looking at a renter this Saturday and IF they take it, they'd exchange 'early next week' and complete 'in early November'. Thing is, we are also renting and OUR tenancy expires on Nov 22nd and we are NOT going to extend it for their convenience! We feel it's about time they wore some risk. We are prepared to say completion can be as late as Nov 15th (or earlier as we are prepared to write off some rent) but exchange may as well happen right now as if they leave finding a suitable renter MUCH longer, assuming it's one with a long 'lead time' their completion date will run past Nov 15th in which case we're out of the equation anyway!

I should add that house prices are holding here and suitable properties do sell 'on the day' BUT we have seen 3 come and go during this last period of fannying around since our offer was accepted!

I agree with your dh tbh and FAB.

Mm.

Part of me is with you all the way!

BUT the facts are, as I see it, in many ways, we have already worn the pain- hopefully next comes the gain. I DO kind of see it from their apparent point of view: They are sitting on what they know to be des res. They have 2 small DCs and are not au fait with the rental market and are understandably concerned about being effectively 'homeless' if they exchange then 'can't find a suitable rental property'. It is actually possible that the sale property WOULD go for a higher price were they to advertise it tomorrow- however, we hope they have now learned that yes, they MIGHT get a 'promise' of more money but the attached strings could well be a 10 long chain- having just been party to a 4 long one collapse and the pain therein. We feel but have no way of knowing that they need to sell (otherwise they wouldn't be keeping our part of the chain alive and be apparently prepared to rent to ensure our sale goes through). So I am feeling it would be risky to upset the apple cart right now seeing as -who knows?- they MAY just accept the renter they're looking at on Saturday and we get exchange next week, hooray! However, if, 3 weeks down the line, they're STILL mucking about looking at renters AND bearing in mind our own rental agreement deadline is looming, THEN I would be getting antsy and saying 'Yay or Nay, guys!' to them.

Calling their bluff right now could so EASILY result in them saying soddit to us, advertising and simultaneously finding the RIGHT renter thus presenting themselves to the new, perhaps pricier market as most definitely in a position to sell RIGHT NOW seeing as they'd now be committed to a 6 month lease and I believe they wouldn't be selling IF they could afford to pay rent AND a mortgage simultaneously!

i dont see that they have any motivation to go into a rental property.

if i had such a sellable house (as you say) , i would wait until i found the house i wanted to buy and then sell. and avoid all the renting crap.

i think its highly likely they will string you along till they have found somewhere to buy.

call their bluff or walk away.

Never bought a house but have offered to buy quite a few. Tend to agree. People either want to sell or they do not. Calling their bluff just makes them face up to the decision. Tend to agree with HerHonesty - they are surely looking to buy rather than rent. Most people have never had experience of renting a family home so feel very wary of it.

If you walk away today they will stil be trying to sell their house and it may bring them to their senses and you still have time to find another or renew your lease.

TBH I have never heard of anyone signing a contract and not having a date for completion write into it. Never heard of anyone signing a contract and not getting the other side to sign it smultaneously either. Your solicitor should surely have pushed for a simultaneous signing.

Fact is they have not sgned so there is no contract and they have made no commitment at all to you after all this time.

My feeling is that they wouldn't be bothering to even look at rental property unless they intended renting.

This is quite a small 'area', and I'd say 70-75% of the available sales stock is in the hands of one agent (the one who is 'selling' what we're trying to buy!) ; 15%ish in another agent's hands. We believe our vendors need to stay 'in catchment' same as us thus will need to keep dealing with these same 2 agents THUS perhaps, like us, know it wouldn't be clever to piss either of these agents off by outright lying or dodgy practice. I know it sounds ridiculous, pandering to EAs BUT that's the situation. When they control 90-odd% of the stock, it's good to have them onside.

If our vendors were playing silly buggers, I think the EA would know. The EA, after all, wants this sale to go through. Perhaps they've already told the vendors 'Look, it appears that you NEED to sell...' (I don't believe you willing sell in THIS climate, even in this catchment, for speculative reasons!)..'You've already had a chain collapse on you, I wouldn't be risking losing these cashed up, renting, chain free buyers who have been MORE than accommodating of your position'. And whilst it IS true they might get £5-10K more for the property now (seriously) the houses they want to buy will also be that much more. Possibly.

As for stringing us along, well, what we've done is tell them our final line in the sand for completion (Nov 15th) with exchange a month prior (so we can renew our rental contract if need be). BUT if they haven't found a renter in the next 2-3 weekends, we feel 100% justified in declaring ourselves back on the looking market, a situation our vendors can change by exchanging with us. BUT of course, IF they can't find a suitable renter IN 2-3 weeks we can then be pretty assured that they're not really trying and it's time for us to walk anyway.

They DO have a sellable house but OUR trump card, if you like, is our reasonableness and not being in a chain. It depends what price they put on that.

AND if another very likely 'contender' appears on Rightmove this weekend, I'd go and take a look!

Beta, signing the contract and exchanging it are 2 different things! And before our vendors swanned off on their 2 week holiday we'd left it that completion would be on Sept 24th but our solicitor was merely awaiting a FENSA certificate. Then they returned from the hol to find their chain had collapsed. Deal off. Except they are now saying they will rent and are looking at a property this w/e, apparently, in order to 'keep'us!

NO, they haven't made any commitment to us other than verbally. Which is how things are in the UK! You have no certainty whatsoever before exchange and of course you can end up hundreds of £ out of pocket if your vendor decides not to sell (another reason for sticking in there on the part of the buyer..)..

They have 2 young kids and have been in situ in this house for 7 years. I CAN see why they'd be very reluctant to risk 'having nowhere to go' IF they exchange with us prior to having somewhere lined up to move to either bought or rented.

And in our situation, there do seem to be a lot of us out here: cashed up and renting, just waiting to pounce when that one a fortnight property comes up! Owners DO hold 'the product'!

...actually, just reread my OP and I see how much I'VE changed my tune! From 'Bar-stewards! I'm NOT putting up with this ANYMORE!' to 'Well, I CAN sort of see their position..' da de da!

Me? Fickle?

I think your "reasonableness and not being in a chain" is actually in a bizarre way being seen as a weakness by your vendors. They know (because the EA has told them) you have no pressing deadline other than the end of your lease. If you were in a chain they and the EA would have more pressure to get on wth it.

One thing you could do is let it be known via the EA that you are now looking at other property. Perhaps put in offers on a few. That will focus their minds too - create a bit of a sense of race against other willing sellers to get to exchange. It puts pressure on the EA too to start putting pressure on them. That would allow you to use your 'waiting to pounce' positon to your advantage.

Hope it all works out. This house buying business is so stressful I dread having to do it one day - hence have been putting it off for 25 years.

I have already said to DH that I am wondering whether THIS house buying thing should be our last as I don't think I can stand the stress of it any more! As it is this MIGHT be 'the last house' as in the one we'll be in til the boys leave home- whenever THAT might be!

But it is what you might call The Third House along, in that no. 1 is your singles or newly together flat; no 2 is your starter home when the babies come along; no 3 is the one you buy when you 'need more space', although for us this will be the 3rd no. 3 house we buy (though the other 2 were abroad)! And to put it bluntly, it SHOULD tick enough bleedin' boxes for over a third of a million quid.....

And yes, I think what we will do is, after this weekend (so they at least get a chance to eyeball one renter!) begin at first to suggest we think they need to get a move on; then after next weekend (and possibly the following- depends how we're feeling!) say OK, we're officially back looking. I AM a bit surprised that they are APPARENTLY only looking at one renter this weekend seeing as WE found 8 between £600-£1000pcm, in catchment on Rightmove. However, we only know what the EA is telling us and we don't know HOW financially stretched the vendors are. But I do know that for us, with the only time pressure being 'in the catchment by Oct '09', we took 6 months to find 'the right renter' here when we started looking in Jan 09, though not very seriously: However, our minds were increasingly focused as we realised we had to pounce the minute 'the right place' came up!

And as I said before IF a very likely house comes up in the next few days I shall request a viewing. Only problem with that is you NEED to be on the EA's emailing list and whilst we can happily go on(or stay on!) the other local EA's lists, I'm not sure whether requesting to go on the vendor's EA's list again (we SEEMS to have dropped off that...) might send the wrong message too soon. And this EA holds about 75% of the local property!

Faraday I feel your pain we still haven't exchanged either - despite it being scheduled for 11th.

Now it will be next Friday at the very earliest .

I just wish that I was fitted with a fast forward button!!!!

quite honestly as abd says, they are treating you like mugs. get tough.