Our house saga

[jenniren]

We met a builder at the bungalow last Wednesday as planned which was interesting, he said the surveyors report did make some aspects sound a bit worse than they actually are, but there is still quite a bit of work needed. Altogether the necessary repairs/making good work would cost approx £6000. Of course that's on top of needing a new kitchen and bathroom so a considerable extra expense. Not ideal, but doable. We decided there was no point in negotiating at that stage as we were still unsure how far forward the sellers and their solicitors had progressed.

Now the not so good bit, we have always been very clear with the owners of the bungalow about our timeframe and indeed agreed the price dependent on them pushing things through to tie in with our sale. In spite of being assured they were on track, unbelievably we learnt on Thursday they had only just that day applied for searches on their onward purchase, a delay of 4 weeks. Honestly we're beyond annoyed No surprise our hissy fit buyers issued an ultimatum which we understood was for Friday next week but got home last night to find an e-mail from our solicitor telling us it's exchange by close of play this Monday or the deal is off

It's now obvious we can't tie the two exchanges in together so reluctantly we've agreed to go ahead with our sale. Might just as well keep our buyers (through gritted teeth) rather than have to start from scratch, it was never going to be easy relocating so far. No point finding ourselves in the same situation again, a bird in the hand and all that. They've asked for completion on 19 September so I'm going to try and push it a further week to give us a little more time, if not it looks like we could be homeless in 5 weeks time, it will be extremely tight.

Much as it goes against the grain we now feel we must instruct our solicitor to issue an ultimatum to the sellers as soon as the exchange on ours is done. Tbh I think we're more likely to have to arrange alternative accommodation, best case scenario 2/3 weeks, worst case a 6 month rental and begin searching again. Oh well my advice to the family over the years in matters like this has always been 'what is is best' so will have to keep reminding myself of that every time the phone goes and I feel my stress levels rising.

[miasmum]

I swear we should adopt the Scottish legal system for house buying, once you have made an offer, that is a legal contract and no going back.

Hope it gets sorted Jen

Feel for you x

[TheOstrich]

Not easy, is it, this house move business .....

We finished up with a six months rental when we moved up here to Birmingham, but for a slightly different reason. We had to have a local address, fast, to get Master O into school .... In the event our house down south never sold privately, despite being on the market for 9 months and us reducing the price, so we eventually finished up part exchanging it against a new one up here.

Hope it all works out for you, Jen.

[saundra]

what a mess jen i like you would be spitting feathers
at least if you sell your house and rent for 6 months you might find a property
that is more suitable
a query from me
if you buy a house can you say i want to complete in say 3 months or no deal
or isent that allowed
your sellers of the bungalow seem a bit slow to say the least
you and osc both seem in the same boat good luck
im no further along in my quest to move either
im tempted to go private rental
but you dont have the security with that we will see

[jenniren]

if you buy a house can you say i want to complete in say 3 months or no deal
or isent that allowed

You can say it Saundra, but until an exchange takes place it's not binding. The only redress you have is to pull out of the deal. Obviously we will be giving our sellers an ultimatum, whether they choose to call our bluff is anyone's guess at this stage, it will depend how much they want their onward purchase.

[Osc]

Oh Jen it's a flipping nightmare isn't it We could be homeless in two weeks or so due to the flooding of Miss Osc's house. We issued an ultimatum to our buyers - it's not them but their solicitor. That went right down to the wire yesterday and still not certain until Miss Osc sees the contract on Monday. At least we are not buying.

[tonicha]

Why is it so difficult, this house buying/selling process? I feel for you Jen - and Osc.

Over here, you agree the amount, sign a promissary contract and hand over the deposit. At that time, you agree on the moving date and that is all in the contract and legally binding.

Much easier - you just have to get a buyer

[Kaz]

Jen, my heart goes out to you. Moving is always such a nightmare, we've done it several times in the last ten years and it never seems to be straightforward

You know if push comes to shove a rental short term might not be such an awful thing, in fact Mick and I wish we'd taken that option when we first moved back here to Gloucester five years ago as we rushed into the wrong house at the time through time pressures, then regretted it and spent almost two years trying to offload it

Whatever happens, I hope it happens for the best, and am sure with your positive attitude it will (((((((((((((((((x)))))))))))))))))))))))

[Weka]

What a nightmare. I really don't understand how such a system can even have come about. we are legally binding here too, from the moment you put in the offer, as if it is accepted, that's it. it's on. and unless one of the conditions you have stated are not met, there is no way out.

the recent trend here is to put things up for auction. there is zero checking time available. you have to be an unconditional buyer at the time of the auction, and if you win the house, then it is yours. very high pressure. we bought this house at an auction, as there was no way around it, and as much as I refused auctions, i had no choice. I think our government needs to ban auctions. from offer to move in day, can be as little as 2 weeks, 6 weeks are standard. 8 weeks is unusually long.



I really hope the ultimatums work, I hear that so often, and wonder if anyone ever does the completion before they are pushed. I hope it happens soon for you.

[meriad]

I also don't understand why the house buying / selling business here in the UK seems to be so backwards.

I also think that the onus of doing the searches etc should be on the seller of the house, so you only have to pay out one set of fees for searches, ie the searches on your house. Then the solicitor of any buyer can get a copy of that search for free from your solicitor. Not only would that expedite the process but also prevent any potential buyer from having to pay for more than one search if a sale falls through (does that makes sense?)