House buying - a legal question please..

1198 · World Chat Champion Joined: 24 Jan 2013 Karma :

If buying a house at what stage do you become legally bound to purchase the place? Namely, if I'm being faffed around at the final stages (different dates, keeps being delayed for one (usually shit) reason or other, legally, when am I committed to purchase? I think I read it's only when contracts are exchanged (they haven't been there yet) that I could be sued if I pull out. I accept if I was to pull out now I'd lose my solicitors fees and the rest of it, but I was prepared to accept that would I be in breach of a contract?

Thanks all!

Aff · World Chat Champion Joined: 05 May 2011 Karma :

If in England, its when contracts are exchanged.
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Pete. · Super Spammer Joined: 22 Aug 2006 Karma :

Don't try it in Scotland though Very Happy

Is it a house you really want? Give them a deadline for exchanging and tell them once it's past you're walking.
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angryjonny · World Chat Champion Joined: 01 Sep 2006 Karma :

Sounds to me like it's already fallen-through. It's just that someone hasn't fessed up yet.

Wonko The Sane · World Chat Champion Joined: 20 Jan 2013 Karma :

The above is about correct

Best discussing with your solicitor however.

It may be worth threatening to reduce the offer if there is no progress by a set date, this might result in them kicking off and collapsing the sale for you.

As already stated, depends how much you want the house.
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Alpineandy · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2015 Karma :

The 10% deposit is paid at exchange.
Once paid you won't get that back.
So if you're prepared to lose that, then (as I understand it) your not fully committed until completion.
Obviously most sensible people aren't prepared to lose that much money, so people very rarely drop out after exchanging.
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Ste · Not Work Safe Joined: 01 Sep 2002 Karma :

Wonko The Sane · World Chat Champion Joined: 20 Jan 2013 Karma :

Ste · Not Work Safe Joined: 01 Sep 2002 Karma :

Your solicitors were provided by / recommended by the estate agent?

Tracey Suntan-King · World Chat Champion Joined: 10 Nov 2012 Karma :

This doesn't sound encouraging.

The following events really happened.......

Seller mucked about, delaying etc. Buyer really wanted house so pushed things as far as exchange. Buyer put down the required 10% deposit. Seller continued to piss about and would not set a completion date. Buyer had to go through onerous additional legal process of "serving notice to complete" to force purchase through.

The notice serving added extra costs, stress and, needless to say, time, to the whole process. Which took the shine right off the "new" house.

My instinct would be to try once to force the seller's hand and don't exchange until your sure the dilly-dallying tactics are over.

If you can't pin him down, walk away. There are other properties available.
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Diggs · World Chat Champion Joined: 03 Apr 2007 Karma :

Sounds a bit dubious to me. The Local Search should have revealed all 'conditional planning consents' and quoted planning application Nos. It is easy to go to the respective Local Authority website, enter those numbers and get copies of the relevant decision notices. Two minutes of a job. I bet the seller's solicitor isn't sure about the planning permission situation and wants to place the risk onto you, so your solicitor is naturally cautious.
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Alpineandy · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2015 Karma :

Suntan Sid · World Chat Champion Joined: 07 May 2009 Karma :

angryjonny · World Chat Champion Joined: 01 Sep 2006 Karma :

Alpineandy · World Chat Champion Joined: 18 Mar 2015 Karma :

angryjonny · World Chat Champion Joined: 01 Sep 2006 Karma :

New builds are a bit of an exception because the builder likes to lock you in ASAP. We PXed our existing house so essentially our sale and purchase both exchanged on the same day. Not sure I'd like to have exchanged on my purchase while the sale was still hanging, but people do.

In return you know the builder isn't going to gazump you. It only gets hairy if (as with us) your mortgage offer expires while they're still building.

Back on topic: there's clearly more to this story than is written in this thread but in my experience when odd delays keep coming for different reasons it's usually someone somewhere buying themselves some time after a disaster. Loss of buyer, loss of vendor, collapse in the price of their oil shares, whatever. The chain is starting to collapse. In my parents' case it was their buyers' "cash buyer" frantically trying and eventually failing to get a mortgage.

Wonko The Sane · World Chat Champion Joined: 20 Jan 2013 Karma :

dodsi · Dirty Carny Joined: 06 Aug 2004 Karma :

We took 6 months and 5 or 6 days to buy our flat from our landlords in a no-chain private transaction. Mainly down to their solicitors being absolutely useless prices.

Our mortgage offer expired and our lender didn't want to extend the offer but somehow the broker got them too in the 11th hour. This is why the 5 or 6 days is important to my fable.

House buying is the most fucked up thing? Yet the most expensive thing.