Completion Date Advice

S

Seabiscuit

Registered User
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Hi all, just wondering if anyone can offer any advise regarding the situation that I am currently in. I have recently bought a new house in Portmarnock and have sold my old
property accordingly. The completion date for the new house was initially provided to me as circa Sept/Oct by the new homes department of the estate agent. With this knowledge I agreed a closing date on the sale of my old house to be 1st Oct, which is actually through the same estate agent. After visiting the new houses building site, it looked extremely doubtful that Oct would be the completion month. I queried this with the estate agents new homes department and they still stuck to their guns for Oct and specifically with the house that I was waiting on. I managed to get a friend of the family in the building trade to through his eye over the site and give his opinion upon which he stated that the end of the year would be more realistic. After approaching new homes again with this they confirmed with me after "consulting the builders again"that December would be now the new completion month, after weeks of them claiming otherwise. I managed to get my old houses completion date changed to the end of the December in accordance to the new date, but now a month later after consulting the foreman onsite I have been told that there is no way that my new house will be ready until at least end of March next year. This now leaves me homeless for 3 months at this rate. Is there no responsibility for the estate agent who is buying and selling my properties to make the dates meet, or do I have to just put up and shut up and wait until I hear a later date again ???? Any help would be great....
 
I'm in much the same situation as you only I was trying to get out of the contract at the time because it was looking like it was going to be delayed a long time, which it was (I'm still waiting). Every month the estate agent and builders tell us "next month". Look at this thread:

http://www.askaboutmoney.com/showthread.php?t=9216

Seems there's not much you can do mate... except suck it up
 
Thanks for that. Looking through the thread is heartbreaking alright. Looks like there is no alternative. Estate agents should be shot for ever proposing early completion dates to buyers and start providing a service which outlines the true reality with new developments, sure what are they paid for.
thanks buttonmoon
 
Yeah, they should be shot. They told us in April definitely not to renew our lease where we were renting because it'd be ready the following month. Here we are, still.

I can't understand at all why they told us that. I was on to them last week and told them that if they'd have just told us what the situation was, yeah, we'd probably have been a bit disapointed but we wouldn't have really cared because we could have extended our lease and saved up a bit more.

The way they messed us around meant we were left practically homeless, have had to stay with friends, outstay our welcomes, move our stuff all over the place, have a few barneys, and basically, feel bad in general!

In fairness, I think it was the builders who give the estate agents the wrong info aswell - well I think it was in our case anyway.

I wish the shower of ******* would realise the trouble (not to mention money) that this incorrect info can cause people. If they did, I honestly don't think they'd do it.

What's worse is, the only reason why I can think that they would do it is because of a completely brainless "it'll get them off our backs for a while" attitude.
 
It is logistically extremely difficult to synchronise two transactions. There are simply too many variables on all three sides (you, the other buyer, the other seller).

You need to plan on the basis there will be gap / overlap. Banks will usually safeguard themselves against overlap, and renting is the only option in the event of a gap.

Consider offering to rent your current property off the new buyer for the gap or else push out the date on the contract and take on the buyer flight-risk.
 
I agree that it can be a logistical nightmare to synchronise two transitions. But not every buyer would be in a position to prepare for such delays caused primarily by either bad estimates or lazy answers. For some sellers/buyers this could be a first more and therefore they would have little experience with the market or the buyer could be a first time buyer or an older member of the public. From my limited experience to date there is no attempt that I can see to pre warn potential buyers of this difficultyor at least the gravity of the potential for delay. Which I would say is mainly due to the fact that the estate agents primary goal is to collect the deposit money first and anything that could hinder this process will be ignored or waved away with a guesstimated answer. The service offered should be more customer focused rather than money focused, because for some if not all it is quite a stressful transaction. I had an elder relative in a similar situation who was also quite worried about the move and each time she contacted the estate agent for their best estimate towards a completion date, they literally started to ignore the calls, not return messages and sarcastically respond with "of course it will be ready in April" etc She was still waiting 6 months later.

Thanks for the idea on a potential rent to the prospective buyer nt00deep.
 
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