Closing Date

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pint6

Registered User
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Hello There,

Everything was smooth so far, there is one hickup now. Both of us(ourself and vendors)in the month of february agreed to close on 24th of March which was last month. As vendors are moving into their new home, they wanted us to alter the closing date by one month that is 24th of April. I was totally hopeful to get the keys yesterday, but I received a call from my solicitor asking when I want to close?

I clearly explained the situation that my current lease is getting over on 27th of this month and I have to close today or latest by tomorrow. I had been to his office and he says that he will have a chat with vendors solicitor and get back to me today. He thinks that even Friday may not be possible and may push the closing to next week.

He says that Vendors has not completed the Survey so bank is delaying th cheque issue. I dont know what type of house they are moving into(new or second hand)?

Initially we paid 5k booking deposit and later upon signing contracts we paid another 15k(they were happy with less than 10% deposit). I have heard some horror stories that vendors pull back the sale if we keep them under preassure them to close the sale?

Are they leagally bound? Can they pull back anytime they want? Am i in a bad shape? Is this normal?

Please advise. And sincere apologies with all the questtions.

REgards,
Pint6
 
Hi pint6,

You said you have signed contracts, but have the vendors signed contracts? if they haven't they can pull out any time they want. If they have signed then they can't pull out, and if they do, I am sure you have some entitlements (which you should check with your solicitor)
Best of luck anyway.
 
pint6,

From our experiences which are similar to yours (we were due to close originally end of Jan but due to delays on our vendors new property we are looking at end of May!) if you have signed contracts from both parties then each of you are legally bound to complete the transaction. The actual close date on the contract is pretty meaningless and if the vendors want to extend the closing date then they pretty much can regardless of whether you are in agreement. Likewise you could do the same to them, however the contract probably stipulates that you would be due interest to them but this is notoriously difficult to claim. Most contracts state that any interest claims will not delay the closing of the sale.

There is the option for either party to issue a completion notice, however this is seen as a hostile move. The notice to complete gives the party the notice is served on 28 days to close the sale. After this time the party that issued the notice is legally entitled to pull out of the deal charging interest on any monies owed. If the vendor wants the sale to go ahead it is normally at this point they would find temporary accomodation. This notice is normally issued to the buyers if they are delaying the sale but it can also be issued the opposite way.

It seems to me, from our experiences, that the vendor has the control in these situations. We aren't in a chain (FTB) but I can't imagine the situation these delays would cause if the chain is long.

If you have both signed contracts and the vendors did pull out then you would be able to take them to court for breach of contract and you would be successful in this action.

Your solicitor should be able to advise you, as ours did, on all your options going forward.
 
Thanks for your replies. As answer to your questions Yes both of us have signed the contracts.

The current accomodation where we are residing at the moment, the contract is coming to end on 27(day after) and the land lord is not obliging to extend it by weeks time even after we told her that we pay rent for that one week. Now we are in such a situation that we have to store all our belongings in a Storage and then stay in B&B or in some hotel which is a unplanned expenses to us. Can this be claimed? How do we go about?

Regards,

Pint6
 
I really feel for you as I often think what state we would be in if we didn't have an understanding landlady like we do. Unfortunately I don't think you really have any chance of recouping these losses, again your solicitor should advise you on this as this is what you are paying them for.

This is part of the problem with the current house buying process. When I mentioned the process benefits the seller this is what I was refering to. Why should you be out of pocket when you have fulfilled your obligation in relation to the contract that you signed? You are being penalised by the vendors not fulfilling their obligation after they agreed a closing date they were happy with. Obviously if you could extend the closing date then you should, out of courtesy, but when it effects you financially you should be able to take some sort of legal action to remedy the situation or get some form of compensation. If the reverse happens and you were delaying the closing then the vendors are able to claim interest immediately once the closing date has passed. For you to claim the same interest you have to issue the closure notice which takes 28 days. This is definately weighted in favour of the seller.

Unfair I know but unfortunately that is the way it seems to work.
 
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