Your solicitor looking for fees and stamp duty prior to closing isn't a good sign, you really need to work with them on what your best course of action is from here.
Your solicitor looking for fees and stamp duty prior to closing isn't a good sign, you really need to work with them on what your best course of action is from here.
It seems the other party want to withdraw from the sale, are they seeking the penalties you mention? Does the contract even state what these might be? Likely tricky to enforce if they are not specific.
What is the estate agent saying about the deposit?
If you want to push the sale through, you have the option of taking action for Specific Performance of the contract. This will incur additional legal fees and a degree of risk, and perhaps take a few months, so a good relationship with your solicitor is vital to ensure you make an informed decision.
Why on earth would the solicitor be looking for fees when the job is not complete (one way or the other)? No way would I be paying this now. The solicitor needs to sort this out - either personally or via a colleague/locum. Looking for fees now would make me suspicious.
Did your solicitor not advise you not to draw down the mortgage until this was sorted? You should never have drawn down the mortgage if you were still waiting for pre-inspection. They would never have been able to enforce the penalties if the delay was down to them denying you access. Who has the mortgage funds? Your solicitor, their solicitor, the seller??
My solicitor advised a drawdown to be in his account before we were in breach of the conditions of the contract. The He was told by the vendors solicitor the pre-inspection was going to be completed in time so he had the drawdown initiated. In retrospect, this was very poor advice. The mortgage funds are with my solicitor at the moment. I am due to speak with my solicitor when he is out of court this afternoon.
The penalties in the contract stipulated in rates, solicitor fees, expenses, interest, etc. The vendor is not looking for penalties as they are the ones in breach of the contract.
This is common practice. I paid cash for a place and had to hand over the remaining balance and fees before keys were got. I honestly don't know what you meant by final inspection as I don't recall anyone get this before. I've heard of lots of stories about stuff being left behind or stuff missing but in the greater scheme of things you get on with it and suck it up as it's minuscule compared to the price of the transaction.
When you refer to Specific Completion is this the 28 day completion order?
The estate agent says he acts for his vendor, at his direction and to protect his interests (which is fair enough), but does not give any indication of what the underlying issue is.
Conveyancing transactions rely hugely on large elements of good will and trust.
Things can go wrong and it sounds as if the issue was with what are called "redemption figures" ( what is the total amount of money secured on the property which has to be available to the Vendor's solicitor before the Vendor's solicitor can complete a transaction).
Completion occurs, by telephone/email/face to face agreement between the two solicitors, some time after the Contracts are signed by both, when the entire sale funds are in the Vendor's solicitors account, the keys are available to be released to the purchaser, the closing documents (all in order) are with the Purchaser's solicitor and the searches are clear.
I always advise purchaser's to do a pre-closing inspection- the day before or the morning of- there is no point completing and then discovering that the rotten vendor has left bags of rubbish in the attic/back garden , removed all the light fittings or, in one spectacular scenario, removed all of the Japanese elements from the Japanese Garden which was a big feature in the price agreed. It is rarely worth taking any action to resolve these matters- best to try and head them off.
And most purchasers' solicitors insist on their fees, outlay and the stamp duty being paid to them before completion.
mf
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