Contracts Signed No Move on buyers

Hi All,

Contracts signed with purchaser of our house three weeks now. Neither Purchasers Solicitor nor Purchaser have got back to our Solicitor regarding closing date and ignored persistent phone calls and letters from Estate agent and our Solicitor. We don’t appreciate being ignored and cannot understand the delay as mortgage approval was given and all relevant docs were provided before contracts were signed

Is there anything we can do with regard to forcing the purchasers to confirm a closing date as we are paying a heft mortgage and want to get out from under this as soon as possible?

Also the contents of the property as part of the sale was ticked but no mention of specific contents were mentioned. How do we know what items to keep and take as to people buying the house wont get back to us and we have a lorry booked for Saturday to take away our personnel stuff.

Regards, Jumper

Have the contracts been returned to your solicitor ?

If no, then there is no binding contract. If yes, there is a binding contract BUT patently there is something underlying wrong.

Ultimately, if they will not confirm the position, you are stuck in limbo. I suggest that you cancel the removal people until you have a clearer view of what the prospective purchasers are going to do.

These transactions are very very tricky and tedious currently with the capacity for it all to go off the rails ever present until the deal is actually complete.

At some stage you may have to put the property back on the market again

mf

Hi, Contracts have been both signed by purchaser and us and returned to Purchasers Solicitor.

I had understood that once contracts had been signed by both parties that the contract was binding and that if anyone wanted to get out then the person getting out of the contract would have to pay 10% of the Purchase price to get out of the contract.

So if i was to place my house up for sale again i would be defaulting the contract and would be forced to pay the Purchaser 10% of the Purchase price so i don’t think that is a Gower.

Regards, Jumper1

You need to read my post again.

There is patently a problem here. If there was no problem , you would not need to post.

So, you don't know what the problem is. It may be something very minor - although if that was the case, why does someone not return a call?

It may be something major and at that stage you may have to consider all of your options, take whatever steps/advices are necessary and, if it all comes to all, put the property back on the market again.

For the moment, I think you should regard yourself as being in limbo, cancel your removal van and try and push for resolution one way or the other.

mf

I cannot understand you booking a removal van if you do not have a closing date. I am also at a loss to understand why you do not know which contents you have agreed to sell? If nothing is happening that should be, then yours solicitor ought to be dealing with it.

Firstly if your solicitor doesn't have both signtures in his/her possession then nothing is binding. If the buyer signs contracts but doesn't return them then they can simply tear it up. As for the contents, do an inventory of the contents that you are happy to let go with the sale and have a copy sent to their solicitor. If they want more then let them come and point out everything that they want.

Can you not ask your estate agent to chase them?? I don't understand.
EDIT: Apologies, I see your estate agent has also tried to contact them.

3 weeks is not very long to wait since signing of contracts if there are legal issues to be sorted out. Hope everything going ok. Has anything happened since?

Your questions suggest confusion/lack of experience on your part.

Three weeks is nothing in legal time.
It can take six weeks just to get a Land Registry approved map, if its necessary.
Solicitors can be thrown by High Court actions they thought were being deferred.
Sudden fire fighting may be required to deal with new cases - it all adds up.
And you should remember you're in the holiday period.

"Contents" usually mean the "entire contents".
This may include carpets and drapes, furniture, fixtures and fittings.
This may not include things you can carry away, but if they fell in love with your antique chest under the window, you may be in breach of contract if you take it away.
Personal items such as clothing, books, TV, Computer, Laptop, Radio are usually yours to take.
The 60 inch Plasma Screen fixed to the wall pmay not be.
Without seeing the offer its impossible to be certain and you should ask your solicitor.

The lack of return calls is unprofessionall, although they may be away.
A personal call to the purchasers office may be tempting, but may breach protocol.

Also normally once its with the solicitors, the estate agents have no role.
In fact your estate agents trying to contacing the purchase once contracts have been exchanged may be a breach of protocol.

Inform your solicitor about your estate agents actions.
Just in case.

Ask your solicitor what else can be done to get a reply as "time is of the essence" - a favourite phrase of legal people.




FWIW

ONQ

Also normally once its with the solicitors, the estate agents have no role. In fact your estate agents trying to contacing the purchase once contracts have been exchanged may be a breach of protocol.

Click to expand...

This should be the case, but more often than not I would have gotten calls along the lines of 'our solicitor faxed the buyers solicitor and they have not made any contact' in which case I would have to call the solicitor to confirm that they had indeed received the fax and so on. It would be reasonable to expect them to contact each other by phone but this does not seem to be the way (not in all cases).

Hi there,

What was the closing date in the contract? If the closing date has not yet passed then nothing can be done. If the closing date has passed, and you have heard nothing from the other side, then speak to your solicitor about possibly sending a completion notice. The effect of the completion notice is that the purchaser has 28 days to complete, or you can pull out of the contract, keeping the 10% deposit. You then put the property back on the market, and if you have to sell it for less than the current contract amount, you can sue to the purchaser who walked away for the difference.

Best of luck.

Kate.

MrMan said:

This should be the case, but more often than not I would have gotten calls along the lines of 'our solicitor faxed the buyers solicitor and they have not made any contact' in which case I would have to call the solicitor to confirm that they had indeed received the fax and so on. It would be reasonable to expect them to contact each other by phone but this does not seem to be the way (not in all cases).

Click to expand...

<nods>

Totally agree, just setting the "normal" terms of reference for the OP.
I've seen solicitors getting even more frustrated than their clients because of the lack of courtesy and professionalism shown by heir peers.



ONQ