Purchasers have gone past closing date and not paid for my house

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Von2balurn

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We were due to close the sale on my property a week ago but my purchasers waited until the day I was moving out to tell me they didn't have the funds from their bank. They had previously cried poverty when the 10% non-refundable deposit was due and my solicitor agreed it was unusual but advised me to accept they would pay the full amount on the closing date. The closing date on the contracts has come and gone a week ago and they still haven't paid. What mechanism do I have to either make them honour the date on the contract for sale and pay my money or can I sue them for breach of contract? Am I obliged to give them a 14 or 21 or 28 day notice or can I just say pay up by Friday or the deal's off? I accepted their offer in January and we are now heading into November so it's not like they haven't had time to make whatever arrangements they needed to make.
 
Talk to your solicitor. Ask for their advice.

What does the purchasers' solicitor say? Is it just a matter of waiting? For how long?

Or do you need to go through a process before you can say the deal is off?

Frankly, if they don't have the funds, it is pointless suing them.

The chances are that if you shut down this contract and put the house on the market, you may get a higher price.

mf
 
The lack of a deposit is a concern - did they give a reason for not having it? They can cry poverty all they like but you're not running a charity.

Was your solicitor or the estate agent every furnished with evidence they were mortgage approved? I presume they are but no harm double checking. Perhaps it's just bad timing and their current approval is in other process of being renewed.

The estate agent should be holding some form of booking deposit so worth keeping them informed. They'll be keen to get their money so you can let them pester the other party. They will also have the under bidders details of you wanted to explore that avenue.

Being pragmatic, you want to sell and it's getting late in the year. If you cut them loose and start again it's unlikely you'll have this sold this year. It won't be long before people turn their attention to Christmas and put off house hunting to the new year. Might be worth factoring that into how long you give the other party. Of course the financial drag of two homes might shorten that outlook also.

Finally, how watertight is the contract? is there a danger you could be sued if you pulled out your side - perhaps a little far fetched but if the other crowd got this far without a deposit who knows what they might be thinking.
 
Von2balurn said:
We were due to close the sale on my property a week ago but my purchasers waited until the day I was moving out to tell me they didn't have the funds from their bank. They had previously cried poverty when the 10% non-refundable deposit was due and my solicitor agreed it was unusual but advised me to accept they would pay the full amount on the closing date. The closing date on the contracts has come and gone a week ago and they still haven't paid. What mechanism do I have to either make them honour the date on the contract for sale and pay my money or can I sue them for breach of contract? Am I obliged to give them a 14 or 21 or 28 day notice or can I just say pay up by Friday or the deal's off? I accepted their offer in January and we are now heading into November so it's not like they haven't had time to make whatever arrangements they needed to make.
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Have both sides signed contracts? If so, you *could* ask your solicitor to bring them to court and try to get an order to them to perform the contract or forgo the 10% deposit. As they haven't paid this anyway, and if they've no money, this will only cost you court fees, and get you nowhere.

Ask your solicitor where you stand, and given their non-performance to date, ask about shutting this down and moving on. Tell the estate agent to double check mortgage approval or cash capability to pay for any future offers.
 
Why did your solicitor advise you to proceed without the normal 10% deposit upon signing of contracts?
This is very unusual to say the least and I am surprised you agreed to this.
Unfortunately you are now in a unfortunate position after following the very unusual advise of your solicitor.
Sack the solicitor and move on.
 
Read contract, it will deal with late payments. It will probably have a notice/ demand mechanism. Trigger that ASAP.
 
The 10% due on the signing of the contract is a lot of money. Not everyone would have it.

They might have the 100% purchase price though.

Were there any complications with your title to your property, searches etc?
 
Years ago, that happened to us selling a house. Our solicitor had no problems accepting 5 per cent deposit. We had and walked out at that point.
 
TrundleAlong said:
The 10% due on the signing of the contract is a lot of money. Not everyone would have it.

They might have the 100% purchase price though.

Were there any complications with your title to your property, searches etc?
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Surely if they have the 100% then they have the 10%?

They would have had to pay a booking deposit to estate agent also.

I’m not sure of current mortgage lending rules but doubt anyone is getting a 100% mortgage these days. Minimum deposit required for bank is prob 10-20%? Bank would have needed proof of funds

Sounds dodgy.
 
As above, talk to your solicitor on the remedies available. House purchase contracts often have a 'subject to finance' clause to protect the purchaser in the event of a bank refusing to release mortgage funds. If there such a clause here, put the house back on the market and find a new buyer.

If there is no such protection, you would take an action for specific performance of the contract. This will involve taking proceedings asking the court to compel them to complete the sale. The challenge you will have there is that if they don't have the money, there's not a whole lot of good to be gained from spending thousands to win such a case. Again, your solicitor should advise here.
 
100% get the contract cancelled, prepare to remarket the house in the new year and ensure your estate agent makes it clear to any bidders the reason why it is again on sale. You will be wasting time money and energy on chasing down these would be purchasers, use that instead to give it the best possible chance for sale. I am assuming you already have moved into a new place and were able to finance it at least in the short term without selling this property. And ensure your estate agent does their due diligence on purchasers and find a new solicitor!

If you need funds in the meantime you might be able to find a short term tenant (and v short term, ie through AirBNB, someone visiting Ireland from Australia for a few weeks over Christmas etc). But I wouldn't bother if all that you are now out is a few months additional interest on your new loan if that is the case.
 
Ruffian said:
But maybe not this solicitor.
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I think that may be a little harsh given how little information we have here. The solicitor here will only have had contact with the OP and the prospective purchaser's solicitor. It's highly unlikely that the purchaser's solicitor said anything to suggest their client would be unable to close when the time came. So the OP's solicitor would just have been acting on the information available and in the OP's best interests. It's not like the solicitor is in a position to verify that the bank will release the mortgage until the funds are sitting in their account.

What's most likely is that the prospective purchasers were stretching the limits of what they could afford to purchase this property. We are all susceptible to highly optimistic projections of our ability to save in order to get our hands on the keys to a new home. Life often gets in the way.
 
The OP has gone radio silence....and for some reason was asking for advice on the contract online instead of asking his solicitor....who would have told him the notice period in the contract as well as the options if the purchaser doesn't close, which are basically to sue for any loss incurred BUT after a year the market price has probably gone up 10% so there's no loss AND there's no real point in suing somewhere who can't pay you anyway.

Sale agreed in January and still not closed at Halloween is ridiculous. A closing date of late October suggests contracts weren't even signed until September- frankly the OP should have put the property back on the market at the beginning of April at the latest.

Anecdotally, house sales are no longer highest bidder but the highest bidder who can close the fastest (cause time is money). And estate agents check funds so anyone who hasn't the deposit and mortgage approval doesn't get a look in. Which raises the question as to how the OP went sale agreed in the first place...

The only thing that'd make the current situation reasonable would be if the OP is selling to a family member. Because to be fair it's never going to be all about the law and money when it's family.
 
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