Serving a completion notice?

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lucylou

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Hi all,
just looking for some advice on closing dates. We were due to close on the 28th of April, they held it off, telling us they werent ready til the middle of may. As it happens we werent ready either but we didnt let them know that! Now they want to put it off til the 26th of May. Our solicitor mentioned something about a completion notice, and my boyfriend thinks we will get money out of them? Is he right?
Thanks.
 
Hi Lucylou,

I'm in a similar situation with my girlfriend. We were due to close almost a month ago, but still haven't closed (vendor is moving into a new house which she claims isn't ready yet). I hadn't heard about completion notices, but am interested too - anything to speed this damn thing up! I think it may be linked to the 28 days after closing....does anyone know?
 
As far as I know when you miss the contract date the solicitor tries to charge interest (if it's specified in the contract) and also serves a 28 day completion notice. If you haven't completed in this time then your in breach of contract which I assume means the seller can pull out.

Don't hold your breath about the interest. They don't have to pay this!
 
Thats what i thought re the interest, so is it worth chasing up??? They are now saying the 26th of May but the solicitor says if we agree to this date we cant serve a completion notice. As it happens im away from the 18th until the 25th , so if they were forced to close during that week as a result of the completion notice it means i wont be there to sign, but my boyf says i dont need to be?
Thats why my point is to agree to the 26th, let me have my weeks holiday, and come back to sign together. But my other half says we may lose out on money owed to us by them!! What does anyone think??
 
LucyLou, are you the purchaer or the vendor? It is not quite clear.
It is the vendor that can serve a completion notice.
jd
 
Last edited:
Sorry the purchaser!!
I was of the same impression we cannot serve a notice. Basically not much we can do?
 
If you and the vendor have signed contects and the agreed handover date has passed. The purchaser can then serve a 28 day completion notice on vendor. the option to do this is included in most common house sale contrcts. If this period elapses then the purchaser can charge a penalty to the vendor. This also works the other way round.
 
If the purchaser serves the notice on the vendor, and the 28 days elapses does the vendor then have two options?:
1) Withdraw from the sale without penalty
2) Impose penalties

In the situation where the PURCHASER has served the notice, and the 28 days elapses - does the VENDOR then have the option of withdrawing from the sale (or do they only get this option if THEY serve the notice)?

Also, what kind of penalties are imposed? Does this involve taking the vendor to court? Is it worthwhile?

In a similar situation myself. We're a month past the date agreed for exchange.
 
As a purchaser recently, we went slightly over the move in date (1 week). The vendors threatened us with paying the interest, etc etc.

Our delay was not one to suit us, it was a delay with Mortgage protection.

We spoke to our solicitor and he advised that if they served us a Completion notice (which they didn't), after this time, if we could still not close, this did not mean we handed over "interest to them". It meant that they could sue us, and bring us to court. Our solicitor said that we had nothing to worry about. He wrote their solicitor a letter, requesting the threats etc where to stop, etc.

I assume they used this tactic, as they thought we were stalling, but we were as disappointed and anxious to move in, as they were out. Which we explained to their estate agent. One thing I learnt from this whole process is, it can be at times v. stressful, highs and lows from day to day.
 
I've just served a completion notice on the property I'm buying. It's costing us 150 euro, but it should light a fire under the person we're buying from (whose solicitor is not returning our solicitor's phone calls at the moment).

Our solicitor says that they now have to complete within 28 days, otherwise we are legally entitled to pull out of the sale and get all deposits refunded. (Or alternatively take them to court to enforce them to act on the contract - although things rarely get that far apparently).
 
Does thaT mean after 28 days if they still dont close they owe you money? what way does it work after that? Did your solicitor advise you to do this or did you ask him to? Let me know how it goes, im really interested...
 
If they don't close after 28 days we have the option of withdrawing from the sale without penalty (i.e. getting all deposits refunded to us). The alternative options is then to take them to court to have the court enforce the contract (i.e. get them moved out) - although our solicitor says none of his completion notices have ever ended up in court.
The main advantage to it is that it scares them into action - i.e. they could lose their deposits on the house they've bought if after 28 days they haven't moved out and we withdraw from the sale.
 
We just closed on a property as purchasers where we issued a completion notice on the vendors. It's seen as quite a hostile move. Basically once the 28 days are up you are entitled to pull out of the deal and get a full refund on deposits paid. You are also entitled to claim interest on these deposits but I was told this can be a very long and drawn out process and can be quite costly and not really worth it. The vendors, if the contracts have been signed by both parties, cannot pull out at any stage unless they have issued the completion notice and the 28 days have elapsed.

In our case the notice period elapsed but we extended it for another 3 weeks as a sign of goodwill. We aren't bothering with the interest claim as the whole process is stressful and expensive enough without going to court.

The OP has a new close date end of May, the completion notice will not guarantee that this date is adhered to. All it will do is ensure that the property closes on or before 28 days have elapsed from the notice being served. If you can I would hold on until this new close date has elapsed and then if this passes without it happening then issue the closure notice. If you are not going to be financially out of pocket, homeless etc then I would have some empathy for the vendors as their part of the process must be just as stressful. Good karma and all that.

Note our original close date was end of Jan and we closed 5th May. Hence the need for the completion notice to get things moving.

Your solicitor should be advising you on all your options.
 
lucylou - you asked me to keep you informed of my progress in serving a completion notice.

Well, we served the notice last Friday afternoon. The sale was finally closed on Tuesday and we picked up the keys yesterday. So on the experience I've had with the other solicitor/vendor dragging their heels it seems to have worked a treat. (Could be a coincidence though, and might have closed this week anyway - but not bothered as we're finally in!).
 
If the vendor does not make the aggreed date on the contract and as a renting purchaser, could you get the vendor to reimburse you for rent for the period they were in breach of contract?
 
I don't think so. Getting any form of compensation out of the vendor would seem to be incredibly complex and not worth the hassle/expense (involves taking them to court I think).
 
Seems to me it could be an advantage to a vendor to hold on to a deposit and serve closure notice if in need of cash, or delay things until the buyer gets fed up, then sell the house to someone else for a bigger price.
Its win win for vendor
 
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