Hi We last week exchanged contracts on a sale & purchase, and are set to complete next Friday.
The lead up to the exchange was a fairly stressful one - we were originally set to exchange on 29 October - largely due to our buyers (1st time buyers) messing us around - at first due to unforseen mortgage problems, and then in the latter stages just by being deceitful and playing some sort of game.
Anyhow, after the stresses of everything so far, we are not taking anything for granted until we have the keys in our hand next friday, and as such I still have a horrible - hopefully unecessarily paranoid - feeling that something mught still go wrong.
In the meantime I have a couple of questions that internet searching has not answered:
1 - what are the chances of the sale falling through now we have exchanged - I have heard reports say it is extremely unlikely, but I wondered if anyone has any stats etc;
2 - given that our buyers have been difficult so far, is there anything that I can do now or on the day to try to ensure it all goes smoothly next Friday?
3 - due to the bad feeling that has arisen, we have decided that if our buyers ask to come round before next week to see the house house again & measure up, we are going to refuse and say it's inconvenient. Are we within our rights to do this? If we do and it annoys the buyers, is there anything they can do to get back at us and make things difficult next week??
1. Slim indeed. But hey, people are know to die, lose jobs, have some other crisis so it's not unimaginable.
If it did happen you'd be entitled to the 10% deposit. However, as few people now put down 10% you'd get what ever your solicitor has in the bank and then (I guess) you'd have to pursue them in the courts.
I've asked myself if this was me and a buyer pulled out due to a genuine tragedy whether I'd have the heart to actually keep any of the deposit - karma and all that - but I'm talking about something like a death.
2. Not really - if everything wasn't in place, exchange shouldn't have happened. It would be good to ensure your solicitor and estate agent aren't on holiday that day just in case but this is out of your hands.
3. You have no obligation other than to hand them the keys once the money's in your bank and vacate what will then be their property. I would do as you write and simply say it's not convenient.
Relax dude - you've EXCHANGED that's the main thing. If you're not in a chain chances are you'll have completed on the day before you expect.
If it's any consolation I've only had this happen twice once when a buyer went bankrupt the day before completion (very unusual) and once when a property developer was trying to force a price reduction after exchange(he got his fingers burnt and lost his 10,000 deposit.) It is very rare.A good tip is to ask your solicitor to ensure he has asked for mortgage funds for the day before and for him to check your buyers slicitor has done the same as mortgage funds can arrive anytime up to 5pm on the day requested and hopefully this will speed things up.It may be a good idea to stay on good terms with your buyers though as post always gets delivered to your old address even if you redirect. Good Luck, I'm sure it will be fine.
Thanks for the answers guys - I think I was just be unneccesarily paranoid!! The chain is 3 long - first time buyers, us, then people who have already moved out - but the whole saga has gone on for months now and I think I've convinced myself it isn't going to happen - hence the worry!!!
Hopefully this time next week (or at least in a few hours time) I'll be sat in my new lounge in my new house, and the mess so far will be forgotten!!
What's the actual procedure on completion day - I presume the buyers solicitors transfer the money first thing, and then our solicitors have to wait for it before passing it on?? In the case, is it reasonable to expect to have the keys by lunchtime?? (Our removals charge for every hour waiting after 1:00pm)
We've had our offer accepted on a house and so are in that nasty bit waiting to exchange - but there's no chain so am quite relaxed and am determined to just go with the flow.
I totally sympathise with your state of anxiety. I had a dreadful time buying my house - everything that could go wrong, did! It took 14 months in total and I was convinced that even though we had exchanged, completion wouldn't happen for some reason.
I was CONSTANTLY on the phone to my solicitor making sure it would all be OK, and in the end, it was. Everything went really smoothly. The worst bits were waiting for the removals men to turn up (I was worried they would run off with my money and not show up on the day!), and then me, my mother and my goldfish waiting in an empty flat for the money to go through. Other than that, I was too busy on the actual day to stress out too much.
You have exchanged and quite rightly anything can happen but you have exchanged so chill for a bit and worry if anything does happen until then just look forward to friday when you complete, I can totally understand your anxiety as me and my husband to be have been trying to move into our new home for just over a year now and the stress levels are up and down big time, (its the lack of a complete chain)
