Hiya,

I was just wondering if anyone knew whether the completion date that is set (once the exchange is done) is set in stone?

We have a situation where we have bought a house as first time buyers and while we have been going through conveyancing our landlady has evicted us because she wants to move into the property. (She did this a while ago and we thought we'd have enough time). The vendors have signed, we have signed and the vendors are saying they want to complete on 11th November because of an "issue" with the house they are buying. This is one week after our tenancy expires so we are booking storage and staying at the in laws (not to mention putting the cat in a cattery)...I want to know if the vendors can keep putting off the completion date after they have exchanged, because I don't flipping want them to!

We really need it to be 11th at the very latest, so are they bound to that date once they have done the exchange?

Oh yeah, and I am 6 months pregnant as well so could do without this messing around from the vendors - sympathy please!!

Any advice greatly appreciated - although don't tell us to pull out, we've paid our deposit and all the fees!

Thanks,

Kristy

Hugh hug and gallons of sympathy.

We are in a similar-ish situation. No one set a completion date. We were in no rush - squating with Dad and the vendors are moving into a new build. They were told they couldn't move in until mid Nov as drive needed doing. So everyone has been ploding along without a firm date in mind just sometime in November. Then last Thurday we signed and said we would pay monies on 1st becuase its in a high interest savings account and we get no interest for the month we withdraw. So we set a completion date of 2/3/4 Nov.

We are buying a part exchange property from building company (name like a former burger chain. The building company got ea to ring yesterday to say we HAD to complete this Friday because ..... they have included the money from the sale in their month end accounts.

Kristy - cannot advise but you have my sympathies! Hope things sort themselves out pdq!

Have you actually exchanged contracts? (not the same thing as signing contracts).

If you have actually formally exchanged (which involves the solicitors ringing each other, not you signing anything), then yes the completion date is set in stone and would have been agreed before exchange.

(Unless it's an offplan newbuild, I've heard scary stories about that).

If I've got any of that wrong, joolz will tell us.

We signed last Thursday and got a letter yesterday from solicitor

'I refer to our meeting on 20 October and confirm that I have asked the Sellers Solicitors if their clients will agree completion dates of either 2 November, 3 November or 4 November. I shall let you know as soon as I hear anything further from them.'

When we first put in the offer the people living in the house said they could not move out until mid/end of November when their house would be finished. This is the first time anyone has actually tried to set a completion date and that has come from our side.

The ea rang other half yesterday lunchtime to push him to complete this Friday but when I spoke to our solicitor at 5.20pm he had heard nothing from the sellers / the ea / their solicitor.

Just hanging on in there.

As you say new build completion dates can be a complete nightmare. I used to work for solicitors who acted for some developers. From when people reserved a plot (off plan usually) they had 28 days after which they were meant to exchange Contracts. Completion was then 14 days after the property was completed. We used to have to phone the purchasers' solicitors usually very late on a Friday to give them 14 days notice to complete. By then it was usually too late for them to do anything until the Monday and they were not impressed. I really used to feel for the purchasers but the builders just didn't care.

We haven't exchanged and our solicitor doesn't know if the exchange is planned to happen this week at all. She has advised us to speak to the estate agent to put pressure on the vendors but the trouble is I'm mad as hell so I don't think I can speak to them without swearing and getting generally very rude indeed.

I can't believe this, it's absolutely insane! I always knew it would be stressful but I think my heart is going to burst out of my chest at any moment!

Have a big drink, Kristy, and take some deep breaths. You have my sympathies. Perhaps you could get someone to speak to the ea for you - they'd have to pretend to be you, of course.

Kristy, this is very similar to sitituation I was in myself only a couple of weeks ago.

My Landlady had sold the flat I was renting and my Lease expired on 11th October, therefore I had to move on that date. I had originally planned to move as early as August, but was faced with delay after delay after delay (in my case, due to the Vendor's Solicitor & then my own Mortgage Company). I kept my Landlady appraised right through, but she insisted that she wanted me out as soon as possible and definitely by 11th October.

The advice that my Solicitor gave to me (and if you ask yours, he will give you the same advice) is that it would take at least a month, probably 3 months for my Landlady to evict me if I chose not to move out on the day that my Lease expired.

As everything was so delayed and I had Exchanged but not Completed & the end of my Lease was rapidly approaching, I asked my Landlady if I could please have another week in the flat, just in case the move was delayed slightly.

She said no.

I said that I was really sorry, but I could not move if I had nowhere to go to. The delay would only be a week or 2 at most.

she said I had to be out on the day my Lease expired and she was going to call her Solicitor.

She called back distraught, telling me that her Solicitor had told her that I could legally stay for a whole month if I did not move out on the day my Lease expired, and there would be nothing she could do about it.

As it happened, completion finally happened literally in the last possible second, and I moved on time after all.

But, the important thing is, if you are renting, then you have rights. Your Landlady cannot chuck you out on the streets, especially if you are pregnant. Your Solicitor will be able to confirm this. Try to get a confirmed date for completion out of your sellers. Tell your Landlady that you will be moving out on that date and no earlier. She won't like it; but as long as you continue to pay your rent, she will have to live with it.

I hope everything works out for you and you get to relax in your new home soon.

Ary.

ps. Sometimes it helps to phone the Estate Agent in tears. Use every card you have to enlist their help. Turn up in their office, displaying your bump as prominently as possible and burst into tears before you get a word out. I would imagine that this would not be difficult for you given how stressful this all is.

Tell her you just have to move on time & you don't know what you are going to do if you can't. Your Estate Agent will do everything they can to calm you and to try & push things through for you.

Ary.

Hi all, thanks for your replies.

We have heard today that they are now ready to exchange and that the hold up was due to their solicitor "forgetting" to do one of the searches. I *think* they may have hired Lionel Hutz out of The Simpsons, but at the moment my suspicions are unconfirmed.

We still have to get storage for a week and stay at my mother in laws, but I don't mind that as long as I can have my portable tv in the bedroom with me. We are still trying to get hold of our landlady to see if she will let us stay on for that week but as we can't get hold of her, I'm not holding out any hope. I know we probably do have rights but we have actuallly been served with an eviction notice so I don't know how that works, and to be honest, I think just moving out and staying with my mother in law is the best thing for a quiet life for a week.

Just keep your fingers crossed for us with regards to money reaching accounts on time and all that palaver!

Thanks,

Kristy (Blood pressure currently surprisingly normal!)

Fingers crossed for you here - hence more spelling mistakes than normal.

Why can't buying a house be as easy as say buying a car / loaf of bread?

Even though you have been served with a Notice To Quit, you still don't have to leave. For the sake of a week, & saving the costs & hassle of storage & a double move, I would stay put. she won't lose her Purchaser for the sake of a week's delay, and there should be no repercussions, as long as you pay for the extra week. Don't take my word for it; ask your Solicitor. He will confirm what I just said & quote the legal stuff to go with the advice aswell.

Ary.

Well it looks like she is going to let us stay on. I heard from the letting agents just as I pressed send on my message yesterday evening, and she said she would be happy for us to extend our stay as she is aware that I am "heavily pregnant" (heavily isn't the word, I'm big enough to eclipse the sun!) so I have passed my number on to her and am waiting to hear from her so I can negotiate terms. She is evicting us because she is unhappy with the letting agents, nothing to do with anything we have done, and when I met her we got on OK (mainly because I agreed with everything she said to keep her sweet) and she seems to be OK with us as tenants.

Anyway, we *should* be OK now, providing that the completion date of 11th November ACTUALLY happens. I understand that the date for completion is pretty much set in stone provided that money changes hands, and seeing as the people our vendors are buying from have threatened to pull out because of this faffing around this week, I'm pretty sure the Lionel Hutz style solicitor will do everything to get it through on time...

Still won't believe it until I have the keys in my hand, but we shall see.

I have to say, when we started looking at houses I thought to myself that so many people manage to buy houses, it can't be that hard...oh, how wrong I was................my A levels and degree were easier than this!

I know how you feel Kristy. I am so pleased to hear your Landlady has agreed that you can stay on if your move doesn't quite happen on time.

Let us know when you get your keys!

Ary.

I have to say, when we started looking at houses I thought to myself that so many people manage to buy houses, it can't be that hard...oh, how wrong I was................my A levels and degree were easier than this![/QUOTE]

You wait until you have to sell and buy, a complete nightmare! If you do ever move, make sure you keep your legs crossed until such time as you move