Delay Finalising Flat Sale

[Minimo 59]

For health reasons I had to sell my flat and move into a ground floor flat last June. The flat was sold subject to contract within days, ie early June . 6 months on and I'm still waiting for closure. Granted covid and Sheffield council involvement haven't helped, but should I be worried it is taking so long?

[carosio 185]

Surely you were being advised/updated by whoever was selling it for you?

[BigAl1 142]

Yes

 

you should be asking your solicitor/estate agent rather than us

[Minimo 59]

We keep on ringing them and they blame the purchasers solicitors and the council for taking so long to answer queries.  As fast as one lot of questions are answered they keep coming back with more. I was hoping for someone to say it can take that long, or not as the case may be. If it is an exceptionally long time then I can look at what else I could be doing to get things moving. There is no chain or probate involved, it should be reasonably straightforward. This is completely new to me so I don't know what to expect.

[carosio 185]

Right, buyers sometimes do this to hold the property while they sort their finances etc then have problems with securing a mortgage, for example, if there a short leasehold left on the flat, so use delaying tactics until they're sorted.

 

House sales appear to be moving fast of late, this seems like an exeptionally long delay.  Probably 2-4 weeks for contract to completion, but can be longer if one side specifies it.

 

I would ask your conveyancing solicitor if he/she thinks there are deliberately dragging their heels, and what he thinks the reasons are. I think you can issue some ultimatum if it goes on much longer; depends whether contracts have been exchanged/signed?

 

Emails can bring more considered results than phoning them.

[Minimo 59]

Thanks Carosio I will bear in mind what you say. I' m beginning to worry they might pull out, meanwhile I'm paying double council tax on top of rent for flat and my savings are disappearing fast.

[carosio 185]

It's a business transaction. If your solictor/conveyancer is not being clear with answers, then contact the buyer or their solicitor to find out what the problem is as you have other prospective buyers waiting. Until contracts are signed you can withdraw anytime.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

56 minutes ago, carosio said:

It's a business transaction. If your solictor/conveyancer is not being clear with answers, then contact the buyer or their solicitor to find out what the problem is as you have other prospective buyers waiting. Until contracts are signed you can withdraw anytime.

Yes, although one party (OP, as vendor/V) must not contact the solicitor who acts for the other party (purchaser/P)- conflict of interest problems, you see.

But generally transactions are strictly 'subject to contract' for very good reasons.

There is no legal relationship between V and P unless/until both- on advice- create a contract.

[Minimo 59]

Thanks Jeffrey, good advice from you as ever. I'll just get Christmas out of the way then I'll get on to my solicitor and tell her I want some answers.

[carosio 185]

1 hour ago, Jeffrey Shaw said:

Yes, although one party (OP, as vendor/V) must not contact the solicitor who acts for the other party (purchaser/P)- conflict of interest problems, you see.

But generally transactions are strictly 'subject to contract' for very good reasons.

There is no legal relationship between V and P unless/until both- on advice- create a contract.

Can't argue with that, but it would reveal the frustration shown by the vendor.

 

There could be delays with the local searches or Land Registry due to the covid situation, but again I would have thought that vendor/ purchaser would have been advised on that during communications.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

21 hours ago, carosio said:

Can't argue with that, but it would reveal the frustration shown by the vendor.

 

There could be delays with the local searches or Land Registry due to the covid situation, but again I would have thought that vendor/ purchaser would have been advised on that during communications.

Searches: maybe, but there are ready-to-issue Search Delay indemnity insurance policies (@ less than £100 unless purchase price exceeds £1m) which circumvent such delays pre-exchange. HMLR search results are generally quite quick, too, although land registration (post-completion) is currently a long and horrid nightmare.