Nearly a month since offer accepted - still waiting on seller to find a property

Hi!

There are ways to circumnavigate this. Not entirely ideal but with the amount you are saving in stamp it might be worth your while. I am also assuming you asked to have the property withdrawn from the market if your offer was accepted - I.e you know for sure that the property is not still being viewed.

Firstly I would let the agent know that you plan on viewing alternatives you have found as you are time pressed. They want their fee and I assume the vendor wants to sell. Agree with solicitors a date to exchange. I would suggest 6 weeks from now as any reasonable queries/searches could be done by then. This will give a target for everyone to work towards. If the property does not exchange by this point I would assess a reasonable extension if you feel they are working towards it. Maybe a week or two. Email everyday asking for updates. If you are ready to exchange contracts but the vendor is still occupying the property, they could be offered a tenancy agreement. It would give you some peace of mind and hopefully an income whilst you wait although this does present problems in its own right depending on what agreement you use. I would predict they would want no less then an assured short hold. Include a 6 months break clause and have notice served immediately (with covid it is currently 6 months notice) so worst case you would have to wait 6 months to get a court order for possession. I would insist on completion occurring at the same time the tenancy agreement is signed. Oooof I’m tired I’m not sure I’m making sense. If you want expanding on any of this just DM me. I can help with a timeline and give you answers on what to expect.

Your solicitor will hopefully be competent enough to protect your interests. Do not agree to an exchange with completion ‘subject to’ them moving out. It could result in you never completing. Also note so long as you exchange contracts the day before the stamp duty change you’ll be fine. I.e you have loads of time. Property sales can take anywhere from 4 weeks to 16 weeks in my experience. Of course there are outliers but for the majority this holds true.

Congrats !

/r/UKPersonalFinance Thread