Closing date passed and Purchaser dragging their heals.

J

Jmcelroy

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I am selling a property in which the closing was two weeks ago. It came to my attention afterwards that the purchaser is still waiting on funds, and is really dragging their heals. Their solicitor is now requesting further information from me, even though they have stated for months that they had all the information required to close.

Because this is a rental property and I am now paying the mortgage and in loss of rental income due to this delay, is there anything I can do to speed things up or request some kind of compensation for this delay?
 
Was there much interest on the property when you had it on the market? If there was, then tell them that you are putting it back on the market in a week. Your agent should have his/her homework done to insure your buyer had access to funds before they went Sale-Agreed.
 
My agent was told all was in place with the purchasers funds long ago. Now their solicitor is requesting information from my management company in order to release their funds...or so i’m being told.

Yes there was some interest in the property before they offered to purchase it.

I will mention that to the estate agent then, and see what they come back with. Thanks for your advice.
 
You might clarify: have they delayed signing contracts, or is everything signed and they are delaying closing beyond the date in contracts?

If the latter, you're wasting your time talking to the agent - you've a legally enforceable contract. Talk to your solicitor - there should be a clause in your contract to charge them interest for delaying closing.
Unfortunately there's also a clause in standard contracts that it's subject to finance, where they need a mortgage, so they can walk away if they can't get a mortgage.
 
As above if contracts are signed then put pressure on solicitor. If contracts aren't signed advise your agent you may be putting it back on the market. I imagine contracts aren't signed if their solicitor has a management agency query.
 
They have signed the contracts and the day prior to the closing their solicitor advised there was a delay with funds and it would take another 2 days. This has gone in to weeks and they are now requesting information from my management company in order to draw the funds down. Even though, they told me all along everything was in place and no further information was required by me.

I will speak to my solicitor on Monday then. Hopefully it will be resolved soon, either way. I will discuss the clause/s within the contract with them.

Thank you very much. Most helpful.
 
From memory the standard interest clause is 8% per annum.
I had a delayed closing by a few weeks and we charged it - buyers changed mortgage lender before they closed and generally messed about every way imaginable.
 
That’s good to know. Sorry to hear you’ve been through similar.

This is the third time this has happened to me in 14 months. The other two previous purchasers also fell through. I feel it will never end.

I have emailed both my solicitor and estate agent with questions.

Thanks again.
 
You can issue a notice to close (I forget the exact term) you give them 14/28 days (again, forget the actual number) and if they don't, you can hand deposit back and walk away.

I had to do that on a property I was selling. Some solicitors just like playing games.
 
I will discuss a timeframe with my solicitor, and hopefully get this resolved soon. Thank you.
 
Do you not get to keep the deposit (or portion) if the person fails to close? I recently purchased and I remember even when sale agreed the purchaser can walk away but once contracts are signed the purchaser is liable to complete.

Out of interest what is the extra information requested from the management company? Could be a case the solicitor messed up and didn't ask for an item that the bank need to release the funds? In my case I had my mortgage approved which let me proceed to going sale agreed but they had conditions on some extra information being required before funds being released, low and behold what appeared a simple task took longer than expected, it could be that also. Or maybe they have decided to change mortgage provider to get a better rate.
 
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