Closing of house delayed...costs

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portboy

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JUst a quick question to see how common or not this is...but when a house sale has been delayed for whatever reason (post contracts) but it still closes shortly after, has anyone any experience of the seller actually sueing the purchaser for the delay. I know it is in the contract that they are entitled to it but I have never heard anyone do it until this week (when it has happened to me!). Would love to hear other peoples experiences with this
 
portboy said:
JUst a quick question to see how common or not this is...but when a house sale has been delayed for whatever reason (post contracts) but it still closes shortly after, has anyone any experience of the seller actually sueing the purchaser for the delay. I know it is in the contract that they are entitled to it but I have never heard anyone do it until this week (when it has happened to me!). Would love to hear other peoples experiences with this
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As a solicitor I have successfully obtained interest on behalf of clients as a result of purchasers delays so it does happen. It is rare however and really as each and every case is different I could not give you a set of guidelines as to when interest is insisted upon or not. Generally speaking I would not advise a vendor to pursue interest through the courts unless the delay was substansial or unless the purchasers have really abused the system.Interest is often threatened but seldom paid in my experience.
 
We closed the sale of a house (we were selling it) last Feb. We accepted an offer in November which was not quite the asking price but because the buyers said that they wanted to close before Christmas we were advised to accept it.

Christmas came and went and they didn't sign the contracts. They then signed in Jan. fixing the closing date for the end of Jan. They didn't close until the end of Feb. Meanwhile the house (an investment prop which had been rented out) was lying idle while these guys wouldn't get their act together which costing us mortgage repayments.

After the sale was closed we persued them for the penalties as it had been costing us money that we hadn't budgeted for and was not due to any negligence on our part. They settled without going to court. Needless to say if they had gone to court they would have ended up paying it anyway.
 
thanks for the replies. Am a bit disappointed to be pursued for this as it was totally outside our control adn we kept the seller informed all the way along. Their solicitor has advised them not to go after it but they seem determined. I guess there is just no accounting for some peoples mean spiritiedness especially as we know they were not out of pocket at all. Presume we will just have to settle
 
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