Contracts Exchanged, but vendor getting cold feet

[galway_blow_in]

hi everyone , i have not been on this site that much this past number of months.

i went sale agreed on a three bedroom terraced town house in Limerick city last November ( 161k with contents ) , surveyor was very content with property , built sometime in the 1960,s

anyway the EA ( Who ive dealt with before ) explained how the vendor lived with ABI ( aquired brain injury ) and because they were looking to buy an apartment to live in , they needed a little time due to lack of choices on the market , i said i was fine leaving closing date until the beginning of February , i met the vendor the day the surveyor inspected the house and i would describe this person as high functioning , no immediate signs of mental incapacitation , he got hurt in a construction accident ten years ago.

anyway contracts were signed in late January but the vendor has not yet moved out and the latest from his solicitor is that his friends and relatives let him down and he has no place to go , my plans for this property involved entering into a twenty year lease with Limerick council so i do not want to leave this person in situ and allow him become a tenant , he could be viewed as a vulnerable person and its hard enough to evict fully healthy people in this country.

my solicitor has assured me that my deposit is 100% safe and that the very least we would expect along with the return of my deposit is compensation for legal costs ( circa 2k including vat ) , she also advised me that if i pursued it and it went to court , i would be sure to win in all likelihood , she asked me however if i really wanted to potentially spend two years in limbo dealing with this matter .

im undecided and instructed my solicitor to extend closing until April 1st before i decide what to do next , this house is good value at 161k , its not in a glamorous location but its ok and could deliver a rent of 1400 per month , takes 20% off when dealing with the local authority and thats circa 1100 per month guarenteed with only property tax and insurance as my responsibility as the council do everything else bar structural maintaineance . thats a yield of almost 7.5%

in a rising market , im almost tempted to issue proceedings as the vendor is bound to vacate based on the fact he has signed contracts ?

 

[cremeegg]

Unless there is something specific in the contract the vendor is bound to complete the sale.

You can agree to extend the closing date if you are happy with that.

If the vendor does not complete your legal action would usually be to force a completion rather that seek damages for failure to complete. I wonder why your solicitor is looking at damages.

The vendor must vacate at the closing date. This is very important, if you don't get vacant possession the issues could become horrendous.

 

[galway_blow_in]

Unless there is something specific in the contract the vendor is bound to complete the sale.

You can agree to extend the closing date if you are happy with that.

If the vendor does not complete your legal action would usually be to force a completion rather that seek damages for failure to complete. I wonder why your solicitor is looking at damages.

The vendor must vacate at the closing date. This is very important, if you don't get vacant possession the issues could become horrendous.

Sale is not closed and won't be under current circumstances, my solicitor believes the vendor has gotten cold feet and wants an out , my solicitor is asking if I should decide against forcing closure of sale and instead walk away after deposit is returned and my legal costs ( 2k covered )

She says I could pursue matters but the question is if I want to waste two years

 

[Brendan Burgess]

anyway contracts were signed in late January but the vendor has not yet moved out

What was the closing date in the contract?

It's quite common for people to delay moving out. Unless they have told you that they want to pull out of the sale, assume that they will proceed.

anyway the EA ( Who ive dealt with before ) explained how the vendor lived with ABI ( aquired brain injury ) and because they were looking to buy an apartment to live in , they needed a little time due to lack of choices on the market , i said i was fine leaving closing date until the beginning of February , i met the vendor the day the surveyor inspected the house and i would describe this person as high functioning , no immediate signs of mental incapacitation ,

You have acquired a lot of skills during your absence from askaboutmoney. You can diagnose the seriousness of brain injury now. Well done.

 

[galway_blow_in]

What was the closing date in the contract?

It's quite common for people to delay moving out. Unless they have told you that they want to pull out of the sale, assume that they will proceed.



You have acquired a lot of skills during your absence from askaboutmoney. You can diagnose the seriousness of brain injury now. Well done.

My brother acquired a brain injury when he was hit by a car while riding a bike aged fourteen in 1992 so let's say I know when someone appears high functioning or not , my brother is not high functioning , this guy is and the EA told me in advance he was , perhaps she has it on good authority that he is and decided to represent him in the sale in light of this .

Have you a point hidden amongst the crass comment?

 

[Brendan Burgess]

I am surprised that you don't get my point. It's not rocket science or brain surgery.

You are not in any way able to assess whether someone you meet casually is high functioning or not.

Brendan

 

[Leper]

I am surprised that you don't get my point. It's not rocket science or brain surgery.

You are not in any way able to assess whether someone you meet casually is high functioning or not.

Brendan

It isn't often I support Mr Burgess on matters as grave as this, but he is right. Unless you are qualified in neurosurgery or some form of Psychiatry you are not qualified to assess anybody's mental state. Sorry!

 

[Bronte]

My advice is to walk away including the 2k hit if necessary. Sometimes it’s just the right thing to do.

 

[galway_blow_in]

It isn't often I support Mr Burgess on matters as grave as this, but he is right. Unless you are qualified in neurosurgery or some form of Psychiatry you are not qualified to assess anybody's mental state. Sorry!

what relevance does it have to anything ? , it was observational detail i mentioned , the guy is not a ward of the state so he is viewed as compos mentis to sign a contract to sell his house , he bought it himself in 2013

however , if he ( having gotten cold feet ) refused to vacate and i decided to issue proceedings to force him to close , its possible his own legal rep might refer to his ABI , its not possible to know the kind of judge you get in court or what their mood might be like on a particular day , perhaps the judge would toss the case back another six months . my solicitor made these points

im of mind to pursue him tbh but i dont like ignoring my solicitor as i value her opinion

 

[galway_blow_in]

My advice is to walk away including the 2k hit if necessary. Sometimes it’s just the right thing to do.

i wont be walking away with a 2k loss , if i do decide to allow the contract to be rescinded , i will insist on my costs , thats a given

if someone was that desperate to not sell , i doubt a 2k bill would upset them that much

 

[galway_blow_in]

I am surprised that you don't get my point. It's not rocket science or brain surgery.

You are not in any way able to assess whether someone you meet casually is high functioning or not.

Brendan

so you just wanted to zero in on an unimportant detail in order to take a swipe and double down on the crassness , got it .

no wonder this site is dying

 

[Bronte]

so you just wanted to zero in on an unimportant detail in order to take a swipe and double down on the crassness , got it .

no wonder this site is dying

You know how this works, you asked us our opinions, you don’t like them, if you only want us to post platitudes you’re on the wrong website.

The most important detail you posted was the sellers disability. You’re losing a deal is, in my view, small potatoes as you said max 2k. And maybe not even that.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

The most important detail is what was the closing date and you have not answered that for some odd reason.

You made an extraordinary statement that someone who had ABI , was high functioning. What are we supposed to do? Ignore this?

Brendan

 

[galway_blow_in]

The most important detail is what was the closing date and you have not answered that for some odd reason.

You made an extraordinary statement that someone who had ABI , was high functioning. What are we supposed to do? Ignore this?

Brendan

whats " extraordinary " about it ?

i was told by the EA that that is what he is , perhaps she had that information from the vendors solicitor , the solicitor representing the vendor obviously believed they were compos mentis , solicitors dont usually give their blessing to the signing of contracts if they believe the individual is incapable of understanding it.

the closing date was supposed to be the end of February gone by and the vendors solicitor actually informed my solicitor in mid February that they wanted to close ASAP , then all of a sudden in the first few days of March , my solicitor got a call from the vendors solicitor , saying that their client might never wish to leave the property , my solicitor and i agreed that the best thing to do was to allow another month ( april 1st ) so as to give the vendor times to perhaps arrange a place to move to and to get their head together.

obviously the next thing to do is to serve a completion notice or else agree to the contract being rescinded if my costs are covered , my solicitor is confident i would win a case were i to force sale but said it might take two years to reach court

question is whether its worth waiting two years ?

unfortunate that someone saw it as necessary to engage in snide digs about how apparently nobody can even use the term " high functioning " ABI case unless they have multiple Phd,s

talk about petty pedantry ?

 

[mustang01]

To be fair to the OP, I get the sense that he mentioned this to illustrate the vendor was compos mentis so the change of heart wasn’t necessarily down to his condition, though same could well be used as a mitigating circumstance in prolonging closing.

 

[NoRegretsCoyote]

Neither the brain injury nor the OP's subjective assessment is relevant here .

The contract was signed by someone presumably of sound mind who seems to be getting cold feet for whatever reason.

The question is what the OP should do.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

the closing date was supposed to be the end of February gone by

Thanks for telling us that eventually. A slippage of a month would not strike me as unusual.

my solicitor got a call from the vendors solicitor , saying that their client might never wish to leave the property ,

So the vendor's solicitor said that. Were they just sounding you out, do you think?

i agreed that the best thing to do was to allow another month ( april 1st ) so as to give the vendor times to perhaps arrange a place to move to and to get their head together.

Explain what you mean by "get their head together"?

Brendan

 

[Thirsty]

whether its worth waiting two years

Not in my opinion; life is too short. There'll be other properties.

 

[galway_blow_in]

Thanks for telling us that eventually. A slippage of a month would not strike me as unusual.



So the vendor's solicitor said that. Were they just sounding you out, do you think?



Explain what you mean by "get their head together"?

Brendan

when a vendor expresses a desire to close by the end of february and then two weeks later , expresses distress and a desire to perhaps remain on , you suspect they need time to sort themselves out , vendors solicitor claimed his client had been let down by family and friends as he was not able to say goodbye to this house today and walk into his new apartment tomorrow , thus his interim period accommodation had not worked out , perhaps this is what has caused the rush of anxiety or whatever it is , perhaps his solicitor wrongly assumed he was compos mentis enough to understand the nature of contracts etc ?

 

[galway_blow_in]

To be fair to the OP, I get the sense that he mentioned this to illustrate the vendor was compos mentis so the change of heart wasn’t necessarily down to his condition, though same could well be used as a mitigating circumstance in prolonging closing.

exactly , if i am left with no option but to force sale through the courts , its not a stretch to imagine that the vendors ABI might be used as a defence for his actions , if all i got in such a court sitting was a sorry but you cant buy the house , i would feel rather silly