Contracts Signed - Closing Date Passed. Now what?

[lfeary]

Hey there. Our closing was due to take place yesterday and it didn't happen. The original contract had a closing date of 3rd October which was then changed by the vendor's solicitor without notifying us. At that stage though the vendor had not signed. The renewed contract was sent to us last week signed by the vendor with a closing date for yesterday on it. Our cheque is ready to go so there are no delays on our side of things however the vendor's solcrs won't return our calls and the vendor is also dodging the auctioneers. I know that his builders said that there was a delay and he advised them to contact his solcr. but that was the last we heard.
My own solcr. says that there's nothing we can do and that he may look for 28 days grace! That would be fine only we handed in our notice to our landlord and vacated yesterday so we're now sleeping on my parents floor which I couldn't bare for more than a night or two.
Can anyone tell me if there's anything we can do - do we have any rights as the purchasers????

 

[ellen2]

Hey Ifeary

I am presuming this is a second hand property that you are purchasing. Therefore, there is an interest rate included in the Contract for Sale and you can start charging interest once the closing date has passed. Normally it is never charged, however, your solicitor could write a letter to the vendors solicitor stating that if the sale doesn't close by next week that you intend charging interest, that usually helps to speed things up! Otherwise my best advice is hold tight, it will close, it may take a few weeks but you will get there, I am sure your solicitor is aware of your circumstances and is doing his/her best for you

 

[philcsl]

I've just signed contracts last week and there is an interest penalty built in so that the vendor can charge interest if the buyer misses the closing date but there is no clause for the buyer to charge interest if the vendor misses the closing date. We only noticed this when our closing date was pushed back 3 weeks which we weren't too happy about but we were told that this is the standard contract.. Not much we can do but sit and wait..

 

[lfeary]

Hi Philcsl - Yeah my solicitor also advised that we were not in a position to charge interest which seems really unfair. I just thought that having changed the closing date once already and sending a renewed contract and closing date for the 31st signed this time by the vendor that we might have more sway especially as we have our cheque organised this time too. I guess we'll just have to sit tight. Best of luck with your move!

 

[lissard]

I've been through your situation as both a buyer and as a vendor. Firstly to the best of my knowledge under Irish law the contract comes down primarily on the side of the vendor. As a vendor, if the buyer delays closing the sale beyond the agreed date you can serve what is termed notice of completion. I think this notifies the buyer that they have 28 days to buy the house or they will lose their deposit. There is also the notion of charging interest on the outstanding amount. e.g. On a house valued €500k with a €50 deposit paid, interest accrues on €450k at a rate of 12% per annum (€150 per day). In theory a vendor can go after the buyer for this money but only after the sale has closed. In our case the buyer delayed by 2 weeks and I think we could have gone after them for €2k or so ( we were bridging at the time so there was real expense acrued by ourselves). Apparently this doesn't happen very often in non-commercial conveyancing. Anyhow to get to my point. As a buyer depending on your contract you can charge interest on the deposit being held by the vendors solictor ( €16 per day based on my example above - not much compared to the leverage you have as a vendor I'm sure you'll agree). I believe as a buyer you can also serve notice of completion and your vendor will be compelled to honour the signed contract - it is legally binding after all. As buyers we went through the same thing as yourselves and had to get out landlord to extend the lease for another month or so. You just have to wait - talk to the vendors and find out what their situation is. In our case the vendors were building a new house and it was damaged in a storm - they ended up moving in with relatives for a few weeks prior to its completion. To be honest nobody wins in this situation.

 

[capricorn]

a buyer can also serve a 28 day completion notice. If I was the OP I would do this now as your vendor has already missed one completion date. Unless you issue the notice there is absolutely nothing you can do should they decide to delay for another for weeks, which is likely. i wouldn't bother contacting the vendors at all as suggested by the last poster. their behaviour thus far has been really ignorant but sadly fairly common. let your solicitor handle them by sending the 28 day notice, when that expires you can then get them out or your money refunded.

 

[lfeary]

Thanks for all the info guys. I've just emailed my solicitor to serve the 28 day completion notice so we'll see how i get on!!

 

[caitR]

i'm curious how this worked out?

i'm in the same situation now - my offer on 2nd hand house accepted mid July, lots of delays on vendors side, contracts eventually signed by me mid Oct with vendor (residing in the US - house vacant since end july) signing 1st Nov with a closing date three weeks later.

Closing date passed and still no keys. My solicitor is still waiting on the fire indemnity form from the vendors solicitors - there's a management fee in place which covers house insurance.
I believe owner may owe management fees since july.

I requested my solicitor serve completion notice once closing date passed (that was about 2 weeks ago) so 2 weeks to go.

What happens if vendor has decided to pull out of sale?

Will I automatically get my deposit (10%) refunded?
Or do I have to sue for refund?
Do I get stung for the cost of my legal fees?
ok, yea I engaged her services, but seems a bit unfair if I don't even end up with a house at the end of it?! I reckon vendor should pay as they have been giving me the runaround for the last 5 months...

whatyayallthink?