House fell through, need advice

B

balkanhawk

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Hello all,
We need some advice. We went sale agreed on a property back in October 04th. We eventually got around to signing our contract on the 30th of October. The solicitor informed us that the vendor had set a date for the 13th of November to collect the keys. There was a small disagreement over furniture but that was cleared up on the 02nd or 03rd.

The 13th arrived and we were informed that she would need another week to move out. We agreed and then that date arrived and passed. We were under the impression that the contracts were signed by her but they were never returned to our solicitor. We were then told that she was waiting on her mortgage pack. We eventually got ticked off and gave her a cut off date of the end of November. Our solicitor got a letter saying that her purchase had fallen through she wanted to know if we would wait.

We were under the impression that there was a contract signed and she had to move out. Our solicitor informed us that she didnt have the contract and we basically didnt have a leg to stand on. We havent got back to the vendor yet (replied with a considering our position a few days ago) but i just spotted the property on daft today.

I need some advice on where we stand legally?? help!!
 
Re: House fell through, need advice!!

If signed contracts were not exchanged then you have no legal recourse-as your solicitor has said.

What gave you the impression that contracts were signed and exchanged?
 
Re: House fell through, need advice!!

Our solicitor told us that she had 28 days to move out. Due to this we didnt push too hard on getting her out as we thought it was a matter of time.
 
Re: House fell through, need advice!!

Well I know who I would be angry with in this situation - your solicitor has not been acting in your interests, and seems to have been fobbing you off without really keeping a handle on the sale process. I would be asking some serious questions of him/her now.
This sort of thing really annoys me. There are some excellent, professional and efficient solicitors out there, but particularly around conveyancy there are a lot of solicitors that don't seem to give a damn about the service they provide. If they were builders those sort would be called 'cowboys', but because they are in a nice suit and speak legalese, people are afraid to question their advice or excuses
 
Re: House fell through, need advice!!

That is pretty poor form from the solicitor alright. The thing is there isn't much that anyone else could have done in the circumstances. Either the vendor signs or they don't. Until the contracts are signed rthe pruchaser can do nothing to force the vendors hand, except threaten to walk.

Is the house back up at a higher price?
 
What a mess- First thing get your money back from the solicitor - Second thing find another solicitor and if the first sends you a bill tell him simply that you intend to lodge a complaint to the Law Society for misrepresentation. If you could get a friend to look at the house, appearing like a new purchaser and then make an offer under the original price. If successful have the friend sign the contract in their name and after exchange another contract to you and then complete in the same manner. Make sure that you both are covered in the case of eventualities so that it doesn't cost either of you money as you would be responsible at the end. Sounds like a good country story where they just don't like outsiders crossing theor threshold.
 
You dont have any recourse. Its just an facet of being in a chain. I went through this before a couple of years ago and found it very stressful. The fact is that sale agreed means nothing until the contracts have been exchanged.

How I handled it before:

1) Put your property back on the market. Now.
2) Let the person who was going to buy it that if they can get their mortgage you will go with them. Dont hold a grudge as you are cutting your nose to spite your face. They are probably upset too.
3) Let the vendor of the property you are buying know about your situation telling them that you want the property but you deal has collapsed. They will welcome you back if you can sign, especially in this market.

I dont think its the fault of your solicitor - they cant make someone sign.

Hope it works out

Arry
 
Thanks. Gonna meet with the solicitor tomorrow and work something out. We have been to see a few places since and none were as nice!!
 
arry said:
You dont have any recourse. Its just an facet of being in a chain. I went through this before a couple of years ago and found it very stressful. The fact is that sale agreed means nothing until the contracts have been exchanged.

How I handled it before:

1) Put your property back on the market. Now.
2) Let the person who was going to buy it that if they can get their mortgage you will go with them. Dont hold a grudge as you are cutting your nose to spite your face. They are probably upset too.
3) Let the vendor of the property you are buying know about your situation telling them that you want the property but you deal has collapsed. They will welcome you back if you can sign, especially in this market.

I dont think its the fault of your solicitor - they cant make someone sign.

Hope it works out

Arry
Click to expand...

Umm, end, stick, wrong, the, of.
 
It seems simple. Fire the solicitor that you hired to arrange exchange of contracts and final transfer. The contracts were never countersigned and you were never informed.
 
Stifster said:
Umm, end, stick, wrong, the, of.
Click to expand...

You are assuming that the solicitor knew that there was a problem on the other side. I have bought and sold a couple of properties and have found that there is always obfuscation from both solicitors/agents to give the buying party time to get themselves together.

It is not in the interest of the OP's solicitor to hide something from them.

Cabbage
 
arry,
The OP is buying, not selling. Hence previous "end, stick, wrong, the, of." post.
 
Of the four solicitors I have used for conveyancing I have found three of them to be utterly useless. One of them handed over our signed contracts but didn't get contracts from the other side. He then informed us that we were obliged to buy the house, but they were not obliged to sell it to us. Another joker didn't pay off our bridging loan, keeping £45'000 in his client account for 10 months. In the end the bank went after him for the interest (nice bank). He didn't even apologise.
Luckily the guy I use now is great and keeps his eye on the ball.

Lawyers are only as good as the client that instructs them. Don't expect them to have the same level of interest in the transaction that you will have. You have to do your homework, know what the procedure is and if necessary pester then into doing their job properly.
 
purple, you're bloody paying them to know what they're doing!!! I expect them to guide me through the process, not the other way round
 
DerKaiser said:
purple, you're bloody paying them to know what they're doing!!! I expect them to guide me through the process, not the other way round
Click to expand...
Then expect to get let down. If you pay a builder to do a job on your house do you not keep tabs on what he's doing or do you make sure he's doing what he's supposed to do?
 
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