Sale agreed but still waiting months later....

Hi All,

My parents seem to have a bit of a situation on their hands and i'm not sure what they should do about it so I was hoping someone out there can help.

My parents went Sale Agreed last April with their house in a very pricey area. The people who put in the highest bid they were told were big developers in Carlow and wanted the house asap. So all systems go but they disappeared off the face of the earth for 3 months. So while my parents solicitor were trying to contact their solicitor he was just getting fobbed off.
In July the people purchasing the property re-appeared and still wanted the house so the were told sign by the end of the week or else......

The signed 3 weeks later and sent the contract back, my parents signed and were told they would have to out on the 20th of Sept. That was yesterday. My parents have put all their belongings into storage already but it wasn't until 2 days ago that my parents solicitor turned around and told my parent that he had sent the contract back to the buyers solicitor and they haven't yet returned it. They were told that they still have another 28 days to get contracts back.

No. 1-Who pays for this storage costs now?
No. 2-Is it true that they have another 28 days?
No. 3-Is there anyway to force this thing along?

Thanks
Tigra

As your parents are the sellers, they can dictate the closing date. The buyer cannot tell you to be out by a certain date. Its amazing how oftem the next statement is used on this forum, but their solicitor should have advised them on this, and avoided them putting their belongings in strorage.

I don't understand this. If the buyer signed and it was sent back to your parents for their signature...why did the solicitor send it back again to the purchasers solicitor?? There seems to be an awful lot of to..ing and fro..ing here. Your parents solicitor definitely should have informed them that all was not right yet. IMO your parents should also have confirmed that all was well with the sale before going to the extreme of putting their belongings in storage.

Actually, you'll probably find that the solicitor went through the whole process with them, advised them just how much trust is needed in these situations, probably advised them that closing dates are aspirational only but that if purchasers are now serious that its better to take the money and run and therefore fixed on the early closing date requested, that contracts are signed and binding but that if purchaser delays that there is a further 28 day period when a completion notice has been served and run before vendors can choose to take deposit and terminate contract or opt to try and enforce the contract.

If you believed a lot of what you read on this board, conveyancing could be done ( probably better) by a monkey than a solicitor, all ( well, nearly all) solicitors are rubbish and it should be possible to press a button and do the whole process automatically. In reality, it is primarily the clients who make things complicated, as here, the purchasers appear to be behaving very badly.

mf