Selling my house but don’t want definitive closing date in contract

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mustang01

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Sale agreed and buyers ready to sign but want a closing date in contract. Moving to a new build so I can’t give one until I get my own, apparently mid Summer though subject to change due to nature of new builds.. What’s the usual practice in this situ? Should I just put mine back on market if buyers won’t sign without one?
 
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You need to ask your solicitor to advise you here. It's not a common situation, but its not unique euther. In Ireland there is no legal mechanism to establish a 'chain' of purchases like exists in the UK.

The purchasers solicitor will be advising them not to sign without a date. But sometimes a compromise can be reached by adding a back stop date, giving the purchasers thd right to rescind the contract if if not closed by a certain date, but their solicitor will want to add additional causes around mortgage, etc.

Another option is that you only sign contracts when thd move in date for you is known, which leaves everyone in limbo.

Talk to your solicitor.
 
mustang01 said:
ISale agreed and buyers ready to sign but want a closing date in contract. Moving to a new build so I can’t give one until I get my own, apparently mid Summer though subject to change due to nature of new builds.. What’s the usual practice in this situ? Should I just put mine back on market if buyers won’t sign without one?
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This might not be as serious as you think it all depends. In many cases buyers are more concerned that their purchase of the property is secured. That is contracts are signed. As per RedOnion. Talk to the legal be upfront and all will work out.
 
I agree with the observations above, and can recount our experience from the mid '00s.

We explained, through our Solicitor, to our prospective purchasers that our new house was under construction and we therefore needed some flexibility regarding a closing date.
By being completely open and straight with the purchasers we ended up being sale agreed, with deposit paid, in September, but didn't close until the following July.

I should add our purchasers were buying to let, so that presumably helped in our situation.
 
Was this not made clear up-front?

Would you not talk to the estate agent you used to sell the house?

I would be annoyed if I agreed to buy a house and was later told that it would be closed at some uncertain time in the future.

However, in some cases, I might not be too worried.

Brendan
 
Brendan Burgess said:
Was this not made clear up-front?

Would you not talk to the estate agent you used to sell the house?

I would be annoyed if I agreed to buy a house and was later told that it would be closed at some uncertain time in the future.

However, in some cases, I might not be too worried.

Brendan
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Yes it was made very clear upfront and agent knew the score with my own but it’s buyers solicitor insisting on a closing date before signature which I just can’t provide yet cos i haven’t got one. Could I suggest a date in 6 months time and then bring forward?
 
Zobeda said:
I agree with the observations above, and can recount our experience from the mid '00s.

We explained, through our Solicitor, to our prospective purchasers that our new house was under construction and we therefore needed some flexibility regarding a closing date.
By being completely open and straight with the purchasers we ended up being sale agreed, with deposit paid, in September, but didn't close until the following July.

I should add our purchasers were buying to let, so that presumably helped in our situation.
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Did they sign the contract on this basis without a date?
 
RedOnion said:
You need to ask your solicitor to advise you here. It's not a common situation, but its not unique euther. In Ireland there is no legal mechanism to establish a 'chain' of purchases like exists in the UK.

The purchasers solicitor will be advising them not to sign without a date. But sometimes a compromise can be reached by adding a back stop date, giving the purchasers thd right to rescind the contract if if not closed by a certain date, but their solicitor will want to add additional causes around mortgage, etc.

Another option is that you only sign contracts when thd move in date for you is known, which leaves everyone in limbo.

Talk to your solicitor.
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They already have a subject to loan clause too so don’t understand why they want it all their own way, particularly when I was upfront about this from the start.
 
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Look at this from the buyers perspective. They don't want to sign a binding agreement and then risk you stringing them along for years risking that the market or their needs change significantly. Remember, if they are borrowing, they'd need to re-apply for mortgage approval if this drags on beyond their current approval period. They may be aware of potential changes to their circumstances and under pressure to close in advance.

Purchasers coming from rented accommodation will want to stop paying what they perceive as dead money ASAP and may be under pressure to vacate. Purchasers trading up or down may have prospective buyers lined up who are putting them under pressure to commit to a date.

The purchaser's solicitor is just doing their job here. No solicitor worth their salt will allow their client sign a completely open ended contract.
 
mustang01 said:
Sale agreed and buyers ready to sign but want a closing date in contract. Moving to a new build so I can’t give one until I get my own, apparently mid Summer though subject to change due to nature of new builds.. What’s the usual practice in this situ? Should I just put mine back on market if buyers won’t sign without one?
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You could hedge your bets & insert a safe date like 30August or 30September. You will incur mortgage costs but if it means you secure the sale it may be worth it to you. You may also communicate the situation to the buyer in the sense that say 30 August is the latest date but it may be sooner. You never know they may be willing to accomadate you if they like the house enough.
 
Surely the purchaser is leaving themselves open by not signing at this point, if as you say you are thinking about putting it back on the market. It's a fine balance because the deal isn't binding on either side until contracts signed. You could maybe ask them to sign with date TBC and don't countersign until a firm date is known? That way at least you have the committment but they can walk away if things go on too long.
 
MelF said:
You could maybe ask them to sign with date TBC and don't countersign until a firm date is known? That way at least you have the committment but they can walk away if things go on too long.
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That would expose them to downside risk on market movement, their solicitor should not let them sign such a contract.

It happens more than anyone would like but sales fall through, even for new builds.
 
As a buyer, I did signed a contract and waited a long time for the seller to countersigned as they were waiting for a final date. We were not advised at the time that they would delay. They retracted after about 5 months and, for us, it meant starting again our search in a rising market having lost months. So I would fully understand why they could have an issue with it.
 
mustang01 said:
Could I suggest a date in 6 months time and then bring forward?
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FWIW I did this last year. Bought a house in January (contracts signed by both parties) but they would not be ready to leave until September, so that’s the closing date that was on the contract. In the end they were ready to leave in July, so we moved it forward. For the reasons stated above, I would never have agreed to this long of a wait without the September date being in the contract and it being counter-signed.
 
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Leo said:
That would expose them to downside risk on market movement, their solicitor should not let them sign such a contract.

It happens more than anyone would like but sales fall through, even for new builds.
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Fair enough, but I guess it depends on how badly they want the house. If as the OP said they knew the situation why enter into the sale at all?
 
mustang01 said:
Did they sign the contract on this basis without a date?
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Hi. Mustang,

I haven't a specific memory I'm afraid. That said we had committed to vacant possession no later than mid August, as they wished to let to students from September, so perhaps that was in the contract alright.
 
Zenith63 said:
FWIW I did this last year. Bought a house in January (contracts signed by both parties) but they would not be ready to leave until September, so that’s the closing date that was on the contract. In the end they were ready to leave in July, so we moved it forward. For the reasons stated above, I would never have agreed to this long of a wait without the September date being in the contract and it being counter-signed.
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Good to know thanks, maybe they might be amenable to something like this.
 
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