Moving House

[production100]

So have you bought your new house but now have squatters in it?

Not really! We have both signed the contract and we have paid the deposit, with a contracted moving date of 26 March.

However being realistic we are not able to actually move because moving companies are not working so we have agreed to delay the moving date until they are. We are currently discussing when this is likely to be, but like the Government it is too early to tell. First thoughts are to plan on the basis of around 3 weeks time and review it a week or so before.

Having all our contents in storage means we can be more flexible, within financial reason, and as the vendor is moving into an empty new build which is a one off built into somebodies garden it should be fairly easy to finish the move.

Chris

[Avantegarde]

Yes, but what is the status of your vendor/tenant/squatter? He had a contract with you to move and has failed to do so. Are you simply turning a blind eye to this, on a promise from him that he will move asap? Has he signed a contract with you making him a tenant in your newly purchased home? Or what? Indeed, what has your solicitor actually advised?

[production100]

We have exchanged contracts and paid the deposit, so are both committed to the move. You do not pay the full price for the house until they have moved out and we are ready to move in. This was supposed to be on 26 March but did not happen. So we have not paid the purchase price, and in these exceptional circumstances the solicitors advised us to agree a new moving date by mutual agreement when we could and make payment in full at that time.

So there is no question of them being a tenant or squatter.

Chris

[GoSeigen]

We have exchanged contracts and paid the deposit, so are both committed to the move. You do not pay the full price for the house until they have moved out and we are ready to move in. This was supposed to be on 26 March but did not happen. So we have not paid the purchase price, and in these exceptional circumstances the solicitors advised us to agree a new moving date by mutual agreement when we could and make payment in full at that time.

So there is no question of them being a tenant or squatter.

I think Avantgarde is confused as to why you'd need to move out of your old place if you haven't completed yet.

I assume it is because the rest of the chain has completed but you have agreed to delay completion on just your purchase to allow the sellers time to move out. So presumably someone has moved into your old place already?

GS

[production100]

In these exceptional circumstances the solicitors are generally advising those that have exchanged contracts to agree to adjust the completion date by mutual agreement. All in our chain agreed, with the exception of our buyer who issued us with a 'Notice to Complete '. This gave us 10 days to move out. If not we would lose the contract and be responsible for our buyers costs.

They have now moved into our old home.

We now have a chain of 2, so hopefully it will be relatively simple to agree a new moving and completion date when moving companies start work again.

Chris

[Mike88]

In these exceptional circumstances the solicitors are generally advising those that have exchanged contracts to agree to adjust the completion date by mutual agreement. All in our chain agreed, with the exception of our buyer who issued us with a 'Notice to Complete '. This gave us 10 days to move out. If not we would lose the contract and be responsible for our buyers costs.

They have now moved into our old home.

We now have a chain of 2, so hopefully it will be relatively simple to agree a new moving and completion date when moving companies start work again.

Chris

Very interesting except by the time life gets back to normal you will be thousands out of pocket with rent and storage costs.

[production100]

Very interesting except by the time life gets back to normal you will be thousands out of pocket with rent and storage costs.

That is of course true, but we suspect that if the contract had been allowed to be cancelled we would also have lost thousands by having to renegotiate the contract - if indeed the buyers were still willing to proceed.

Not the ideal situation, but we are where we are...

Hopefully we will be able to finalise the move in a few weeks and we have negotiated a good deal for the rental as customers for rental properties are in short supply at the moment.

Chris

[pochisoldi]

Reading between the lines of Avantegarde's post, I would suggest that you somehow formalise the arrangement, which may be ongoing for 3 months or more.

Remember that one of the beauties of a well drafted contract, is that you know exactly where you stand.
Get something agreed in writing now, establish the fundamentals in writing:
1) You want to buy
2) The vendor wants to sell

Then clear up the other issues, and if required document them:
Who is responsible for insuring the property? - If both of you have insured the property and something happens, you could end up in a situation where neither policy pays up. - Don't say it doesn't happen - houses have burnt down between exchange and completion before, and both of you could end up exposed for an uncomfortably long period.
It might even be prudent for you (the purchaser) to cancel a policy already taken out to ensure there is no double insurance, but you need to get agreement about who's going to maintain buildings cover first.
(There have been stories about two insurance policies both saying "We won't pay out anything that's already covered elsewhere, then you end up with neither insurer paying out. This isn't "double insurance", where one person has two policies insuring against something, this is two persons insuring the same thing against the same risk.)

Assuming no monies have been passed from you to the vendor...
What's happening with your mortgage? - is the provider happy to hold off on completion? Your conveyancer will be obliged to return the advance if completion does not occur within a certain period of time.

If monies have been passed...
The vendors are living in your house under licence - has this been documented so everyone knows where they stand?

Start planning for when the restrictions are relaxed and you can move.
If you aren't careful, there are going to be people exchanging contracts within hours of the restrictions being moved, and trying to complete a week later. Both parties need to be prepared to move quickly to beat that (potential) rush to move.
Make sure your vendor has a removals company lined up and champing at the bit, and also ensure that your removals company is ready to pull your stuff out of storage and deliver.







Things I would want to clarify with my