70 thoughts on “Delayed completion? Your Costs, Compensation & Legal Remedies”
Hi. We accepted an offer on our property 7 months ago. The buyers have been messing about and have just pulled out. We have bought another property and moved out and today the buyers have pulled out. 7 months mortgage and legal fees ?? Please can you give me an idea of where we stand. Thankyou.
The situation largely depends on whether or not you had exchanged legally binding contracts with the buyers before this. From what you have said it appears you may not have exchanged with your buyers, and in that situation under the English conveyancing system, either party can withdraw from an agreed sale right up to the point of exchange of Contracts without penalty. If you had exchanged contracts with your buyer then there would be contractual remedies available to you.
You should discuss with your current conveyancers the implications and your options. We hope you manage to resolve your problem to your satisfaction.
Hi! I am a buyer, who put in an offer 6 months ago on the understanding of a speedy sale – but the lease renewal that was to go through with the sale is taking ages. The management company and the vendor did not have this in place before the property went up for sale.
In 6 weeks time I will have nowhere to live and all of my belongings are in a costly storage, plus I’m having to pay TWICE for removal companies – is this something I can look into claiming for? Thanks!
We are sorry to say that sadly, there probably is little that you can do about the situation.
If you have not exchanged contracts, there is not contractual liability between the parties.
You should probably speak with your solicitor about what can be done. For example, if the lease is short, a seller can sell a property and assign the benefit of the Section 42 Notice served pursuant to the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. This is the notice to the landlord of the tenant’s statutory right to extend the lease. This right can be passed to the buyer. The buyer will not want to pay for this, however, so some agreement in this respect needs to be reached, normally by way of discount to the purchase price.
Extending a lease is complicated. Your solicitor should be consulted about this before any decisions are made.
In short, this probably was negligent, unless a reasonably competent solicitor with the same information and in the same situation would have made the same mistake.
Presumably you are facing claims for late completion (https://cunningtons.co.uk/delayed-completion/). You should probably raise a complaint and see if the solicitor is prepared to cover any loss.
Delayed completion: what are your options when someone in your chain of property transactions is late? With a group of strangers all working toward completing on the same date, it's a wonder it ever works out on time.
This collection of cases of property misrepresentation claims should remind all of us how important it is to tell the truth on a Property Information Form
Supporting Farleigh Hospice | Limited Places Available We’re delighted to announce that Cunningtons is once again partnering with Farleigh Hospice for the annual Make a Will charity campaign this September! What We’re Offering ✅ Completely FREE Will preparation by our qualified solicitors;✅ Professional legal advice and guidance on making your Will; and of course,✅ Support […]
Hi.
We accepted an offer on our property 7 months ago. The buyers have been messing about and have just pulled out. We have bought another property and moved out and today the buyers have pulled out.
7 months mortgage and legal fees ??
Please can you give me an idea of where we stand. Thankyou.
Thank you for contacting us.
The situation largely depends on whether or not you had exchanged legally binding contracts with the buyers before this. From what you have said it appears you may not have exchanged with your buyers, and in that situation under the English conveyancing system, either party can withdraw from an agreed sale right up to the point of exchange of Contracts without penalty. If you had exchanged contracts with your buyer then there would be contractual remedies available to you.
You should discuss with your current conveyancers the implications and your options. We hope you manage to resolve your problem to your satisfaction.
Hi!
I am a buyer, who put in an offer 6 months ago on the understanding of a speedy sale – but the lease renewal that was to go through with the sale is taking ages. The management company and the vendor did not have this in place before the property went up for sale.
In 6 weeks time I will have nowhere to live and all of my belongings are in a costly storage, plus I’m having to pay TWICE for removal companies – is this something I can look into claiming for?
Thanks!
Thank you for your comment.
We are sorry to say that sadly, there probably is little that you can do about the situation.
If you have not exchanged contracts, there is not contractual liability between the parties.
You should probably speak with your solicitor about what can be done. For example, if the lease is short, a seller can sell a property and assign the benefit of the Section 42 Notice served pursuant to the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993. This is the notice to the landlord of the tenant’s statutory right to extend the lease. This right can be passed to the buyer. The buyer will not want to pay for this, however, so some agreement in this respect needs to be reached, normally by way of discount to the purchase price.
Extending a lease is complicated. Your solicitor should be consulted about this before any decisions are made.
Hi,
I’m the buyer – completion was delayed as my solicitor transferred the funds to the incorrect account on the day of completion. Is this negligence?
Thank you for your comment.
In short, this probably was negligent, unless a reasonably competent solicitor with the same information and in the same situation would have made the same mistake.
Presumably you are facing claims for late completion (https://cunningtons.co.uk/delayed-completion/). You should probably raise a complaint and see if the solicitor is prepared to cover any loss.