selling a property - recent delays because of a rush before the end of stamp duty relief??

We're selling a flat for well below the Stamp Duty level, yet our prospective "buyers" are claiming they may have to wait 14 weeks!!! for the solicitor to reach completion of the sale!!

They've suggested moving in before completion because of the above, which ain't going to happen!

Sounds like a scam to me.

Is it the case that these delays are caused by any recent rush to complete sales before the end of the Stamp Duty holiday? 14 weeks seems a long time to complete a straightforward property sale.

Sounds a bit of a ruse to gain possession without paying............

 

I’ve got a house on the market at the moment and there’s no way on earth I’d give someone the keys before I’ve got the money in my bank. What is the stamp duty threshold Mike, mines on at £130,000 ono.

 

Might be wrong but I think the Stamp Duty Relief that's coming to an end in a few days is for £250k+ properties, £125k - £250k properties are unaffected until the end of September.

Our "buyers" are claiming recent long completion delays because of the rush to void the end of June deadline. Very sceptical......................

 

Ah right, I’m well under that, must be why the estate agents didn’t mention it at all. Good luck with your sale Mike.

 

14 weeks is not unusual. If you had the actual deeds in your hand and the buyer had a bag full of cash it would still take the solicitors 8 weeks to sort out the paperwork

 

And still charge a fortune for it and then try to dodge any responsibility if something goes wrong.

 

I just got around to taking my late mums name off the house I now own with my sister ... we signed documents Dec 2019.. deeds are still being sorted by Land Registry .
But if you're still describing delay time in weeks, that's not unusual.

 

More traditional than necessary, if you stood over them they'd have it done in 10 minutes but they don't want you to know that. Part of justifying their fee.

 

It’s unfortunate that you have to rely on Solicitors to sort this sort of thing out. They are never in a rush to sort it and tend to charge extortionate fees for doing the job.
The government extended the stamp duty holiday earlier this year as there was such a back log of sold property’s waiting for completion due to delays. The same issue is going to arise in September.

 

‘Occupying under license’ or something like that cropped up on one of our property dealings. I think it is a short term legal arrangement to move in to a property for a specified period. I can’t remember the details but there is a legal framework that allows it.

 

However, the answer is "no, go and chase the solicitor if you eant to speed things up". It's well known that they won't do it until you chase them. Solicitors are scum.

 

When we bought our house it took 5 weeks exactly from the day we viewed the property to the day we moved in. I was quite impressed with the solicitor we used, they were very good. This was 5 years ago however. ‘Covid delays’ seems to be an excuse everyone is using at the minute to delay anything and inflate prices.

 

Our neighbours are selling and it seems to be taking a very long time for the purchaser to be sorting things out. The solicitors have suggested the delay is down to them working on sales with more priority i.e. those where they will achieve stamp duty holiday. My experience of selling poor quality commercial usually for residential is that purchasers delay for a multitude of reasons. I wouldn't let them in before completion, try getting them out!! Timely completion should be their goal.

 

If you are not in a hurry one possibility is to let the “buyers” in under a 6 month assured shorthold tenancy with the buyers paying the full 6 months rent plus rental deposit up front. Not that simple if you need your mortgagors consent. Doing this time means the solicitors can start..and hopefully finish the conveyancing process, plus the liability for council tax passes. Possible downside is the buyers may decide during their rental that they don’t like the property. I was lowlife scum or more accurately a conveyancing solicitor for 25 years and used this procedure a handful of times. I’m not recommending it but it is a viable alternative. TOTALLY avoid any form of licence to occupy unless after exchange of contracts and payment of at least 10% deposit.

 

There is no mortgage on the flat, and the lease almost certainly prohibits any form of sub-letting. If long waits are the new norm, then so be it. But we won't let them move in before completion, it would probably end in tears.

 

Tell them you have a cash buyer, they have 3 weeks or no flat

 

A good decision although it would be a most unusual lease if it prohibits assured shorthold tenancies which are not

A good decision although it would be a most unusual lease if it prohibited an assured shorthold tenancy, which would probably make it unacceptable to a mortgagee. The assured shorthold however would invariably prohibit any form of sub-letting.

 

My own sale during COVID took 10 weeks, I have an ongoing purchase that is over 14 weeks with no sign of a contract yet. A friend dropped £250k off his asking price on the condition that the deal was completed in 28days…this got done in time….depends who you deal with and how you deal with them. It can be done!