What can we do about not having a house to move into?

Posted by -pixie-ninja-@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 30 comments

So we are currently in the process of selling our house and buying a new one. Our buying process was delayed after the first house we put an offer on fall through but we had secured a buyer for our own and quickly found somewhere else we liked and put an offer in. We were told that the vendor was getting ready to put an offer in but was also happy to break chain. The buyer of our property has made it clear they have to be in by the end of September and all was going according to plan that we would move by then and our vendor would either be moving into their new place or temporary accommodation. We have been told today that their temporary accommodation has fallen through and that they cannot move until the VERY earliest of the end of September. As you can imagine we are extremely stressed and trying to find solutions, and just looking for options or opinions we may not have thought of. We are expecting at least a week where we could be between houses if not more. Any advice or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

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Beautiful_Bad333@reddit

Firstly I’d be suggesting to both the seller of your new house and the buyer of your current house that the aim is the end of September. Get everybody to be agreeable on a date and then look to exchange as soon as possible with that date as a completion date. This way everybody has the knowledge and legal responsibility of the exact date you will all be completing and all on the same date so nobody is temporarily homeless. If they can’t meet that date then they shouldn’t have agreed to it. If that can’t happen for some reason then at the time whoever is holding up the sale/buying process will need to be told you either be ready to complete by x date or you are pulling out etc - obviously this comes with it’s own consequences if you do it. But it may put the scares up them if it’s them delaying it by no being efficient enough with returning signed contracts etc. The whole thing is based on a huge assumption that you will all be ready to complete by the date you are suggesting and in my experience that rarely happens. I’ve literally just bought my most recent home and the solicitors messed up, mortgage company dropped my offer, there was a land registry issue and it delayed the purchase by 5 weeks due to holidays, and response times. When buying and selling there is nothing set in stone. You all have to be flexible and people saying you must compete by this date is a bit stupid. The reason they’re saying that is because their tenancy probably is coming to an end and they will have nowhere to go, just like you, except you’re thinking “how can we solve the problem and still get the sale” but they’re thinking “sod that I’m not paying for another month in the rental when we only need an extra week” If it comes to it and your the one holding it up I would suggest your best course of action would be to try and stay at mates for a week/few days if needs be and put stuff in storage. Look at Airbnb but also look at Travelodge around times you can’t stay at mates houses. You might find it’s cheaper to break things up a bit and try stay at a few mates/parents and in between Travelodge/Premier inn etc - this could be less costly than an Airbnb but you’d need to do your maths. If it’s a definite time frame - say 3 weeks until completion then it’d probably be cheaper going on holiday to Spain/Turkey for 2 of those weeks if you’ve got holiday holiday time available at work!

30 Comments

flyingokapis@reddit

>The buyer of our property has made it clear they have to be in by the end of September I know what it's like selling and having a buyer you dont want to annoy so close to the end, etc, but sometimes you need to push back a little. Everyone makes out like they 'have' to be in by this date or that date, but realistically, you need to be able to go with the flow and bend a little, you cant have it all your own way. You need to lay it out, that it's too expensive to temporarily move and they need to wait.

bacon_cake@reddit

Also, *is* the buyer genuinely saying that or is the agent saying that? Plenty of agents (yours and theirs!) will have no qualms about barefaced lying to you and claiming that the buyer might drop out.

-pixie-ninja-@reddit (OP)

Any option we're looking at is really expensive 😔 we also have pets to consider. Is holiday cottages cheaper than airB&B?

brutallytrue@reddit

Holiday cottages are usually cheaper than airbnbs as they don't have the same fees to pay, if you find one on a website, Google it too and see if you can book direct as that's often even cheaper.

EconomyFreakDust@reddit

Could your parents potentially take the pets in the short term? Or a friend with a house? You'll struggle to keep your pets with you in temporary accommodation.

Zerocoolx1@reddit

We had to pop out cat into a cattery for a few months when we moved the first time.

AditeAtlantic@reddit

If you are in the right part of the country caravan parks are extremely cheap at this time of year. Better than a hotel as you have a kitchen. Cheaper than many Air B&Bs. This how a younger me spent a week in a caravan park in Clacton-on-Sea.

EveryTopSock@reddit

This happened to me a couple of years ago. I didn't want to risk my sale falling through so I went with it. I put my stuff in a friends barn for storage, stayed with some friends for half the time and in an airbnb for the rest of it. I had other offers of places to stay, but those were the most convenient. If it's just going to be for a few weeks, ask around friends and family. Otherwise, look at going into rented.

Chilton_Squid@reddit

Put your stuff into storage and rent an AirBnB. Be prepared for your purchase to fall through and be living there for a year, though.

lisy_cook@reddit

We did this a week before COVID / first lockdown hit. Our new build was meant to be ready mid-April so in our heads we just had a few weeks in a nice air BnB and would treat it like a holiday. As soon as COVID hit, building stopped and the developers became useless at communicating. We ended up bouncing between air bnbs for 6 months with nothing but a small suitcase of clothes for us and our 18month old. And all because we didn't want to risk losing our buyer over a couple of weeks 😭

NikedemosWasTaken@reddit

I might be missing something, but I feel like if you can afford to buy a house in this economy, renting for a while shouldn't be such a financial burden? What I'm saying is, as someone doomed to rent for the rest of their life, I wish I had your problems!

bowak@reddit

I"m afraid that's a bit of a simplistic take. OP might have very little 'spare' cash to spend on renting plus all the associated moving costs, especially if everything could need moving twice. They might be right on the edge of a loan to value band which gets them a lower interest rate. If so they could have no scope to release any equity, or if they're porting their existing mortgage they might not be able to release any equity without triggering a full re-assessment of their finances by the mortgage provider (I think porting without taking on additional lending doesn't trigger this, but not totally sure).

ac0rn5@reddit

We stayed in a caravan for a month, on a small holiday site. Our stuff went into storage with the removals company.

CliffyGiro@reddit

This happened to me. I ended up staying in a cottage I found on holiday cottages. I explained my conundrum to the owners and they gave a good discount. Had to put all my stuff in a storage locker though so it was expensive paying the cottage and the storage.

sidhuko@reddit

My dad is in OP and yours situation doing the exact same thing.

Elsbeth55@reddit

Dexters and some other realtors have short-term let apartments for people in your situation. I’m renting one soon while we do house renovations.

Peskycat42@reddit

Just finally completed on the sale of my Deceased mother's house. Whilst I haven't bought anything my brother had a purchase lined up based on this sale. It had to be a separate chain due to the complexities of mum's sale proceeds having to go to an executor account for me to then pay my brother out of. So this is my brother and his wife - more specifically his wife but my brother just kept his head down and shuffled his feet. His wife piled the pressure on, telling me they HAD to be out of their current house by 14th August as they were converting to a buy to let and it was a condition of the mortgage that they had moved out. We didn't complete until 25th August and it turned out my brother's wife was simply lying through her teeth. They do need to be out, but not until late September. So I had weeks of pressure being put on me when it was completely unnecessary. If my brother's wife can lie to me and not be put right by my brother, I would suggest it's worth another chat to your buyers. Ultimately, they would probably rather not start again looking for a new house either. They may need to get their mortgage offer extended or ask others further down the chain to accept a delay. The joke was on my brother's wife though, they put me under pressure but I am a pretty low stress individual and it was largely water off a ducks back.

rustynoodle3891@reddit

Almost just happened to my mum and dad. I love them dearly but I was dreading the possibility of them moving in with me while everything went through. I'm the only one with the space so I was in the firing line!

tyger2020@reddit

My friend (wife, husband and 3 year old) moved in with her parents while their house purchase went though. They were literally, there for a year. Must be an awful situation

CandieStarZ@reddit

Didn’t happen to me, but to a colleague I used to work with. He and his wife had to put their belongings into storage and rent an AirBnB for a few months. They had moved across the country so they didn’t have any support either. I pray you’ll find somewhere soon.

mas-sive@reddit

It’s not clear if you’ve exchanged? If you haven’t and your buyer isn’t willing to wait for you to find a place, I’d look for another buyer. Trying to find a place to move into ASAP is going to be stressful as it is while trying to buy and sell

jimbodelta@reddit

Self storage prca decent removals firm woll store for you for a week or so , tjem Air bnb or go on holiday, travellodge etc

Tumeni1959@reddit

"What can we do" Petition the Govt through your MP for changes to the buying and selling system in E&W, to include the better aspects of the Scottish system.

Bazzlekry@reddit

We had to move in to a “lodge” on a caravan park in Wokingham for 3 months between moving out of our old house and in to the new. It served a purpose, but I wouldn’t want to do it again.

nickspeeed@reddit

Foe me the vendor has an accommodation problem, but I guess that depends how much you're willing to risk the purchase falling through.

crystalstarling@reddit

Depending on where you are, could you look at using storage for big items and maybe staying in a caravan somewhere like Parkdean or Haven? Should be well cheap this time of year

espionage64@reddit

This happened to me and my partner and I moved back to our parents and put our stuff in storage - we were lucky to have room at our parents for the majority. I know others who have booked an airbnb also.

Future_Direction5174@reddit

All I will say is I am so glad that I had moved into a rental BEFORE we sold our flat. My new job was too far to commute, so two homes (our owned flat and the rented house) made sense. My husband then managed to find a room near his work, after which we sold the flat so that we had now the freedom to find a house to buy. It took his employer a further 4 months to arrange his transfer so I and the children had to unpack everything and move into the Dorset property whilst he spent his work week in London and could only come down and help at the weekend.

When we sold our first house we had 2 months between selling and moving in so we went on a 4 week trip to the US and then stayed with friends for the second month (family could be an option). We stuck everything in storage apart from the basics. We just moved house again (5 years later) and this time had 4 (turned into 6 1/2) months between houses so we just rented a small 3 bed (we had 4 year old twins this time). Again we stuck everything we couldn’t fit into storage (parents’ farm) and then when we had a 2 week overlap we bunged the remainder into a storage unit while we moved.

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