House purchase and One of Vendors really sick

pichu

Hi everyone,

my husband and I are approaching the closing date after purchasing a house but we are kind of freaked out because one of the vendors are in hospital very ill.

We and the vendors signed the contract in November. We asked the closing date to be on the December, but at that moment they found out that one of them had a serious illness, and they asked to push the date one month before signing and we agreed.

Now that the date is very close, we asked permission to visit the house and take measurements, and the agent told us that it was ok but that we needed to be quick as the vendor is in critical condition.

We are kind of afraid of them to want to delay the closing date again or that he might die (and might enter in legal matters with inheritance in between, which would delay the purchase for months), and we are renting at the moment, and gave notice when we had the contracts signed.

We don't know if we should contact our solicitor regarding this issue, and asked him if everything is going as expected, or what to do... we are afraid of being homeless if this situation will continue for a couple of weeks...

We understand that the situation of the vendors are really delicate, but they already knew that this could happen when they signed, so we don´t know how to act on this.

edanto

Yes, it's unusual, but how might the situation change any options that you have?

Just proceed quickly with your inspections and paperwork, and ensure that your solicitor gets their work done quickly and is in regular contact with the other side.

On the vendors side, the distress of the illness may cause them to shelve the sale, but that's out of your control.

jayjay2010

Sorry to hear about your situation. The exact same thing happened to me. I had signed the contract and then found out that the vendor was terminally ill.

It was very difficult to get the vendor to sign as he was being transferred to hospital wards etc but I literally rang my solicitor every day for updates. I rang the estate agents. I even rang the vendors solicitor demanding updates and to push things along. Might sound a bit harsh but the vendor eventually signed and I got the keys a few days later.

My solicitor advised that if the vendor passed away, the sale would take months to close due to legal implications etc..

Best of luck!

secman

Contracts are signed so unlikely to fall through without ramifications for the vendors.. but it's not likely to be high on their agenda just now...check with your solicitor.

jayjay2010

See my thread from a few months ago, might help you

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=95975228

pichu

edanto, if the situation goes wrong, we could become homeless, we only have two weeks after the closing date to leave our apartment.

All the paperwork is done, at least from our side. Life and home insurances are already in place, and the bank cheque is ready for being issued next week by our solicitor. I am just waiting him to tell me to do the transfer of the remaining money.

Our solicitor hasn't been very polite with us, we only saw him for signing the contract, and he never answers me in full when I have doubts, and I have the feeling that I am bothering him just for trying to contact with him.

Hopefully the vendor won't pass away, and they will achieve the closing date. We are just worried that because of their situation, despite they knew when they signed the contract, will delay the closing date. Are we entitled to ask for money if they do? It is a delicate situation, but we will be paying two insurances, the mortgage, and a hotel because of them not doing what they signed.

April 73

Closing dates can & do change due to unforeseen circumstances. We had three closing dates earlier this year which all fell through for various reasons. We paid two lots of life assurance payments for two months. That's just part of the buying process that happens sometimes.

If one of your vendors is critically ill it's understandable that selling the house is not their top priority. Are they living in the house? Even more reason if they are why they might be reluctant to commit to moving out while one of them is seriously ill.

Is there any way you can extend your current living arrangements? You can send the mortgage drawdown back to the bank if the closing looks to be delayed & then at least you won't start paying the mortgage before you pay for the house.

quietsailor

pichu wrote: »

edanto, if the situation goes wrong, we could become homeless, we only have two weeks after the closing date to leave our apartment.

I bought a house before from an estate sale (probate) where I needed the house sooner than the sale could go through - I rented the house from the vendor at a nominal fee until the sale could go through.

You can always ask them if they will do this,

Jen44

oh very stressful for you! I hope it all goes ahead when your expecting. Ive no advise really just sympathising as its already a very stressful situation just made worse!

Butters1979

jayjay2010 wrote: »

See my thread from a few months ago, might help you

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=95975228

@Jayjay It's not really clear, what actually happened in the end?

OP, you can, through your solicitor (who sounds useless), issue a deadline to close, and if they don't make that deadline, the deal is off. It might get them focused on resolving this. However, I would not worry about that until after (and if) the closing date passes.

pichu

I will try to contact with my solicitor today to see how things are at the moment. Because the bank has issued the funds already so he will have the money next week....

And if they sign the contract is binding, right? So, how can they fall through the sale? Delaying is one thing, but losing a house that we are already paying for?
For us is nonsense, how can we start paying a mortgage without having the house? So hopefully everything will be ok, and they will continue with the sale...

They knew about the illness when they signed, and they were the ones who proposed this date, so I just hope that everything will be ok despite their situation.

pichu

I forgot to mention that in the contract we have "Interest rate 8% per annum", but we are not sure what it means...

And we cannot stay in our apartment, as it is already let from February.

Butters1979

edit: misread the initial post

pichu

I don't know their situation. I kind of remember the agent told us they were looking to buy a house, but he also told us that they were willing to move out of the house before that, as his son lives in the same neighborhood.

I will contact the solicitor and see if he can at least tell me if there is something that we need to be worried about. I didn't think that calling the agent was a good idea, as I think that he might lie to me about vendors situation.

pichu

Firstly, you don't even know yet that there will be delay so ... deep breath.

How close are you to the closing date?

pichu wrote: »

Now that the date is very close, we asked permission to visit the house and take measurements, and the agent told us that it was ok but that we needed to be quick as the vendor is in critical condition.

What does this mean? Be quick with the completion? You're not holding anything up.

We had complications with the vendor before signing contracts and the estate agent was helpful in clarifying matters, perhaps you could get an update from them? Although in our case (at that point) the contracts weren't signed so he risked losing his fee if the sale fell through. I think that once the contracts are signed, they vendor is obliged to pay the estate agent fees.

pichu wrote: »

We don't know if we should contact our solicitor regarding this issue, and asked him if everything is going as expected

pichu wrote: »

Our solicitor hasn't been very polite with us, we only saw him for signing the contract, and he never answers me in full when I have doubts, and I have the feeling that I am bothering him just for trying to contact with him.

We found ourselves in a situation where the vendor forced a two week completion period on us and then had the nerve to delay because they were too slow with closing the purchase of their house (not to mention other problems with them prior to that).

My solicitor was fantastic and kept me regularly updated by e-mail, hounded the vendors solicitors and called me if there were any important updates ... I would have given up without her.

It might be time to remind your solicitor who he is working for. Do not hesitate to contact him for updates, he has a duty to keep you informed and it's when complications like this arise that people show their true colours.

It's very rare for a sale not to complete once contracts are exchanged and the consequences for the vendors can be quite severe ... technically you can legally force them to complete the sale and pay you costs.

But again, you don't know yet that there will be a delay so keep calm and get onto your solicitor pronto for an update ... although there may be no update! It's a shame the vendors are in this position but they most likely have commitments themselves which they need to honour and may be just as eager as you to close and have one less thing to worry about.

pichu

Believe me, I am trying to be calm, and I know that we might be taking this out of context, but it is our first house, and we were really excited, that we are freaking out with the possibility of not having the house on time.

Sorry, I explained myself badly about the quick thing. We asked for permission to take measurements and to bring an engineer with us to take a look to some changes we want to do in the living room. The agent gave us the ok but told us to be as quick as possible, as the vendor was very ill in hospital.

The closing date is next week.

Perfectly understandable that you're excited

Maybe wait until Monday and then give the solicitor a call to see if he's heard anything but do call and don't let his manner put you off! Never forget you are paying him for a service.

I still don't quite understand what the agent was getting at ... be quick taking the measurements? Why would he say that if the vendor isn't even in the house at the moment? Be quick about closing the sale? Again, you're not holding anything up. It's probably not important, it just seemed a strange thing to say.

Once again, it's rare for a sale to fall through once contracts are signed. Although these are unusual circumstances, it will probably go through anyway.

They have even said previously that they can move out sooner rather than later into their son's house. Note what quietsailor said, even if the worst happens, there are ways to manage these situations but you MUST make sure your solicitor is doing the work.

April 73

I've just read the OP's first post & actually there is nothing concrete there to indicate that the closing won't happen.

Ring your solicitor tomorrow & ask for an update that everything seems to be on track. Mention that one of the sellers is ill. Ring the EA and ask if they have any update. Then stop worrying about things that may or may not occur. There's no evidence yet that closing won't happen.

Butters1979

Yes I don't know how but I was under the impression the closing date had already passed.

OP, there's no reason to worry about this yet, especially as
a) they singed the contracts after knowing about the illness, so probably do intend to follow through
b) it sounds like they already have a place to move out to in the same estate

Just keep an eye on it.

pichu

I have talked to my solicitor and everything is on track, he is preparing the closing statement, but he didn't tell me more than that... I'll keep trying.

And I spoke to the agent, and apparently it is one of the vendors who will be in the house for us to take measurements. The other vendor is in hospital, and I suppose that´s why he told us to be as quick as possible (taking the measurements).

We are worried about it, because it is a serious illness, with a rough treatment, and we are afraid that they don't want to move by the closing date, or even that the vendor dies before it happens. But anyway, as you all are saying, we have to calm down and see what it happens...

Thank you all!

Matteroffact

It appears to me that the agent just said be quick at taking the measurements because the 2nd vendor didn't want to be discommoded with your engineer going into the house to take measurements as they were up to their eyes worrying about the sick vendor. That is probably all there was to that remark, and had nothing to do with be quick in case the 2nd vendor dies, but of course if he did die it would just mean that you would not get in to take measurements until after the sale. I just think that your anxiety is getting the better of you and understandably so.

pichu

Yes, our anxiety is out of limits, but after the visit today we are more relaxed, as the house was in the middle of the packing and the vendor told us that there will be some company next week removing all stuff. So we feel such a relieve, all appears to be ok. Fingers crossed anyway!

pichu

At the end, everything was ok, and we finally got the keys!!

Jen44

thats great delighted it all went ahead for you congrats!