First contract signing

[Jules]

We are purchasing a house in France and are hoping to sign the initial contract in early May.  Do we have to state an end date for the final contract to be signed?  As we are selling our property in the UK, this would be difficult to predict

Jules

 

 

[Pickles]

[quote user="Jules"]

We are purchasing a house in France and are hoping to sign the initial contract in early May.  Do we have to state an end date for the final contract to be signed?  As we are selling our property in the UK, this would be difficult to predict

[/quote]

You may already be aware of this (I hope so) but if your purchase is dependent (eg for funds) on your sale, I presume that you will have a a clause suspensive inserted to cover the situation. The vendor might insist on some time limit ...

Regards

Pickles

[cooperlola]

Once the purchase ball starts rolling there is very little you can do to stop it.  The average time the whole thing takes is approximately 3 months (bang on that for us!).  It's very difficult to delay unless you take Pickles's good advice.

[Nicos]

Ours will be 3 months and one week- and we had to wait for SAFER to check out the land.

[Sunday Driver]

The end date for the contract is usually by mutual agreement between you (time needed to obtain finance, etc), the seller (time needed to organise the obligatory reports and arrange his move) and the notaire (time taken for the conveyance, searches, etc).  As Cooperlola says, three months is a general guide although things can be sorted sooner.

It's unlikely that the seller will agree to a clause that the purchase is conditional upon your UK house being sold.  That means if you fail to sell it by the cutoff date (and you are unable to secure a bridging loan), then you will be in breach of the terms of the contract and you will be liable to forfeit your deposit.

 

 

[Jo]

 Ours was actually completed in just over 2 months, but we had mentioned at the start that we needed 3 months to release funds from savings accounts, so they delayed completion until the date we had initially agreed. However,  given how long it can take to complete a sale in UK, I would certainly get something put in the contract  if the seller agrees, or you will end up losing your deposit.

[RumziGal]

[quote user="Sunday Driver"]

It's unlikely that the seller will agree to a clause that the purchase is conditional upon your UK house being sold.  That means if you fail to sell it by the cutoff date (and you are unable to secure a bridging loan), then you will be in breach of the terms of the contract and you will be liable to forfeit your deposit.[/quote]

Yes, but if the clause suspensive only mentions not being able to get the money, you'll be covered.   The reasons for not getting the money will be irrelevant. 

[cooperlola]

A general clause suspensive like this (if you don't get the money in time, no sale) can of course be your life - or at least your deposit -saver.  However, I would not expect your seller to agree to even this having no time limit at all.  They might very well decide, if you push them into too tight a corner, that they will look for another buyer.  Depending upon how strong the market is where you are buying, of course.  So Sunday Driver's advice is still good (as ever).  I would be careful to make sure that you have a back up plan (bridging loan etc) to fall back on in case your UK house sale is severely delayed.

It would be good to hear from the o/p again, btw.