Q. I have just secured a fabulous brand new home to buy but it won’t be ready to move into for another 6 months. I also have a property that I need to sell now that I have secured my new home. Hearing all the latest news about the current economic climate, I feel very strongly that I should sell my property sooner rather than later as who knows where the market will be in 6 months and I know I can achieve a very good price if I sell now. Do you think there is a possibility of selling now and not completing until my new home is ready?
A. There are actually a number of options open to you, it’s just simply down to what works best and if you can find a buyer that is willing to be flexible. The first option and the normal way forward is that you would sell straight away, complete and then move into rented accommodation until the house is ready. However if you are up front with your Agent from the very beginning and let him know that ideally you would like to secure a buyer quickly and progress to exchange of contracts swiftly but not complete for 6 months, then obviously everyone is aware of the situation from the outset. Of course this will not work for some buyers that are time sensitive, they could have a mortgage offer that expires before your completion date, they may be renting and need to be moved within a couple of months with no flexibility from their landlord to extend. But for some if this is their dream property and they are able to carry on living at their current home knowing they have secured their desired property it could be an interesting option. A buy to let investor may be keen to work with you on this too, but he will likely offer to exchange and complete as soon as legally possible and then arrange for you to sign a tenancy agreement to rent the property back at the current market rate, until legal completion takes place. Of course this would be the more expensive option as rent can be expensive, so if you can manage to hold off the completion and continue your mortgage payments this would be the better option financially as at least you would benefit from making further mortgage payments rather than paying rent which of course is dead money.