Cathy Makin

Where to start, here goes, have a buyer for house who is desperate to move in 2 weeks today and has been for some time, his buyer wants to be in his house on the same date. My problem is we havent exchanged contracts yet, solicitors dragging their heels etc etc. The shipping company need at least 2 weeks notice, which is today, weren't able to get Crown as they are booked that day, will have to go with Anglo Pacific, they have the date available as at today but that could all change tomorrow.

Solicitor has advised not to book anything until exchange which could be another week away at which point there will only be 1 week left, too short notice for shippers. I have let the buyer know the situation and he is adamant that he wants to be in for 28th if not he is threatening to pull out!!

Really dont know what to do, if we book and cancel or postpone shippers we will be liable for 60% of shipping costs, almost £2000! But if we leave it until we have exchanged we will not be able to get the shippers at such short notice!

Just wondered if anyone had been in a similar position, we have both handed our notices in which ends at the end of the month and we were going to book flights as soon as we exchanged, does anyone have any words of wisdom??

Yours very depressed and confused

XX

lamburn

Hi sorry to hear bout your problems hope they all get sorted out for you.xx:

mad.chef

Hi,

This is a difficult one. Try not to be pushed around by your buyer. If he pulls out then he will most probably lose his buyer and he won't want that to happen. At the end of the day it is not your fault that you haven't exchanged, it is down to all the solicitors, is there a reason that the exchange hasn't happened?

If you move out, when are you hoping to fly? Close to moving out?

If it was me I would book the shippers for the date you want as remember it takes 6-8 weeks for the shipment to get there. If you get there a few weeks late then can't you have your stuff be stored in Oz. We were quoted only £42 a week to store our container.

I hope all goes well.

Sarah

Munchmel

Hi, we were in an identical situation, and only you can decide the level of risk you are prepared to take! We booked flights and shippers and just accepted the fact that if things fell through we'd have to go and leave house sale to proceed without us! Everyone came through and exchange and completion took place within 10 days of each other. It was such a relief to see the container sealed, that we knew we'd done the right thing for us. Although we were stressed waiting for exchange, we knew we would go regardless and it gave us a kind of " whatever" feel to the whole process, a bit irresposible maybe, but it worked for us

Good luck!

phillip&sharon

Hi, i agree with mad.chef can not see them pulling out as they will loose there buyer aswell. We have just sold ours and they want to be in by end of July but we have made it clear that we need 3 weeks from exchange to completion for booking shipping company.

best of luck.

phillip.

moneypenny20

I'd be having serious words with your solicitor. If everyone is pushing for the same date there is no excuse for the legal sods to be dragging it out. Book the shippers. If all your stuff goes before you've moved out it's no big deal, just borrow a blow up bed. We sent our stuff a month before we left.

Have a word with your estate agent. They can ask your buyers to stick a fire under their solicitors and so on down the line.

themerlin

Glad I'm not buying or selling in the UK.

At least over here the buyer can't pull out once an offer has been accepted.

Bert'n'Stella

Is there not the option to have everything picked up as expected and then stored in UK shipping hall before being sent? I know it means surviving without anything, but if it's only for a week or so?

Nu-Shooz

Completley understand where your coming from. Similar thing happened to me. We hadn't exchanged, but buyers had a date to move in, we had shippers booked and all the rest of it.
We used Crown, but because we hadn't exchanged we couldn't give them the 2 weeks notice.
They said they couldn't move us, buyers still wanting to move, but no exchange.
Solicitors arguing amongst themselves, so we said stuff em all and was going to pull out.
Buyers panicked, somehow we exchanged the day we moved out, but Crown nearly let us down. We gave them 2 days notice and they packed our stuff in one day.
It was either that or we were going to go with John Masons who were happy to do it. Crown wanted our business. Cost us 5 grand in the end.

Don't let anyone boss you about. You are paying them, let them know you are in control.

ub40fan

Have you tried Doree Bonner? I ask because we did, we booked a provisional date, then moved it back a while, then brought it forward a week and they were really accommodating.

They provided us with a fab service, the only thing that got broken was a vase (cheap one over 10 years old) and a plate that I had packed myself.

When it arrived here we werent ready for it so Grace stored it very cheaply (20 ft container for $35 a month)

I know you are now short on time, but you could ring them and see what they say.

Hope you get it sorted.

Shirley