owner not yet out of the house

we are due to settle on a place 2:30 Monday, we are ready and able to settle however when my mum went and inspected on Friday the property wasn't empty, in fact the current occupier (owners son who has POA and has handled the sale) hadn't yet packed a single thing. He told my mum 'we will be out by 6pm on Monday'.

I have had a bad experience in the past with a fair bit of rubbish left behind also I am concerned with what happens at 6:01 or 9:00 on Tuesday when he is just grabbing the last stuff or 11:00 on Wednesday when has hasn't cleared the garage.

Annoyingly our solicitor is a one man band who is on leave so we have been handed off to another small firm who is covering there work.

So what are my rights of getting a delay? Who becomes liable for any extra fees our solicitor may charge? Anyone had a fun experience like this?

 

Dont settle till he is out.

You are liable for your own legal fees unless contracted otherwise.

This happens a fair bit

 

I guess you would expect them to well and truly be out by COB Sunday, or technically 2:29 Monday?
Odd. I would contact your solicitor to contact the sellers and let them know you won't be settling until it's vacant.

 

Terry has given you excellent advise.

Advise the solicitor that is handling this matter in writing first thing Monday morning of what was expressed to your mother and that you will not be settling until vacant possession is granted and all items are removed.

Note that the vendor is not obliged to leave the property in any better condition/cleanliness than when you made the offer but they need to remove their items.

Best of luck with @GoOnAndTell and keep us informed of the informed.

 

well interesting day.

10:00am i inform my soli push settlement the house isn't empty. Offer to let them settle if we can keep $5k bond with our sides soli and they pay for any paperwork to be drawn up.
12:00 get told we are wrong house is empty.
1:30 we have an appointment scheduled to see the house, we arrive and car is still in the drive but owner no were to be seen
1:50 we can settlement
2:00 get told we will get slapped with notice to complete, how dare we, this is crazy, etc...
2:15 i ring the agent and say time to earn commission call the other party soli and tell them the house isn't empty and tell the vendor to stop playing flipping games
3:00 get told the other side wants to rebook for settlement and the house WILL be empty
agent wastes time and cannot send anyone out
3:59 decide place is a **** hole, yard looks mostly empty and we will take the punt and settle
4:00 we settle
4:15 agent finally agrees to meet us at the house, easy full truck left to move
6:00 we go back through the house there is maybe half a wheelie bin of crap left

In the end we have already invested cash in the place, as stated its a **** hole anyway so they can't damage much, the joy of lawyers is even if you are right you have to be willing to spend to prove it. The vendors were trying to settle there next house so they would have been homeless so were very desperate which always scares me because they don't have to much to lose.

So in future we will inspect 7 days out, remind them vacant means vacant, push settlement earlier if we are unhappy.

Anything else we could have done?

 

Some special conditions in the contract. Not sure what state this was in but in NSW under the standard contract you only get one chance to inspect within 3 days of completion date. You could have a condition which allows a few more inspections. Also a special condition to clean up and remove any rubbish, if not a fee of $xx will be held until the rubbish is removed.

 

Good to hear all sorted now

 

What a stressful day!

I guess as Terry said, best to add special condition on contract.

 

Curious. What happens if you settled at 1430 Monday as per the contract come in with new locks and deny access to the guy who has left stuff?

Tell him to get off your property etc etc.

 

That person could have squatters rights so always best not to settle until vacant possession is given.

 

We've had that happen with a rentist, but I'd find it difficult to be calm if it was a purchase.
Good to hear it's all settled.

 

A 'rentist'.

Add that to the urban dictionary.

pinkboy

 

And it is a derogatory term too, don't know how many times we have politely discussed the rentists
Then we have the opposite, the delightful tenants.