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Coronavirus: ‘Total panic’ – Vendor describes having house settlement delayed

PHOTO: House settlements aren’t going ahead during Level 4 lockdown. Photo credit: Getty.

House settlements are unable to proceed during the COVID-19 Level 4 lockdown forcing sellers and buyers to stay where they are.

Having sold her house unconditionally on March 20, Auckland homeowner Trish Turney was working towards an early April settlement date, only to have it postponed until May 8.

House movers were booked and plans put in place to renovate her new property when Turney’s solicitor said the New Zealand Law Society had instructed everything to be put on hold.

“I panicked, to begin with, I thought ‘what am I going to do here?’,” Turney explained.

“They said ‘exactly where it is now, that’s where it stops – if you’ve sold, you’ve still sold’,” she continued.

Agreements had been signed and were still legally binding, but instructions were that everything else had to stop for a month. Movers had to be cancelled and renovations – including a new kitchen design and install and an upgrade to the bathroom – had to be put on hold.

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