Covid-19 and the pressures of buying a home

Brendan, Olivia and Teena Pratt outside the home they have bought but can't yet move into due to lockdown.

Late August was shaping up to be an exciting time for the Pratt family.
After years of renting they were finally going to get a foot on the property ladder.

Brenda, Teena and Olivia had August 27 circled on their calendar as the day they were to move from Te Puke to Rotorua.

Then Delta hit.

The lockdown meant no final inspection of the house they are buying, no settlement on August 25, and no move two days later. It left them uncertain, concerned and living out of packing boxes.

''Everything has been put on hold,'' said Brendan last week.

''As a family it's frustrating and it's worrying because there's a lot of money involved. We know we are protected because we know neither us nor the vendor can back out of it - the only thing that is of concern is the finance.

''We are frustrated personally because we were so excited about a new part of our life as a family and it's just come to a screeching halt. But we also understand this is for the greater good.''

With the move to alert level 3 on Wednesday, settlement and moving can take place, providing buyer and vendor agree, with some restrictions and social distancing requirements.

Luckily for the Pratts, they are taking vacant possession so don't have to wait for occupiers to move out, are moving to an area that is also in alert level 3, and have reached agreement with their vendor.

But they still want to get things settled, not least because of the uncertainty around any future alert level changes.

''We are aiming for September 3 for settlement and waiting for our lawyers to get confirmation from the bank,'' says Brendan.

''As soon as they made the announcement we were moving to level 3, we contacted the lawyers and we contacted the moving company, the sparkies, the builders, to get everything moving forward. We are happy with the announcement, but now feel we are under time pressure.''

He says the family still feel the uncertainty of the situation.

''How quickly we went from level 1 to 4 rang alarm bells, so we are pushing for a fast settlement so we can get things under way with some urgency.''

Anna McFadden, of law firm Fenton McFadden, says since last year's lockdown it has become common for agreements to include clauses dealing with the possibility of Covid-19-related lockdowns.

''The Law Society has given a fair bit of direction in terms of being co-operative and everybody trying to make sure that people reach an agreement because that's the best thing for everyone.''

She says even during last year's lockdown, when such clauses weren't common, that was the approach being advocated.

''It's stressful for everybody,'' she says. ''It's more of a known situation this time around, but even so, buying and selling is a big commitment for people and this makes it just that bit harder, especially if they are trying to juggle working from home, services and things like that.

''So we advocate a commonsense approach and ask people to be decent to one another. Everybody's in the same boat, so you would hope people would take a practical approach and in the main part that's what's happened"