this is the ridiculous reason we were given for why we're not yet in our house

That really sucks! Hope you get your move date soon!

niku2 that does suck. Get on the EA's every single day by phone and email a follow up message. Same for the solicitors but more so the EA's! We got screwed around too for four months! We finally settled on a date after so many lies and then one last time I got a call to move it the date again because the someone in the chain didn't have a babysitter for that day.....are you kidding me??

Needless to say the only time over here that I outwardly showed my OTT Americanism was with EA's....because they are ruthless. They will tell you anything to keep you "hanging on".

Another thing for everyone to consider when you are buying a house....ask if the seller is currently locked into a current mortgage deal (i.e. - two year deal and if they leave that arrangement before the period is up they will have to pay redemption charge). I think that is what happened to us....our seller needed to stay in their current contract until X time (the month that we finally got a completion date). I realized it after all was said and done.