Bought a house, signing a preliminary purchase contract doesn’t get off the ground. What now?

Questioner

Last November I 'bought' a house with my girlfriend. We agreed on a price and transfer date with the real estate agent. I received an email from him with his congratulations to us. We should arrange the transfer in the short term due to a divorce from the selling party. We have now arranged our finances for the mortgage. However, we still have not received a provisional purchase contract from the broker, apparently one of the selling parties does not want to sign for the transfer. We were also quickly told that the gentleman (seller) is apparently in custody for a long time. The transfer date has now long passed. We keep hearing from the broker that contact is difficult (goes through lawyers etc.). The gentleman (selling party) can apparently no longer be reached at all. I suspect that the broker did not act entirely correctly, perhaps he did not clearly discuss the transfer date or price of the house with both parties. In the meantime, I have to call the broker again and again to see if he has any news. We keep hearing that things are difficult, he does not know anything, difficult contact with lawyers etc. Is there any way we can do something about this? Our situation has become very despondent in the meantime. So the realtor has informed us in writing that we have agreed on the purchase of a house, only we never signed a purchase contract, but we would still very much like to have this house!

Lawyer

I think it would be wise to approach the other party who does want to sign the contract to request substitute permission from the court for the sale of the ex-marital home that will be described in an agreement.