Stress over selling house. The bottom of the chain is slooooow

[beatie]

and they hold all the power. It's getting frustrating now.

We got an offer for our house quickly and had an offer accepted on a house the same day. The top of the chain was small and have been patiently hanging around. Oyr buyers seemed great as they were planning to rent out their flat and get a buy to let mortgage. They changed this about 5 weeks into the sale and are now selling their flat but to a relative who is a cash buyer.

They took 5 weeks to get their survey done and another few weeks on top of that to get their searches done. They don't seem to be in any hurry to move. If we don't exchange contracts soon I can see us losing the house we want to buy.

The buyers (slowly) quibbled over something on the the survey and we took some money off the cost of the house. We assumed things to be sailing along without hitch now. Estate Agents are talking tentative completion dates and we're getting excited. BUT, my slicitor has chased the buyers solicitor and they are still querying something. We bought the house as builder modernised. The builders put in new windows and also an RSJ for an unsupported chimney stack. The buyers solicitor is asking for Building Regulation certification/FENSA certificate for the window.

I'm chasing the builder to see if he has these. I'm wondering why we didn't need to have/see these when we bought the house 3 years ago. Was our solicitor at the time incompetent? Are our buyers allowed to go ahead with the purchase of the house without these certificates because we're getting a bit sick of their slowness. Their Solicitor doesn't seem to action anything or communicate anything until our Solicitor asks them to.

Are we just powerless? What happens if we cannot get these certificates? I hate being at the mercy of the bottom of the chain. A 27 week pregnant woman doesn't need this stress.

No need to reply really, I just needed to sound off.

[HappyDaddy]

Without certificates, the work may not have had Council permission. If not, the council can make the house owner undo all the work, your buyers are understandably wary about this. As far as I know it's common place. If there aren't any certificates, they might ask for a clause in the contract to make you financially liable for any changes they are forced to make. I had this clause added when I bought my house.

[Gobbledigook]

Hey - at least you've got a buyer! Ours has been on for nearly a year now and not one single offer.

Still sympathise and I guess we have all this to come when we do eventually get a buyer.

[HappyDaddy]

Gobbledigook - sounds like you need the House Doctor!

[beatie]

Thanks for your response HD. What a pain that our Solicitor 3 years ago did not insist on seeing these certificates. He seemed so thorough at the time but we have checked and checked and we have no paperwork relating to these two things.

[Gobbledigook]

Cheeky - my house is gorgeous!! Have moved out though already.

[HappyDaddy]

We were first time buyers and our solicitor even made them bring up her husband's death certificate to prove she was the sole owner!

[Mothernature]

Legal and technical checks are done each time a home changes ownership, meaning illegal installations will be discovered at a crucial time, possibly delaying the sale of your home.

The regulations apply when window and door frames are changed but not when just the glass is replaced. Your solicitor should have obtained these when you bought it, Estate Agents cannot 'talk dates', they are set by the solicitors when all parties agree to dates that are suitable for all, It's more difficult when its a long chain, i.e holidays on behalf of purchasers and solicitors alike, your Agent should be working for you and contacting the builder you bought the property from, thats what your paying them for, they should also be chasing the chain to find out what is going on all they way up it and down again. HTH

[HappyDaddy]

What's the problem with selling, then? It's amazing that it's been on the market for so long.

[Gobbledigook]

Market is just reeeeeally slow atm. The kitchen was putting people off I think because it needed doing so we are in the process of putting a new one in now.

[beatie]

Mothernature - Thanks. What I find so frustrating is not knowing who should be doing what and when.

I contacted the builders and got little joy. He's going to check his files re the chimney support but says that he did not require the FENSA certificate at the time the windows were installed. This might be true as when I checked the FENSA website it came into force in April 2002. If FENSA was not required, was something else?

The builder maintains he'd have forwarded any of these certificates to our Solicitor when we bought the house. Would those Solicitors still have all our paperwork and can I contact them? Presumably they would charge me.

[Mothernature]

Your solicitors that you are using now should be able to request anything like that off your previous solcitors. If the windows were put in before they needed certs, than this should not be a problem the solicitors will just tick a box to say so, not as big a deal as it sounds..Your agent should be doing all this and calling you for responses to any questions that get forwarded to them, your not just paying them for advertising, they should be following the sale on a regular basis informing you of any changes as and when they happen. If they arn't give them a kick up the bum....