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Original poster

House sale taking forever…

34 replies

SadSoul92 · 16/10/2025 20:18

I have no previous experience in selling a house so I don’t know if I’m being unreasonable here. I accepted an offer on my house on the 5 and a half months ago, the buyer is STILL waiting for final mortgage approval apparently the mortgage company have been asking the buyer for more and more paperwork which has caused delays. The mortgage advisor emailed my estate agent today to say they had sent in more requested paperwork and that there confident they should have the offer within the next week or so, but then the email finishes with “we’re hoping to have the last update before the weekend and we’re hoping this is the last one before the final assessment for a mortgage offer” I don’t understand what this means by final assessment? Does this mean yet even more waiting? Apparently my buyer went through an online mortgage advisor instead of a bank so estate agent says this can cause delays. Anyone have any experience or advise? I’m becoming increasingly worried at all the time that has passed by and feeling no further forwards…

OP posts:
AffableApple · 16/10/2025 20:57

We were these buyers. We were tearing our hair out at the banks. We changed mortgages twice because one lender after another couldn't accept comprehensive answers to increasingly obscure questions, which seemed designed to make sure we lost the house. Fortunately our sellers hung on, probably knew it would happen to the next buyers. Several people I know who have been buying/selling in the last year or two have faced the same.

Original poster
SadSoul92 · 16/10/2025 20:49

Goodadvice1980 · 16/10/2025 20:45

Sorry to read this OP. I think the risk now is this won’t be sorted before Christmas. Solicitors I’ve used previously for moving used to close before Christmas holidays and then reopen mid-January (to accommodate ski-ing holidays 😂).

I would be tempted to give a 7 day grace period and then look to market the property again. Are you happy with the estate agents?

My estate agents really have been amazing talking to both the buyer and his mortgage advisor. They literally call or message me every single day to tell me if there’s any update or even if there isn’t to tell me they have tried. Apparently the buyer is just being asked for a lot of additional paperwork and apparently supplied some things digitally which turned out needed to be hard copies which his mortgage advisor failed to tell him. I’m hoping it doesn’t drag on till Christmas, all searches have been completed and all documents signed from both of us on the solicitors sides it’s literally “just” the mortgage holding everything up but obviously this is kind of the main thing needed 😂trying my best to stay positive for completion before Christmas.

OP posts:
Goodadvice1980 · 16/10/2025 20:45

Sorry to read this OP. I think the risk now is this won’t be sorted before Christmas. Solicitors I’ve used previously for moving used to close before Christmas holidays and then reopen mid-January (to accommodate ski-ing holidays 😂).

I would be tempted to give a 7 day grace period and then look to market the property again. Are you happy with the estate agents?

Original poster
SadSoul92 · 16/10/2025 20:44

user1471548941 · 16/10/2025 20:39

Ergh, we were these buyers- it was genuine delays and the root cause of it was that our mortgage advisor was useless. He didn’t tell us that the first AIP he sorted for us was based on a 20% deposit despite knowing we only had 10%…. We didn’t find out until we received a fully approved mortgage offer…. Requiring £30k MORE deposit than we had!

Thus we had to start all over again with a different lender, by which time Liz Truss was PM and mortgage rates were skyrocketing and we had to go for a much longer term to accommodate the new rate! He then also failed to tell us that the new lender he’d recommended us were notoriously slow and well known for constantly asking for more documents. Basically they’d ask us for payslips, we’d provide same day, they had a 7 day review period and decide they also needed employment contracts. We’d provide, 7 days for them to review and then they wanted evidence of our rental property income, rinse and repeat. Several times the mortgage advisor simply forgot to give us the new requests unless I phoned and chased. It took over 9 weeks and eventually I called the bank myself and bollocked them for putting our sale at risk (god knows what the mortgage advisor was doing). They asked for yet more documents, I provided within an hour and had the offer before close of business.

The whole thing was an embarrassing nightmare and I still cringe when I think about it (we both work in financial services!!!!) and am glad our sellers held on as they were buying a complex probate property themselves.

Our mistake was trusting the mortgage advisor and then not firing him for the second application based on sunk costs.

Just wanted to give an alternative perspective as everyone is going to tell you your buyers are not serious. We were genuinely having a nightmare, despite only needing to borrow 1.5x salary!

I can totally see that it must be frustrating for the buyer too and the only thread I’m holding on to is the fact my estate agent is telling me this also. I’m just increasingly concerned of what will happen if it doesn’t go through after all these months.. thanks for sharing this though it helps me feel more like this is “normal” and just part of the process of selling a house. Glad you managed to get sorted and hope you’re enjoying your home!

OP posts:
Original poster
SadSoul92 · 16/10/2025 20:40

Thanks @BournardTourney maybe this is what I was kinda hoping to hear. I know my estate agents says the buyer sounds equally frustrated so I am trying my best to be patient I just hadn’t expected it to take so long…it’s just such a weird position to be in because if it doesn’t go through for any reason it kinda feels like almost half a year “wasted” and to be honest I’m struggling at the moment to pay the council tax and utility bills on it whilst it sits empty which is increasing my anxiousness.

OP posts:
user1471548941 · 16/10/2025 20:39

Ergh, we were these buyers- it was genuine delays and the root cause of it was that our mortgage advisor was useless. He didn’t tell us that the first AIP he sorted for us was based on a 20% deposit despite knowing we only had 10%…. We didn’t find out until we received a fully approved mortgage offer…. Requiring £30k MORE deposit than we had!

Thus we had to start all over again with a different lender, by which time Liz Truss was PM and mortgage rates were skyrocketing and we had to go for a much longer term to accommodate the new rate! He then also failed to tell us that the new lender he’d recommended us were notoriously slow and well known for constantly asking for more documents. Basically they’d ask us for payslips, we’d provide same day, they had a 7 day review period and decide they also needed employment contracts. We’d provide, 7 days for them to review and then they wanted evidence of our rental property income, rinse and repeat. Several times the mortgage advisor simply forgot to give us the new requests unless I phoned and chased. It took over 9 weeks and eventually I called the bank myself and bollocked them for putting our sale at risk (god knows what the mortgage advisor was doing). They asked for yet more documents, I provided within an hour and had the offer before close of business.

The whole thing was an embarrassing nightmare and I still cringe when I think about it (we both work in financial services!!!!) and am glad our sellers held on as they were buying a complex probate property themselves.

Our mistake was trusting the mortgage advisor and then not firing him for the second application based on sunk costs.

Just wanted to give an alternative perspective as everyone is going to tell you your buyers are not serious. We were genuinely having a nightmare, despite only needing to borrow 1.5x salary!

BournardTourney · 16/10/2025 20:32

Please be as patient as you can and try not to despair. I know someone going through similar from the buyer’s perspective. They send all the paperwork and then it gets sat on for a week and then they get asked stupid questions and then nothing for a week and by that time some of the paperwork is out of date e.g statements and utilities so they would still say send an update and it drags on and on and then oh look new legislation where that’s an extra couple of £k of Stamp Duty for example - nothing moves as it should in the house selling industry and it is all about novel ways to make the Buyer and Seller pay more and more and something that could have taken 4 weeks takes closer to 12 months.
I hope you get some good news soon 💐

Original poster
SadSoul92 · 16/10/2025 20:24

MatildaTheCat · 16/10/2025 20:22

If they don’t have a mortgage approved they aren’t proceedable. What if it doesn’t get approved? You’ve wasted almost 6 months.

Id suggest you give them 5 working days or resist the property. They can always come back to you later if it’s still on the market.

this is my worry but my estate agents says it’s normal to not be able to officially apply for the mortgage until you put an offer on the house, the buyers had a mortgage in principal but it seems to be taking forever for the actual mortgage..

OP posts:
MatildaTheCat · 16/10/2025 20:22

If they don’t have a mortgage approved they aren’t proceedable. What if it doesn’t get approved? You’ve wasted almost 6 months.

Id suggest you give them 5 working days or resist the property. They can always come back to you later if it’s still on the market.