Still no completion date?!

[Waytooearly]

Hi all,

Genuinely asking whether I'm being unreasonable. I've never bought a property before.

I'm buying a flat, no chain on either side, shared ownership (I've been found eligible) I've got deposit and mortgage offer, all good from my end.

The original estimated completion date was 17th Jan. Unfortunately my landlord wants to rent to his daughter so I am moving out this weekend. Putting my things into storage and found a nice cheap airbnb for a month near my work.

For the last three weeks I've been emailing EA and my sols saying, 'Right, so if we're not completing on 17th Jan what's the plan?'

I've asked them to ask the vendor what the estimated time frame is and they just... haven't.

According to copied correspondence from my sols the vendors need to provide a contract and transfer, lease, a Deed of Covenant, and some information bits on the PIF. I don't see how these are taking months to obtain.

I've finally lost patience and emailed my sols, saying in the absence of any other info I need to assume that the vendor isn't ready to sell. I asked her (again) to get a time frame from the vendor.

I have an appointment to view another flat in the same building,this Wednesday. Also no chain. Same price.

I know that I would be going back to square one with new place (and would lose search fees) but my gut is telling me something isn't right.

My questions:

1. Would you also assume that several weeks' delay in getting basic docs indicates a problem on the vendor's side? (If there is a reasonable explanation no one's shared it.)

1. If the alternate flat is fine, can I make an offer with a specified term that we complete in a month?

Thanks if you've read all that.

Yeah searches and survey all fine, happened last month. My sol is good.

Thanks for the kind words

If anyone is interested... We have a leasehold management pack! Just as I was starting to think this was going to fall through.

My solicitor just sent me a note that she's received it and she's reviewing it.

So obviously I'm going to stop in her office in a few hours and say, 'So have you reviewed it yet? Huh huh? Have you?' (Kidding.)

That's great news, hang in there!

I had the same runaround from my own solicitor until I put in an official complaint. Everything was resolved within a week.

It's nice of you to read my venting.

How can something be so boring and so stressful at the same time?!

At 6:15 last night (bless her) my sols wrote to the other sol with a list of missing docs and some requests for info. It's a checklist about 20 points long. So we'll see.

Vendor dragging and or/cheap solicitor, I reckon.

I just pulled out of buying a flat due to the vendor who wanted a "quick sale" dicking about for months changing solicitors three times (the EA told him off eventually), attempting to rob me blind holding white goods and even the bin to ransom and then misrepresenting something key to my offer on the deeds. I was also buying a shared ownership and so it came to light that to rectify this issue, it could have taken their team up to a year to sort the issue as they had no real prerogative to sign off on it. This time frame was kept v quiet... until it was too late quiet. I wonder if it's a shared ownership issue holding you up?

Vendors careless lies have lost me my rental home as well as I had given notice when Ex & Comp were discussed and everyone seemed confident it would be done & dusted by end of Jan. I'm sorted now but it was extra stress.

Wow that's pretty bad! Changing sols? Sounds like they were dodgy vendors.

Tomorrow afternoon if no response I'm going to write a chirpy email to both sols and to EA saying, 'Right what's the time frame?'

Waytooearly .... so your Solicitor emailed you last night with a list of 20 outstanding enquiries including missing documents and you are going to email tomorrow to ask for a date 🤦‍♀️ How can they give you a date without the outstanding information in their possession which will need to be checked and may be more enquires raised. You are being unreasonable.

To ask the other sols when they expect to respond to the queries?

I do that all the time at work: 'Here's some information I need. What's a time frame for your response?'. That's normal.

The other Solicitors won’t respond to you, you are not their client!

They will reply to my sols.

Pilates are you my EA?

It's your solicitor's job to ask for the documents/information and request a time frame for replies ON YOUR BEHALF.
It's what she's there for.It's what you pay for.
Don't have a dog and bark yourself.It's possibly counterproductive.
Do you want to antagonise your solicitor?

Well she's just not.

And even I say very specifically to agent and my sol that I want them to pass something on to the vendors, they don't. For e.g., 'Tell the vendor I'll undertake the resale fee to HA if seller leaves white goods.' Or 'Ask the vendor when they intend to get these docs back' (after a week of waiting. They just.. don't.

Waytooearly, aren't you a lawyer? I would go crazy if my clients were going over my head and chasing up the other side's solicitors! I know it's frustrating but there is an etiquette to these things? (I'm in the process of buying and selling too).

It took me 326 dats from offer to completion on a flat (sorry)

I'm selling my empty house (we've already emigrated) to a chain-free cash purchaser. We accepted their offer on 29 September. We only exchanged on 24 Jan and can't complete until 28 Feb. Their solicitor seems to be working through a to-do list that operates in a way that prevents item 2 being worked on if item 1 is not finished, and so on. Also it turns out that they are not a cash purchaser, because they have to pay off their Help to Buy mortgage first and it took weeks to get the paperwork on that done, and they are only putting in 10% of the total cost with the rest coming from relatives overseas, and red tape in that country means that they can't move hundreds of thousands of pounds just like that, so we have a long, drawn out timescale.

Meanwhile, it's been costing us £2000 a month to have the house empty since mid-August

I feel your pain, OP.

Ugh, QR code, that infuriating.

Yes Miss B the 'etiquette' is that the sols carry out my instructions. So if I say, 'Tell the vendors' sols that I'll pay for X if they let me have their white goods. ' or' Tell the vendors that I want to exchange by x date and ask whether that general time frame works for them' then I expect my sols to... do that.

Otherwise I have no choice but to contact the vendors' sols myself.

Now I've noticed that the vendor is still listing the property with two separate agents. So I will ask my estate agent and sols to ask the vendor why. Based on previous experience I expect that they won't, and so yet again I'll have to email all parties to say, 'Hi why is the property still being marketed and why still no undertaking to pay resale fee and remember I said I would pay it if you leave all white goods?'

Yes as a lawyer I have had clients go over my head and contact opponent and I think it's ridiculous when they do. But the key difference is that when they instruct me to make queries or representations to the other side I DO THAT. Or I get back to them immediately to explain why I think it's a bad idea and see if I can get them to change their minds.

I don't ignore my clients' instructions and then say, 'Welp it's a long process!'

That isn't entirely what I meant! Human nature tends to mean that irritating everyone in the process won't get it sorted any faster but... as you were.

The last time I bought a flat it took 5 months and it was empty.

Main reasons all related to the lease. There were two packs of information to be obtained from the management company, one of which related to the service charge; eg was the current leaseholder up to date with payment, etc.

The second was information relating to the property which was required to sell. Each pack was quite expensive and there was a dispute over who was paying. Once the seller paid I waited around a month for them to arrive.

Once the solicitor has received a copy of the contract and lease they will no doubt raise enquiries and depending on what these relate to it could take a while for answers, especially if the information has to be obtained from a third party eg my seller had lost his NHBC cert so had to purchase another.

On top of this will be all the necessary paperwork relating to shared ownership.

I think you are right to chase but naive to think it's as simple as getting the lease and signing the contract. I would be very surprised if the solicitor has no queries on the paperwork they receive from the seller so you need to find out when they will be getting this draft.

We've received all paperwork and leasehold information pack. That took six weeks. My sol already raised queries on same.

We're waiting for undertaking that the vendor will pay resale fee and about six queries from my sol on leasehold pack. I refuse to wait months for this.