3 weeks since our offer accepted- nothing happened- unusual?

[Pendulum]

Just that really- after a few days' negotiation our offer was accepted, but the sellers have not yet appointed a solicitor so the process has not got off the ground. We have a surveyor lined up and ready to go but don't want to spend the money until we see some movement from them. Estate agents tell us they are considering quotations (but I can't see that quotes for residential conveyancing can differ that much really)

This seems like an inordinate length of time to me but would be interested in others' views and any ideas for how to gently prod it along.

How frustrating! I would ring up the estate agent again and enquire what is happening and if they think the sellers are serious. Say you really, really like the house but are getting twitchy. Mention that you viewed another house through another estate agent which you really like....

Don't pay any money out until you are sure they are committed to selling!

quotes for conveyancing can differ by a factor of three. However anyone committed to selling would have a solicitor lined up already.

tell the agent that you want to see some action within a week or you are going elsewhere.

I don't think they are serious.

Our conveyancing quotes varied wildly.
I would push the EA for updates regularly, hinting that you may need to withdraw if there is no progress.

Thanks for replies. Made contact with EA today,sellers have been on holiday apparently but now back. (Nobody told us!) Hopefully will get moving now, but I've put surveyor on hold and think we will start developing a Plan B just in case- I'm not sure this indicates a desperate keenness to sell!

I would tell the estate agent that they need to have a solicitor appointed within 2 days or you'll start looking at other houses. It took me 30 minutes to appoint our solicitors.

nocake, no prisoners.

Absolutely!

Yes, I said I expect it to happen tomorrow. Fingers crossed! Why does this have to be so hard? I want to buy it, they apparently want to sell it....

The problem you have is that if they have this much trouble finding a solicitor how much trouble and delay will there be over the rest of the sale?

Sorry to say it but this is the way it's likely to continue i'm afraid :( House buying is an absolute bloody nightmare where neither the EA's, solicitors or mortgage lenders involved seem to give a sh*t about how long things take and you end up chasing everybody while developing high blood pressure & an ulcer! (Bought house & sold flat 8 months ago, can you tell i'm still bitter!)

Is this the first time you've bought a place? Exciting if so! :)

On the plus side, when you get those keys, you'll (mostly) forget all the cr*p you've been through. Hope you get into your new home soon.

Thanks, yes nocake that's what worries me too. We are selling our place and had the solr teed up before we had offers. Our sale is motoring ahead and precisely nothing has happened upchain.

We've bought twice before and I don't remember everyone being quite this useless then, although I may have blanked it out, like childbirth...

Surfy that is not entirely fair. I can honestly say in the Estate Agents I work in that they are massively focussed on making sure the sale goes through and do regularly chase solicitors (who generally are not very helpful) and if the client is doing their mortgage through me I do chase lender/solicitor up at every opportunity. Unfortunately some things are out of any of our control like the local authority searches and survey. That is when it gets frustrating for all concerned.

I do appreciate that not all EA's are as concientious though.

There are good EAs but they are far and few between. So far both the one we are selling with and the one we are buying with seem to be on the ball, which makes a welcome change to the dire experiences I've had in the past.
One of the problems with the process is that conveyancing became so competitive it drove the fees they can charge to rock bottom. This means in reality conveyancers cannot spend too many hours on a case as it is uneconomic therefore you aren't really getting the attention that you ideally want. Compare how much you pay to the conveyancer (not including disbursements such as search fees) with how much your EA charges and it's easy to see why this is a weak link in the process.
The only way you can make sure the process keeps going is to stay on top of it yourself phoning and requesting updates, making sure information is sent / received etc.

Point taken financial, although I don't think I singled out EA's particularly over any of the other parties involved. However I did forget to say that sometimes they (and everyone else) are left at the mercy of the buyer/seller themselves delaying things by taking their sweet time making decisions/sending documents etc.

I guess all you need is 2-3 mistakes or delays from all parties to significantly hold things up. Although everyone tends to blame someone else for everything! I sure there must be some ways to simplify the whole process.

You'd hope so wouldn't you. I always thought the Scottish system was better until I realised that the buyer didn't have to prove deposit.