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Original poster

Buyer hasn't paid for searches yet

17 replies

BimbaBirba · 30/05/2013 17:11

I know I'm probably BU to worry but I would be grateful for your opinions.
We accepted an offer on our house on 8th May and things have been moving pretty quickly so far. However I've discovered today that the buyers haven't paid for the local searches yet so they haven't yet been sent off by their solicitor. They seemed very keen to move quickly (they're in rented) and the survey was done this week so I don't understand why they haven't paid foe the searches yet.
Am I being silly to worry?

OP posts:
specialsubject · 30/05/2013 17:18

no. Get on to your solicitor and ask him/her to phone the other solicitor, find out what is going on and get back to you.

spotty26 · 30/05/2013 17:31

I would not put my searches in until the valuation had come back okay either. I am a property lawyer - the one that takes the longest is usually the local search but that would only be a maximum of 3 weeks so don't worry too much.

Original poster
BimbaBirba · 30/05/2013 17:31

Thanks. The estate agents found out today and they are giving them a chase about it. I am rather nervous about this now!

OP posts:
Original poster
BimbaBirba · 30/05/2013 17:37

Really spotty? Is that because you'd want to make sure that the house is ok and worth the money before paying for the searches?
They got a really good bargain at 15k under what was a very reasonable asking price and I got the impression that they were keen to move very quickly in case we changed our mind about selling at this price. Maybe they're just waiting for their salaries at the end of the month!

OP posts:
spotty26 · 30/05/2013 17:44

The way lenders are at the moment yes. I would want the offer in my hand before I laid out another £400 odd quid.

Was it a homebuyer's report or full Building Survey? If the latter they may also have wanted to know you did not have Japanese Knotweed/Damp/New roof required etc. These things can tip something over the edge of being a bargain to being a money pit.

We have just exchanged today and we held out on the searches even though we knew the price was about right. Our lender had been sooooo unhelpful and raised such stupid questions about everything we had very little faith in them. They also have to be dated within 3 months of the completion date so if there is any lengthy gap between exchange and completion this could be another reason to do them at the last minute.

Original poster
BimbaBirba · 30/05/2013 17:54

They went for a homebuyers report. It's a new house, less than 10 years old and still under NHBC warranty so hopefully there won't be any issues with it!
They buyers have recently been in touch with our estate agent about wanting to buy our freestanding appliances and they also wrote to me directly asking questions about the local area so it all seemed fine until I asked the estate agent to give the buyers' solicitor a quick call to check everything was progressing well. That's when I found out they hadn't paid the searches fee.

OP posts:
spotty26 · 30/05/2013 17:59

Well good that you have found out so I would just keep up the pressure from now on in. In the meantime do not be too alarmed because I do not think it is that unusual to have waited for the survey/valuation results.

Original poster
BimbaBirba · 30/05/2013 18:59

Thanks spotty. Fingers crossed!

OP posts:
ecuse · 30/05/2013 19:09

We waited for the mortgage offer to come back OK before we commissioned the survey, and for that to come back OK before we commissioned the searches. It's just so massively expensive to buy a house in terms of the admin costs, you don't want to lay out money if there's something else that could go wrong and make the searches redundant. I wouldn't worry.

ItsAllTLAsToMe · 30/05/2013 19:22

Gosh, this all sounds very sensible. We just paid for everything at once, but I can see the advantage to not doing this.

taczilla · 30/05/2013 20:47

Also our office receive and complete a search in 24 hours so don't worry 3 weeks is a rubbish turnaround ring the local authority tomorrow to see how long it takes to do one.

Original poster
BimbaBirba · 31/05/2013 20:51

Turns out the buyer had in fact sent a cheque in for the searches and it was the solicitor's fault for not processing the payment!
I'm starting to think that house buying is such a slow process TOTALLY because of solicitors sitting on stuff for ages and just to bothering!

OP posts:
Original poster
BimbaBirba · 31/05/2013 20:51

Just not bothering

OP posts:
specialsubject · 31/05/2013 21:45

it is much worse when it is the other side's solicitor that is the lazy half-wit as there is nothing you can do.

on the bright side - looks like your buyers are motivated.

ComtessedeFrouFrou · 31/05/2013 22:02

When you say the solicitor's fault do you mean that the cheque had say on a desk or just that it hasn't cleared yet?

Solicitors have very strict rules about how quickly they pay in cheques, but the bank won't actually release the funds as cleared for 10 working days. That's why electronic transfers are preferred. Makes everything much quicker.

Sorry, it's just a bugbear of mine.

Original poster
BimbaBirba · 31/05/2013 22:56

I think the solicitor just hadn't acknowledged the cheque and the buyers wanted us to know that it wasn't their fault.
My solicitor didn't wait for our cheque for the searches to clear before sending them off so I don't think that's what they normally do.
Today I rang the Council and found out that the searches on the house we're buying have been completed and my solicitor will have the results on Monday. I have also received the formal mortgage offer already and the results on the survey.

I just need to carry on chasing everyone up and making myself unpopular Grin

OP posts:
MousyMouse · 31/05/2013 23:00

yep in our case it was the solicitors dragging things. vendor and us were ready quickly, bank was quick. but their sol did everything per letter (as in royal mail, stamp and all).
why why why?

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