Home Buyers Support Thread Part 3

[juneybean]

Part 2 here -> www.mumsnet.com/Talk/property/a1905904-Buyers-support-thread-part-2?msgid=48420379#48420379

Hope it's okay that I made the next thread :)

Thanks S2014, me too!

Dare I youse the jealousy/ire if many that we gave no chain? We're classed as FTB (despite our rich years: we're renters) and the property seems vacant. So there's none of that worry. Also, just before we looked at it, a buyer had unexpectedly pulled out, so we really hope they're dead keen now.

Dipping back in... Sorry everyone is having a horrible time. We had our offer accepted on 12 May and complete chain on 12 June ... I thought we'd be in by end of August (hollow laugh......!)

The new cash buyer at the bottom of the chain is well on play. Still no news of being close to exchange - so I doubt end of sept is going to happen...

We have probably delayed things now too as a 25 yr old extension on the house hasn't got building regs certificate. our surveyor told us that we should expect more than a shrug of the shoulders and a 'well it was 25 years ago'. Not sure what can be done - can they get some assurances now?

Well I'm back and hoping for third time lucky!!

We originally accepted an offer on our house back in Feb and found a house straight away. Our sellers took months and months to find an onward purchase but we got there in the end. Then the chain broke above them, twice (and both times on the day we were supposed to be exchanging).

So we have been waiting patiently again for our sellers to find an onward purchase. It is ridiculous that it takes them so long - especially given the market where we are and how wide their search area is. They are moving house because they HAVE to rather than because they WANT to - which means everyone they look at is not good enough.

So we started to look at other properties and have had an offer accepted on a house we like even better!!! We only agreed to withdraw from the previous house if they found somewhere end of chain quickly.... she managed to find and see three properties in one day and had her offer accepted yesterday. (Compared to the previous sellers who are still looking....)

So our offer has been confirmed and we are pulling out of the other purchase today. Informing solicitors later and speaking to mortgage company on Monday.

Hoping and keeping everything crossed we can be in the new house before Christmas.

Now off to read everyone's posts to catch up on where everyone else has got to since I last posted!!!

We have exchanged contracts

Oh my does it feel good, so much to do, good luck ladies

Pedant- how frustrating, although I have to understand as we are considering this as solicitor incompetence is going to mean us paying two lots of childcare. It won't be a huge amount but we definitely want to make a point and keep the pressure on the chain.

Gemma- I do have everything crossed for you. I've been following the saga for a while and do hope you get a short quick chain.

We are entirely in limbo, waiting for a magic piece of paper from the land registry further up the chain. Everything is in place apart from that. We are half packed up but as time goes on keep having to open more and more boxes. It's affecting DSs birthday party (thank goodness he is turning 2 and doesn't understand properly) as it would be unsafe to do a party in our half packed house and we'd expected to be in our new one by now as we were told we were about ready to exchange 5 weeks ago.

Well, I'm now getting a little confused. Earlier last week (Monday, I think) we heard that the solicitors had everything in place, apart from the lease information for the upstairs flat, which they're expecting from Land Registry, and once they have that they can exchange.

Later in the week, however, we had to go to the solicitors to give them money "before they can start searches", so had they done them before or not?

As to the mortgage side of things, the broker sent the application off to the lender on Thursday. We've since heard we need to send in a few more things (signature & direct debit form - little things) and originals of my payslips. When our application gets to the top of the pile (Wednesday, we hope), they might want to see more things, but they're hoping to be able to instruct the surveyor on Thursday. Hopefully take only a few days for that, so hopefully we'll have the full offer by the end of the following week.

How do I stop worrying about getting gazzumped? These few weeks are really tense. We've now spent out money on the process, and vivid imaginations are conjuring up a cash buyer swooping in and taking our gorgeous flat our from under our noses.

Had two viewings on my house this morning.....hoping we can find a buyer to replace the one who dropped out on Wednesday so that maybe we won't lose our dream house.....both couples seemed lovely so fingers crossed one of them will love the house just as much as we have.....I think I've had a headache for 4 weeks now....moving house is so stressful.....I really don't think there is any way to avoid the worry of gazzumping or chains breaking with the way the marketisation set up in this country

Hi can I join? We are on our fourth/fifth time attempting to move (I lose count....). This time we lost our buyer just before exchange, replaced our buyer, lost our vendor over delays in mortgage application (brokers are arseholes), replaced our vendor...
Now having to redo surveys, searches etc. to attempt to move before Xmas. Thought we'd have moved over the summer, now I'm 7 months pregnant and beginning to lose all hope of it ever happening!
Next job is posting off up to date documents to the mortgage company, getting the new offer sorted, then applying for new searches. If I threaten to give birth at the solicitors office do you think they'll do the searches faster?!

PedantMaria solicitors don't apply for searches until you pay for them. The cost of searches is paid to the various bodies that do the searches, i.e. local authority, environmental, chancel, etc, and is not refundable should your purchase break down (though you can sometimes sell them on to a new buyer).

PedantMaria sorry, just saw your earlier post - if you haven't had searches done, then it is unlikely that your solicitors are only waiting for one thing from Land Registry before exchanging. The searches may throw up additional enquiries which will need to be addressed.

Vicky - so that's both of us starting all over again! Let's hope this time it goes smoothly for us both ??

Hubby has booked the morning off work tomorrow to spend another two hours on the phone to the bank re-applying for our mortgage. A bit worried that the new MMR rules may cause us some trouble. Even though the new house we are buying is more expensive we are still asking for the same mortgage amount. We have also cleared our overdraft and had small pay rises since last applying but have heard some scary stories of people having applications declined under the new rules ??.

Fingers crossed for you Gemma. Sousa like you're in a good position. Are you applying straight to the bank direct? We couldn't get a mortgage last year but can this year. We thought that would be the hardest part, but turns out hanging on to the links in our chain is our biggest issue

Hi ladies. I haven't been on much as there's nothing to report. We moved out of our house to let tenants in and are now living with family. More delays with our mortgage, our solicitor had to query a clause in the offer and turns out they hadn't realised we weren't planning on selling our current property and then wanted confirmation of rental income, etc. We've been ready to exchange for two weeks but until lender reissues documents stating they are happy with us having a rental property, the contracts are just sitting. So many moving dates have come and gone and the sellers are understandably arsey. They are currently choosing what dates would suit them and we'll hopefully hear tomorrow. Tomorrow will be 16wks since we had our offer accepted and every delay has been due to mortgage co. Bloody Mmr rules!!

Lots of new faces on the thread, hope you won't all be around for long :).
Rogerthat, our solicitor explained that building regs only covered last 10yrs. The extension on house we're buying has 17yr old extension. All certificates are there but he noted that even if they weren't, it's past 10yrs so he wouldn't have made a deal of it.
Gemma, have been on the thread with you a while so know the catalogue of disasters you've experienced. So glad you've found something better, it was obviously meant to be. Hope mortgage gets sorted quickly. You too Vickie.
Iamusually, understandable that you can't relax and enjoy things after previous house falling through. Like Gemma, this one is meant to be:)
Perfect, can't believe you're still here too :(. Hope land registry comes through soon. That's crap about the boxes and party plans. We are similar in that I thought we'd be in and settled, having done enough of the decorating to have DDs party there at beginning Nov. Now I reckon we will be in but house will be too much of a state to have people there.
Pedant, our solicitor wouldn't start searches until mortgage offer was in writing. And that took forever, although the searches themselves were back quickly. We didn't pay in advance though.
Hopefully all of us get good news this week, whether that be related to mortgage, acceptable survey or exchange/completion!!

Thanks sherrifcallie

I have spent today on the phone! Spoke to our vendor explaining what the surveyor had advised. He was not impressed.

I ended up ringing the council direct and asking about the property. Turns out that all the proper inspections HAD been done, they just hadn't got the final certification (which 25 years ago you weren't required to do - it was optional then). All is in order and we have said exchange ASAP.

Now just waiting for bottom of chain to finalise (survey done today, cash buyer so this is the last thing required)

On track for exchange by end of week and complete on 7 October

Please keep everything crossed!!

Anyone else had any movement?

Well passed the mortgage affordability assessment today . Have another appointment for Monday to look at mortgage package and to do full credit check but soft check was fine.

Spoke to EA today and said mortgage liking good and survey would likely be soon. He then said that the current owners are happy to pass the survey they had 2 years ago to us - I'm sure they mean well but we will still get our own done as mortgage provider will need one done anyway.

In the same conversation we asked EA if vendors had had any work done. He confirmed had opened up dinning room and kitchen which included installing an RSJ.

I was a bit worried but hubby said issue would be more if they hadn't had RSJ fitted! Was only done 2 years ago so they should have building certificates

Just hoping all will be okay ??

I have a question if anyone can help....

I was under the impression that am AIP was given or refused fairly immediately.....not something that would take several days to get a certificate for if you had been told over the phone that it had been approved....I think I'm being sold a line by the EA but would be relieved to find out I'm in the wrong

Thanks Spickle - good to know.

Well, we looked at the flat again today, took some more measurements. Then finished off the day asking the EA to get the vendors to put in writing the amendments to the Fittings & Contents thing - the vendors ticked some boxes incorrectly and even though I got a voicemail from the EA to say "yes, you're right, these items are included" I didn't think a voicemail was good enough, given that this is part of the contract!

Is it too soppy of me to be thinking where we're going to put the Yule tree up?

Fatmanbuttsam Not an expert but yes a AIP traditionally was given quickly, though I am not sure if that has changed since the new rules came in. Bear in mind though that an AIP is not the same as a formal mortgage offer and both can be withdrawn at any time (usually before exchange) if (a) lender becomes aware that inaccurate information has been supplied; (b) information has come to light which if the lender had known prior, the offer would not have been made, and (c) they had not been advised of a change of circumstance (i.e. change of employment) which would affect their willingness to lend.

PedantMarina You mention it's a flat. Have you/your solicitor had the management pack yet and has the freeholder/managing agents answered the leasehold questionnaire? Just asking, because this can take ages and often delays transactions. You are right, the Fixtures & Fittings do form part of the contract so it's best to get it in writing, though your solicitor should query this on your behalf.

Gemma77 Your solicitors will see from the local authority search and the EAs particulars that the internal wall has been removed. Your solicitor should enquire about whether the wall was load bearing and whether planning permission, building regulations and a completion certificate were applied for and issued. If it is only 2 years ago, then I would have thought the vendor would have all the paperwork and if not the vendor can obtain copies from the local authority (all supposing the vendor applied for the appropriate permissions in the first place).

Spickle we've received only the Fixtures and Contents thing and the Land Registry plan; if there's anything else, the solicitor hasn't sent it on to us. The "one thing" they were waiting for (pre-money-for-searches) was the lease for the upstairs flat (also from Land Registry). In theory this shouldn't take long, as the previous sale had fallen through and with any luck the vendors' solicitors would have a copy handy? We hope anyway.

PedantMarina OK hopefully the vendor's solicitors have forwarded the lease to your solicitors, but of course your solicitors will want to study it and may make further enquiries on anything in there that might be important. Your solicitors will also need assurances about service charges and ground rent as well as any notices that need to be served etc which is why they ask for a management pack and details of the freeholder/managing agents. Do you know how long the lease is? If it is short (e.g. less than 75 years) then the mortgage lender will almost certainly require the vendor to increase the length of the lease before making a formal mortgage offer.

I popped back on to see how you were getting on Gemma and sorry to see you're still here but sounds like you've found a house that might really be yours before too long! Good luck.

We completed on 20th August but still not moving until October because of all the work that had to be done. Two weeks to go...

Fatman our agreement in principle took weeks because Nationwide were in fact doing a full lending decision process on it due to the amount we were borrowing (over £500k). Maybe the same is happening for you?

In other news I am drinking more virtual again. Hoping to exchange this Friday. Fucking nightmare.

I think I heard that the lease is c.74 years, but what we'd heard from the mortgage brokers is that it needs to be at least mortgage term + 25 years. Our mortgage is only 13 years (as I said, we're "rich in years"). So hopefully it'll be OK.

We've been told (by the EA) what the ground rent is: £50 pcm. Of course, it's possible they're telling porkies, but we're not worried about that.

It's just the waiting in between! We're at that delicate stage between being emotionally (and now, financially) committed to this place and exchanging contracts. So we're fretful. I think the only cure for that is to exchange.

Hope you exchange soon Pedant.
Littlebear, everything crossed for Friday. Then you'll both be able to relax.
We've had another two days of the same old story.
Lender: new conditions have been satisfied, we are happy to release funds.
Our solicitor: original offer needs amended to reflect that. Reissue please.
Lender: ok that's done.
Our solicitor: still not clear, please amend.
Lender: ok that's done.
Our solicitor: still not clear, please amend.

FOR A MONTH! Back and forward. I've lost the will to live. As soon as we get a letter the solicitor is happy with, we can exchange and agree completion. Could be tomorrow or could be weeks away.

In the meantime, if I can just get to Friday I can start drinking actual