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Buyer's support thread #5

999 replies

scribblegirl · 11/04/2016 21:47

Sorry for breaking the last one Grin

Wine and Cake for all....

OP posts:
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kirinm · 26/05/2016 10:15

I decided to get the title deeds to our flat myself because I wanted to see how long the lease was. Good thing I did because it gave me a head start on getting that sorted.

StepAwayFromTheThesaurus · 26/05/2016 10:17

I might do that myself too. It's freehold so it's fine, but there may be stupid covenants in there. I'm pretty sure there are covenants about the hedge in the front garden and such like.

Spickle · 26/05/2016 10:26

StepAway several things stick out from your post.

The vendors don't appear to know where the deeds to their house are and have contacted the solicitors they used when they bought the house to try to get a copy. It's just nonsense. They need to just order a copy from the bloody land registry.
If your solicitors have already raised enquiries then they do have the title deeds to the property. Title deeds form part of the draft contract papers that your solicitors receive from the sellers solicitors. They would have got them from Land Registry regardless because they need up to date ones. You can even obtain a copy yourself for £3. It may be that the solicitors have asked the vendors for a copy of the Lease (if there is one) because if they have the original it is better than obtaining a copy from Land Registry for an additional fee).

DH has texted the vendor and told him that are buyers are very unhappy and want to agree a completion date and exchange contracts ASAP. It's annoying because we have done everything to make the process smooth, including organising a mortgage that would be very quick (because the vendors said they want a quick sale) rather than the cheapest possible deal.
You don't get to decide when exchange takes place or how quick the sale will be and part of the answer as to why it is taking longer is in your post:
We are also waiting for the estate management company to respond to the standard questionnaire, and something about needing a copy of the original planning permission for the development. Management companies are notorious for their slow responses. They often want fees to provide certain information, which your seller has to pay for first.

It's probably no use moaning at your solicitor. They have asked for information/evidence and so far it has not been provided. Your solicitor cannot physically make the vendors solicitors respond any quicker nor does your solicitor have authority to approach the management company.

Find out the date when your solicitor received the draft contract papers - this is the date from when the process starts. It might be 4 weeks, but this will be date that your solicitor starts work on your file. Even so, whether it takes 4 weeks or 14 weeks, your solicitor is acting for you in a very expensive purchase - he has to ensure that legally you are protected in your purchase and you surely would want that too?

kirinm · 26/05/2016 11:37

Hooray our survey is booked in for Tuesday. We are having a home buyers report. This is a new stage of the process so I'm back to google. What was everyone's experience time wise between survey / valuation and mortgage offer? Is that the time the lenders started asking for more financial info?

TitsDown · 26/05/2016 16:51

We have had our mortgage offer confirmed. Hoorah. Just have to wait for it by post but that's one box ticked!

Then just one search outstanding and "some queries" (my sol hasn't told me what!). I've reminded everyone I can think of that we need to complete in 7 weeks time!

kirin we applied for mortgage on 9th May
Survey (offsite valuation) was done on 12th and assessed on 16th. Employer reference was submitted to lender on 19th and assessed today, when our offer was confirmed. So 2 weeks after survey, but some of that hold up was processing my evidence. (Had they not needed my reference we would have got the offer on the 16th I think)

Temporaryanonymity · 26/05/2016 22:18

I'm packing. It's not too bad actually. I've roped in an ex to help me get the carpets up on completion night. I think he's hoping it might lead to more ;-)

Two days after completion I have to go to 300 miles for work. Kids away, I'll be back at the weekend to pack up the rest of our stuff and then unpack the following week. I can do this!

kirinm · 27/05/2016 10:35

Ah temp, I'm so jealous! So exciting.

We had a lot of paperwork through the post yesterday. Title plan, fixtures and fittings info. Was knackered yesterday so only briefly skim read it but can see that they're not leaving any white goods ( thought they might as they're emigrating and it's currently tenanted) so I've had a sneaky look online. Vendor has suggested August to complete which I would be very happy about.

Starting to get a little anxious about the valuation. Does anyone have experience of Connells? I'm worried about a down valuation because London prices are so ridiculous.

unimagmative13 · 27/05/2016 11:38

Due to exchange Tuesday!

Solicitor decided to tell me yesterday she goes on holiday today Hmm

I also received and email Wednesday to say there were a few thing outstanding which were delaying the exchange. Two phone calls to seller and MB and I got the required documents with 10 mins ..... Again .... Hmm

I told the solicitor it might be best I pick up documents from now on to speed things up as oppose to post.

So picked up yesterday, signed last night, returned today.

I'm not sure how she thought post out documents in a Thursday evening would be OK for exchange on a Tuesday over a bank holiday weekend!!!

Anyway deposit is transferred documents are signed so I believe we should be good to go!

aplacecalledhome · 27/05/2016 11:55

Hello,
thanks so much scribblegirl for starting this thread, I have been following others' stories and hope there's room for me on here. Good luck to everyone with mortgage approval and finally getting moved in.
We are in the last stages of mortgage approval (just need to provide a few tax documents related to DH's work). We are bidding on a house and should find out this evening if we are sale agreed. The pressure is on then to move as soon as possible as we are renting our current house and the LL are putting the rent up by a very substantial amount soon. It would make me angry to pay it more than anything so I am hoping we can move before it kicks in.
Does anyone have any advive on agreeing a completion date? The vendors of the house we are (hopefully) buying are house hunting. They may have found a place by now, I'm not sure but the EA told us that we could agree a completion date and that this would be honoured. Is this probably bullshit? Does anyone have experience of this?

Spickle · 27/05/2016 12:56

aplacecalledhome you are right it is bullshit.

For starters the EA does not do legal work, they do not know the property you are selling nor the property you are buying. How can they "honour" a completion date based on...... no knowledge?? Even your conveyancing solicitor will not agree a completion date without seeing the draft contract papers, unless it's an auction property or new build with 28 day exchange policy.

No wonder people find it stressful if they believe this kind of advice.

aplacecalledhome · 27/05/2016 13:06

Well I didn't really believe it, more was just wondering how to respond to it? We are not selling, we are renting so its easy for us to agree to a date for exchange. The difficulty for us is being in limbo and having it drag out while renting, particularly as our rent is about to increase massively. I have heard people before describe how stressful moving house is and I would not have believed it until now. I actually had a vivid nightmare last night about us being in a house we were simultaneously renting and buying that we slowly realised was falling apart and rotting and completely horrible!
Any suggestions on how to pin down an exchange date with the vendors or put pressure on them?

Spickle · 27/05/2016 13:15

aplacecalledhome I am sorry to say that you can't pin down an exchange date with the vendors. By all means discuss timeframes but you do not know how many people will be above you in the chain. Your sellers haven't agreed to buy anything at the moment and their sellers may also be buying and so might theirs etc etc. Until the chain is complete and all draft papers have been provided to the buyers solicitors, no-one knows how long it is likely to take. An average transaction (freehold) would be 8-10 weeks to exchange, if any of the properties in the chain are leasehold, average would be 10-12 weeks to exchange.

PotatosMum · 27/05/2016 16:15

Congrats to everyone making head way Smile it's nice to hear success stories while you're in conveyancing hell!

So we were hoping to get the go/no go on our mortgage this week but they came back with even more questions.

OH is busy telling himself that they wouldn't have done the survey or be asking so many pedantic questions if they weren't planning to lend to us. I on the other hand am looking up which other lenders will consider us. I'll be fuming if we do get turned down as we will have wasted so much time and money applying for this mortgage. But at least I'm fairly sure there are other companies who we can apply to if push comes to shove.
I'm just so tired of waiting. We're going to have to wait another 5 business days before we know if they're going to ask more questions and I hate not knowing if they're going to offer us the mortgage!

All this stress because of one idiotic ex and their stupid bad credit Grrr!

kirinm · 27/05/2016 16:48

What sort of things are they asking for potato? That doesn't seem particularly unusual. We are having our survey next week so I'm wondering if we'll start getting requests. My broker said it'll probably take about 72 hours for the mortgage offer to come through after the survey but we'll wait and see!

kirinm · 27/05/2016 16:55

That was me trying to be reassuring! So far we've only been asked for payslips and tax returns and bank statements.

PotatosMum · 27/05/2016 18:43

Kirin the normal pay slips, bank statements etc. but because I've had a lot of sick leave in the past few months bloody pregnancy they also asked for a copy of my contract and a letter from my employer saying I've returned to work full time. They've been terribly confused by the fact my partner is selling his house owned with the ex wife and I'm selling my flat (where we live) then we're buying together. I would have thought that was fairly normal but they keep asking for proof of address and getting confused about which property belongs to who even though they've got copies of both our mortgage statements. They also keep asking for proof that both properties have completed but we've told them what feels like a dozen times that the house is due to complete in the next month and we can't complete on the flat until that happens and the flat chain is ready.

It's getting to the point where the questions are getting repetitive and stupid, they're also asking things that they could have asked a couple of weeks ago. TBH I'm starting to think that the reason for the delay is as simple as the underwriter is a bit gormless.

Temporaryanonymity · 28/05/2016 19:48

Well, kitchen is half packed. Dining room pretty much done. Not quite sure what to do with all clothes apart from chucking them in black bags. The house is in absolute chaos so we've sat down to watch BGT as our last night en famille in this house. They boys are off to grandparents for a week tonight - they'll come home to the new house!

Palomb · 28/05/2016 21:01

Our movers reccomednded we just packed our non hanging clothes in black bags so they could psqueeze them In to the voids on the lorry. It worked really well tbf - we've been in a week and are mostly unpacked. The movers provided hanging boxes for the hanging stuff.

readingrainbow · 28/05/2016 21:50

I've been shoving a lot of crap down the cellar. Blush I'll get to it eventually. Maybe. I thought I decluttered really well when we moved last time, but I could have done better.

Temporaryanonymity · 28/05/2016 23:00

Well I thought I'd got rid of loads of crap over the last 12 weeks but I've filled four black bags today....

TitsDown · 29/05/2016 09:03

It's amazing how much accumulation there is. We've only been in this house a year but we still need a big clear out. DP is a bit of a collector and I'm sure I don't know the worst of it.

Probably should start this weeekend, but instead I'm sitting checking in on the thread knowing there'll be no progress on my purchase over the weekend so I might as well live vicariously through you guys who are actually moving already.

Good luck with the unpacking/packing/cellar filling 😆

kirinm · 29/05/2016 09:41

We moved last year too (in rented) so I'm hoping that we've avoided accumulating too much crap. Luckily (?) there is zero storage space here so the only crap we have can already be seen.

I'm not stressed today but survey and valuation are happening on Tuesday so I think I'll be feeling anxious for a mortgage offer by the end of next week.

PotatosMum · 29/05/2016 14:44

We've started boxing what remains of our life up today and taking furniture apart. I can't do much as I'm too massive and lazy pregnant so we're give ourselves lots of extra time.

I got the draft contract for the new house yesterday. All looks good but we can't progress any further until we get our mortgage offer fingers crossed

Kirin hope you get your mortgage offer next week.

Good luck to everyone with imminent moves Smile

kirinm · 31/05/2016 10:12

Valuation and survey today. I'm worried we will get a down valuation. There is another flat on the same road on for £50k less and I can't work out why it's so cheap. There are lots of other places in the area on at the same price as ours but the one cheap one is making me anxious! It doesn't seem that much smaller than ours, has a much smaller garden but other than that, I have no ideas.

Heyheyheygoodbye · 31/05/2016 12:45

Ho hum nothing yet. Going to start looking elsewhere if no draft contract soon. Suspect vendor doesn't really want to sell. Sad