Would anyone like an 'in a chain' support group?

[thenewaveragebear1983]

Would anyone like an 'in a chain' support thread? We're selling and buying and it's so stressful!! We've found our 'dream house' and had an offer accepted, had an offer on ours within a week which was subsequently retracted. Wondered if anyone else was finding this whole process ridiculously stressful?

Definitely call them North

We have heard that we are just waiting for a simple enquiry to be answered. We have also heard that the enquiry in question will be answered on Monday and posted to the solicitors on Monday too. So assuming it gets delivered on Tuesday 1st - I'm guessing we will exchange on the 2nd at the earliest.

I would be very surprised if the solicitor receives the post on Tuesday morning and exchanged contracts on Tuesday afternoon. Can it happen? Doubt it! Is exchanging contracts time dependent? I.E does it have to happen pre 3pm or anything silly? I assumed it did but I have no idea.

And I'm guessing that the letter isn't sent 1st class either

I am so flipping worn out by this shitty process.

Collie, no idea but I suppose all solicitors need to decide a time they will 'exchange' (as in I don't suppose they physically hand over the contracts, but rather they agree that they will at a set time) so in theory if the post arrives at 11 they could make the call in the afternoon and exchange by close of play. Perhaps Tuesday is less stressful all round, and gives them Monday afternoon to cross all the t's and dot the i's ready for exchange in Tuesday morning?

Well....I've spoken to my estate agent.
Apparently the mortgage offer has been received and he is drawing up contracts, however he has JUST noticed that one of the searches hasn't come in He expects it to be in on Monday...which means exchanging at the earliest of Tues.. which now makes our suggested completion date of 3 Nov unlikely.

Furious doesn't cover it.
My EA suggested that on exchange of contract & because the house I am buying is empty, I could do an undertaking with the Owners of the house I am buying to get keys on Thurs and complete on Fri or possibly the following Monday. I don't know if that is even possible.

I'm going to look at sofas after work, to instill some excitement. Then I'm buying bloody wine!

Blimey what a b**d of a day for everyone. I have been and got wine and I'm about to start my first glass. So, we are all waiting for Monday. My solicitor is now insisting on everything being emailed and then posted, she says she's sick of everyone dragging this on (at least she's on my side) nothing on the elusive mortgage offer for our purchasers but the EA is on it and actually rang me back. Have a good evening all

Northumberlandlass what a carry on! If you hadn't chased things I wonder if this missing search would have been noticed.

Thanks everyone ,my hangover is finally abating although my love affair with Kahlua is well and truly over. Dreadful day here. Our lawyer has still had no response from our buyer's lawyer about exchange of contracts so it looks like I won't be moving on Monday for certain. I have never experienced stress like this. Am in Scotland as I said and normally contracts (missives) are signed weeks before moving date. However, am starting to wonder if the problem my buyer is having is down to the fact that she is selling to someone from Brighton. Is it true that in England it's common to exchange contracts on the day of the move or close to it?

Perfumed yes, here we exchange contracts then 'complete' although this can in theory be done on the same day. Most people have a day or two at least in between. We originally said 7 days minimum but as its dragged on we have become a bit more flexible! We can't book movers or notify services, Sky, etc until we have a date for completion which is agreed when you exchange contracts

Our solicitors said it was best practice to complete a minimum of 5 working days after exchange. Something to do with notifying the banks and time to resolve any last minute issues that possibly occur. I believe average wait is 2-4 weeks.we completed in 6 working days.

Our seller that pushed us so hard for a quick sale has moved in with family temporarily as she is buying a flat with a few issues. (Theyve seperated and he has gone to live on a house boat) She popped round to collect her mail earlier and said that she has just found out that she is at the bottom of a EIGHT long chain!!! DH said it was karma!

And oven tip - I don't have a dishwasher but I soaked the racks in a dishwater tablet and hot water overnight and then scrubbed the oven with a brillo pad! Worked brilliantly but my oven wasn't too bad to start with. I thought I had some oven cleaners but didn't and i left it too late to get some so had to improvise. I have no idea where the brillo pads came from 😂

Phew you lot have been busy!

Rightmove is finally showing the house we're buying at sstc! Woohoo!

Buyers valuation is booked for Weds.

Still heard nothing from Solicitors, tho I get the impression they are old school so probably waiting for the snail mail to arrive before acting. Our searches that have taken 9 flipping weeks are due back on Tues! I need to get the new buyer to expedite them, or we'll have to wait another 9! Stupid council, apparently they can do them in 5 or 35 working days, where's the logic?

As for oven tips - as soon as you list your house, start cleaning the oven seriously tho, if you do it once a fortnight, it gets better each time rather than having to blitz it in one go.

We need to hit the garden this weekend, and then I'm on carpet cleaning next week when the kids go back to school.

I did have a sick in the mouth panic earlier that at some point I will have to start thinking about Christmas among all this!

Hi all
What a nightmare we've all been having. We are moving tomorrow (into rental) but won't complete for another 10 days so have a bit of time to clean up etc. Everything seems to be breaking in the house so we are tidying, fixing and stressing!
A further stress was my DH ending up in ED Wednesday night with anaphylaxis. Two shots of adrenaline, a nebuliser and an overnight stay in hospital didn't help the stress but he's absolutely fine although we've no idea what caused it. Think he might be allergic to the stress of the moving process. Let's hope our buying goes smoothly. Can't believe we will be moving again soon. but at least the selling bit is almost over.
Wish me luck tomorrow.

arsenic hope your DH gets well super quickly. Must have been awful! Good luck tomorrow!

Found a rental we love! Really tempted to view it and apply but it'll probably mean signing the tenancy agreement before exchange and I am too nervous to do that. Even if its just a day. I don't want to lose the house though. It's the only one in the area that's not damp!

arsenic that's terrible. Hope you find the cause, and it's not the house move!

Thanks never and small. Move day has already commenced with my DH being called out in night so I'm hoping he will return shortly rating to go!There will be tears before the end of today i fear!

arsenic your poor DH, must have been so frightening!

Just keep telling yourself "it's only a house, we will have a roof over our head tonight no matter what'. I know it's easier said than done mind you. Our moving day of Monday looks like it won't happen but why did my oven have to blow up last night? Years of great service then this is the week for the failure. I feel your pain.

Just had a letter from solicitor- vendor refusing to provide indemnity relating to the installation of the gas cooker and log burner, but has offered to have them removed. Annoying, but we're just going to accept it. Also, an electrical survey which was done incidentally on the 12th October has come back saying there's no earth /cpc to some lighting, no info about where or what and deemed the electrical safety as unsatisfactory. I'm so pissed off I could just cry- not because of the issues, because these things happen and everything can be solved with money and time, but the fact that they knew 14 DAYS AGO AND DIDN'T SAY ANYTHING TIL NOW. I'm so cross, I just want this all over with and now it looks like we'll have another week of faffing around back and forwards waiting for answers on all this.

arsenic fingers crossed your move went well!

Perfume that sounds like sods law in action!

bear it's like they don't have any sense of urgency. Do you think these people have never bought and sold a house? Hope you get answers soon.

We've done a bit of investigative work. Managed to track down the electrician who did the check and we can ring him tomorrow- we'd like to know where the actual fault is as we were aware there was some dodgyness in the lean to anyway. We'll probably just book him for an appointment as soon as possible after we complete to quote for the work- it's not a massive job by all accounts and also not as terrifying as we first thought as (thanks to some helpful mumsnetters) I have found out that apparently lots of older houses have this problem- it seems it's the metal light fittings might be an issue but they can go. So relieved on one hand but also miffed- they are just bloody useless aren't they? We are also having some issues with a wall at the front of the property. It's over 1m high so should have planning permission - but vendor says it's always been there. Well, it hasn't- we saw them building the damn wall 3 years ago when the house was last on the market and we know this because we wanted to buy it then and couldn't afford it!! It doesn't actually matter about the planning or building regs, because it's going to be coming down (I don't want a 6ft brick wall st the front) but the lies really make me Seeth and make me question other things we've been told. We offered on this house in July, we were the first in the chain to offer so this woman has been waiting a long time now- you would think she'd want to be getting moving now and doing everything to get it finished.
Damn you chainsville- I'll be glad to see the back of you!!
I feel sorry for our buyers, they have been very patient, they are in rented and if it goes beyond 14th they will have to sign a new month. I'm hoping this will drive everyone forward, aiming for that date.
Is it time yet?

Cor, just read my rant back- think it's definitely time!!

I have just skim read as I'm on my phone but you have all had a busy and irritating few days.
We have paid a vast amount of money to the solicitors in Friday for their fees, EA fees, stamp duty and god knows what else so it's all really happening now. Our lender has agreed to transfer the mortgage monies to the solicitor on Tuesday so there will be no hold up from us on Wednesday.
DH and I have spent all day clearing the garage and shed. Many trips to the dump. DH is such a hoarder
Hope you are all having or random drinks and a relaxing Saturday night

bear what a rollercoaster! :o enjoy the

I know this is the wrong way to look at life right now but I'm glad we're almost half way through the weekend. Never ever thought I'd say that!

So far this weekend we have had a leaking gas boiler (luckily its under warranty), a flooded kitchen (thanks to the washing machine. Fixed & no damage caused) and a mysterious puddle on the bathroom floor.

We're in! We have rented a much smaller house than our old place so there were a few fraught moments trying to squeeze everything in! But it's done and we are here.
I will stay in the group as we are now in the process of buying our next place plus we don't complete till 11th.
perfume our oven has decided to break too but I'm hoping we can get it fixed before completion.
bear we had lights that weren't earthed too and survey didn't pick them up. Was only when we had our electrics done they told us!!
F

Arsenic that's great, hope you settle in quickly before all the moving madness begins again!
I've done it, fate officially tempted, I've been packing boxes today. I've done 11 boxes of books, all the pictures and ornaments from the dining room and some other bits from elsewhere too. I've used banana boxes then 'shrink wrapped' with cling film and round with parcel tape- God bless Pinterest! I've had to unpack 2 boxes of hard back books because they were way too heavy, so I need a strategy for those as I really don't want to have to mix them in with other things, I'm thinking smaller plastic crates that can just hold a few at a time.
God, I've turned into such a moving bore.
Mission for the week ahead- exchange contracts. We've decided that provided we can exchange before close of play on Friday we will still push to complete on 7th (or maybe 8th)- our buyers are keen to be in before 14th so they don't have to renew their tenancy another month. This depends on: seller getting her searches back; seller providing info about the wall and the boiler; everyone agreeing to 7th. We're paying our money over tomorrow, seller is signing contracts on Tuesday - so hopefully the end is in sight.
Hope you've all had a good weekend. Let's channel some good vibes for some answers and a positive week!!

arsenic really pleased to read that you're in! Enjoy it. Hopefully buying will be less stressful.

bear we packed too! And we invested in a sack truck from Homebase. It was only £20 but I thought if it helps make the process less stressful then it's worth it. It moves 250KG so the appliances will be a doodle. And so will boxes of books.

Just have the kitchen & DS's room to pack. Which I won't do until we hear more tomorrow and Tuesday.

I'm a bag of nerves & I'm dreading it! Fingers crossed for good news and progress this week!

Thanks all. I'm feeling marginally less frazzled now we are unpacked and I have located school uniform for children. Packed lunches made and the extra hour came in quite handy
Hope there's good news for everyone this week.

Apparently our buyers think we're exchanging and completing on the same day this has never been mentioned before. But it certainly isn't happening!