Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Original poster

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

999 replies

thenewaveragebear1983 · 12/08/2016 11:54

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?

OP posts:
HuckleberryGin · 07/09/2016 11:43

But surely you have a mortgage in principle before valuation? That's what we had. The estate agent needs proof hat you are a serious buyer in terms of finances.

HuckleberryGin · 07/09/2016 11:43

What the estate agent wants is the amount Barclay's will lend you in general for any house.

Original poster
thenewaveragebear1983 · 07/09/2016 18:10

Yes, we have finally managed to work it out today, they wanted the amount they would lend us which was done as an online form months ago. We have the actual 'quote' from Barclays which we've done since but apparently that's not the one they want. It just seems odd because the agreement in principle doesn't meann much unless we can prove that we are good for the deposit, whereas our quote has all that on it, but anyhoo.....we found the email they wanted and they are valuing our purchase house tomorrow!

OP posts:
CalebHadToSplit · 07/09/2016 21:31

Things are progressing a little here. Draft contract has gone to our buyers solicitors. Seeing mortgage adviser tomorrow. Not heard anything further from vendors, so will push to make sure that they are completing forms for their solicitors.

HuckleberryGin · 08/09/2016 15:13

ARGH. Solicitors have just contacted me saying that we have removed some items that we said we'd leave. Er, no we haven't. Turns out someone has sent an old fixtures and fittings list from a previous sale/chain which included everything.

I had sent them and emailed them a new one that excluded a few items or offered them for sale. So we removed them!

Original poster
thenewaveragebear1983 · 08/09/2016 15:48

So the stress doesn't even end when you move in?! Our seller has contacted the EA today to say that her sellers are now taking their cooker, so would we consider paying 400 for her to leave hers. Its a range master so is worth much more than that new, but we were under the impression it was included. Our options are: say no, use the 400 to buy ourselves a new cooker but will have to add more to it to get a decent one (and secretly hope that its too much hassle and she leaves it anyway); say yes, pay her 400 on moving day and she can buy herself a new one; or reduce our offer by 400 and give her the 400 cash. Option 3 is the most complicated and makes us seem petty, but we can then reduce our deposit by 400 and give it to her instead rather than just have to find the cash. Things are pretty tight money wise so every penny counts but I think that doing that makes us seem like arseholes and then she might take light fittings etc as well. Help!!

OP posts:
Runningupthathill82 · 08/09/2016 16:05

I'd say no, theaveragebear in the hope that she decides it's too much hassle and leaves it anyway. Or drops her price further.

Original poster
thenewaveragebear1983 · 08/09/2016 16:10

That was my first inclination, but then for the hassle, plus the cost of a cooker and extractor, we'd never be able to afford a similar quality so 400 seems reasonable. But it annoys me that we have to pay over our original offer for something that was previously included. My concern is that if we say no, she'll ten take things like light fittings etc which currently haven't been mentioned - they are far better quality than we will be able to afford to replace.

OP posts:
YelloDraw · 08/09/2016 17:57

ARGH. Solicitors have just contacted me saying that we have removed some items that we said we'd leave. Er, no we haven't. Turns out someone has sent an old fixtures and fittings list from a previous sale/chain which included everything.

What?? So your buyer proceeded on the basis of inviter F&F form? Someone solicitors and going to need to make good to your buyers I'd have thought?

thenewaveragebear1983 can you ask for the F&F form and you'll take it from there? She might exclude all the light fittings anyway even if you do buy the cooker.

HuckleberryGin · 08/09/2016 18:39

Nothing is automatically included until you've seen the fixtures and fittings form. You don't know what is included when you make an offer surely? We found out down the line that the shed of a previous purchase (that fell through) that the shed was excluded. We weren't to know that when offering.

HuckleberryGin · 08/09/2016 18:40

Also you don't pay cash on moving day- your solicitor transfers the money as part of the sale- we bought the washing machine in our new house and the £100 was deducted from our money before the balance was transferred.

HuckleberryGin · 08/09/2016 18:42

YelloDraw yep. In the previous sale we were happy to leave everything. We knew the buyers (private sale) and were happy to leave everything. Not so much this time round.

It was the shed and the dishwasher. I've sold both of them, so I can't simply take them back (nor would I want to as I offered them for money)

Original poster
thenewaveragebear1983 · 08/09/2016 18:48

Yes in this case they used the cooker as a bit of a bargaining tool, its a swanky range master, so we were fully under the impression it was staying, so much so that we agreed to leave ours for our buyers. I think from talking to dh that we will reduce our offer by 400 and then pay her 400 for the cooker- will solicitor organise all this? The buyer says she is still paying for this cooker, I presume on 0% finance or similar, so she obviously needs to get the 400 cash to pay off that rather than it being an actual valuation of the cooker. I definitely think we need to see the fixtures and fittings forms from our seller but we are not at that stage yet, solicitors still not involved really. We have discussed with our buyers because they wanted so much left that we had to negotiate hard on price and what items, but didn't confirm with our seller.
Another day in Chainsville.....

OP posts:
YelloDraw · 08/09/2016 19:15

It was the shed and the dishwasher. I've sold both of them, so I can't simply take them back (nor would I want to as I offered them for money

No I wasn't saying it was your fault - just that the solicitors have fucked up and the buyer should be compensated (by sols) because they proceeded on the basis of the F&F form that was provided by the solicitors.

Re paying cash on completion - I sold some F&F and we just agreed for them to transfer by bank after exchange but before completion.

YelloDraw · 08/09/2016 19:15

Actually they weren't 'F&F' but furniture - so maybe that's why we did it outside of the solicitors.

Original poster
thenewaveragebear1983 · 08/09/2016 19:22

I'm more inclined suggest this ^^ sort of arrangement, as she will need the cash to either buy a new cooker for her new place or to pay off her finance. It's a long shot really because she has no obligation to leave it, but she had said she would so we reckon it's a compromise- she gets the cash she needs but we don't have to cover the cost as our total outlay is the same.

OP posts:
YelloDraw · 08/09/2016 19:53

It's a long shot really because she has no obligation to leave it, but she had said she would so we reckon it's a compromise- she gets the cash she needs but we don't have to cover the cost as our total outlay is the same.

Yeah for £400 it probably isn't worth arguing about? Otherwise you run the risk of having to spend more to get a nice new one.

Waterlemon · 08/09/2016 21:00

Hi everyone! Please can I join you in the "waiting room"?
We sold and bought within a week!!!

our sellers need a quick sale, they are divorcing. The wife is going to move in with family whilst she looks for a property. The husband has put a huge deposit down on a boat and mooring. He needs to pay the reminder by end of October!! We have FTB buying ours. So a small chain. We are leasehold though with local council as our freeholders. So that will slow us down a little bit (hopefully) I have got SO much stuff to sort out and clear still, I'm happy for the process to take a little longer!

so both valuations/surveys have been done this week. The property we are buying has had chimney and load bearing walls removed, so we need the solicitor to look into that for us.

Our sellers EA are absolutely shocking, when we put in our offer, they lied to the vendor and said that we were in a really complicated chain - because we had offered below asking price and their commission goes up if they sell above! There have been many other incidents as well!

Our solicitor is someone we now socially- so we are hoping that will help. Our buyer is using someone recommended by our EA but our seller is stupidly using her EA solicitors despite all the issues she has had with them!

We bought as FTB 15 years ago and its our first move, so I feel completely clueless about the whole process! Shock Confused

Original poster
thenewaveragebear1983 · 09/09/2016 08:06

Hi, welcome waterlemon!
That does sound like a whirlwind! Ours was similar, saw our dream house and we weren't even moving! Put in an offer, put ours on the market and sold within 2 weeks but our buyers then pulled out. 6 weeks later, new buyers and everything seems to be ticking along as it should with only minor glitches so far

Today's mission -pin down EA and get fixtures and fittings details, then negotiate hard about this bloody cooker as we have literally zero pounds at our disposal.

OP posts:
Waterlemon · 09/09/2016 18:18

No chasing here!! I'm happy to plod along and wait for people to come to me! Although at the same, Its very difficult living in limbo!

I'm slowly clearing the loft and cupboards. 2 car boots done already and I hope to do another this weekend. I have so much stuff, most of which I don't want/need but i just can't seem to part with anything!

I hope you've sorted out the cooker!

Original poster
thenewaveragebear1983 · 09/09/2016 18:27

Nope, our EA contact was off sick today and I was reluctant to contact the solicitor in case we incurred charges when she can ask them for free on Monday. Must be patient.
I've done loads of clearing out as we did it to sell, so now I'm sort of looking at stuff and thinking its too early for boxes yet. You need Marie kondo's book, you'll literally chuck everything away. I gave up on car boots and now just get a pile together and put them on Facebook or Gumtree.

OP posts:
Original poster
thenewaveragebear1983 · 09/09/2016 19:12

Weird question, but when your buyers have the survey done of your house, do you get a copy? How do you know what you're dealing with otherwise if they attempt to renegotiate price? (Dh and I having very heated debate over this....)

OP posts:
Runningupthathill82 · 09/09/2016 19:20

I think it varies. IME you don't automatically get to see it, but there's nothing to stop you asking.

We didn't get a copy of our buyer's survey, but the EA did, and read us out all the relevant points that the buyer wanted to haggle over. The negotiations were very quick and simple (done in one phonecall!) - if our buyer had been pushier we would've asked for a copy to see for ourselves.

We gave our vendors a copy of the survey we had done on the house we now live in, because they asked for it and we thought it'd make negotiations easier if we were all looking at the same report. They then used the survey as info to get various works done on the house for us before we moved in.

Original poster
thenewaveragebear1983 · 09/09/2016 19:43

OK thanks. We weren't sure if you both just got a copy. I'm dreading the survey (of ours not our purchase) because we literally cannot squeeze another penny out and we don't want to lose them!

OP posts:
LyraMortalia · 09/09/2016 22:53

You don't get a copy it's their survey they paid for it but if they ask for a price reduction based on the survey it would be normal to then give you a copy for you to check or dispute as you wish.