Would anyone like an 'in a chain' support group? (3)

[Spickle]

Assuming all you lovely people in a chain still need a support group? Here it is......

It is all so bizarre The capitals. It only involves solicitors making a call to one another - why is this so hard????

Aaarrrrrgh. Apparently the two docs which the ftbs were waiting for have STILL not arrived. So all the stuff about us exchanging this week is probably EA bollocks. And the house we were interested in has just gone under offer to someone else. And my solicitor has just told me we are her longest clients ever. I could cry.

Spickle, if you are around please could I ask your advice? What would you do about a freeholder who has not replied to a request regarding confirmation of ground rent? Request sent off over two weeks ago.

What a nightmare day. So we have completed although yet to get the keys . Santander messed up and didn't release our mortgage funds but it's just been done as the conveyancer put it through as urgent. Our vendor is having a nightmare with the removal men and I'm at home with the children as we've no idea when we get our keys.

I will catch up later tonight. Camper have you completed? If not I hope it's very soon

Can I join?

We have sold ours and have a chain of 6, and we are just getting the surveys underway.

Our buyers had their survey yesterday and although our house is quite old - pre 1900s, he said it was in generally good condition for its age and only really said there was a problem with the render on the outside of the building, as it's cracking in places and he thinks the whole thing needs replacing. He also thinks we should put a damp proof course injection in at the same time. I know that you do need to regularly maintain render on the front of properties, but I thought it was more a case of patching areas that required it rather than taking the whole thing off and re-doing it. We had some parts re-done back in 2015 so its not like its never had any maintenance at all.

Whilst I'm pleased only one thing has shown up for such an old house, this sounds to me like a big job. I'm now really panicked our buyers will pull out and I'm stressing!!

Ocelot The seller of the leasehold property needs to go directly to either the Management Company or the Freeholder and state that they are selling their property and their solicitor is having great difficulty in getting a response from them regarding confirmation of ground rent. They need to request the information urgently, citing possible collapse of the chain if this information is not provided urgently. Sometimes freeholders will ignore solicitor letters but might respond to the leaseholder when they are advised how urgent this matter is.

So sorry you are going through this.

So, it now looks like I can't get the mortgage - Santander are asking me to confirm my fixed term contract will be extended, I can't confirm that (it's a maternity cover). So, that'll be the end of that.

That means I have to use all my cash savings and release £20k from my equity savings, which are currently earning 4%+, so that's a bit shit. Oh well. It also means a lot of money transferring and cost of selling shares etc.

I emailed EA yesterday to ask for any news on how things are with the chain - she is out of office til next week and no reply from the general email address.

I emailed ex's sol last night to update him and ask him to tell ex to stop yelling at me as I have told him the likely timeframe and yelling won't make it any quicker (if only!) . I explained that I'm not signing the transfer document until I have a completion date, so until exchange. No reply from them.

I also emailed my sol to ask advice about a form ex's sol has sent me and check what the process will be for getting the money from ex to my vendors and the balance from me to my vendors (and maybe from mortgage co if that comes through), getting the land reg transfer done and all my removals. I know in theory this is the same as selling and buying any house just that ex is the one doing the buying.

I just wish something [good] would happen!

As I suspected we haven't exchanged today. Apparently one of the other solicitors in the chain was out of the office today and another one was reading the file to try and get things going today but they didn't finish until it was too late to exchange. So basically totally pointless effort trying.

Two solicitors in the chain being out of the office means it is unlikely to happen tomorrow according to my solicitor. Why someone else can't take it over I don't know.

Thanks Spickle! So the management company should be able to supply this confirmation as well as the freeholder? That's good news - they are OK to deal with

Sounds like frustrating news from some of you. I don't see why house buying has to be so complicated and costly and stressful.
Feeling better today after yesterday's news! I've come to terms with the fact there isn't much I can do about it.

Praying that our buyer finds a new buyer quickly and that things can continue but what will be will be I suppose.

Having the day from hell with this house shit!! So we accepted an offer Tuesday from a couple who were yet to get a mortgage offer, but that was good for us because of the mine issue. So they used our EAs broker who could get them a mortgage with a mortgage lender who will lend in mining areas. Anyway, EA was confident they'd get a mortgage no worries because they earn substantial salaries. Fast forward to this morning, EA calls to say the couple are withdrawing their offer due to unaffordable mortgage repayments. I cry, stamp my feet, phone my husband to sob at him and then sulk all day. Then an hour ago EA phones and says panic over, there was a misunderstanding on our buyers part (English is not their first language) and now it's been cleared up they are happy to proceed!

Never ever in my life have I had such an emotional rollercoaster and I've dealt with some crazy shit these past few years. So it looks ok again.... for now

Oh and I'm still cleaning like a demon because despite the offer, our EA wants to keep the house on the market until we're further along. We have 4 viewings tomorrow and 3 on Saturday. The best bit is I can't even remember what the house we're buying bloody looks like anymore because it's been so long since i saw it last!

Sorry for ranting but it's like a release writing it all down

That sounds awful, Doris. I do think it does good to let it out though.

My husband is so stressed with the will we, won't we exchange shit that he's started sleep walking. Last night he nearly fell out of the window -
we have Veluxes which are about 4.5ft off the ground and he pulled himself up on the window sill to get a look at an imaginary man sitting on a wall we can't see from the bedroom window. I had to spend the rest of the night holding onto his wrist so he couldn't get out of bed without waking me. I'm at my wits end.

He also got up for a wander a few hours earlier because he thought he could smell burning.

Joining the stressed out crew. Having been told by EAs that they were confident we would exchange this week, I find out that the bottom rung of the chain still needs 6 documents. 4 of these are from the Council that took 5 weeks to respond last time and 2 are from a freeholder who appears to have gone AWOL. This is over a month after exchange was due to have taken place. No one has been chasing any of them, so I have taken on as much as I can myself. Who are these fuckwits and why are we paying them so much????

Oh crikey nothing but more stress for a few of you. Fingers crossed all round that we can look back in a year at this time and laugh at how bad it was but how good it ends up!
I've not heard anything from ea since Tuesday. I'll call them tomorrow to find out how the buyers are getting on finding another buyer. I've seen their house on rightmove and it looks lovely and in really good condition so hopefully it sells again quickly with little / no chain!
It's not in the same area as I am now though so I don't know what the price is like for the area etc.

I mean on what fucking planet does "we are absolutely confident you will exchange this week" equate to "There's still 6 docs missing and no one is responding"?

It's madness isn't it? No one communicates properly. That's why I wanted to be chain co-ordinator at the start and be in change but nooo apparently that's silly.

Before the buyer's buyer pulling out on us we were given 2 possible exchange dates which I knew from my own digging were never going to happen as people weren't ready!

Its utterly crazy - if I was that unreliable in any form of project management I would be fired for incompetence....

PS Spickle management agency are helping to chase the freeholder as apparently they don't collect ground rent, so can't supply the necessary info.

I've said it countless times before and no doubt will continue to do so....

EAs do not and cannot know when everyone is ready to exchange. Once an EA has a "sale" agreed, their work is done except for liaising up and down the chain to keep everyone committed to the transaction.

EAs appear to be unreliable because they are. Without any access to the legal process, they make things up based purely on "average" timescales which has got absolutely nothing to do with your own transaction.

Ocelot - leasehold properties are notoriously slow because so many third parties are involved in supplying evidence and paperwork. Councils and management companies take weeks to respond and an absent freeholder may not respond at all. The lease may state what the ground rent was set at and whether it will increase and by how much, how often. If it is the freeholder who deals with the ground rent and won't respond, then the buyers (ftb?) may have to take a view on whether to go ahead without this information.

Do you what other documents are required?

Ocelot, pleased to hear that the management company are chasing the freeholder. The seller/leaseholder could also chase as this is jeopardising their sale.

I don't take any notice of what the EA says, but it is useful to keep in touch with them to show willing I think.

My problems have actually come from the solicitors (not just mine, all of them) by their own admission. They just seem to sit there going 'No one's called me so I'm not doing anything'. How about giving the other solicitors a call to get things going? The solicitor at the bottom was happy that the completion date was set and released the contract (?) so why couldn't mine? Do solicitors not do conference calls for this sort of thing? Why are they relying on one solicitors to pass down messages to the next one? It just seems nuts.

Another thing that is doing my nut in is not working a full working week. If you don't work a full working week then get someone else to handle things on days you are off. It's totally unacceptable to say that nothing can happen because one of the solicitors in the chain doesn't work Thursdays unless that solicitor is a one man band.

If I worked like this my clients would probably move to another firm who could provide proper customer service.

Rant over! (And before anyone asks, I'm using a proper local solicitor at $$$ and not a cheapy online conveyancing shop)

We've exchanged! Completion is set for 14th July. Can't wait.

I hope the rest of you exchange soon.

Wahoo. Well done- I'm really pleased for you! Breathe a sigh of relief now