M0therofdragons - i don't get it, either. Our vendor was all over us like a rash needing this 6-week exchange but then apparently has yet to receive their own mortgage offer, and vanished on holiday for the best part of 2 weeks yesterday. Without leaving a key with the EA - who is herself beyond p!ssed. Our solicitor says the vendor's contract says they need to exchange by mid-July (ie less than 2 weeks after they come back from holiday), though this is the first time anyone has actually mentioned a drop-dead date. Can't see it happening, to be honest.
emma8t4 - we talked to HETAS yesterday who says they have no record of the stove being installed at 'our' new property. Which is why their solicitor is trying to blow us off by saying they won't get a copy of the installation certificate as it would be too old. Why do solicitors treat the rest of us as though we're slightly dumb? - it took DH a 3-minute phone call to find this out.
So, am guessing it also was never signed off by building control. Yay.
Talked at length to our solicitor, said that now we know this was a DIY installation we're absolutely determined that this stove will be at least inspected by a HETAS chimney sweep to ensure it is safe before we agree to proceed. We'll pay for the inspection, but they need to allow access. Our solicitor is fully on board and says she thinks we're being more than reasonable.
If the stove is unsafe and needs to be reinstalled then we want to know now; not saying we'll walk away, but we'll want the vendors to contribute towards the cost of disconnecting, proper reinstallation and building control sign-off if that is the case. You can't sell me a house while gushing over stove (or any feature/appliance, for that matter) that is unsafe and unusable! We're paying FAP for the property and have conceded to every other flippin thing the vendors have asked for. So, I want to get what I think I have offered to pay for!
Also had a phone call from vendor's EA to say how miffed she is, as when she relayed our repair requests to the vendor he immediately said he'd get them fixed (they weren't big-ticket items but normal everyday maintenance things which should have been done anyway). Then we got the sh!togram from their solicitor saying they weren't agreeing to anything at all. Guess we can tell who's in the driving seat over there, then. We mentioned to our solicitor (who knows their solicitor very well) and to their EA that the solicitor's attitude wasn't acceptable and that he personally was jeopardising the sale right now. We'll see if that helps any...