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......

Minor rant alert! So fed up of chasing - my EA won't talk to me, and my solicitor's been sitting on the contact pack from my vendor for 2 weeks and done fuck all with it . Found out over the weekend that one of the vendors is on holiday in the proposed completion week, and despite it being an empty property (so no actual moving required!) and one of them being around to sort out the legals, transfer of keys etc, they are refusing to agree to that week, which is hugely inconvenient for us and our buyer.

I feel bad with repeated emails to EA but the people in their 'specialist sales office' just don't answer the damn phone .

Oh no Science.. that's crap. Could your vendors ea/ buyers solicitor chase for you?

Vendor's EA has been chasing but no progress so far. Our buyer probably could ask their solicitor to chase...but I can only contact them through our EA who I can't get hold of!

I think my only option is to make a right bloody nuisance of myself in the hope that people think it's easier to just speak to me...

Pleased to hear your move's going as planned so far though

I like that plan science.

Fortheloveofscience The contract pack contains a huge amount of information/documentation. Your solicitor will have to read through everything contained in the pack before he can raise his initial enquiries. So although it might seem like he's done fuck all with it, it is probably the case that he is compiling a list of points he needs to raise. If the property is empty, it could be a probate property where the vendors are not actually the persons named on the title deeds, in which case your solicitor will need to see the Grant of Probate or other evidence. Also if the vendors do not know the property very well, there may be lots of "don't knows" on the protocol forms. He may also want to see the search results before raising enquiries - have you paid for these? This might indicate why he hasn't raised enquiries yet.

Hey Spickle. Yes I know there's a lot of documents, unfortunately it's not the case that they've been compiling queries, they said this morning that they've just started to look through them .

We paid for our searches about a month ago, and it's not a probate house - the owners who'd been there for some time bought their next house before selling this one (no idea how - inheritance perhaps) and so moved out. Should have been really quick...!

Sods law that the really quick ones take forever.

I'm getting used to the idea that mine is going to be a good 3 months and that I'll be away from the kids for 2mths minimum of those 😣

Needs must though! Everything in place for that.

Giz no real news on mine. Purchaser has been away so other than them having the boiler serviced nothing has really happened.

I know my solicitor has sent over draft contracts and pre-empted the minor glitch from my side, which shouldn't be a glitch but we will see!

The people I'm buying from, well I have no idea what's happening that end. Tbh I'm just going to leave them to it now and not pressure anyone. Out of everyone I have the most to lose but I'm aware that we all have our own agenda.

I start my new job 175 miles away in 3 weeks so I need to concentrate on that really. Sorting out my temporary accomodation, etc. Life has a funny way of working out!

I'm naturally pessimistic so always see the worst possible outcome. Think I will begin to relax once all surveys are done. Not too worried about the valuation on our property we priced to sell and house is in reasonable condition. Just want things moving now. Our child minders retired yesterday so have had a summer of emotions and am glad it is over tbh. Would like to be in before Christmas and ideal would be October half term move date but that isn't even being spoken about yet! At least our solicitor seems efficient and quick to chase!

Survey is being done Tuesday. Mortgage adviser is on holiday but I'll find out when he gets back. Takes a couple of days to offer from survey if there are no issues with my lender.

Then I'll just let the legals get on.

I'm assuming I can put a redirect on to any address when I am away working. Will need to redirect to where I'm working.

This process is starting to drive me crackers.

I paid for a Halifax mortgage valuation 2.5 weeks ago and upgraded it to a HB survey at the end of last week but it hasn't even been scheduled. Has anybody else had similar with Halifax? My buyer has a small BS mortgage and they valued within a few days of them calling (although it was just a valuation not a survey).

So paranoid we won't get the mortgage offer and my habitual lunch purchases have scuppered the whole thing

Halifax scheduled our valuation within a week. ( it was then cancelled and booked for a week later but they didn't communicate that with us) offer was sent out same day as valuation was done. I know surveys ( homebuyers) are taking a while to book in our area. Having ours down independently and requested yesterday and booked for earliest date which is 11th

Thanks Gizlot, that's reassuring (and frustrating!) to know.

I'll try and chill out a bit then....

Aaaaaaargh! After 3 days of chasing, finally got hold of my EA. They in turn have finally got hold of my buyer's solicitor, who only sent the searches off 2 days ago despite having had the contract pack for weeks and been paid for them ages ago. Searches are taking longer because of the holidays apparently, and our exchange date has just flown out the window...

Oh no science :(

Dragon it is quite common for a delay on HB because of surveyor time and vendor time, etc. A val normally takes 10 minutes. A hb will take substantially more time. They also might only have a couple of surveyors able to do them in the area.

Science I bet you are raging. I know I would be.

Thanks Pulling - I called Halifax yesterday and it's been passed to be booked but there's no surveyors in my area to do it, so it's being sent out to one of their panel firms to do instead.

I'm worrying less now 😁

Science I would be absolutely fuming in your shoes. My sols haven't even received the contract pack from the vendor but I've instructed them to do the searches anyway as my area is apparently notoriously slow.

May I ask what is probably a dumb question....?

What is the 'contract' pack that everyone refers to? So far via my solicitor, we have:

For the buyers: answered queries about our drains, 'tithe charges', maintenance of boundaries, extension work carried out 2 years ago and replacement windows, supplied lots of certificates (fensa, electrical etc). Signed a draft contract & TR1 form.

For our onward purchase: we have had a full survey done, mortgage valuation, agreed our boundaries on a land registry map, received the fixtures & fittings list that the buyers completed.

Am I right in thinking that the contract pack is based on the other big document that we filled out (not the Fix & Fittings one) but the one all about drains, who owns fences on the boundaries, when the boiler was last serviced, has there been any radon gas in the area etc etc?

When do we see this for our onward purchase? Presumably once the solicitors have finished asking all their questions & compiled all the relevant paperwork?

Sorry to sound daft - not done this in 12 years so a little rusty on remembering how it all works.

Major The contract pack is what the vendor's solicitors send to your solicitors at the beginning of the transaction.

The pack comprises:
Agreement (i.e. draft Contract), title deeds and title plan (freehold and/or leasehold), the lease (if applicable), Fixtures & Fittings List, Property Info Form, Leasehold Info Form (if applicable), EPC, Certificates (i.e. Fensa/NIECIC), planning permissions, building regulations, Evidence Certificates (i.e. Marriage/Death/Probate), any appropriate Deeds (earlier Conveyances/Transfers/Transfer of Part), Management/Leasehold Info (or copies of letters to Man Company with LPE forms).

Once your solicitor receives this pack from the sellers solicitor, he can start work, i.e. ordering searches, raising enquiries etc.

You may see some information along the way, but the bulk will be when they report to you much later in the process. This is basically a large parcel of all the information about the property that they hold and is for you to read through and make sure you're happy with it before proceeding to exchange.

Ok thanks so much spickle for the explanation.

I'm guessing our solicitor has passed on all our initial forms & paperwork then as the buyers solicitor is now asking questions about those forms. Just wanted to make sure everything was wheels in motion and no-body is sitting on paperwork & doing nothing with it. We reply to all the queries via our solicitor but whenever we ask her for a progress update, she doesn't respond - we just want to know searches have gone in etc, which I think they probably have.

In that case the progress update would merely be that they are dealing with enquiries and waiting to hear that your responses to queries are satisfactory before they can proceed any further. Enquiries may also be made in relation to the results of the searches, so it will probably be some time before all the enquiries are dealt with, so being patient at this point is the only thing you can do - not worth stressing just yet!

I know, and thanks spickle - I know i'm being impatient. I think because its school holidays so i've been at home with the kids and time has started to drag & I wonder why it can't all be done much quicker .
Once the kids are back next week & I'm at work, I think it'll take my mind off it all & the solicitors can crack on without me asking for progress updates every other day!

Well, I had the first word on this thread, so now I'll have the last!!

Time for a new thread - anyone want to take the plunge??