In a chain support thread Sept 2017

[Gizlotsmum]

Hope it's ok to start another one! So we have a week of waiting for surveys etc...

All done. Seemed ok, one comment about moving the fuse box and it being old but looked like a mate checking it over. Fx

Argh, just spoke to our solicitor. We've gone from 'suggested exchange date of 1st December' to 'your purchasers still haven't raised any queries or sent signed contracts back so we don't know'. I presume that they are waiting for their damp survey to be carried out next week, but even so, it worries me that they're being so noncommittal about the whole thing.

That's good news Gizlots. Changing an older consumer unit really isn't a big job so I wouldn't be too concerned on that one.

gizlot we had our unit changed very recently - took sparky a day, can't recall cost but if you need to know ball park figures I can dig out invoice.
Oh that's a pain LB - is it just solicitor covering arse re timings? Mine is totally non commital even though all the chain have been discussing ideal dates amongst ourselves

Major if you wouldn’t mind? That would help me know what they might come back with as wanting off the offer price.

gizlot just located invoice - it was £840, done in June. We're south west if that helps

Thank you! Yes we’re east Anglia so may be a bit more but probably not essential

Thanks for the warm welcome and encouragement everyone. It's nice to feel a bit hopeful. Even if it's false hopes 😬.

Ann well done for the detective work. Sometimes I wonder why the solicitors get paid so much money when they seem to be a bit useless and take such a long time with everyone. (Hopefully nobody here is a solicitor and will be insulted now 😛).

Ann's question made me think of another kind of related question. I really don't understand how this process works.. so what we're ready to sign the contract for the house we're buying in the next couple of weeks but our buyer is weeks behind. How can we sign anything when we've got no guarantee from our buyer yet and no funds for a deposit until either her payment or the mortgage lands on our account? Or do both contracts get signed simultaneously?

Fortheloveofscience that's so frustrating!!! You're so close to the finish line and they're still sending queries. I'd be fuming.

LB I'm quite impressed that you had been given an estimate for exchange. I've been constantly asking but nobody will give me any kind of an idea.. but it must be so frustrating them going back on what they've first promised.

Our buyer seems to be really on the ball though and desperate to move so maybe there could be a slight chance for late October. Our vendors EA said 10-12 days for searches and that was true for us. Our own EA was the one who said 3 weeks is quick and some have taken 6 weeks!!! Just really hope the mortgage offer comes through next week and then the searches within couple of weeks. I've started feeling a bit guilty now that I've spoken to the buyer and her and her boys seem so lovely. They are local so I'm pretty sure they know who their neighbours will be but if not I really hope they won't hate them as much as I do. We had a lovely raspberry bush that grew roots under their fence. They asked me to get rid of it. I refused but said I was happy for them to chop off the bit on their side. They waited until we were out, went in our garden, dug it all out and binned it!! Plus they are never nice to my kids and are just obnoxiously rude.

Sounds positive Gizlot, like a genuine reassurance check, rather than a 'can we squeeze them for more cash' check!

I think electrical checks are really important actually, I must remember to find out when our vendors last had one. We didn't have one when we bought this place, and I don't remember any mention on the survey, but we only found out after 5yrs living in our house that it wasn't earthed It was picked up in a British gas electrical check, and it was a right faff to sort out!

I'm worrying myself a bit about my solicitors competence given that they didn't notice that a very important document was unsigned The enquiries that they've raised don't seem as comprehensive as the ones raised by our buyers, but I've no idea what else they should be asking, if anything. We haven't had the property information form back from our vendors yet which is a bit annoying. It is a massive ball ache of a form, but it just needs doing!

Stormy As I understand it, you all sign the contracts in anticipation of things going through, but it's only when you 'exchange' contracts that everything gets dated and officially passed on to the other parties solicitors. That's why it all has to happen on the same day, as one sale counts on another sale, counts on another sale. If the stuff wasn't signed in advance, then you'd literally all have to be signing them simultaneously in solicitors offices around the country!
Your neighbours sound charming Hope your buyers aren't put off!!
I feel a bit bad for our neighbours... the walls are thin and our buyer is a professional violinist

That's my understanding too stormy & nessa. I believe our sale contract was drawn up by our solicitor, our purchase contract by our vendors solicitor because they were slightly different in layout etc.

Gosh neighbours are annoying aren't they. We are, unfortunately leaving behind brand new but utterly lovely neighbours. Bit gutted about that.

My turn to chase for paperwork today - my DH has been main contact with water company and whilst his emails are polite / courteous etc, they're always very brief. He's out of office all day so I thought I'd try the 'I'm bloody desperate now' approach... see if that gets a response

Wow - loads of updates!!

Major absolutely go nuclear. I went down the route of "You are now the only thing that is holding up an ENTIRE chain. Other people are getting fed up and if they pull out it will be because we couldn't get a decision from you in time. I am begging you, please can you sort this and do it today because I am absolutely at my wit's end" Dramatic, yes - but it worked!

Stormy yes you can't exchange until everyone in the chain is ready - it's part of what makes it all such good fun - the chasing, the waiting, the threats of people pulling out if it doesn't get sorted...!! Your neighbours sound vile - how dare they remove a plant from your garden?

Ness better a professional violinist than an amateur who is learning

LBOC time to lean on the EA maybe? Get them involved - the delay is ridiculous. Even if you were starting from scratch this week you should realistically be looking at end of November. The EA is supposed to help manage stuff like this.

Giz good news on the wiring check. Ours recommended a wiring check but TBH we looked at it and thought it was something we would sort out once we're in the house. I don't agree with this fashion for surveying everything down to the last brick and skirting board and then hammering the asking price. I know it's a big purchase and a lot of money, but surely there has to be an element of accepting there will be some maintenance required unless you are buying a brand new build?

Thomas been there - I feel for you. The pressure and desperation is awful. I swear to God that if one more person had calmly told me no to worry and that the right place would turn up, then I'd have smacked them. Rather annoyingly they turned out to be right and it did come good in the end, but bloody hell that horrible feeling of must find somewhere but I hate them all is terrible. Leafletting sounds like a good idea - I know someone who sold their house that way! Good luck and FX that you find something you like.

Apologies if I have missed anyone out. Removals chap is coming round today to size up what we have and provide a formal quote. I also want to ring our insurers today and get a quote set up for buildings cover on the new house, so that it's ready to go when we get to exchange.

Thomas yes its so definitely worth trying the leafleting approach - our friends found their dream home doing just that, it all happened rather quickly too if I re-call.

Lazy - ha, love your wording! Unfortunately my DH beat me to it and sent a hasty email this morning whilst travelling to appointments . To be fair, his email was good, and did highlight our utter frustration, but I did want to go down the desperate lady route. Ah well, have got that one still to pull out if nothing works today.

I'm now starting to worry about the electrics in the house we're buying....what with all the talk of it here, its not something we've considered too much, only its quite crucial because the whole house is run on electrics (heating too), so if they pack in, we're screwed (and freezing!). [runs off to check survey again]

I'd be interested to know a rough price guide on removals Lazy. Are you going full pack & move or packing yourself?

I need to print more leaflets. No luck yet but I did run into the mum of one of DS' friends from Beavers and we had a good catch-up.

Ok, so I've ascertained from the sols that we'll be signing both contracts on Tuesday. So that's pretty much us then. I've emailed my two EA contacts and asked for updates on the rest of the chain. Hopefully there's been some progress on them all in a week.

I drove past 'our' house this morning and they've removed a hedge at the edge of the garden where the drive will go. So this should mean they're expecting the kerb dropping to take place pretty soon.

Major, have you got a direct number for the water company contact? Perhaps you could phone to 'make sure they got DH's email'? Then hit them with DailyMail's spiel?

Well, as it happens our buyer got directly into contact with DSis yesterday - the joy of social media! He apparently has a provisional booking with movers for the second week in November, so he seems quite invested. And DSis got into contact with me regarding some buyers enquiries so it sounds like our nudging has borne fruit. So. That chain is progressing nicely, even if the solicitors won't tell us.

My other chain (argh, why did we start this whole enterprise?!) is also moving. We're signing a contract with the auction house today, they're coming over to photograph next week and once they've completed the sales pack it's 30 days marketing and offers, 30 days to exchange, 30 days to complete - so we should be done and dusted by the end of Jan, mid-Feb. My main concern is to tie up the chain between exchange and completion so we actually have somewhere to live at the end of it .

Major, I would definitely start stamping my feet. Do you have the names of anyone to speak to directly? I'd get a name out of someone and start being a pain, personally.

Ann that’s good news right? Does that mean you will exchange on Tuesday – or you’re ready to exchange when the time comes? Hopefully the rest of the chain moves swiftly for you.

LB you have two chains? Urgh. Hell!!!

Thomas hopefully someone will come to you wanting to sell, I’ve heard of this happening before so definitely worth a shot.

Giz great that the check was quick and painless, phew.

Major honestly you’re a better woman than me, I would have totally lost my shit by now. Painful. Hopefully your bloody desperate approach works.

Nessalina when I saw the queries raised by our buyers solicitors I was embarrassed when I reviewed the ones we raised when we bought the house, they were nothing in comparison. I think we had a bunch of idiots working for us when we bought, but we had no idea as we were FTBs and thought sols were supposed to be terrible!

Lazy hopefully your removals people gave you a reasonable quote. Ours was vury expensive but it was to another country from London so we expected the hit.

We have progressed. EA updated me that the buyers have reviewed all of our responses and have no further queries and it seems our sol has saved us having to purchase the indemnity on the trunk mains, amazing – hopefully that is the case. This morning the buyers sol have sent contracts to our sol for the next step. So we’re very nearly at exchange. Hopefully we can talk completion dates soon (EA reckons approx. 2 weeks). Fingers crossed. It really inches along doesn’t it. I know I should be relieved but I feel like I won’t be able to let this breath out until we have exchanged with a completion date in the diary.

Re neighbours, we left behind our lovely little old lady neighbour who used to take in parcels for us and pop in for a chat every few weeks. Miss her little white head .

Removal man had to cancel this morning so he's coming round on Monday instead. Hope that's not an omen about their reliability... The indicative quote we have had so far is £450 based on a 2 bed property (we only have one bed but we also have a loft with a lot of stuff in it!).

Thomas we were going to use packers, but the house we are buying is much bigger than our current property, so we decided in the end to pack ourselves. This allows us to have a think about which rooms stuff needs to go in and label the boxes accordingly. I'd say we are about 50% packed at the moment. Boxes everywhere so the place looks like a storage unit!

Evening all, glad to hear things are moving along on chains!
Just thought I'd update on our drain situation. I made the desperate lady phone call this afternoon... spoke to a lovely girl who promised they'd ring the one guy in question who could make the decision. My husband heard back from him within the hour - they want to line our existing sewer, which seems fair enough, it strengthens the entire thing and presumably once they've done that they can issue whatever piece of paper to confirm they're happy with ours drains.

The only problem is.... it's taken 3 looong weeks to get to just this decision, we've had to chase daily, sometimes twice daily. They've offered no idea of how long this process will take or cost. It's all so vague & nobody seems to own it - we're passed from one team to another & back again.

Feeling pretty low about it all tonight as realistically it's going to be at least another 3 weeks (half term move is out of the question) but DH is going to ring our buyers directly to check they're happy to wait. Plus I'm drafting an email to water co to ask them to clarify how long / cost / final outcome etc. Drinking tonight to cheer myself up.

Ps apologies for the 'I'm feeling sorry for myself' update. I'll be back on positive form tomorrow I promise!

Oh major... that’s horrendous. I hope it doesn’t take too long! Are the water company paying?

Glad you got hold of someone who progressed it further!

No idea who pays gizlot! Or how much it is! We'll pay just to get the sodding thing done, but they're so vague about the whole process. If we knew it was going to cost £x and would be done by x date, I think the whole chain would feel happier. I doubt we'll hear from them tomorrow, so that's another weekend left wondering. Arghhh!!

Oh Major what a nightmare. If you can find out how much it costs then you could always offer to pay this contribution to the buyers, if the water company can't get it done ASAP. That way the sale could go ahead and not be delayed.

I was going to suggest seeing if they can suggest an approved contractor and you get it done. Really hope you hear something tomorrow

Sorry Major, not a good update 🙁🍷

Party, I don't think anyone else is at the contract-signing stage so not sure when we'll exchange yet. I've asked both EAs for updates on the chain today but neither has responded yet.

We have a removal man coming next Friday to quote. I did an online thingy and got three quotes all for around £500. That's for a three bed house, no packing. That seems low so expect a real quote to be higher.