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...

Yoga. Exactly what I was thinking. I want to make sure the chimney is safe!

Just had an offer accepted on a chain free property so our chain is now complete but 7 below us before FTB, this has been so stressful so far, three kids, two under two and both working full time, cant even think where to begin with decluttering and sorting, and sort of scared to, in case it all falls through 😕

Welcome Sausage! Well done. We hired a storage container and moved bits into there, stuff we don't use regularly

Morning all .

Congrats sausage, hope everything goes smoothly for you.

Gizlot I've actually had something similar, our purchase property has an original feature fireplace and when we viewed it had been dressed with logs etc making it look like it was fully in use. Survey shows it has been blocked and needs unblocking, sweeping and lining. I was so unimpressed!

Otherwise yesterday was a typically uninspiring day for us. Trying to get a roofer in to inspect our purchase property is a nightmare when roofers don't answer their phones and the vendor's EA doesn't have a key, so trying to organize a 4-step chain of communication to arrange access is a nightmare.

And our buyer's solicitors (the same ones that waited weeks before sending out the searches) are now lying to my EA, they promised him yesterday that enquiries on the contract pack were sent out earlier this week via email, but a quick call to my solicitor confirms this is just not true. On the plus side, in the face of this adversity my EA has bucked his ideas up slightly and has been better at communicating this week.

We are inching towards a complete chain of 4 but the latest is to make it all work we need to up a bit, our vendors need to go up a bit and the top need to come down a bit to get it to work. This leaves number 3 in the chain not contributing anything though I think they have accepted an offer a good bit below one they had previously that has fallen through so perhaps they think they've done their bit.

We are at the max that we want to offer but if we can squeeze 8k more then we could finally get things moving. After nearly a year in rented it might just be worth it. What do you reckon? Would you offer more to get the chain together?

If in the mythical land of house selling and buying we do get a complete chain, what is the order of doing stuff. I've forgotten from three years ago when we did it last. Is it:

1. Verify chain and discuss approx timings
2. Instruct solicitor
3. Searches
4. Survey
5. Apply for mortgage

We are pretty confident no issues on survey as the house has been well kept but I guess you never know and mortgage should be fine as well.

I've been reading this thread for months but haven't contributed as we weren't in a chain. Except it turns out we are!
We're FTB's in a rented house. When we viewed the house we are buying we were told there was no upward chain. Perfect. This was 'confirmed' to us via the estate agent on more than one occasion; he told us the vendors were moving in with parents to break the chain.
Wednesday our solicitor told us we were ready to exchange and were awaiting confirmation of a completion date from the vendors solicitor. Thursday we had an email to say that the vendors aren't ready to discuss a completion date 'as they are having some problems with their associated purchase'. WTF?! Vendors say the EA knew all along there was a chain. EA says he was told otherwise. The vendors have indeed moved in with parents 150 miles away but still won't exchange until their purchase goes through, which apparently is a long way off due to issues.
So now we're in an unexpected chain!

Oh no! Hate being misled ecureuil

Raaraa it depends on the value of the house and where the problem is, £8k is an awful lot of money. Is it that your vendor can't agree a price on your purchase? If so expecting you to pay so they can get a nicer house than you can afford is very cheeky, and increases the risk that you'll have mortgage valuation issues. However, if you'd be willing to pay the extra to get the house then it's worth a go. I'd be wary of being squeezed further down the line though.

In terms of your order, I'd want the mortgage sorted earlier so you know if there are any issues before you pay for the searches and survey, and would expect the rest of the chain to do the same. If you lose the bottom buyer because they get the mortgage they need then the whole chain can fall apart and you all lose money.

Raa I'd be absolutely incandescent and seriously considering giving them a (short) timeframe to get themselves sorted before saying you'd pull out.

I've had quite a shit day, found out our vendors go on holiday for a fortnight from tomorrow, won't give the EA a key and hadn't told anyone. Seriously pissed off.

Sorry - second mention should be Ecureuil.

Fortheloveofscience we've told them we're giving them 2 weeks to get their paperwork in order and agree a date or we'll pull out.

So our searches are back ( much quicker than stated) and we have our mortgage deed to sign and return... will do that then ask about completion dates.. still hopeful for oct half term even if our buyers are still to instruct surveys.. gives 5 weeks from their survey...has any one else found their solicitor is giving very vague answers and passing a lot of responsibility back to them?

Congrats Sausage - fingers crossed for a smooth process for you.

Science and Glizlotsmum you've both made me think. The house we're buying has a wood burner and an open fire. I didn't even think to ask if they were in working order but I will do now. Our building survey is next Thursday so I hope this will be checked as part of this anyway.

Glizlotsmum does your purchaser have an agenda? I wonder why they haven't organised their survey yet. Hopefully you will still be good to complete by half term.

Raaraa that sounds traumatic. Why the need to find £8k more? The last time we sold we had a git property developer at the start of the chain and the git decided to drop his offer by £15k but the EAs were great and managed to hold it together with everyone taking a £2k hit and the git developer only getting a £10k drop. I'm still bitter about how he manipulated the chain though.

Our process has been this:
Offer
Mortgage agreement in principle
Instruct solcs.
Mortgage valuation
Building survey
Searches

Our solcs told us yesterday that they've passed our "pack" to our purchasers solcs. and that they've had packs from both purchasers and vendors solcs. Hopefully that's a good sign. Just waiting for the mortgage valuation survey results now. I don't think it will be a problem but I worry nevertheless

Is there any way the vendors would allow your roofing guy to inspect the roof while they are away Science? Can he do it from the outside or does he need to get into the loft/attic?

ooops, git was supposed to be git I really should preview!

Yoga. Sorry I meant searches , their survey is this Thursday ( not sure why it took so long to get a date but hey ho!)

You can ask them to check on the survey, ours is checking the chimney, loft for extension potential and oil storage.. as well as the usual stuff.

Thursday is obviously surveys day - our purchaser's homebuyers and our buildings survey are this Thursday too

Searches aren't so bad. I guess it depends how quickly your council can turn them around. Ours are running at about 2-3 weeks so if yours are similar you should still be okay to complete at half term.

Okay, thanks. I will call them on Monday and ask them to check. I'll also ring the vendors EA and ask him to clarify whether the vendors used them regularly. I suspect they use the wood burner but not sure about the open fire in the kitchen diner.

Yeah our searches came back in a couple of weeks having been quoted 4 weeks.

Our searches came back in 6 weeks, having been quoted 2-3

Quick turnaround is helpful Gizlotsmum

Goodness, Ecureuil that's a long time. It sometimes seems that a seemingly simple thing at the council can have huge impact and cause long delays with things like this. I think it's because they are so reliant on individuals and if they aren't around for some reason things just get delayed.

Yes, I think the issue was that it was over the summer holidays. Things just seemed to ground to a halt!

Seems like we are in a similar situation to many of you. Property on market back in March and fully expected to have moved by now. Completed everything for our sale and contracts are on the way to the buyers but we are hearing nothing from the seller of the house we are buying. It's through purplebricks which is obviously crap anyway.

Like AnnPerkins have ds who is due to start school Sep 18 and need to do application but can't!

Outbackshack same here... DD1 is due to start Sep '18 and I can't apply yet. Also both DD's are at pre school in the new village (expected to be moved by now and didn't want to uproot them a couple of weeks in) and the drive there and back sometimes three times a day (DD1 does a couple of full days, DD2 just the mornings) is driving me insane!

Oh dear, we can all chew our nails together then.

I'm crapping myself this weekend. Buyer's solicitor sent a new bunch of enquiries arising from the search results. Our solicitor says they're unnecessary and probably impossible to answer and advised telling them so. He sent them a letter to that affect on Friday so we're waiting to hear if the buyer still wants to proceed. Losing our buyer is our worst nightmare. I just hope she takes the same view as our solicitor.

I really thought we'd be moving sometime in October, having sold beginning of August.

Ann hopefully you still will. We have our buyers survey this week so will see what questions that leads to. Our survey is tomorrow but our searches all came back ok. I'm going to ask tomorrow about possible completion dates, although I suspect my solicitor will be non commital ( she is so vague it is amazing how she can answer a question without answering it!)

Dh has got me panicking, we are in the process of applying for the mortage (150k less than the aip) and last month I went into my planned overdraft for a few days (last month of smp) not something id usually do but needed uniform for schools etc, dh has done a covering letter to explain mat leave etc and that the pay was 1100 less than what I usually get and that was why and submitted all our other statements which are in the black so to speak. Could this go against us? Also worrying that we have three dependants now and when we got our first mortgage none, does this also count against us? Gosh this is stressful 😥