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...

Oh whatwould fingers crossed it gets them moving.

Oh Olivia I feel for you. It's shit being so dependent on other people and having zero control.

Good luck today Lazy, Gizlot and Olivia.

It's really hard when you've done everything you can to get to this point and then are dependant on the others. It seems like parties in a chain fall into two categories; those who are accommodating and those who aren't. And it's very frustrating when you've arranged everything to try and help others out and then they shift the goal posts.

Fingers crossed things fall into place for everyone soon.

Good luck for today all. Olivia your situation sounds horrible. I hope the sellers come through for you. Lazy, I too would be hopping mad at your sellers.

Well our kerb lines turned out to be a false alarm. The surveyor drew them last week when he visited.

Sooo, we're waiting for that, and some final outstanding queries on our seller's purchase.

I really hope our sellers are pestering their people daily. If I had any control over things that's what I would be doing. Apparently the people at the top of the chain don't want to hang about either so I'm not a lone voice, thankfully.

I can't see how we can complete on the 20th now, but nobody has indicated we're not going to. I'll be happy to move things back one day at a time. Maybe Monday or Tuesday 23/24th would be better anyway, giving everyone another weekend to pack and organise things.

Oh goodness - for you all. So much stress.

Munki your buyers are straight out of a French farce! It's hard to know if they are just taking the piss or really are that stupid. They should absolutely have had their buildings insurance in place on day of exchange.

Oh no, Lazy how crap they are I'm not surprised you are feeling crap, angry, upset, disappointed, frustrated and every other emotion under the sun. Why is it that there is always one in the chain who feels that they can bully everyone else to do things exactly as they please with no thought for anyone else? Fingers crossed for you today.

Ann woo-hoo for the dropped kerb!

Fingers crossed for you MrsPuss how much of a flood risk is it really?

Olivia your buyers are a pain in the backside too I hope they agree to your needs today - fingers crossed.

More fingers crossed for you perhaps - it's all so stupid and petty isn't it? One missing page causes all this stress and potential causes the chain to collapse. Although I'm sure your vendor will calm down and agree to an extension if there is a structured plan in place. there is no way they will want to go back on the market.

We have a viewing this afternoon and another on Saturday morning. We are now almost giving the property away (compared to everything else of it's size and location in the town) and still no-one wants it! I honestly feel that I'm screaming into a vacuum EA isn't sure of the position of today's people but Saturday's couple are currently in rented which would be wonderful - fingers crossed they like it.

Good luck today to you all - fx

News but no news here. Can't provide any details as it would be very identifying, but it turns out that certain people in the chain aren't ready yet and were completely unaware of any sense of urgency in wanting to exchange and then complete next week. Having read the riot act to multiple people this morning they have now - hopefully - been galvanised into action.

Frustrated and pissed off doesn't even cover it. But I am trying to keep a lid on my temper and focus on the end goal.

How many are in your chain Lazy? Beggars belief that they were unaware of the desire of the rest of the chain to move in half term week. I hope that your reading of the riot act has now stoked up some action and things get moving for you.

Sorry not read back yet on my way out for a mental health stompy long walk while I wait to hear wtf is happening

anything other than straightforward purchase of the no chain place, or immediate concession they have to break the chain by renting and we're pulling out

DP is waiting by the phone for the call - we are already guessing the delay in getting this call means they are pissing about (again) though...

will update soon as I know

As far as I’m concerned there is no risk of flood. No rivers in the garden or nearby. The sea is half a mile away and would flood a lot of other properties before it reached me. But according to the local council and environmental agency its the highest risk level. My grandparents have lived nearby for 50 years and say they can’t remember any problems.

An insurance broker found the £500 quote for me. I’ve just tried the Avila website myself and it’s £250 I even phoned to check they included flood risk. Hopefully that’s that panic over.

Fingers crossed everyone else has good news today.

Congratulations to all those who have completed and/or received positive news re: their sale or purchases. Commiserations to those who haven't- your dedication to the cause is inspiring and has kept me going. I decided to take a mini break from this thread because I was finding I was getting massively anxious about potential things that could go wrong with our sale and purchase. I have logged in every so often and laughed at techniques to get back at shifty (shitty) buyers and then crossed my fingers, arms, legs and eyes for things to go smoothly for the rest of us.

A big, fat THANK YOU to Lazy for her very, very reassuring words about our nightmare survey results. We've sent enquiries to our solicitor to forward onto our vendors solicitors and are still waiting to hear back from them. Will take action as and when necessary once those are back.

Our buyers are taking their sweeeeeeeeet time pushing forward (they're elderly and we've been told they keep forgetting things) and while I don't want to be demanding, their pace is really beginning to wear me down. I've got such a busy month at work and the stress of selling/buying is really getting to me. Our EA are continuing to market our flat and carry out viewings which is making me paranoid about our elderly buyers and whether or not they are committed to our purchase. The EA have reassured us that they are and that the only reason for the ongoing viewings is 'just in case something goes wrong' with our buyers (their son would rather they moved into a retirement property) but that's not something I want to hear at this moment in time. Also, the EA won't reply to my emails- they call and have a conversation with my husband instead- really effing annoying, especially since the husband forgets half the things that need discussing/clarifying

We've submitted all our paperwork and are now dependent on the lower chain (buyers and their buyers) to get their act together. It's a case of waiting patiently (which I've historically struggled to do).

Have an appointment with the Dr next week re: insomnia, hair shedding, acne and irritability. It could be my under active thyroid or this house buying process could be slowly killing me... will keep you posted

It would not surprise me one bit if it's stress related. I have - sorry TMI - an almost constantly upset stomach, can't concentrate, not sleeping properly, very snappy and short fuse...

All quiet here at the moment. There's only 3 in the chain - and part of why we went for this house was because the top was almost ready and therefore needed a quick sale. We've been under a huge amount of pressure to catch up, so to find out that they're still plodding away on queries is infuriating - after all the time and effort we've expended in trying to drag this across the line.

I so want to move and am looking forward to being in the new house but for the first time ever, I am now sitting here and wondering if it is worth all of this stress.

To have run that gauntlet and then to have hit a brick wall at the end of it really is annoying. Don't forget how far you've come- you've let them know how out of order they are. Let them come back to you now. Easier said than done, I know :(

still nothing - wrote a message to the vendors with my gps walk tracker though, failed slightly but maybe you can make it out. Made me feel better anyway...

So EA hasn’t returned my call. Will try once more then drop an email.

Love that lubey! Hope it made you feel a bit better.

I wanted to ask: can/should we offer our EA a bit of a bonus (£100) on top of their huuuuge commission if they can get their skates on and get everyone below us to the exchange stage? Or would that be considered bribery and we'd be jeopardising everything? We're not made of money but I want to see the light at the end of the tunnel and start living my life again 🙈

Good news all! we don't have to advise them to relocate their abode forcibly to their rectums.

It's all going ahead. Phew, that was a close one!

We are now in a smaller chain. Our buyer, us, them and one ahead of them.

FX for it to be smoother from here...

Muss honestly? I doubt it would make any difference. At this stage it is all in the hands of the lawyers and your chain is literally only as strong - or in this case, ready - as the weakest link. Nobody will agree to anything until they have absolutely everything ready to go and all that's left to sort out is a date.

Remember that the EA isn't supposed to speak to parties other than you and your buyer, so your £100 will make zero difference if it's an unrelated solicitor somewhere who is dragging their feet, they won't give a shit if your EA is chasing as they won't hear from them directly anyway.

All you can do is chase your EA and your solicitor to try and find out who in the chain is causing the delay - and why. And then work together to see if you can exert pressure on the relevant EA and sellers/buyers, to pull their finger out and get things sorted.

Thanks for the reality check Lazy- we offered mid July and are still here. I'm getting desperate to move my life from limbo to one set space. I'm getting so stressed about the whole sale/move thing.

My dad wants to visit during half-term and I've put off, friend getting married in December and haven't been able to get involved as much as I'd have wanted to, have a tribunal at work (representing my employer) that I need to prepare for and other things going on. It's the not knowing that's getting to me more than anything else.

I've tried sending polite emails to everyone (our EA and solicitors) but feel ignored as they call back/reply to my husband (who is softer and more laid back (he's almost vertical) than I am and I never get any answers.

Talk to your EA and solicitor and task them with finding out where the delay is. By all means go batshit at them - it's an unfortunate fact that the squeaky wheel gets the oil!

I sympathise - we have been at this since the beginning of June and I can really relate to the feeling of life being on hold.

OMG Lazy I'm not surprised you are frustrated. I know what you mean about "is it worth the effort?" DP is querying my commitment to the sale because I'm being such an Eeyore and it's just because of the sleepless nights, the worrying that the vendor is going to give up on us and the stress of not knowing if we'll ever sell now I'm mainly stressed for DP and DS - they love the house and I feel like I'm somehow letting them down not being able to deliver it for them. If we do ever get back in a complete chain I know the stress is just going to get worse and worse.

Oh thank goodness Lubey - I was starting to worry that we might end up hearing about some move-rage related incident Full steam ahead for exchange now hopefully!

Definitely get more forceful with your EA and solicitors muss, after all you are paying them a small fortune to handle this for you

MrsPuss how peculiar, something must show on the databases that the searches show about local flooding. Could you query it?

Well our viewing has been and gone. DP was here when the woman viewed, unfortunately she had a bad cold and laryngitis and could barely speak so he couldn't really tell what she thought so we'll have to wait on feedback from the EA.

She must have been keen to view feeling that bad! So our EA is off sick. Range the selling side and they are chasing for me!

Mrspuss a friend had something similar re flood risk searches - her house is land locked, nowhere near a river and yet they were saying they needed to notify the mortgage co of high flood risk! She asked them to revisit it and they performed some other search and all was fine. Sometimes I think the data is wrong & nobody bothers to double check it. Glad all seems sorted now.

So sorry to all suffering the physical symptoms of stress and anxiety over the whole sorry house moving process - I’ve definitely had upset tummy, obsessive worrying episodes & sleepless nights, it’s pretty rotten. I’m normally such an unstressed person. We’ve exchanged now so the awful ‘not knowing’ has all but gone, but I still feel some trepidation - I lie in bed every night with my head whirring.

Anyway, onwards and upwards, we will get there

Good point, Giz thanks

Well I guess that explains why s/he didn't call back. Good that they are chasing for you though.

One quick point about flooding - surface water flooding is a massive issue and getting worse. Lots of insurer's flood maps now look at coastal, fluvial AND surface water flooding - so it's not unusual to get a result saying you're in a flood risk area and be nowhere near a water course.