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...

TheCat your transaction is not 14 weeks altogether as far as the legal work is concerned. It will count from the day your buyer's solicitors received the draft contract pack, approximately 5 weeks ago (or less if that is when the offer was received). A new buyer's solicitor will not take paperwork from the previous transaction, only the searches and office copies if they are recent. Therefore, the transaction will be back at the start. The enquiries take the longest because all the responses need to be answered satisfactorily. Replying with "I don't have any paperwork/certificates" is not sufficient. Either the paperwork is found, a duplicate is obtained or an indemnity policy paid for.

Searches don't normally hold up a transaction although the Local takes several weeks whereas the others are within a few days.

Agree with Spickle - as much as my solicitor drives me mad (she is lovely when I speak with her but bloody hell she's difficult to get hold of!), she can only work on contracts and queries when she gets them. I was chased by our EA saying our buyer's solicitor was chasing for a response to her queries. When I got hold of my solicitor, it turned out that they'd been sent hard copy through the 2nd class post rather than by email!

Likewise our vendors are chasing for a quick sale. But despite numerous requests from us and our solicitor their solicitor only sent the contracts through last week - 5 weeks after we'd had our offer accepted The whole process seems to be designed to drive you mad!

I think the advice to get the EA involved is good. I email both of them whenever something moves - or we identify an issue - so that they know what's going on. It also means that if I get a chasing phone call from one of them, I can point them back to the last update I sent (which usually involves a delay caused by someone else, not us).

We'd hoped to be done and dusted by the end of this month but with having to order new searches I suspect that will push us back by another fortnight. So we are now aiming for mid-October, which will be 16 weeks post-sale and almost 10 weeks post-offer accepted. I'm annoyed about the searches delay but trying to stay zen about it, on the basis that being pissed off will change nothing. I'm also convinced that the last 3 months of stress and misery has also added lines on my face and greys in my hair!!

Hi all,

Popping back on here from the previous thread. We're in a chain of 4, currently 7 weeks in from all offers being accepted (1st August).

Chain goes:
Buyers buyer (living with family as already completed)
Our buyer
Us
Vendors (already got another property to move into)

Our buyers buyer is ready to go, our buyers are waiting on a piece of drain paperwork from us, we're ready to go on the property we're buying (have returned signed contract pack to solicitors), and our vendors at the top of the chain are happy to move whenever everyone is ready.

I'm gutted about the waiting on our drain situation - we extended our property 2 years ago, made sure we'd done literally everything by the book - full planning consent, building regs, structural calcs, SAP calcs, you name it - we made sure it was correct & filed with the right person. Only it turns out we didn't quite do it all properly and we were meant to obtain consent to build over our drains from the local sewer company. Had we known this at the time we of course would have done it. I'm slightly cross our building control guy didn't highlight this -
he did a whole inspection of drains & never said a word . We now have to wait for our retro application to chug through the system at the sewer company. I guess we are only 7 weeks in so doing pretty well time wise anyway.

I've realised when people say moving is one of the most stressful thing you'll do in life... they don't mean the actual, physical move, its all the paperwork that precedes it (mortgage app / searches / surveys / etc)!!

My conveyencer is insisting on having proof that the boiler was serviced in past year. We are planning on replacing the heating system so does anyone know if we can tell the conveyencer that we don't need certificate as we will be replacing boiler anyway? Or will he still insist on seeing certificate?

perhaps I'm not even sure that certificates are issued for boiler services are they? We were asked to provide a certificate for our last boiler service, and whilst I could find the invoice, I had no certificate for it so I can only assume one was never issued as I would've kept all the paperwork together.

Perhaps - the Gas Safe engineer will normally issue a check certificate which has a tick box on it saying it's been serviced. However you can tell your solicitor - they are acting for you after all! - that you don't need it because the heating is being replaced. OTOH it might be worth getting confirmation that everything is OK with it, because unless you plan to replace everything straightaway then you're going to be living with it for a few months at least - so why not make sure it's in safe working order?

Clanger oh how annoying about the drainage approval. Bloody annoying when you have been so diligent and covered off everything else.

I agree about the stress of moving; the hardest part I have found is being reliant on other people. DH and I are pretty organised and if we're asked to do something by a certain date, then we do it - or we'll tell you why we can't (in plenty of time). However the process has been horrible because we seem to be the only people who act like this - everyone else forgets/loses things/too busy/can't be bothered/outright lies...

I'm sure heaving all of our boxes about will be physically tiring(!) but the mental and emotional stress of the last 3 months has been horrific. I'm glad we are buying our forever home because I do not want to do this ever again! Am supposed to be working this morning but cannot get my head into it - having fielded 3 calls from solicitors and EAs already this morning...

You're right lazy - i'm almost looking forward to the actual packing & move, because by then we will have at least exchanged!!

I'm cross & upset about the drains because I do blame us for missing this - its horrible thinking you've done everything 100% by the book, then finding out that you didn't . I don't want it to give our buyers the incorrect impression that we cut corners. I'm sure they don't, but still.... .

Congratulations Emma I hope you will be very happy in your new home

Nessalina - Phew, relief that your DH likes the house

Sorry AnnPerkins, middle school rather than secondary. A solicitors letter is a good compromise if you can't get exchanged in time, although hopefully you will.

Good news about the wood burner not being a huge expense to fix Gizlotsmum.

I think I'd tell my conveyancer to drop the need for the boiler service evidence perhapstomorrow. I also don't think you get a certificate of servicing. The only certificates I have are the original gas safe registration and confirmation of building regs compliance. Other than that I just have servicing receipts from British gas.

Welcome Lazy good to have you here . I feel rather a fraud being here now as our buyer pulled out last week so our EA is trying to find us another buyer to stop the chain breaking. But I don't feel right on the viewings and listings thread either. I think I'm in denial!

To those who asked about our viewings (thank you for remembering ) no joy, I'm afraid. Sensible feedback at least though. One couple thought the kitchen was too small and the other wanted to be closer to the station and it was just a bit too far out to walk comfortably. This I'd definitely agree with!

No other viewings in the offing yet though. In fact, if anyone has some time I'd quite like an independent critique of our house/area? I don't want to put the link on the main thread but I'm happy to private message it if anyone is able to help out? TIA

ooooh just as I posted my message I got an email from the EA - viewing on Friday fingers crossed!

Sorry to hear you lost your buyer Yoga - FX for Friday. If still no joy from that then I'm happy to have a look at your listing if you want to PM me? I can appreciate the need for proximity to the station (it was one of our must-haves), but in fairness RM does give a 'crow flies' distance, so I'd be cross if someone hasn't bothered to check this out before viewing as it takes a few minutes on google!

Oh thank you Lazy, I will PM you.

Part of the issue with the route to the station is that part of the most direct route road is single track with no pavement and perhaps they hadn't appreciated that. At the moment we will take all the viewings we can get! I simply don't understand our market at the moment. Location seems quite irrelevant and only price is important.

The market is nuts at the moment. In some places it's dead and nothing is moving. In others property is going within a week of listing but it's because there's hardly any stock and people like us who have sold, are desperately trying to find somewhere - anywhere - to buy!

The only thing everyone seems to agree on, is the fact that new instructions are very quiet. I think there is uncertainty over the economy and Brexit - which is why we wanted to move now. I think there is going to be a financial adjustment in 2019 which will affect the housing market. Fine if you are only looking to buy - as prices may level off or even drop - but in our case we couldn't afford to lose any value on the property we're selling because our numbers are so tight. Hence the decision to do it now.

So our solicitor needs to go back to our lender because the offer letter is missing one of my middle names ( even though the credit check is on my report). Which is apparently why I shouldn't discuss completion dates even though our vendors were given one :( not sure why she hasn't done it yet!

In our area things seem to either go within a couple of months or hang around for a year. I'm really hoping ours will be in the former category!

New instructions are scant here. I have a rightmove alert set up for my area and I have only had one property alert in the last week (and that was ours going back on).

My thinking is the same as yours Lazy. I think the market is nervous because of inflation, Brexit, the lack of wage rises and the increase in the cost of living is stopping people who might otherwise think of selling.

Oh Gizlotsmum how frustrating! Our mortgage broker got us to check our full names about 3 times because of how pedantic the process is. I hope this is resolved quickly for you.

Oh that's a bugger Gizlot! Such a little thing too.

Sorry to hear no takers yet Yoga but good news about the Friday viewing! I'd be happy to take a look over your RM info if you wanted to PM it total Rightmove addict alert.

Don't beat yourself up Major, these things happen and if you've been super diligent otherwise you've saved yourself lots of other admin already.

I agree, stuff is slow coming on around here, especially after our EA was saying what a busy month September usually is! So glad we found our place when we did, there's just nothing else in our price bracket that I'd look twice at really!

I didn't even notice. I'm sure in the first letter it had them both... However it sound like she has had queries from our buyers so at least things are moving...

Thanks Nessalina. I have PMed you. Lazy has come up with a raft of points which I'm going to either deal with or bring up with the EA for them to deal with, so I'm feeling more positive already

I am coveting Yoga's kitchen - it's lovely!!

Giz so frustrating about the offer letter - how annoying.

I've had to sprint off to the post office to get some docs to our solicitor. She didn't want them originally, but has now decided that they are needed - and the other side want them as well. Fortunately I was able to get to the local PO before closing to get them sent - so that's today's excitement dealt with.

Is anyone using a moving company? We're packing ourselves because we need to do stuff in advance - and things like my office need to be packed at the very last minute, so using their packing service was a no-go unfortunately. However DH has been looking at quotes for movers; so far £450 on the basis of a 2-bed property (we only have 1 bed but we also have a loft so asked for a 2-bed quote to cover it).

We will be. DH was talking about borrowing vans from work.. I flatly refused and got some initial web quotes and will get some more accurate ones once we have an exchange date. I am considering a packing service.

Evening all

Good news about the viewing for Friday Yoga, fc it goes well for you 👍

Giz, that's crap about the offer letter. It makes no sense that it would have it on one letter but not the other.

Not much to report here - my buyer is ready to exchange so that's good news. He's paid his deposit to the solicitor and is ready to go. Hurrah!

We are still waiting on the valuation to go ahead on Friday and I'm praying our mortgage offer will soon follow and there's no issues with it. I'm living on my nerves.", waiting for the whole thing to go belly up, is anybody else the same?!

Lazy, we are using packers and movers. We have a 3 bed semi although we are taking very little in the way of appliances and no one wardrobes upstairs are coming either and we have been quoted anywhere between £550 and £1200. We went with the lowest one as he was the one who came out to quote so figured it was the most accurate.

If anybody has used packers before (I haven't!) then can you tell me what to expect? I'm obviously not going to leave the house in a state but do I need to 'organise' stuff beforehand? Or can I just walk out the door and they'll do the rest? I cannot fathom how they manage to do it all and how it ends up in the right place at the other side!

Dragon the advice I have seen on MN is to get together anything that you don't want packing and stick it out of the way in the boot of your car. Apparently they will pack everything and can be a bit overzealous and pack things even if you've labelled them as needing to stay. Which brings me onto my next point - make sure your bin is empty. MN lore is that packers will pack everything including the contents of the bin!

Lots to covet about your lovely house Yoga, I hope the bits I've highlighted are helpful, they're probably just a repeat of what Lazy has said!

Yeah I think we'll be using a removal company, but not decided if we'll pack ourselves... it all seems to cost a lot more than I'd expected unfortunately!!

I think we'll be using a removal service too (on the basis we actually move of course!) Everything I have heard echoes Lazy - put anything you don't want packed completely out of the way or it will get packed. My colleague said it was like having a "plague of locusts" through the house. He said it was incredible how quick and efficient they were though and would strongly recommend. Ours seem to charge about £250 more, which doesn't seem bad considering buying large packs of cardboard boxes at my local Shurguard is about £40 and I'd need loads of these packs!

It sounds like it's progressing well for you Dragon - fingers crossed for your valuation and mortgage offer

Thank you to both Lazy and Nessalina - I'm so grateful for your advice. You have really helped focus my mind and I feel more optimistic as a result. My EA won't know what hit him!

I hope your paperwork gets corrected quickly Gizlotsmum

We used packers when we went into rented and on our previous move too. With children and jobs there was just no other way for us.

They do pack everthing - a carefully wrapped wrinkly conker was my favourite. Ours tended to label boxes quite well plus they used crates (like you get with online food shopping) rather than cardboard boxes so it was relatively easy to see what was in each one.

Some of the best things I did was label the rooms so when it came to directing where beds and boxes went it was easier to move the label from the room they packed up in the old house to the designated room in the new house. Plus having a good idea which room the furniture went in. I stood in the hall and directed them where to put it all. Meant 90% was in the right room to be unpacked.

Then go at it like ninjas to get it all unpacked asap. Painful but totally worth it when you are pretty much sorted after a weekend of unpacking.

No news on our chain. Waiting for a call from the EA to confirm what the top people's plans are to understand if we have a complete chain or just several houses lined up. God knows how chains ever end. Though there has been talk of proposed timescales which would have us moving 10 days before Christmas. I'm already dreaming about moving so I really hope we can do that

Great tips there Raaraa! I think we may go for the extra packing option... I will have a newborn and 3yr old, so packing ourselves maybe tricky!!