In a Chain Support Thread Nov2017

[YogaDrone]

Congrats to those who have exchanged and are moving soon.

Fingers crossed to those hoping to exchange soon.

Come vent your property chain based frustrations and joys here.

Previous thread is HERE

Glad there's some progress with you Yoga. I like the fact they've been offered a bribe!

As for us, no point speaking to the housing association as they are utterly useless and I usually just get rage issues each time I contact them about just how useless they are, so I think it will be easier to go through estate agents / solicitors. Heard nothing from our estate agent though. Our solicitor has said they have been phoning very-slow couple's solicitor though but not getting any response, but at least they are trying I guess.

Lazy what a bloody nightmare. I can't believe how horrifically stressful this whole process is, and you've had a particularly bad time of it. How do they even expect you to get documentation that doesn't exist? Can't they at least offer you the chance to get an indemnity or something instead? But yes, do see your GP if you are struggling to cope. They may be able to offer you some support if nothing else.

Am loving the idea of an incentive Yoga That should do the trick hopefully. Unfortunately everyone in our chain has already been squeezed as far as they can go. With our previous buyers we accepted 36k less than the asking price that they viewed it at. Our vendors reduced theirs 42k below. They're a divorcing couple & the woman is buying a house that is already very reasonably priced. Theres very little room for manoeuvre. In an ideal world we need more than the previous offer, but if we can get the house we want then can accept the hit. If we can't then there is simply nothing we can buy because we dropped so very low to start with. On the plus side we have another viewing booked for Saturday with someone who is chain free. So crossing fingers yet again..

Sorry to hear you're struggling Lazy. Its such a stressful time. The process really needs to be made more straightforward & easier, with less obstacles. No shame in asking for help if you need it.

Sorry to hear VSC are frustrating you KitKat. I doubt much could of been done over the Christmas & new year period tbh. Are you awaiting anything in particular from them? Sorry I don't recall if you/they applied for searches or surveys yet or if you had fixtures & fittings forms or draft contacts yet. If none of them so far then its still early stages for you so try not to stress too much about it.

You sound as though you are in a bad way Lazy; a trip to see your doctor would probably be a good idea. I'm impressed you can even function day to day with panic attacks on top of your other symptoms. I know that you have to move but I think in your position I'd be seriously looking at completing the sale and moving to rented. Such a waste of your time and money and so ridiculously stressful I hope you get some progress soon

Fair enough KitKat. Just keep on at your EA and solicitors then I guess. I hope they pull their fingers out and get their mortgage, survey and searches sorted soon!

A viewing on Saturday is great Pixie - and from someone with no chain is great. Fingers crossed for you!

Part of the problem we found trying to retain our purchase after the chain below us collapsed is the lack of flexibility you then have.

No progress here - bribery may not be working

Just catching up with you all! Congratulations to Mollie, Honey, zoe, Raa and anyone else who managed to move pre-Christmas - I hope that you have all had a lovely festive week or two in your new homes!

Kit great to know that things are ticking along, despite VSC being true to form. Hope you can get it all lined up for a move early March.

Pixie good luck with the new viewers - hopefully someone sensible will come along soon.

Yoga glad to hear that you're getting there, what a pain about the lack of exchange - you are so close now! Hope the incentive works!

Lazy all the - there are no words really. I'm not surprised you are having a physical reaction to all the stress, this process is just insane. I hope that you get clear water soon.

We've been in for almost a month now. The shower still doesn't work, but we are settling in and finding things - I had forgotten how much administration and faff is involved after you move, especially as we're in a new area/city. I think we're getting there though!

Hello to you all and I'm so sorry for all trauma you are all going through - it made me feel less alone, so thank you for that!

I'm in a chain of four, we are second from bottom. All set to exchange before Christmas when our buyers solicitor actually looked at the paperwork and decided they had 12 enquiries.

Main sticking points are a very minorly incorrect floorplan that has to go back through land registry and some sort of communal stairway fire check?! (Flats). We didn't have this when we bought five years ago, and aren't having it on our next...

Any experience/advice on timescales for either gratefully received.

I'm desperate to get moved so that I can get a new job as my bully of a boss at my current one has almost broken me.

I don't get it with solicitors causing unnecessary aggro - don't we instruct them??? Can't we just tell them "ok I accept this risk so get on with it"???

I am wondering if I am pre-empting things to start packing a few bits? Both my sale and purchase at enquiries and draft contracts stage... first time buyer for mine and no upward chain for my purchase ... feel like I don't want to tempt fate!!!

OneMoreOne I think your solicitor is referring to a Fire Risk Assessment which should have been supplied with the Management Leasehold Pack. If there wasn't one included in the pack, the buyer's solicitor may be difficult and insist on one being carried out, at your expense of course!

It does depend on the exact detail with regard to the plan, if it has to go through Land Registry it may take a few weeks. Have you altered the original layout of the flat? If so, the buyer's solicitor will want consent from the landlord/freeholder. Does the title plan correctly reflect your boundaries? This is something Land Registry would have to deal with.

Tilly yes you do instruct a solicitor to act on your behalf. Acting though means that your solicitor is looking out for your best interests and therefore needs to do the due diligence required to ensure you are buying a good property.

You can, of course, instruct the solicitor that you accept risk on certain things, but you must be prepared to sign a waiver if you are happy to proceed with the risk. The solicitor will not want to be held accountable if anything crops up at a later stage.

Couldn't agree more Spickle.

We continue launching from one car crash moment to the next here. Had to have a follow up GP appointment today for blood results, which confirm I am in early menopause, & get more meds for my fibromyalgia (chronic pain condition which is exacerbated by stress & anxiety.) Funnily enough my blood pressure is through the roof & I've been advised to re check it regularly on a home machine! Can't see it reducing anytime soon.

Anyway, back to the house sale/purchase. We decided to drop a text to the couple who viewed our house a few days ago this evening to see if they have any more questions or would like another viewing. Long story short. They say it's too small upstairs for the price & they're looking to spend 350k on a house.. Then why look at a house 50k above budget which is already reduced by 25k in order to be more attractive to buyers in an area they don't know & clearly can't afford? We're fuming! Such fucking timewasters! We have another viewing at the weekend. Hopefully that's more successful!

Hi Frescoed - good to hear you are settling in (bar the non-working shower!) I hope you're enjoying your new home

Hi OneMoreOne utterly frustrating that the purchasers solicitor waited until the last minute to raise enquiries. I hope these issues can be resolved quickly and you can get back on track to exchange.

Excellent post Spickle

Tilly I was also told when I asked my solc. to waive something because we were willing to take the chance that she couldn't do this because, as Spickle says, she's looking after our best interests but also because she is responsible to our mortgage company who obviously have a very vested interest in having everything done correctly.

Oh goodness Pixie I hope the appointment today goes okay. The stress of this process is ridiculous

I haven't suffered like you and Lazy but I have been ill over Christmas with this flu thing and a horrible chest infection which wiped me out for nearly a week. It's left me with residual asthma, so I'm on an inhaler until whenever it goes away (if it ever goes away). I'm normally a robust sort of person who doesn't get ill but I've been poorly enough to take time off work twice in the last 3 months and I do blame this whole move process. Before that it was 6 years since I had a day off sick!

I think people always go to see houses which are priced above their target - in fact they're encouraged to by EA's! It may be that these people didn't know that you'd already dropped the price so heavily. I know when we dropped the price it was to get it into a new price category on RM and drum up people who wouldn't have seen it come up on their search before so wouldn't have known what it was previously listed at. Hopefully your viewers tomorrow will be more realistic

No news from me - bribery and corruption hasn't yet paid off

Oh dear. Seems like this stressful process is getting to us all again! Why can't any of this be simple? And what timewasters Pixiedust1973! Why do people do that?

I had a shitty day too yesterday Pixiedust. Had a car crash of a day at work yesterday, had to sort a cock up with our bank (they suddenly stopped our direct debit to our DDs nursery and never told us!) and then got told by our solicitors that very slow couple (our buyers) haven't yet even formally instructed their solicitor (I.E, signed initial contract with them and paid initial fees) nor have they finished any of the mortgage application paperwork. They have had since late November to do this. I am livid. Literally livid. Our estate agent is similarly pissed off with them. Apparently they don't want to spend any money yet on solicitors fees (?!). I think our EA has communicated our anger back at them, and tried to explain there is a whole chain that has now formed and everyone in it has had to pay out money now. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know if they are going to pull out or what. I'm so stressed and upset right now. I just want to cry.

Oh KitKat! That is actual madness by your buyers. Do they not understand that nothing will be done until they instruct them? I really don't get it.

Thanks Yoga for the welcome to the thread.

Spickle that sounds spot on, reassuring to hear I've understood what they need correctly, waiting for both of those. Freeholder has been asked to do his bit, guess it's long as a piece of string now...

Sorry the bribery & corruption is yet to be a success Yoga. Such a pain in the arse. I'm all for people trying their luck & viewing houses above their budget, but 12.5% below an offers over is a tad excessive & into pisstaking territory lol. I'm the first one: to try my luck, but there's a point where common sense should enter peoples heads & they need to consider whether if the boot were on the other foot could they afford to proceed themselves. Our agent actually spoke to the second lot of idiots & they agreed that they couldn't. Its not as if there's anything else in our area in the price range so they better start saving hard or they'll be wasting money on rent still while the money they got from their own place dwindles as prices start to increase. 😂

Sorry you had a shit day too Kit Kat. VSC have become more than infuriating. Its time for the housing association to have a serious word to see if they really want to buy or not, otherwise see if any of the other interested parties are still looking. 💐

Welcome OneMore. Hope you get the stuff you're awaiting soon. So infuriating when there are silly delays.

Thanks all. I have e-mailed the housing association this morning and asked for advice (and also said I'm really annoyed they selected VSC as the chosen applicants anyway when we specifically requested preference be given to the other couple because we could see this would happen). Predictably the person I need to speak to is on leave until Monday so I doubt I'll back from them until next week. In the meanwhile our long-suffering estate agent is continuing to chase VSC (and says he has sneakily left a message for the other couple asking if they are still interested).

Right, I'm finally starting to understand what's going on having just heard from our estate agent. Essentially VSC can't get a big enough mortgage. They have now been turned down by 2 different lenders. They are trying again with another lender later. Our estate agent has basically now said to them to let him know by the end of the day whether they can get the mortgage and are therefore proceed-able or not. Our estate agent has heard back from couple 2 and is as confident as he realistically can be that they would happily pick up the purchase if VSC have to pull out, which is some comfort I guess (although not guaranteed). All still very stressful though and looks like we are in for a long, tense weekend!

Omg KitKat that's ridiculous. So VSC don't even have an agreement in principle yet then & have been stringing you along? Its time to cut your losses now tbh. We had similar with our ex buyers buyers but they managed to get to the stage of getting an agreement in principle & having 2 surveys done before it was discovered that they simply can't get a mortgage. The rest of us were pretty much at point of exchange & had spent a fair bit of cash. Here's hoping that the second couple are still interested. So bad of the HA not to vet these people properly. I'm so sorry! 💐

Agreed KitKat - ridiculous. Fingers crossed second people work out. Certainly sounds hopeful.

Just wanted to pop in and say hello to you all again, lots of you sound like you're having a horrendous time! I'm a property solicitor for anyone who doesn't recognise my username.

Finding it rather shocking that your buyers' mortgage issue has only just been revealed @KitKat1985 how dreadfully disappointing for you. I hope you have done better luck and perhaps things might go much more smoothly if the other couple take over the purchase instead, fingers crossed.

Also wanted to echo a PP about the whole "can't we just tell the solicitor to do it anyway" thing - we act for both the client and the mortgage lender and must act in both of their best interests. To obtain your mortgage funds we have to sign a declaration that we have properly checked the property for the lender, the title to the property is sound and there are no legal issues which may cause the lender any problems/affect value. That's why we're picky about things, we'd lose our careers if we weren't careful enough.

I can't speak for all solicitors as I'm sure there are some, as with any profession, that are just a bit useless. But I would only ever hold a transaction up to obtain information/consents etc if it really was necessary - we want to get you through to completion ASAP and get your file off our desks, it's not in our interests to drag it out

Hope everybody has some better luck in the coming weeks. I've had a few clients lose their buyers this week which is horrible news to pass on

What realreason has said. As frustrating as it is, it's frighteningly easy to get caught up in the stress of the moment and agree to anything. The solicitor is there to make sure you don't act in haste and repent at leisure - at least not without making sure that everything is as covered as possible. We have just signed a waiver for something - which was necessary - but our solicitor refused to even issue it to us to look at until they had spoken to our lender and confirmed they were OK with it.

Out of all the weeks we have been at this now (in a chain since June last year), this week has been the absolute worst. Truly, hideously awful stress caused by timescales going right to the wire. I am so, so lucky that my boss is lovely and understanding as I've been in pieces for most of this week. I just hope it's all going to be worth it in the end - to be honest I am not even looking forward to moving house any more. I just want my life back and for the relentless stress and misery to stop. I can't remember the last time I managed a night's sleep without being awake worrying at some point, or when I last had a day where my stomach wasn't churning so badly to the point that it hurts.

OnemoreOne We are in a similar position to you - and also in a chain of four but I don't think the same chain as you ! Our buyer has had to send a plan back to the Land Registry for an adverse possession order to rectify an error. We are being assured we will now exchange by the end of January or early Feb - around six/seven weeks from when the issue arose if that helps you around timescales.

Oh Lazy it sounds truly crap. I really hope the rest of it just WORKS now.

Thanks Artus that is useful on the timescales!

Oh I'm sorry Lazy. Where are you at now with everything? When is your deadline to get everything done by?

As for us, our estate agent phoned just after 5pm yesterday to say VSC couple have submitted another mortgage application which hey should hear back about on Monday, and they have asked if we can give them until then. I have agreed but only because the housing association woman isn't back until Monday anyway so nothing can happen until then anyway. It's the housing association frustratingly who pick who buys our share of the house, we have no say in the matter. If we did, I would have told VSC to f* off a long time ago. And they would have to agree for couple 2 to take over the purchase if VSC can't pull this off. I, personally, would rather sell to couple 2 if they were still interested anyway because I'm sick to the back teeth of VSC, but we are at the mercy now of what the housing association decide. It's going to be a long, tense weekend until Monday.

Oh KitKat - nightmare scenario I realise I'm preaching to the converted but the Housing Association need to step up and take responsibility in this situation. As you say, they are in sole control of who buys your home and they should have done their due diligence far better than they have. I can't believe that VSC have been accepted without a mortgage in principle - or at least an agreement in principle. Can you make a complaint?

In a way I sort of hope that they are turned down by company 3 so that you/your EA can dump them and start again with couple 2.

I think programs like Location x3 are responsible people thinking that "cheeky" offers are the way to do business Pixie. I hope your viewing today goes well.

So sorry to hear that things are still not going well Lazy How long do your purchasers have left for their mortgage offer? At least your solc. has now drawn up the waiver - fingers crossed the mortgage lender agrees it. I hope you get some progress soon.

OneMoreOne and Artus - 6/7 weeks sounds like a long time but I guess the wheels of land registry move slowly and if a query is raised early in the process it doesn't really impede progress too much. I hope you both have a smooth journey to completion

Thanks therealreason. I hadn't really considered the mortgage company before my solicitor mentioned about working for them too, but it's obvious really as they have such a huge interest (in our case at any rate!) in the property.

Our EA rang yesterday to say that the purchasers search will be back on Tuesday and they are not expecting new enquiries to raised as a result of it (this was my worry) so hopefully we will be able to exchange by the end of next week with completion during week commencing 22nd January. Yay!

Yoga our buyer's mortgage expired at 5pm yesterday!! However the lender agreed that as long as his solicitor requested and received the funds before close of business yesterday, that they would allow her to hold them for 48 (business) hours but that exchange and completion has to take place within that timescale...

So to say that our deadlines are tight is understating things. We are trying our best; it's all we can do.

Oh Lazy honestly that's awful. I have all my fingers crossed for you.

Yoga yeah it would have been great if they'd raised the land registry issue at the beginning of all the paperwork, wouldn't have impeded much. But they didn't. They raised in a couple of days before exchange

Really wishing everyone some luck for next week!

Oh goodness Lazy, so you have to exchange and complete by close of Tuesday? I really hope it works out for you - I have everything crossed

Sorry I didn't realise it was raised so late in the process OneMoreOne , how annoying. Is your chain okay to wait for (potentially) several more weeks? Hopefully it wont take that long anyway and if your solcs. keep chasing the land registry people they might get it done faster just to get rid of them!