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

What a day of bad news yesterday was especially for Serial, Ann & Nessa. Next week needs to be the one where there's loads of luck for everyone. andlazy too.. totally get your frustration. It's so awful when the weeks go by and it feels like nothing is moving. I get the dishwasher too. I've not had one for 13 years (basically since I moved out from my parents house) and my DH has always been massively against getting one. But our vendors have left us theirs so I won't have to try and persuade him anymore!!

Lubey what a relief you found out why they were going to pull out. Fx it will all get sorted now.

Congratulations Olivia! Finally!!

Bunny your back doesn't sound so good. Hope it won't become a hospital trip!

Fx pixie !

I'm not feeling too hopeful for next week. Will get the electrician and plumber sorted today. Hope they can come next week. But really don't think our vendors have got any plans to update us on the border/right of way issues never mind sorting them. Need something to get them moving. Meanwhile DH is massively doing my head in. I explained to him how it all works on completion day and he's refusing to believe me. He's saying once we get the keys we will do multiple trips with a trailer and van and then clean the house. He won't acknowledge the fact that while we get our keys we also have to hand out keys and the house over to the buyer. He's saying it's ridiculous and that she'll just have to wait until we're done. Can't imagine that'll go down well... He won't back down though. Wonder whether we can make some sort of agreement with either the buyer or the sellers to make it all smoother. Our sellers have already moved out (DH doesn't want to ask them whether we could move in a couple of days before and pay them for those days), our new house is 5 minute drive away and also our buyer is moving from 5 minutes drive away. I'm finding him so impossible to deal with though.

Stormy unlikely you'll be able to move in a couple of days before unless you are able to complete independent of your sale. Solicitors generally will not agree to this type of arrangement.

If your purchase is dependant upon sale proceeds from your sale, then there will be little overlap to do multiple trips. Once the money hits your account on your sale, your buyers have completed and will expect to start unloading their stuff. Meanwhile, you will be waiting to hear from your solicitor that the purchase money has been received by the vendors solicitors and they will release the keys to you. Could be a gap of an hour or so, but you will not have the keys until then.

Regarding boundary/rights issues, if this is something that Land Registry are dealing with, be aware that this can take a month or two to sort out. Nothing your vendors can do to hurry them along unfortunately.

So after being told repeatedly over the last week that everything was in place for us to complete yesterday, we recieved a phone call at 9.30am yesterday morning saying that not only was our sellers new build not ready, but he hasn’t actually got a mortgage agreement in place

When questioned about why his wasn’t mentioned earlier, he said he “didn’t know he didn’t have a mortgage yet” and no one can explain why his solicitors failed to mention this at any point?!?

He was willing to move out and stay worth a friend so we could still complete, until he “found out” about his mortgage agreement.

Out solicitors can only hold our money til Monday, so there is a small chance that it could be sorted and we complete on Monday, but it seems unlikely. I’m questioning whether he’s even going to go through with the sale as he doesn’t seem very keen!!!

Arghhhh I think I can claim the crown today!! Ex has just gone to sign the contract and it’s got the wrong purchase price, says £625k instead of £600k! Now I wish it was the higher price but I suspect the buyers won’t agree to that 😫 another delay now while new contracts are issued!

Pecano just read your update after my post I think you win the crown today! What the hell?! So he didn’t think he needed to get a mortgage agreed to buy a house?? Baffling!!

yoomoo they don't have to issue new contracts - it can be hand amended as long as they have paperwork confirming the correct price.

I know, and apparently no one thought this was worth sorting out before the day of completion?!? Honestly don’t know what goes through people’s minds!

Yikes Pecano, the crown is yours! How has his solicitor let it get to this stage??

Our buyer has asked to pop round on Monday morning for another viewing - when we won't have yet exchanged. We've said absolutely no way! They're not coming over the threshold again until we've completed now.

Bloody hell Pecano! Can you issue an ultimatum via your solicitor to tell him that unless you complete on Monday the deal is off and that if he pulls out you will pursue him for costs?

Stormy Your DH needs to realise that once the buyer's money has hit your account, the house you have sold is no longer legally yours. There will be a 'vacate time' in your contract - which is the time on the day of completion that you (and your belongings) have to be out. This is what 'vacant possession' means and what you are legally agreeing to by signing the sale contract.

Our vacate time is 12:00. Once you go past this time you are legally trespassing and squatting because the house doesn't belong to you! If he does this and refuses to move then the buyer is well within their rights to force access to the property, change the locks and bill you for the cost of skips etc., if you don't remove your things. If he's refusing to see sense then I'd get your solicitor on the phone to explain this to him. The last thing you need on moving day is the stress of trying to move him along - especially if you have a buyer raising hell because they can't move in.

My strongest advice would be that if you need to move yourselves then try and get as many friends and family to help. It always takes longer than you think - even trying to fit everything into a car or trailer takes time. If you don't have the budget for a removals firm could you look at a man and van to help out?

Oh pecano, how horrific. Someone, either EA or solicitor hasn't done due diligence, that is beyond incompetence.

yoomoo just tell the solicitor he can add in that extra 25k his fuckwittery has allowed to happen.

stormy I feel for you, I really do. And DH wanting to self move with a trailer, omg don't do it. We did it once and never again. DH was in a horrific mood because he was so knackered (we had a 1 yr old and a 2 yr old so my ability to help was somewhat limited). It's stressful and tiring enough without adding to it.

Nothing new here, the Darwin anomaly that is our buyer's buyer did not have the money Friday, Monday is supposedly the 5 days that the BS said it could take. I've hit that point where I can't really pack any more without us living on takeaways and being naked. My new meds seem to have dulled the pain quite significantly, typical chemist didn't have the other meds prescribed.

Have a good to ok day x

Sorry - not 'legally trespassing'!! That should say 'in legal terms you are trespassing and squatting'.

Oh and another thought has occurred to me. If the buyer is using a removals firm then it's very common for them to charge a "waiting for keys" fee, if the keys have not been handed over by a certain time. This is because you have a lorry and removal staff all sitting around waiting and doing nothing, because they cannot get into the new house to unload.

The firm we are planning to use charges £120 per hour - and we have already made it clear that if our vendors do not vacate by the agreed hour then we will pass any "waiting" charges on to them. If your DH refuses to hand over the keys by the vacate time in your contract and insists on keeping the buyer waiting, then he could find himself on the receiving end of some very steep costs!!

Pecano wow that's pretty ignorant.. how do you not know you haven't got a mortgage?!!

Yoomoo hope it'll be straight forward making the alteration to price separately and you can exchange on Monday.

Tiglet2 that's exactly what I've been trying to explain to DH but he just storms out of the room every time saying I'm being ridiculous. I really don't know how I'm going to get him to understand this. On the day our buyer will be arriving with her stuff and we'll be standing there with everything in the house still. I doubt we'll fit 4bed house in a trailer and a small van in one trip. I really wish my DH was easier to deal with. Don't need to fight with him as well as our buyer. It won't give me any pleasure to say I told you so on the day when everything is going wrong.

The boundary issue has been with the land registry for a month now. Not sure if the rights issues will have needed to go to the land registry as nobody is telling me anything. All I know is there are some gentleman's agreements in place about the use and maintenance of the private road, water pipes etc and our solicitor is trying to clarify all this. I really wish they were more specific in who's doing what and what the exact question is.

Hello folks

So after chasing my EA (I appear to have been assigned the most useless junior in the office ) he's finally managed to speak to our buyers today. They seem to have been blissfully unaware of there being a hold up I'm never selling to FTBs again !!! though you would have thought us not completing yesterday might have been a clue. Anyway, they've called their lender to give them a kick up the bum today, and have been assured that the vital email will be sent by Monday morning, but not before as that dept isn't open today. Still, I'm satisfied that everyone is aware of the urgency now, and I've got everything crossed for Monday!!

Pixie Sounds like things are ticking along nicely - every chance of you getting in before December!

Yoomoo Oh bugger bugger bugger!!! Our EAs issued 3 incorrect memorandums of sale (wrong value on one, wrong names on the other two), and our contracts were initially issued with the wrong value because of that, so I'm sorry to said that your news doesn't surprise me! Luckily we spotted it straight up - I'd be playing hell with your solicitors and trying to get a meeting to get everything signed in person to avoid further delay - they've really dropped the ball there by not spotting the error!

Lazy Mini Ness is fab thanks for asking! I did question my sanity yesterday whilst at a kids birthday party, juggling solicitor & EA phone calls, and newborn whilst trying to stop DS (nearly 3) licking all the cakes on the buffet!!

Bunny Sounds awful! Hope you can rest up a bit today?

Stormy Your DH is being a bit of a pillock, these things really are a case of 'one in one out' when completion happens. Our removal company actually has a penalty if they can't start unpacking the van by 2pm, they charge £50 per man per hour, so if you're not completely out by then, whilst pootling over to your new place and cleaning then I doubt your buyer will be best pleased!!

Pecano Do you mean exchange?! Surely you couldn't have exchanged without him having a mortgage in place?! What's the legal standpoint if you can't complete when you've already exchanged?! That's ridiculous!!!

Olivia Too right - as if you need another bloody round of cleaning! They can surely measure up on their own time?

It's not even to measure up Ness - buyer saying solicitor has advised to view before exchange. Apparently they want to make sure we haven't damaged the place, which is so insulting after what they've put us through. EA says buyer should have the grace to let it go, but now we've got to wait to see what solicitors say. But if we don't exchange on Monday our vendor is pulling out. Can't believe I'm spending the last weekend in our old home in another ball of stress.

OK, we are gonna sleep on it again but after considering...

1. Protecting our sale, exchanging next week and going for airbnb short term let/classic rental

2. Letting the sale go, trying to sell again, potentially accepting a lower offer, BUT keeping our onward purchase going in the meantime with additional mortgage/other financing/savings etc

3. Telling everyone to fuck off, pull out of everything, stay where we are and either try again in the spring or buy/build me an office

It's looking very heavily in favour of option 1, with a (FX) shorter-term Airbnb, exchange, keep the show on the road, hope like fuck nothing falls through again at the top of the chain

(thank you again WhatWouldOliviaPopeDo )

We think that we have enough ways out and around the problem if things did fall through again at the top of the chain (eg we could pull out and buy something no chain and we'd also be cash buyers then as this place would be sold or we could look at extending Airbnb rental or getting a classic rental) and it STILL would cost us less than accepting a lower offer on our current place as the market has dropped so steeply - and also the greatest likelihood is that it won't fall through again and it really will be a short-term Airbnb. So that is our reasoning anyway

Pecano Words fail me! Someone's made a serious cock up there. I hope it can be sorted out in time!

Well that's a piss take Olivia. I know it's something that people do if they haven't seen the place for a long time, or especially if it's tenanted, but it's certainly not standard or mandatory. And as you say, I think it demonstrates poor faith in this situation, which is rude considering their behaviour!

Sounds like a plan lubey! AirBNB is a great shout, especially if things should get resolved quickly! Sales are too good to lose in a falling market...

Hanging around here for a bit. Still doesn’t feel quite real that we are in ( amongst many boxes still). Normal life resumes tomorrow with School runs and work. @pulling hope your move went ok? Good luck to everyone hoping to exchange this week.

That's what we think too Ness! It really does demonstrate poor faith. Admittedly buyer hasn't seen it for a few months (their fault, because of all the delays) but they have had four viewings in all, plus a structural survey and sent a builder round. To now say at the 11th hour they can't exchange without checking we haven't trashed the place is SO insulting.

Lubey, glad the Airbnb idea looks like the solution! FX it all goes well tmw, and for everyone else. Think we all deserve it after last week's shenanigans. Would be nice to park the crown for a bit!

Giz, how are your DC settling in? Bit worried ours is going to find the upheaval hard going. She's obviously picked up on our stress, even though we've been trying so hard to put a positive spin on it .

Giz just admit it - you miss the stress and uncertainty of it all, don't you?

Olivia I know there are some solicitors that insist upon their clients viewing before exchange to check everything, but after 4 separate viewings I think they are taking the piss! I'd do it, but when they come round I would be very brisk. If they try to chat then I would politely tell them that you have had to accommodate the visit at short notice - because they threatened to pull out if they didn't get it - so you don't have time to spare to chat. Very civil but efficient. This isn't a social visit.

Actually really well. We prioritised getting their rooms sorted and made sure they saw nothing was left in the house. They chose new curtains and light shades. The youngest (5) was a bit unsettled on moving day itself but has settled well

@lazy ...umm maybe a bit? 😂 I have actually slept the last two nights with no sleeping tablets and no waking up with a million to do’s in my head! It’s very strange!

Giz I was saying to my Mum last night that I know we will have a million and one things to do when we move in (eventually!). But that I am looking forward to it because although it will be busy and stressful, it's at least a productive type of busy and stressful. You can feel a bit pressured about trying to get unpacked, or a room decorated, or the fencing repaired - but at least you can see the tangible results of what you've done. Whereas at the moment all the running around and feeling frayed doesn't seem to be achieving anything!

Get what you're saying Giz, but even if it's her solicitor's policy after everything our buyer's put us through surely they can show some grace and accept that we haven't trashed the place! Plus I work from home so it's hugely disruptive for buyer to come round tomorrow morning, as I'll have to go out – I am so pissed off with them I don't want to be in the same room.

Good your DC have settled well. Did you keep them off school for the move? I wasn't planning to.