Waiting to Exchange - Part 2, the wait goes on!

[TokyoSushi]

Hello! New thread, I don't think there's another one yet... shall we all give a quick update regarding where we're up to?

We:

• Went on market 12th June
• Sold for full asking 6th July too good to be true
• Had an offer accepted on DH dream home, (I didn't really like it but only suitable thing on the market)
• Our buyer pulled out 6th August
• DH dream home owner wouldn't wait and put straight back on market
• We went back on market on 7th August, reduced by £5K
• 4 viewings and 4 offers in next few days
• Offer accepted on 13th august
• Found both of our actual dream home and had offer accepted on 14th August
• Our buyer seems as firm as they can be
• Mortgage offer approved and searches commissioned on new house
• Our buyers seem very, very keen but I have a slight suspicion about how firm their buyer is
• Everybody hoping to move by half term

And so we wait....

@NoahsMum81 fingers crossed for you. Are you able to chase up to see what is happening? I'm chasing my solicitor and EA daily.
Not sure if there is a cut off date but would be interested to know too!

Thanks @flyingunicorn1

Our solicitor is so rude I’m too scared to call her, and our estate agent....well we’ve not heard a thing from them since we put the offer in! So frustrating!

@NoahsMum81 assuming your paying them to work for you just pick up the phone or ask for their email

Assuming someone in the chain has a mortgage, I'd say cut off for exchange to move before Christmas is around 12/13 December.

Obviously it depends on the conveyancers but some won't do completions on 21st December and lenders need a week's notice to send mortgage money.

We're hoping to exchange today. Annoyingly we are being forced to part with an extra £1k due to the people at the bottom of our chain being ridiculous but I don't feel I can call their bluff and risk loosing the sale - it's really taken the shine off for me :(

I finally have a POSSIBLE completion date of the 11 December (original offer put in at the end of September). No exchange date set yet so I still don't believe it will actually happen. Am in direct contact with seller but all we seem to be doing is waiting around for solicitors to do what they are meant to do!

The last possible date to move before Christmas will depend on when solicitors close for the break Noah. Realistically you're probably talking last Friday before Christmas day, so 21st. Personally I have moved on 16th December twice. It's not ideal moving so close to Christmas, but sometimes it just works out that way. Best thing to do is check with your solicitor.

So my original post said we were hoping to exchange by 30th Nov, I must have been deluded!

Our buyers solicitor has been a real pain in the ass, only now asking questions from the home buyers report (done 7 weeks ago) and from the searches. They are quite frankly the most ridiculous questions ever, even my solicitor has said it's overkill.

It has meant that we have had to take out an indemnity policy for the building regs sign off as we didn't have the correct paperwork. I've had to hassle my neighbours about an issue and get them involved, and now they have sent their queries to my buyers mortgage lender.

Meanwhile my vendor has told us if no exchange by tomorrow then their new build developer will put the property back on the market. They had stupid booked removals and everything for next week.

What a palava Namechange. I doubt very much if your vendors developers will re market the house they are buying. Our developers told us it's just something that they say to hurry people along. It took 3 months to get to point of exchange with us & we had a 28 day exchange clause too. Your vendor needs to cancel their removers. Ridiculous booking them until they know completion date.

Moving that's good to know. I doubt very much too that the developers will want to start all over again, we have been asking them for 6 weeks when will the house be finished and it has been ignored. Now it is ready they are on our case big time. It has been 14 weeks already since we accepted an offer on our house, I just can't believe it's taking so long.

We are obviously keen to exchange and complete before Christmas but every day it seems more and more unlikely.

Hopefully it won't be too much longer for you Namechange. You can still complete before Christmas. All depends on what particular queries are being waited on. Fingers crossed it's something fairly simple.

Just joining in

We sold to FTB mid October- offered on house a day later, offer accepted. 6 weeks of chasing for asbestos report and quotes revealed it was going to be costly and stressful so we pulled out.

Last week found out baby (due early April) has club foot and will need to undergo weekly treatment at hospital for a few months so refurb now off the cards.

Luckily as we were pulling out a very similar property came up 3 streets away in a very good condition. We offered asking and were accepted straight away. Coincidentally it’s the same price for the house which needed all the work. We still need to do cosmetic work but essentially both houses will end up very similar in style/ size and I imagine similar values (in same school catchment).

So we’re feeling very blessed and that the housing god is looking down on us

So far we’ve instructed solicitor, organised mortgage/ valuation and instructed surveyor.

Vendor is moving to rental and keen to complete ASAP.

We need to be in before end February which feels tight

Namechange I was also told I had to complete in 28 days. I’m past that now and so far there’s been nothing mentioned about the reservation being lifted. It is starting to worry me a bit, however none of the delays are my fault and I have everything ready to go. Hoping that this, the time of year and the fact that Barratts seemed super keen to do a deal to get me to buy will put me in a good position.

I've exchanged! Such a relief!

Congrats @SoapyBubbl!

@SoapyBubbl very good news. Congrats. My solicitor has said we should be exchanging tomorrow so fingers crossed!

We seem to be making some progress. Got our written quote for the roof (21k ) and have gone to the selling agent telling them we feel a split (ie reduction of 10k) would be fair. We shall see. Vendor lives in a mansion so I doubt it
The neighbours are supportive if resolving the boundary issue in our favour (obv don't want the falling down shed) but this will require legal work.
So all going to happen but we may have to complete ours to keep buyer happy and move in with the in laws over Xmas. 3 hrs from home. Where we know no one with children.....

Have finally exchanged today. Woohoo.

Congrats @flyingunicorn1

The couple who have offered on our house are coming for another viewing tomorow. They are so sweet I hope they are still as keen! Maybe I will get some idea as to their ideal completion date... They are FTB and were not in a chain so keen to get it all moving!

@Milly90 good luck I hope you'll be able to agree on a quick completion!

Congrats to all who have exchanged!

Despite having an agreed completion date of the 11th December there is still no sign of exchange over here. I am waiting on the seller's to agree to pay for an indemnity policy (which they are currently refusing to do). Starting to get nervous as we need to request the mortgage monies from the bank today to complete on the 11th and my solicitor does not seem to feel any urgency to do anything at all... including communicate with me!

What is the indemnity policy covering? Is it required at the request of your mortgage lender?

As you're in direct contact with your vendor have you chased them?

If the cost of the indemnity is fairly insignificant, which they frequently are, is it something you would consider paying to clear the way for exchange?

@Mildura

The indemnity policy is for two issues:

1. Replacement boiler the current vendor installed in 2016 for which they have no building regs approval (or at least can't produce it).
2. The removal of a load bearing wall that previous owners took out when extending the property. The current vendors have stated that what the previous owners did is nothing to do with them, and they don't want to pay as they never did when they bought the house.

The first one I am not too concerned about, it is the load bearing wall removal that is the big issue. I have chased the vendor who is 'thinking' about it but states she doesn't feel she should pay. Stuck between a rock and a hard place really as I don't feel it is a unreasonable request!

How did they get round it when they bought the house ?