Stalling sellers!!

[Shaytoon]

Looking for some advice from anyone who has a clue what they're doing...because we clearly don't.

We are FTB and had an offer accepted at the beginning of October.
Our vendors have been moderately difficult since then, everything just seems to take forever with them.
We're now at the final stages and we just need one document from them.
They need to pay for this document to be released.

It's been several weeks now and still nothing.
Lots of excuses, but no payment has been made.
I'd guess they were pulling out except they've broken up and have already both moved out.

We're calling the estate agents every day. Our solicitor is virtually useless and uncontactable for help and nothings happening.
What more can we do?

Hi congrats on your first house!

Could it be that it's just because it's been Christmas and they are skint?

And i ask this because I am currently buying and selling...and it's so bloody expensive...just before Christmas I had to find nearly 1k to keep things ticking along and provide docs so the FTB who are buying off of me are not delayed...but if I didn't have a stash of savings it would have to have waited till jan payday

Threaten to pull out of the purchase (and mean it) unless they provide whatever it is you need by the end of the week.

Or, can you pay for it instead? If they've split up they could be arguing about who should pay for it/one of them could be a reluctant seller despite the circumstances/be dragging their feet instead of paying. The EA should be speaking to them so I would speak to the EA first thing in the morning - it's in their interest to get the sale through.

Thank you Milly90! (Though too scared to accept it's ours yet)
we did accept that it could be that they're skint, but we're talking circa £100 and they're making thooousannndds off us, so weeks down the line from when they were asked we hoped they could come up with that by now.

I think you're right wowfudge they were arguing about who has to pay it for a few weeks, that's been decided now, but more issues since.
The EA has been super helpful to be fair, but beyond calling them and their solicitor twice a day I'm not sure what else to ask?! Should we speak to the manager of the EA perhaps?

• baring in mind the original plan for moving was beginning of December! We are more than a bit annoyed at this point!!

Speak to the usual contact at the EA and explain you feel as though they don't want to proceed and you are considering pulling out. Any EA with their salt should do everything they can to get things moving. Ask specifically what the hold up is and what can be done to get things moving.

Worth their salt!

The offer was accepted in October so not really that long ago.

The Estate Agent acts for the seller not you. The solicitors are the ones who deal with the process. They can be annoying an ring the solicitor every day. It will not speed matters along!

I assume itnis some form of indemnity you have been arguing over. Are all the contracts signed and in place. Have you provided the 10% deposit to your solicitor or obtained agreement to a lower deposit if you haven't got 10%. Sometimes FTB have very unrealistic expectations as to how long it takes.

Thanks, shalomjackie. We were told by all parties that they wanted to be out by beginning of Dec and were in a rush. Our solicitor said we should be in then too, and absolutely no later than end of Dec.

No arguments on our part. They just need to provide a document to their solicitor and they've not done it.
This is about week 13 to be fair and there is no chain or any proper reasons for delays.

We've provided everything we need to, to date to solicitor but no contracts can be sorted until the seller sorts this one stage out.

I honestly havent heard from my solicitor for about 4 weeks, with Christmas holidays and their inability to answer the phone

Your right about the EA not working for us, but we aren't sure who else to turn to!

If the EA thinks their client's sale is going to fall through and they won't get their commission, they should act.

Yes of course the sellers EA works for them but that doesn't mean they can't be called on to put a rocket under the whole proceedings. They will not want to lose this sale.

OP, I would email everyone. Get it in writing. Don't rely on phone calls. If you haven't been able to get a reply from your solicitor in 4 weeks then make sure you cite this when you refuse to pay their full bill at the end of this painful transaction.

You are being misinformed - the contracts should be already drafted and ready for signature if you are merely awaiting one document. What is the document?

If it is something like an indemnity all other paperwork should be in place and waiting. If the document is too outing pm me and I can give a better view.

Thanks everyone, currently drafting a million emails!!

It's just a management pack. But they have to pay to release it.

They won’t sell without it. In all likelihood the management company have a restriction on the title. Your solicitor should have requested this weeks ago. They are expensive to obtain and you need to bear in mind that if you wanted to sell that property you would need to obtain one too. Has a deed of covenant been mentioned?

Sorry you are dealing with this! I understand people saying it's moving ok but does seem really frustrating if that's all you're waiting for.

Out of curiosity - your solicitors, are they local/you can visit them?

We asked months ago if the property was shared equity. And everyone said no (inc vendors and estate agents).

No deed of covenant has been mentioned at this point - currently googling what exactly that is..

Sooo frustrating!!

I would understand if there was a big complicated case, a chain or something else.
But it's literally just someone who just can't be arsed to log into their online banking at this point..

If it's the same as my house sell and purchase the management pack relates to the fact that a management company are responsible for the upkeep of shared areas. In my current house that I am selling we have shared car parks and walkways roads and streetlights and a water way. My new house is for the protection of an under ground water way and it's maintenance.

The pack for me selling my house was £300 and the company sent it to me via email within 1 hour of me calling and paying!

It does not necessarily mean anything about shared equity. My house isn't...and the one I'm buying is currently owned outright by the owner with no mortgage

Are you buying a leasehold flat with a management company responsible for service charges to cover the upkeep of communal areas, or a freehold house where the management company is responsible for grass verges and lighting etc?

It doesn't really make much difference when your solicitor asked for the pack, if the seller hasn't paid for it, then the seller's solicitor wouldn't have been in possession of it to forward to your solicitor.

Bear in mind that once your solicitor receives it (and it could be a bulky pack), they have to review the information contained therein and may well raise further enquiries with the sellers.

Thank you everyone!
It's a lease hold house spickle

After reading everyone comments I felt a bit more reasonable in my irritation so I made loads of annoyed phone calls, managed to get through to my solicitor for the first time in weeeks

And huzzah!! Vendors paid today and my solicitor promised to fast track us through the rest of the process as an apology for the delays
Success!!