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Original poster

Sellers/Buyers roll call Part 4 Keep strong everyone!

999 replies

alifelessordinary · 13/02/2019 16:46

Thought I'd start a new thread as previous one had hit 1000 posts and wouldn't let me reply!

@LookingOptimistic why do solicitors have to be so difficult at times? Hope it gets resolved for you soon.

The indemnity policy came through this afternoon, so we're hoping we might be exchanging sometime next week...unless something else crops up!

OP posts:
tenapenny2018 · 15/02/2019 14:04

Heard back from my Solicitor. Not good news.

Sellers are refusing to pay for Building reg indemnity insurance.

There is an error on the garage lease (the house itself is freehold).

The stress!!

LookingOptimistic · 15/02/2019 14:11

@tenapenny2018 It will be ok; is the indemnity policy quite inexpensive? The one i paid for was only £110.

I guess if it isn't; you want to exchange, and the seller won't budge maybe you can consider paying for it to get it over with?

I have told my solicitor i will pay for a proposed indemnity policy is seller refuses, its for a missing building regs sign off certificate for extension and missing fensa certificates for windows.

MrsPatmore · 15/02/2019 14:11

Oh no, tenapenny2018. Can you pay for it as I don't think they're hugely expensive? Is the lease issue easy to resolve?

tenapenny2018 · 15/02/2019 15:11

The completion indemnity situation is a bit different in my case. There is a covenant says something like "the ownership cannot be transferred until the house is completed" which is common for most recent developments. The seller do not have the completion certificate, so my solicitor wants the indemnity.

About the lease, the title itself is Ok, but strangely the wording of the lease could imply that I own a share of the coach house above the garage as well, which is not true. My solicitor needs to see if my lender is OK with that.

tenapenny2018 · 15/02/2019 18:42

Exchange did not happen... SadSadSad

The last remain issue could be the deal breaker! It is not as bad as TokyoSushi 's case. The garage lease title and plan are all correct. but in the lease demise, it erroneously included the flat/couch house above it.

My solicitor is checking whether my lender would accept it as a "defective lease" subject to another indemnity insurance.

Original poster
alifelessordinary · 15/02/2019 18:47

Sorry to hear that @tenapenny2018 must be so frustrating. Hopefully it can be resolved quickly on Monday.

I can sympathise as I was going through an indemnity issue myself, which had to be resolved with a bespoke policy. Luckily it only cost us £230 I was expecting it to be at least double that.

OP posts:
happychange · 15/02/2019 20:25

Found you all!

For those of you in a chain, how much deposit do you give on exchange?

Our seller is demanding 10% of the purchase price, so that means we have to top up by about 25k on top of our buyers deposit. Not sure if that's the normal done thing or how it works?

LookingOptimistic · 15/02/2019 20:49

@happychange Well that seems unreasonable; my solicitir says its normal to afree anywhere between 5 to 10%, my sale deposit is about 7% of my purchase which my solicitir said they were happy with.

Where would you even get 25k just like that?

sandybayley · 15/02/2019 21:47

@happychange - yes 10% is pretty standard. We will have about £80k from our sale and need to top it up with another £70k. It was invested and DH has had to cash it in so it's ready to pay over.

We nearly got caught out when we bought our first house and hadn't made sure the money was 'liquid' for when we needed it. We learned our lesson so have the cash ready now for exchange - whenever it happens!

LookingOptimistic · 15/02/2019 22:29

@sandybayley Wow thats one hell of a deposit, but your towards london right?

Luckily house prices arent so large where we are; if i needed to send the 10% rather than 7 i could as its only £8k more, anything further though and i dunno what id do other than short term loan xD

happychange · 16/02/2019 06:18

Yes I wasn't sure if that's the done thing or not but luckily we have the money as we have been putting that aside for stamp duty. Reading from the lawyers email he did sound like it's not common but oh well, might just pay it!

sandybayley · 16/02/2019 08:21

@LookingOptimistic - yes it is a big amount but we are in London and in one of the more expensive boroughs. Plus this is our forever home (house number 3 for our family).

LookingOptimistic · 16/02/2019 08:25

@sandybayley Yea the house im going to i dont expect to move from for a decade or more, its only double your deposit in price though.

How do you even work up the getting a place of that kind of value? Is it a case of having jobs in london which pay a relative amount of money?

TiddleTaddleTat · 16/02/2019 08:30

Woohoo! Finally had an offer accepted...went slightly over planned budget to secure the best house we've seen so far in terms of location, garden and long term potential. Although it's very dated and will need some work it means we can stay in the lovely area and community we live already and not have to start again somewhere else (new schools etc).
However we have just joined an incomplete chain at the top so no guarantee that this will work out - as there never is. But it's a big relief to have a plan as the past 4-5 months have been a constant cycle of viewings and unsuccessful bidding wars.

LookingOptimistic · 16/02/2019 08:42

@happychange Thats good that you have the money.

We were FTB three years ago; its only because we got our property at a discount, and the difference between what we bought and sold for is £33k - that we are able to get the long term home next.

Our issue was always couldn't borrow enough on our wages; luckily between us these have gone up £20k in those 3 years, so it allows us to get what we want - we are very picky in area and only wanted to live in 1 very small town with the population size of a village (Fordingbridge).

LookingOptimistic · 16/02/2019 08:46

@TiddleTaddleTat Congrats, i hope the chain completes quickly for you so you can all move it sooner rather than later Smile

Our current buyer offered in December when his was an incomplete chain (his buyer didnt have a buyer); he came back first week of January though to say his chain was complete now and offered again, i couldnt get my offer reaccepted on onward purchase without a conplete chain unfirtunately.

TiddleTaddleTat · 16/02/2019 09:16

@LookingOptimistic sorry to hear that didn't work out, the whole chain thing is a nightmare. We are (kind of) buying chain free as we are soon to exchange on a sold property and live in rented (different area of the country). I understand it's likely to be just us, our vendors, and their vendor who is an elderly person looking for a flat which I imagine would be chain free (?!) so since chain below her is now complete she is going to view properties.

sandybayley · 16/02/2019 09:16

@LookingOptimistic - we bought our first house is 1999 so I am old! We've been very lucky to get help with our first deposit (40% - an inheritance) and have had the last 10 years mortgage free. We are both well paid and DH gets good bonuses - hence we have been able to save a pot of cash for our new house. We don't have a fancy lifestyle though - last car was 10 years old before we replaced it.

I know we are very lucky. Mixture of family, timing and both our careers going well.

LookingOptimistic · 16/02/2019 09:56

@TiddleTaddleTat It worked out once the chain was complete Smile we got our offer accepted again. Good luck with everything :) sounds bit simpler than ours, we have a chain for 5 lots people but only three are buying and selling and other two properties are vacant (at top and bottom of chain).

@sandybayley Was a little while ago then :) your not old! I was 10 in 1999 though ha.

tenapenny2018 · 16/02/2019 13:14

So, we are left with a cliff hanger on Friday. Hmm

My solicitor said even if the lender will accept the "cleric error" regarding the lease demise; if I am to sell the property in the future, my future buyer may insist to rectify it and it will cost me.

We already spent over £1,000 to get here, and it would be really disheartening if we have to pull out because this one last thing. Sad

The waiting is torturing, being so close to the finish line...

NewYearNewSocks · 16/02/2019 13:59

So we’ve had fun since the super quick day of offers.

The other couple offering on the place we are buying came back and offered more, we increased to bat them off and got the place. Started the mortgage app, and then got another phone call. They’ve upped by another two K and so because the lady likes us and wants to sell to us could we be prepared to meet half way and add another grand in. Confused so spoke to DH who is now back on ship, and we decided that we would ask for the purchase to go through at the already agreed price and offer the 1K in cash at the end of the sale.

Finally everyone was happy with that and on we go. Buyers surveyor rang back and came out the next day instead of next week, and our survey should be happening next week. Solicitors have been instructed and mortgage app is well under way. Solicitors have had the initial payment and so here we are, 8 days since the property actually went on the market, a week since the first viewing, and 5 days since we got full asking price offer and things are really moving.

My head is in a spin. The baby is teething. I’ve come to my parents to finally get the solicitors pack filled out ready to send back, and things seem to progressing very quickly. This could actually be done within 8 weeks Shock

sandybayley · 16/02/2019 15:15

@NewYearNewSocks - wow, great progress. I think things can move quickly if people just get on with it. You'd think some people didn't actually want to move 😬 I'm the kind of person who just gets on with stuff. DH always says I need a project to keep me focussed....

@tenapenny2018- I sense your frustration. I do think a good solicitor is there to make sure buyers understand all the issues with a property. It sounds like what you have is not an insurmountable problem but you do need to think about how a future buyer might perceive it. When DH were looking at houses there were a couple with 'issues' (near train track, slightly dodgy area etc) and I thought that if we thought they were issues then a future buyer definitely would (we're quite chilled).

spinabifidamom · 16/02/2019 21:25

I’m currently frustrated. So we are on hiatus until Monday morning.

Our buyer cancelled the viewing appointment today. Luckily I have another potential client coming to see over my apartment early next week.
Prayers help immensely.
I’m eating my sorrows in cake.
And pondering my next move.

happychange · 16/02/2019 22:38

@sandybayley if I recall correctly, you're in sw19 or close by? So those numbers don't surprise me the slightest! It's crazy how much prices have gone up in the last decade.

Also, ps would you recommend your surveyors?

happychange · 16/02/2019 22:40

@NewYearNewSocks all that haggling over price just makes me stressed! I think I would have given up!
Although interesting to see people are still bidding prices up, after all that scaremongering about brexit!