FTB so confused with the house buying process

[Littleonetimes2]

Put offer in 4th January, were told we'd probably complete 5th March, but sellers solicitors still hadn't got back with the enquiries. Both chain free.
Our solicitor rang yesterday saying all the enquiries were back and were we happy with the 29th (next Friday) as a completion date. I said yes and she said great, that was that.
My partner rang our solicitors today to ask what do we do with regards to deposit etc. Have previously been told NatWest take 5 days to release the mortgage funds.
She said they will send out paperwork with the payment details etc hopefully tomorrow and we need to get them back to her and then they can request the funds...
Now am I being stupid but if she sends them tomorrow and we get them Monday and send them next day so Tuesday, and then she puts a request of funds in how can we complete on the Friday if 5 days are required
When we asked for the exchange date she just said oh when all of that's back it will be then
I'm due to have a csection in 13 days and was hoping this would have all been sorted way before

She'll put a funds request in before that. Probably tomorrow. Most banks, NatWest included, no longer take 5 days to get the money to the solicitor for completion

I did think, surely she'd have to out the requests in tomorrow, however on the phone she said she would when she got the paperwork back
But also do we not need to exchange before that request is made for the funds? I'm assuming from other posts NatWest will do another credit check before exchange to make sure everything is fine and we would then exchange, hand over our deposit and then funds would be released ready for completion?

Hi we complete Monday. Our solicitor called my provider (nationwide) on Monday as we had already sent the deposit that morning, and they agreed to release early so the funds are released today.

We didn't have to do anything other than send our deposit, solicitor did it all

I think it may just be our solicitors are useless, never once replied to an email and extremely vague on the phone when she does answer. It was just her oh you should get the things to sign over the weekend and then just send them back Everything always seems to get sent 2nd class too, so when we rang yesterday and she said she would send either then or tomorrow it was a sort of well we won't be getting them till Monday then? When I mentioned could we request the funds now she just said no no need that. I spoke to someone from NatWest and they haven't heard anything from our solicitors at all.
I've heard some horror stories of handing over the deposit and losing it all because the mortgage offer is withdrawn and the whole thing is just making me extremely anxious.
I did however think I was going into labour last night, that stopped me worrying for the time haha

Littleonetimes2 have you picked a local solicitors or a cheaper option elsewhere? That would explain why they're so crap. If Natwest haven't heard then I can't say they will be releasing funds in time! I would harass your solicitor as much as possible.

My solicitor and her paralegal email me constantly, i never wait more than 10 minutes for a response.

Have you signed your mortgage deed? Funds can't be requested until she has that. You don't need to exchange though.

We give clients our bank details over the phone.

You can't request funds yourself as your solicitor has to say in the request that she has checked the title and it is ok.

Ask to speak to the partner in charge of her files. It should be on one of your first letters from her.

Can you call in to her office to sign the paperwork? It would speed up the process.

My partner agreed with the mortgage advisor to just go with one of her recommendations.. not local to us and had paid for the search fees the same day. I wanted to punch him. 😂We ummed about just losing that money and finding one local back then after no replies and taking 2 weeks from we've got the searches back to even send any enquiries but just stuck with her because once they were back it was a case of well we don't want to mess the seller around..
Not even like they are a cheaper option, £1400! At this point I just want it over and done with, I'm sick of ringing her daily to get no reply, or oh I'll get round to it responses, and I'm just not confident enough when she sounds all happy on the phone to be like come on this is taking the piss. We're lucky sellers solicitors are very on the ball and the estate agents have been lovely, even ringing our solicitors to have a go Very understanding that it isn't us, and I have rung the solicitor while in their office, just to sort be like look it's not us holding it up it's her, I'm giving birth I need this house
No mortgage deed has been signed, I'm going to assume that will be in the documents she will be sending then?
If it is, does that mean were near the end of the road and I can stop having meltdowns
I won't hold my breath or get excited for Friday completion date

Please be extra, extra careful when it comes to paying your deposit. There are all sorts of stories out there about people being scammed into sending the deposit money to the wrong account at the last minute. You've got so much else going on at the same time, it might be hard to remember something fundamental like this. Good luck for your upcoming arrival!

That was my concerns, it's so worrying when you've been saving for years isn't it!
I've just received a call from solicitors assistant to say she wasn't in the office today (I've rang 6 times, been told she was in a meeting, on another call, out for lunch)
Asked her to go through what exactly was being sent and if it isn't getting sent until this afternoon, and we need to send it back how can we possibly complete on Friday. She seemed pretty reasuring that it would definitely be going ahead, even if we need to scan the documents to them while they wait for the originals in the post.
Fingers crossed, this will be it over and done with!
Boy, I can't wait to write a nice review on their pages It's amazing their Facebook is nothing but good.. but a Google search is nothing but complaints, so I'm glad I'm not the only one!

The lesson here is to find your own solicitor through personal recommendation and never go with the one that your mortgage advisor/estate agent recommends. They’re invariably getting a kick back from them. My parents used a solicitor recommended by their estate agent and he was totally useless. It went on so long I ended up calling him every single day to hurry him along. On the day of completion we still hadn’t heard anything by 3pm so I called him to be told in a very casual manner that they had completed at midday and he was ‘going to call us’.