Sellers/Buyers Roll Call No 5...,

[sandybayley]

Starting new thread. Calling all the regulars...
@TiddleTaddleTat
@WBWIFE
@Allhallowseve
@BeauticianNotMagician81
@crispysausagerolls
@dimmu
@Fleabag123
@Farontothemaddingcrowd
@Frogqueen13
@Glitteryfrog
@MrsPatmore
@Smart123

Thank you for all the advice I'm going to send an email to our solicitor today as I won't be able to call him until Friday as we aren't allowed phones at work.

@sandybayley haha that's us. Oops too late. I think ours was also a messy break up but it's only him selling.

Catching up as I’ve been AWOL for a while

@Sandybayley: totally agree divorcing couples are the worst! Our first purchase fell through because Mr & Mrs Vendor couldn’t agree on price and Mr V didn’t ever intend to sell (don’t list it then!!!). I hope you have news soon and that your mum is OK.

@Beautician: agree get your solicitors on the case - if you agreed to exchange with vacant possession he needs to comply. Maybe he’s planning to get one of those teams in to blitz it?

We are still waiting to hear about a deed of variation but the freeholder has asked for their admin fee (😡) so at least it seems to be in process. Let’s see

I just viewed another property that I was not overly keen on. Our search area is very small and I am just not loving anything we can afford in it. This was viewing 5. This house was the best of the bunch but still not perfect and I think it’s overpriced.

Do we compromise on the house or the location? There are some houses I like but further out. The school catchment would be the same but it would mean a bus for the oldest DC instead of a walk.

My next property to view is ‘in need of some updating’ and there are very few internal photos. How bad is it likely to be?

Morning all! Totally agree sandybayley that it's nice to be back into a normal working week where we might get some progress. I hope your vendors sort something out soon.

Alwaystimeforcakeandtea I'd say that 'updating' generally means it's in need of every room being redone, top to bottom, plus new kitchen and bathroom. Lack of photos is a bit of a red flag. It depends how much of a project you want. I always feel everyone has one project in them, and then after doing it once you have to really enjoy it to consider doing it again. I would say that location is more important than the actual house, but that is from my experience of getting the right house in the wrong location...but we are 150 miles away wrong, so that's a bit different...

Our sale still seems to be going ahead well, but I'm afraid to jinx it by saying any more than that!

@Alwaystimeforcakeandtea it's worth having a look! Could range from minor cosmetic updating all the way to rebuilding foundations... it might be a repossession (taped down toilet seats/ sinks etc is always a sign) or have ominous looking cracks in the walls...
I'm always suspicious of properties that have recently been done up before selling as you never know what's hidden.

Haha @Trippedupagain yes, everyone has one project in them. We are doing our first... it's very stressful... who knows if it will be our last

@trippedupagain fingers crossed for you!

It would only be ‘wrong’ by 1-2 miles so not far wrong.

@ Fleabag123 - If you dont mind can I ask what the deed of variation is for? Is this not something your previous solicitor should bear responsibility for? Im about to put my flat on the market and absolutely dreading dealing with lease/freeholders. As if it`s not difficult enough - there is an extra "not in your control" 3rd party to complicate matters! How do leaseholds ever get to the point of exchange??

@TiddleTaddleTat best of luck with your project. We have considered one again and again but always remind ourselves what it's like living in chaos and how much we hate it. This last time, we got to the point where we found ourselves saying 'well we could just camp out in the garage for a week or two, couldn't we?' We got really carried away with that idea (two weeks? Yeah, right! More like 6 months) but came back down to earth finally.

@Alwaystimeforcakeandtea thank you for your good wishes!

@wishiknew - we are FTB so the lease issue may be a problem that the vendors solicitor didn’t pick up when he purchased. Our sols did spot it when going through the paperwork
Essentially it’s v long and boring but there’s a wording in the lease which links ground rent to RPI from the 1970s (when the lease was first issued) not 2011 when it was renewed. Our vendor’s current solicitor thinks it is an oversight and should be corrected but we’re waiting to hear. Vendor has paid whatever nonsense “admin” fee they’ve demanded

@Fleabag - ah - I see. Thanks for that. Sounds like previous owners may have done an informal lease extension rather than a formal one and this could have been sneaked in without them noticing! I hope for their sake its an error but if its in their lease they can be held to it. There wouldn`t be any financial benefit to the F/H removing it - quite the opposite! They may need to pay (a lot potentially) to get it removed. Hope I am wrong!

@wishiknew : yes you are quite right. The complicating factor is that the possible informal lease ext (I am not sure if they’ve clarified this as it’s all down to vendors solicitor not mine) was done by a freehold company who have now gone bust. So they’re trying to appeal to current freeholder by saying “looks like the previous freeholder messed up, will you change it?” bearing in mind there’s a big crackdown on dodgy terms now and it’s unlikely to get through a first tier tribunal.
If they refuse to amend it we’ll likely walk away. Our vendor is desperate to sell as he’s found his dream house but I’m not sure our mortgage will go through (and also we don’t want to be stuck with dodgy lease and dodgy freeholder!) he’s talked about slashing the price so we could do a statutory lease extension in 2 yrs but not sure if it’s just too much hassle !!
Good luck with yours - make sure you have a good and thorough solicitor

Fleabag - have PMed you!

Hate my vendor. My offer was accepted on 11th April and my solicitor is still waiting for the title docs and draft contracts from the vendors solicitor. Feel like the last 7 weeks have been wasted as no progress has been made. I was pretty chill about timelines as my rental contract ends mid-August so I wanted some overlap, but I'm not convinced I'll be anywhere near exchange by then.

My solicitor is chasing and chasing but theres no urgency from him at all. He is a BTL landlord so is losing money every month its unoccupied and unsold but doesnt seem to give a shit

4th viewing for our house on Thursday, keeping my fingers tightly crossed.

Good luck everyone for this week.

We complete tomorrow and we have the whole house packed up into a van ready to go tomorrow. Was quite sad saying good ye to our house and seeing it so empty this evening!

Some photos I took earlier. Will take more tomorrow, each house I've left I've always took photos on the last day as a memory. Strange I know!

@WBWIFE - best of luck today. That kitchen looks very clean! Your vendor is very lucky given the hassle they gave you.

@Violetroselily - I feel your pain. You'd think when people accept offers they might be motivated to get on with it.

Still no word from Mr Vendor about court date. I get the feeling it will be today or tomorrow that our buyers start asking questions. It's just under a month to the proposed completion date and if I were them I'd be starting to be curious.

After more than a week of sleepless nights (Poorly Mum + House nonsense + cold) I succumbed to Kalms + Bach night rescue remedy last night. Slept for an unbroken 6.5 hours. Sleep is a wonderful thing!

@sandybayley do your buyers know anything at all about your vendors situation? Glad you have had some restful sleep.

@Violetroselily - funnily enough they do now. EA has shared some info this morning and they haven't yet freaked.

OMG.

Vendors went on and on for the keys from 9am knowing we had packed up.

We havent completed yet and they called our solicitor to say that we had told them we were leaving the cats at ours until tomorrow, which we did not say, we said we cant take the cats out of the house until completion!! This has held up the whole completion. We have had the cats in our car loose for 2 hours now nearly. Ridiculous!!

I am fuming. We left them a card and prosecco and wine! Wish we didnt bother now

Completed at 2pm, still waiting for the keys off of the sellers. They wont get out and weve had the cats in the car for about 3.5 hours now. I'm so fuming