Buying a house - delay - no information? What to do?

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Hi, just wondered if I could get some advice as I’m in a situation and don’t quite know what to do...

So after leaving my husband in December I bought a house in February, my ex agreed to buy me out and everything was going swimmingly.

Then the lockdown happened ... and despite chasing my solicitors every other day they can’t tell me anything other than the sellers solicitors are holding things up and there’s nothing they can do.... all of April they have been saying this and I don’t know where I stand. My son is constantly asking questions and is obviously confused about the whole situation as we’d convinced him to live with mummy in the new house.

I don’t know what to do or who to turn to and I’m getting really anxious about it. Does anyone have any advice?

Speak to the vendors estate agent if they are taking messages. If not the vendor and state you are getting no answers and if you are not properly updated you will pull out.

The EE won't want to risk losing a commission given how grim things will probably become and may put pressure on. The seller may be having second thoughts but buying time

The seller and I have the same estate agent and they were furloughed back in April. I’ve tried contacting them but no luck as no one is in the office or answering emails.

Contact the seller directly
Things are very very difficult in the property market at present,but it is inexcusable that you don't know what the issue is
There's nothing much your solicitor can do if the sellers' solicitor is not getting back to them and little point in you phoning every other day

Thank you. I was thinking of doing that but wasn’t sure if it was the “right” thing to do.

Don't forget that in 'normal' times a house purchase can take around 3 months to go through. I'd imagine at the moment that could double. Actually, I would be phoning my solicitor every day to chase things up, thats what you're paying them for after all!

There is absolutely no point in phoning your solicitor every day if the delay is not with them

Waste of time and money

I’m a cash buyer and there’s no chain. It should have been a very simple process. I just want to know If they’ve changed their mind.

The solicitor has been getting annoyed with me I think and I agree it’s probably a waste of time keep calling them. They keep giving me the same answer.

A simple, standard process would on average take 6-8 weeks so there hasn't, as yet, been massive delays.

What stage of the process had you got to?

Tell the solicitor that you'll be visiting the seller directly if they don;t give a straight answer. They hate that lol
Then just go anyway. It's the pits not knowing what's going on or if anything is proceeding so bugger the 'normal' procedure and go find out things :)

I am literally waiting on a revised completion date. Everything is in order, paperwork signed, surveys done, mortgage agreed, everything. I’m going to tell them I’m going to the sellers direct!

Is that illegal by the way? Or just frowned upon?

Have you exchanged yet?

Do you know what stage you were at when the lockdown began? It might give us a clue as to what is still outstanding and we can help advise of the general process from then on.

Solicitors and Estate Agents are working from home (those that have not been furloughed). It has meant someone going in to the office to pick up mail once or twice a week. The active files have probably been shared out between the few people still working from home and if a query comes in on a file which is still at the office, then someone will have to go and pick it up. Your file is probably being held by one person rather than a team of people at the moment. I believe lenders are also taking much longer to provide monies, or redemption statements or confirm when mortgages have been redeemed. Management Companies also working from home - traditionally they are slow to respond anyway and it's now much longer to get a response from them. Because staff are working from home, they are not generally taking phone calls unless the office telephone has been redirected. So, while there is no reason for the transaction to not complete, it is taking much longer to get there.

Nothing wrong with contacting the seller direct, but don't contact their solicitor - they cannot speak to you as you are not their client and it would be a breach.

OP, In one post you say you are a cash buyer and in another that the mortgage has been agreed. Which is it?

and despite chasing my solicitors every other day they can’t tell me anything other than the sellers solicitors are holding things up and there’s nothing they can do.
If the purchasers solicitor is not getting any info back from the sellers solicitor there is not very much they can do

Sorry I meant to say I’m essentially a cash buyer as my ex has bought me out but I need a mortgage for the rest as I’m only entitled to half of the house.

I wouldn’t dream of contacting the sellers solicitors anyway so no issue there.

Not exchanged. Literally waiting on completion

With a mortgage involved 6-8 weeks minimum is even more realistic.

I wouldn't consider this a lengthy process by any stretch of the imagination even in normal circumstances.

We are going through similar. We applied to buy or council house and were accepted and got a mortgage offer on the 29th November. Then engaged a solicitor early December. Obviously Christmas happened then lock down. All we've done is chase and chase and finally on Monday got paper work from the solicitor to sign to accept the mortgage offer and commit to purchase. Is it first time but no idea how long it can be expected to bc take from here.

I genuinely don't understand why it's such as v long drawn out process. It isn't like this in other countries!

Iamreporting that’s a horrendous timescale! I am basing my situation with when I bought the current house I’m living in and that was 3 months from start to finish without any issues so 6 months for you is an absolute nightmare. I feel for you.

Our recent purchase was fairly straightforward but took 4 months to exchange and a further month to complete so 5 total, and that was just before CV hit. Sorry it’s so frustrating but I think it just is like that sometimes! You say there’s no chain but if the seller was planning to move into rented that could be hard right now and causing delays?

OP, we were in a similar situation. Our sellers basically said they wanted to put everything on hold....indefinitely Our EA basically said there was nothing we could do, so we decided to take a bit of a risk and said we would pull out altogether if they halted progress any further. They thought about it over the weekend and then decided to move forward.

We knew our approach could have backfired, but sometimes you need to take a hard line.

OP, is your ex in the process of a transfer of equity and remortgage in order to give you your share of the marital home? If so, has this already completed? If not, that's the reason for no news. This has to be completed before you can proceed to exchange and complete on the property you are buying.

As previous PP have said, February to now is not long at all, especially during lockdown.