Anyone waiting on completion?

[Unsureofthescore113]

Hi All, I put an offer towards a house back in February, it was a brand new start for myself and my young son after splitting with my husband l, but because of covid 19 everything was delayed and im still waiting on a completion date, despite chasing solicitors every day. I’ve made them aware I need to move in ASAP and am in touch with the sellers who are equally as keen to move. I’m getting very stressed about it all, anyone in the same boat ?

[jengles]

We're in a short chain but our buyers want a COVID clause in the contract which we're not keen on and our vendor's vendor (VV) has said a straight no to... thought we'd be exchanging last week but still not. Have always had end of July as completion date - know VV is keen to complete closer to mid-July so hope everything gets ironed out ASAP.
DH is a lawyer so is confident in what is needed, but I feel like everything is going too slow/we're worried sale will either fall through or we'll have to rent for a bit. Albeit different reasons, I do remember getting to a similar point (thinking sale was going fall through/thinking we'd have to rent) when we bought our current home - am guessing /hoping it's a stage everyone goes through!!

[Jennyie1]

Neither. Want to complete and exchange in 5 weeks, my mortgage offer runs out in 8 weeks. Lockdown delayed things.

21 months I've been trying to move (sold my house, moved into rented blah blah blah)

[GreyishDays]

It’s usual for everyone to move on the same day @SapatSea

If someone rents instead, that doesn’t break the chain, although I suppose it ends it. Someone who breaks the chain usually means someone who pulls out of a sale/purchase and the whole thing falls a paper until it can be completed again. Don’t want you to have a really awkward conversation in the future where you tell someone you break chains!

[ellie2201]

@Unsureofthescore113 I really feel for you - this is awful! Do you need to make threats of pulling out? I know you don’t want to but it might make people move a bit faster?

[Dinosauraddict]

Congrats on the exchange @ellie2201

[ellie2201]

@Dinosauraddict thank you - I can’t quite believe it. I fully expected for the chain to collapse due to covid and we were prepared to drop the price significantly. We’ve been very lucky.

[Finfintytint]

Same for me. Accepted an offer in December and was ready to go in March but lockdown halted things. Our buyer had to have another full structural survey as their lender questioned the qualifications of the first surveyor! The second survey happened yesterday so fingers crossed it’ll all happen soon.
We’re wasting money on a rental having had to move out of our home and our buyers are first timers so no chain as such. So frustrating. Good luck to everyone.

[catfeets]

Ours is delayed due to the idiots purchasing. They're using every trick in the book to drag it on and on.
Solicitors are working as normal but the estate agents are crap.
We've issued an ultimatum to exchange and complete by this week but they are ignoring us.

[Unsureofthescore113]

Ellie2201 the solicitors, estate agents and even the seller are fully aware of my situation, in fact the seller wants out ASAP but my solicitors are holding things up, and won’t communicate with me why, they’ve stopped replying to my emails and phonecalls. I have threatened to look elsewhere but they didn’t seem bothered and said it would just take me longer to get the new one. Honestly the whole process has been a nightmare.

[Unsureofthescore113]

Congrats on the exchange by the way, I bet the 24th can’t come soon enough!

[GherkinsOnToast]

Our sellers have just told us their mortgage offer has expired! The spoke to someone who agreed to roll it over another month but they never got it in writing so have no proof and they can't get anyone to agree to the roll over today - we are due to exchange TOMORROW!

[Unsureofthescore113]

Gherkinsontoast - how awful, you must be livid!!! What happens now, I assume the exchange can’t happen ?

[Itscoldouthere]

God how annoying Gerkins! I hope it doesn’t delay too much.

Just had some ‘extra’ questions from buyers re heating etc 🙄 and their solicitor saying he hasn’t had their signed contact in the post yet as post is slow!
Hummm... post isn’t slow if you pay to send it next day tracked like I did last week to my solicitor...
It feels like delaying tactics !

[GherkinsOnToast]

Livid doesn't even cover it! I'm waiting for the solicitors to ring me back, we are saying we want to exchange ASAP then we can wait for completion. This has dragged on since 2nd March and I'm fed up, I've been dreaming of a G&T in that garden surrounded by chickens, puppy and kids!

[Unsureofthescore113]

Agree it’s coldoutthere, I never trust the normal post at the best of times, let alone something as important as that! That sounds annoying re the questions too. Definately sounds like delay tactics I’m afraid.

Gherkins i know how you feel. I had my offer accepted on 6th February and haven’t even got an estimated date yet, nowhere near exchange or completion, surrounded by boxes and literally just waiting all day every day. It’s soul destroying isn’t it! I’m hoping your sellers are able to agree a new mortgage deal quickly, do you think there’s a chance that could happen?

[Itscoldouthere]

Looks like we aren’t going to exchange this week 🤦‍♀️
Apparently it will take 2/3 days to draw down our buyers funds, they are getting a business mortgage, it’s been so complicated/drawn out.... never again shall I consider someone with a complicated mortgage situation!
If only we’d know back in December when we accepted their offer (we had two equal offers on the table).
Trying to be positive but we really do have our life’s on hold with this move, DH has been moved abroad with his job, we are already paying for a flat in the new place and some of our furniture is in transit. DH will have to go back in a month or so we really need to get this sale closed!

[Unsureofthescore113]

Oh it’s coldoutthere. I’m sorry to hear of more delays, it must be really frustrating for you. Especially when it’s not because of your doing!

I’m in a similar boat, still not heard back, despite chasing the estate agent and solicitor. Apparently the sellers solicitor and mine don’t communicate very well as they are blaming each other for the delay, there’s no actual reason why they haven’t set a completion date. im really actually quite angry about it as I’ve put my life on hold as well grrrrrr

[Itscoldouthere]

@Unsureofthescore113 yes so frustrating, my solicitor is only working part time, but she’s really good and on top of things, but the whole process is so frustrating in England isn’t it!
Lockdown isn’t helping of course as I’ve got so much stuff to get rid of but not many places are open. We went to the local council recycle today but you have to book about 2 weeks in advance and only allowed 2 visits a month.
We are moving out of a 5 bedroom large house so have so much stuff, we don’t want to end up with too much in storage, but I also don’t want to spend the next 6 weeks sitting on the floor!
If we exchanged and had a fixed completion date I’d feel like I could properly move things on....
🤞🏻 For next week.

Have you exchanged yet?

[Unsureofthescore113]

It’s a tough call isn’t it when trying to pack possessions and the stuff you’ve thought hard about getting rid you can’t even get rid of because nowhere is open!! I’ve sold a few things in ebay etc but nowhere near everything so a lot of it has to be chucked or given away!

I hope your exchange will happen ASAP next week, like you say hindsight is a wonderful thing had you have known and possibly chosen the other offer but then again that could have have problems as well, you weren’t to know.

Like you say, a fixed completion date would make us both feel better about things, even just a rough timescale would do me. I have absolutely no idea whether it’s weeks or months at the moment. I haven’t exchanged yet either, it’s getting me down. My poor son, I built this up so much back in February and it’s taken so long even to get to this stage and when you’re little a month seems like a year. Even he is getting a little down about it all now as he doesn’t believe it’s actually happening anymore and I can’t imagine what it’s like for my ex me having to live here still when we made the decision months ago.

The whole process really can be soul destroying and my solicitors are the worst I’ve ever come across, like you in hindsight I never would have picked them but they had such glowing reviews on their website, I’m wondering now if they were fake? They literally don’t communicate with me AT ALL despite numerous emails and phonecalls unless I get the hump with them, they know my situation but still they do not care and I find out things from the seller and the sellers solicitors also confirm that they are rubbish :-(

[Rhapsodyinpurple]

We exchanged and completed on the same day.
Had a couple of problems with the solicitors but I went to the manager and they then oversaw everything which was great.

[Unsureofthescore113]

Hi All. Am hoping that we all hear more this week. I can’t say why as it may be outing but there’s a chance mine might fall through if someone in the chain hasn’t met a deadline by Thursday. 😞Completely out of my control and I’m stressed to the max

[LarryDuff]

Hi everyone, we accepted an offer in February, cash buyers and no chain and we're still waiting to exchange. The pause delayed things but since that was lifted all we've heard from the buyers is their solicitor sent some questions to ours about 4 weeks ago which have all been answered but still nothing back. We're not living in the house, we had to rent it out while we moved to a new area (also renting) and our tenants move out in 3 weeks, after that we've got to try and pay the mortgage and the rent or get new tenants. We've also gone onto the standard mortgage rate so paying stupid amount of interest each month. I just want to now what's going on it's so stressful. I don't know what to do, my solicitor sometimes doesn't reply to emails for a week.

[LuckyScot]

I was hoping to exchange on Friday/Today but our buyer has come back with more enquiries. These should have been asked weeks ago and now I am worried that the buyer is stalling for time or planning something along the lines of a price reduction. They have already asked for money off and this whole process has been ongoing for months due to lockdown! I just want it over with!

[Itscoldouthere]

Fingers crossed for you @LuckyScot we had the same thing last week, stupid last minute questions.
We are hoping to exchange by the end of the week now!
@LarryDuff that sounds very frustrating! We are also on SVR expensive mortgage ( have been since last December) and paying for a flat that’s sitting empty in Montreal Canada. We can’t even get back into Canada at the moment, so will be doing a temporary move to a friends house once we complete.
The whole process has definately been made much more complicated by Covid 19!

[LuckyScot]

Thanks @Itscoldouthere reassuring to hear others are in the same boat.

I contacted our solicitor this evening to find out the progress of responding to the enquiries and they have done nothing! They have had since Friday afternoon and they havent even started! I despair!!! What gave they been waiting for?!