Solicitor (not ours) has gone silent and we NEED to exchange this week! Meant to be completing next week!

[Spritztime]

Hi,

So we are a chain of 5 and for the past couple of weeks we've had a lot of "we're ready to exchange!...Oh..hold on, no we're not - xy and z needs doing. We're ready to exchange! Hold on.....", conversations and it's honestly been sending me insane!

We are waiting for someones mortgage amendments to come back (not an extention - just an error on the form...apparently) which should be in by tomorrow or Thursday, but even if it is, we still have this radio silence from one of the solicitors who still won't confirm that her client is good to exchange, although the client herself believes she is.

We can't exchange without that confirmation, so right now the completion date is only agreed and is not official, although we all have removals companies booked in.

Nobody seems to know what to do. I can't contact the solicitor directly. Our EA has been trying for almost a fortnight to get hold of them, as have our solicitor, but she just won't get back to anyone....so how the hell do we actually exchange and officially agree a completion date?!

It's an absolute sham. It's looking likely we'll lose next weeks date and this will drag on for another god knows how many weeks

Any words of comfort? Is this a typical house buying/selling story?...

So we've all agreed a new completion date and now we just wait, while we attempt to exchange. I'm dreading some unexpected bump in the road 🙈🍷🍷🍷

Crossing many body parts for everyone waiting on exchange with a chain, it is so stressful!

It really is @ChicCroissant

No joy

Hope everyone in the same boat is doing well today and managing to keep a bit of sanity.

We're hearing that our buyers (bottom of the chain) are "in the process of releasing the funds" but I'm getting that information from our EA, not our solicitor, who still remains silent.

I feel quite sick 🤢 I just want to be able to relax and not have it at the forefront of my mind ALL THE TIME.

I was awake at 4am this morning, after a very broken nights sleep, fretting..... so I'm feeling great!

Friday afternoon exchanges, it takes me back..... so stressful! I left the legal arena 10 years ago, and even then, we were able to deal with almost all documents by email- it's just the signature copy that needs to be printed for signature and return. Why is snail mail still being used?

Releasing the deposit could mean that exchange is happening from the bottom of the chain up, so fingers crossed for you that it does happen today.

@DelphiniumBlue, it didn't happen Our solicitor leaves at 3 and there's no wiggle room with that, so by the time it reached number 3 in the chain, we ran out of time. Our solicitor is suggesting a reverse exchange on Monday, so we meet in the middle, which should be quicker.

Do you know how common reverse exchanges are? Also, are Friday exchanges notorious for not going through as often as other week days?

yes, Fridays are often bad - everyone wants a Friday completion so they have the weekend to unpack.

leave at 3 with no deputy, in a job which is always busy on a Friday? Nice work if you can get it...

We exchanged and completed on the same day- the day after we had removals take our stuff away. Our mortgage was about to expire, and COVID was looming; in the end we agreed the vendors of the house we were buying could stay for two weeks and we Airbnbed until they could get into their house. Never had a more stressful week.
Worth it in the end. Fingers crossed for you

The day of exchange shouldn't matter. It's just numerous phone calls.

Reverse exchanges are pretty common.

Poor show by your solicitor for not passing your file to someone else if they leave at 3 though.

What day have you agreed to complete?

@mencken, yes, I didn't realise that that's why 3pm was the cut off point. I thought that it was because 3 was the latest they could hold on to the funds. I honestly don't know how a 3 finish can work in that profession, if you don't have other staff who can fill in.

@madametomato, thanks. That does all sound incredibly stressful, but glad it worked out in the end.

@MinnieMountain, I think there are still a lot of furloughed staff, but yeah...I can't say we were happy. We're due to complete the following Monday.

Sorry to hear it hasn't happened yet.
I do think that that a conveyancing solicitor leaving at 3 on a Friday without having someone to complete an exchange that is halfway through is just shitty behaviour.
I used to finish at 3 myself, but always arranged for someone else to take over the file if there was even the smallest chance of the client being affected. I know there's childcare issues and part time wages for part time work, and boundaries etc, but I think it's really unprofessional to just disappear on the busiest day of the week without arranging cover. And if you are working from home then it's just a case of answering the phone if it rings and having a 30 second conversation. Unless it's a real emergency, it's not acceptable.
I'm sure you don't need telling, but prompt everyone first thing Monday morning to get the ball rolling, don't let them wait till lunchtime to start .

Sorry to hear it didn't happen, I'm also surprised no one else could have worked in the solicitor's office past 3. When we exchanged our solicitor was on annual leave but his office took care of it on schedule. Fingers crossed for you for tomorrow!!

Thank you @DelphiniumBlue and @francienolan.

I'm absolutely dreading tomorrow. I'm so nervous. I don't think I'll be as reasonable and forgiving if the same thing happens again.

How much sleep will I get tonight? 🤔 Ha! I probably just shouldn't bother going to bed!

We purposely exchange and complete on any day other than a Friday.

Good luck @spritztime. We were in your shoes a few months ago and it was dreadful (but really anticlimactic)

Good luck @Spritztime. Hope it’s going ok - did you get any sleep?

FWIW, we’re still waiting for the mortgage offer. Having been told repeatedly it would be emailed to us by last Friday, it wasn’t. Then we’re told this morning it was posted today. Second class. When our post is being delayed by 2/3 weeks at the moment.

I don’t think I’ve ever been this close to a nervous breakdown

I think mortgage offers are the only thing sent by 2nd class post.
even catalogues are sent first class. it's outrageous.

op good luck, hopefully it goes smoothly from here onwards.
buying/selling in england is the most stressful thing ever.

Not happening again 😫😡

Should have been simple, but then an unexpected bump in the road this morning (which has left me fuming) left us delayed by about 3/4 hours, so once again, we're out of time!

Or apparently not!

Just had a call from our solicitor and apparently it all went through just on time! 😁🥳🍾🥂

Please tell me we can relax now...

you can relax a little, but it will all ramp up again on completion day.

Yay! So pleased you've exchanged, I'd relax a bit now but keep packing! Well done OP, glad it's all come together for you in the end and good luck in your new home

Thanks @bluefoxmug and @ChicCroissant

Yes, I am slightly dreading completion day, but the relief once we're in will be huge.

Can't believe how long it's taken us, but finally a bit of light

Hooray!

Spritz by name, spritz by nature

Cheers! And good luck to all those who are still waiting.

Congratulations

Horray!
Completion day will be fine as you're moving on a sensible day i.e. not Friday.