Buyers sellers roll call 11

[kerrymucklowe2020]

Here's the new ( last one for us eh @zebrahooves?)

Aww pleased for you @Lemonylemony bet you can't wait to breathe a sigh of relief once you've exchanged!

Good luck @Lemonylemony
Hope it’s me next!

Great news @Lemonylemony

Can I ask how long everyone searches are taking at the moment? And how soon after you sorted out your exchange date?

We are stuck in a chain, dying to move but feels like we’re not getting anywhere. We were told 8 weeks, and didn’t start them till 1st Sept.

Thank you everyone.

@NewhouseNewMe Yes we are looking at Airbnb at the moment. Completion is 8th October, Thursday next week.

Our bank are still sticking to issuing an offer in 14 working days. Day 14 is this Friday, 2nd October so fingers crossed it comes through by then as I really dont fancy another weekend of being in limbo.

Those in the know, when a mortgage offer issued, do we have to first receive it, sign it and send it back? Is it one of those things that the bank wouldn't release funds until they receive our signed copy? In that case, does our solicitor receive the same offer pack like us? Can we just sign a copy from her and send it back to the bank or we to sign the one we receive? I was hoping that we could agree exchange and completion once our solicitor receives the offer. Our bank send them to Solicitors by fax. How ancient.

Searches are about 4-5 weeks in my area @DaisyandRoses.

If everything else is in place, the chain are ready and no further enquiries after searches arrive, I could complete a file in a week to a fortnight depending on if you had e.g. a lifetime ISA etc. (I'm a conveyancing solicitor )

Haha @Notyetthere yes the banks still love a fax!

It depends which lender you're with but I find that most say that your solicitor signing the certificate of title and sending it to them (to request funds) is confirmation that you've accepted the offer and waived any reflection period. Your solicitor will get their own version of the mortgage offer, I find that I often get them after my clients though, annoyingly! Which lender are you using?

Thanks so much @Jujuball we unknowingly got ourselves into a chain of 6. I’m so so worried something will fall through. As far as I’m aware the middle of the chain started their searches a while ago (1st house is chain fell through and started at same time as us). Which was 4 weeks ago.

How likely is it to be able to complete a bigger chain? Everyone seems keen but I feel like there is soo many things that can go wrong and we have no control over the situation.

@DaisyandRoses honestly, they're really common. Most of the time I don't realise I'm in a big chain until right at the end because the agents don't bother telling us and I can only speak to the other solicitors directly linked to my case.

A chain of 6 is long but not super long, it's a bit of a faff when you come to exchange contracts trying to get everybody in place at the same time, but I wouldn't stress too much good luck with everything!

Checking in for the final stretch

@littlecontis congratulations! Hope you are loving being on the other side!
@Lemonylemony oh you deserve to get over the line now!
@Jujuball yay some positive steps!

I am tearing my hair out! Waiting on the building survey which should be any day! Solicitor is requesting funds on Thursday and we are hoping to complete next Thursday! I want to exchange before this weekend so it's all set in stone! Nearly 6 months in now and I am drained! Pray for a good survey report tomorrow 🙏

Thank you @Jujuball that’s very reassuring. I love threads like this as honestly I don’t know anyone who has even moved recently or been in a chain. Hopefully it will all move forward smoothly.

@kerrymucklowe2020 we paid for indemnity insurance ourselves. I thought on balance paying £200 was less painful than endless emails and further delaying our purchase by 2 weeks.

@littlecontis Huge congratulations!!

@Notyetthere Congratulations! Here's hoping we're right behind you.

@Jujuball we are with Platform porting and borrowing extra.

@Notyetthere Have you exchanged without a mortgage offer?

We (also with platform) received a copy of the offer through the post - it was clearly marked "do not sign!" The copy we signed came via our solicitor, and we were able to return it via email.

BUT I believe platform require 5 working days to release the funds. So you would have to sign the documents, send them back to solicitor, then notify bank that you have a date for completion - all at least 5 working days before your completion date.

@BigHuff we exchanged on our sale today to complete on 8th October. Our purchase isn't isnt exchanged yet as we are waiting for mortgage offer before we can progress on that front. Platform confirmed 3 weeks ago that offer was to be made and that we were in a queue for offer to be issued which they estimated would take up to 14 working days. That is reassuring that once our solicitor receives her copy we can sign and request funds promptly. Her office is less than 2 miles from here so hopefully we can sort out our purchase soon.

@Notyetthere Ah, that makes sense! Thank you for explaining - I somehow skipped over that in the thread.

It did take ages to get our offer from platform, but they were pretty good at communicating (via our broker) what the timeline was - fingers crossed the same is true for you and your offer comes asap!!

I’m thinking of getting a present for the EA. I know this is quite literally her job, but she’s sounded so stressed out by everything, and has proper worked her socks off on this - it could easily have all fallen apart were it not for her keeping it all together. When I asked her how she was the other day she rambled a bit and sounded a bit personally overwhelmed. She’s WFH so cant just pop something into the office and doubt I’d be given her home address to send anything, so I was thinking perhaps some kind of voucher by email? What kind of nice generic treat type pressie could be a voucher by email?

@Lemonylemony

I’m thinking of getting a present for the EA. I know this is quite literally her job, but she’s sounded so stressed out by everything, and has proper worked her socks off on this - it could easily have all fallen apart were it not for her keeping it all together. When I asked her how she was the other day she rambled a bit and sounded a bit personally overwhelmed. She’s WFH so cant just pop something into the office and doubt I’d be given her home address to send anything, so I was thinking perhaps some kind of voucher by email? What kind of nice generic treat type pressie could be a voucher by email?

John Lewis vouchers are always a safe bet? We plan to get our EA a bottle of bubbles when we finally get across the line, I know it’s her job as you say but ours has also been an absolute star for us too.

Very thoughtful @Lemonylemony I bet she'll honestly be delighted for you when you exchange and complete!

So update:
Been in touch with vendor who said his solicitor is literally waiting for a reply from mine re completion dates. I have sent about 5 emails in the last 3 days and I’m getting ignored and the main one of the team is out of office ... I’m sooooo annoyed!!

Everything agreed and signed. Should be exchanging tomorrow or more likely Friday and we have an agreed completion date of 8 October. Now it's all so close I feel a bit sick.

We don't have to leave rented flat until middle of November so we have plenty of time to get everything nice before we move in.

Keep your fingers crossed for us...

Hi can I moan please? We are moving from rented into an empty property (probate). Our solicitor is trying for exchange and compete on Friday, everything our side is completely done - solicitor has received the mortgage funds etc but the vendor seems to have vanished off the planet and has 'forgotten' to sign and return the Transfer of Deeds paperwork. His phone is off constantly it seems and he lives in France! There seems to be some confusion over whether he can sign it and scan it over or whether it has to be a 'wet copy' does anyone know?

Just been catching up on everyone’s progress - I don’t know about the answer to your question @luvabellawilleatme sorry! Sounds frustrating.
Finally discussing exchange and completion - possible exchanging tomorrow or Friday and maybe completing 16th Oct - just waiting for confirmation.

We had to have ‘wet’ copy of the deed paperwork

Still waiting for mortgage funds to come through here then we ca exchange, but other good news is I’ve managed to find cover to have a few days off next week after hopeful completion, so that will be good!

We are almost ready to exchange! But it suddenly occurs to me that I haven't seen the form which describes who is responsible for which fences/whether there have been any disputes with neighbours. Does anyone know the form number, so that I can ping a quick email to my solicitor??