Buyers sellers roll call 12

[Bells3032]

New thread. Hopefully the last one for us!!

Does anyone know how long it takes for a Property Information File / Pack to be sent to the buyers solicitor?

We were just told it’ll be a few weeks before the vendor solicitors send it over (we know it’s done) to our solicitor and so we can’t instruct searches yet

The estate agent made me feel really inpatient for chasing (but I know the vendor has filled it out)

It seems we are not as close to exchanging as I thought. Our solicitor is still dealing with some outstanding queries on our purchase. Everything is just so slow! I remember a 28 day exchange being mentioned at the start of this process (lol) as it was supposed to be such an easy chain. It also seems to take about 5 days to get a response to an email which is quite frustrating.

@graduatedbob haha 28 days. I'd like to see a property sale go through in 28 days

@designercornishbird That's very odd, if it's been filled out I would have thought it can go straight to you now. On our purchase/sale we received the property information pack and also sent ours in under a fortnight after the sale was agreed.

@Lilothblos thanks! I thought it was odd too - the estate agent involved is very “old fashioned”. Maybe they’re used to more cautious timescales.

They made me feel really silly for chasing (considering I knew it was done) . I don’t think I’ll be dealing with them anymore and just communicate with the vendor (friends of ours)

Just didn’t want it getting awkward!

Desperately trying to exchange here. But cannot get hold of solicitor in any way of communication. Have no idea why contract was not given to us earlier given that queries were answered at least two weeks ago. Now getting the silent treatment. So incredibly frustrating!!

I want to strangle the solicitors on the other side. It's a good thing they are 200 miles away cos otherwise i would be in prison right now

I definitely understand the silent treatment syndrome - it's like everything we ask disappears into thin air - 9 days and counting till supposed completion and a threatening email from the developer this morning!

I've had a day full of filling in forms (all of the forms!! There are so many!) and gathering bits of paper. Think most things are with our solicitor now. Was feeling really buoyant about how things are proceeding but then.... phone all from EA and surveyor - our buyers' survey is not until mid January 😱.

I knew things were taking a while but we booked a survey which is happening in early December so was really shocked to hear this time-frame.

@maddenlightfoot omg well that’s filling me with dread!! Are you in a city where the market is really buoyant?

I’ll cry if ours is in January- mind you I spent the whole day crying anyway. Stressed!!

@maddenlightfoot I reckon that’s a mistake! Can you double check? Do you know the lender? Sometimes the EA’s let it slip don’t they

After a very long and stressful 13 months we finally exchanged today! We put our house on the market in Oct 2019 and it sold within a week. By the end of Nov 2019 the chain was complete. COVID ruined all that and our vendor was not willing to move once lockdown was lifted. We made the decision to go into rented and completed on the sale of our house at the end of June 2020.

We were tremendously lucky and had a offer accepted on another house at the start of July. It’s been slow and stressful - mortgage offer, valuation and survey took nearly 2 months to come through. Luckily our searches and conveyancing was pretty quick! We also had to contend with a down valuation as well as issues with a lack of building regulations (we actually pulled out at one point). We battled through all that and finally the end is near! NEVER and I mean NEVER am I moving again. I can’t wait to get back to a sense of normality! We’ll also get a refund on our ERC as we’re completing within the specified 5 month window which is about £4K! Now to do some furniture shopping!

Congratulations @FManc !

It's correct 😩, even had a confirmation phone all from the very lovely surveyor. I tried a charm offensive but he said even if there was a cancellation and he could move everyone forward it would still only be by a week. BUT this is just one, seemingly very popular!, surveyor. The EA is working on the buyers to go with someone else. We are in a buoyant area but surely that means more surveyors vying for business?!!

Congratulations Fmanc! What a year you've had! Time to open the bubbly 🥂!

@Badgerbadger22 yes you'd just need a Building Regs indemnity first that, they're really common. Make sure you're happy with the limitations of what the policy covers though (I.e. assistance if the council took enforcement proceedings), as they don't help at all if the windows are faulty/badly fitted etc.

Our survey arrived today it has raised a few issues but nothing unexpected in a house of that age (1800s) so we're happy to continue praying the mortgage offer arrives soon!!

My solicitor is not responding to me and it is driving me crazy! I want to know what else needs doing while we wait for searches. I want to be ready to exchange!

@jujuball thank you

I’ve never felt this stressed before!

You'll get your happy ending @Badgerbadger22 I honestly thought we'd never get our house sold but eventually we did. You just have to keep taking it one day at a time and try to distract yourself with non-house related things!

The delay for surveys is so frustrating, ours on the house we're buying is next week but was booked a month ago and that's the earliest we could get after I contacted a few different surveyors.

We're getting there with the conveyancing, buyer's solicitor has come back and said they have all searches and responses to enquiries. Buyer also had her mortgage approved today so I'm praying we can exchange in December.

Well we were on the verge of exchanging on Friday, then waited yesterday. Then today my Estate Agent phoned to say the person my Vendors are buying from has now just added a property she wants to buy into the chain! And she doesn't want to complete until the new year.
Fortunately my Vendors have decided to break the chain, and put stuff in storage, and move into short term, but would like another week.
It's all looking hopeful but I'm not sure if anyone has spoken to my buyers yet (or their buyers).
Oh and my buyers have refused a Covid clause.

We still haven't exchanged I just want to cry. Or scream. Or both. Apparently insurers stil haven't come back with a quite for the party wall insurance. Starting to cut things fine now and if we get to a Friday without exchanging I think we will have to move our completion date as we will need to change our van hire etc.

So I knew it was going too smoothly! Broker rang this morning to say Santander have put a 100% retention on the mortgage on the condition that our conveyancer can verify the property they valued matches the title deeds. The property is currently on two title deeds (house and land) but will be merged into one title deed as part of our purchase. Solicitor doesn’t seem too phased by it so I’m guessing it’s fairly standard but was a bit panic inducing after being told are mortgage had been fully agreed yesterday.

In other news, our solicitor has confirmed she’s still waiting on the local authority search and has now been told due to local council delays she won’t have this until December 2nd (I’m guessing there’s nothing we can do to hurry that up?) so looks like we’re back to the original timings for exchange

What's a covid clause?