Buyers sellers roll call 12

[Bells3032]

New thread. Hopefully the last one for us!!

@Badgerbadger22 just the standard ones you get for every property from the council

So weirdly the email i sent to the council weeks ago has finally been responded to. They said they got the search request on the 9th november (not the 15th october as the other side originally stated) and the turn around time has now extended to at least 20 working days. So won't be back for another ten days at least.

I am concerned that i am getting more response from the council than either solictor

@Bells3032 I'm thinking of emailing our council about our buyers searches. Ridiculous how these solicitors have lied. Our buyers solicitor has asked our buyer to ask us enquiries via our estate agent rather than them go through our solicitor which all seems rather odd. They're not an online outfit either, quite a big office in the town centre.

@lolabears it took a while to get a response to be honest. apparently there's a private search so they can't prioritise it. it's so fustrating. we are on week 22 for a chain free, single property sale. It should of been done in 8 weeks and the mortgage and survey were done well within time. the further delays have been useless buyers, awful solicitors and the agent providing incorrect information.

@Bells3032 so similar to ours. It's FTB's then us and we're prepared to move out to another property whenever they are ready. FTB's have mortgage offer and did the survey about 2 weeks after we accepted their offer. Our agent also passing on misinformation and generally adding to the confusion. The most frustrating thing for us is we accepted a lower offer from these FTB's on the understanding that they had applied for the searches.

I'm contemplating ringing the estate agent to see if one of the outstanding pieces of paperwork has been received.

We're so close to the point of exchange that I can barely sit still.

Santander is taking ages to book our valuation. Just asked the estate agent and they confirmed they hadn’t heard from the bank yet

Still no progress. Our deadline for exchange was today. It’s not happened.

The top of the chain have just about agreed to push the deadline to Wednesday at the very latest but I don’t see it happening and nobody will discuss an alternative plan. I think Christmas is making it all feel even more pressured, plus all the covid stuff constantly hanging over everything.

Well done to anyone who’s managed to make progress today!

Hmm it seems we are not quite as near to exchanging as I believed yesterday as our vendor's solicitor hasn't given the responses ours requested. I imagine that will mean another week of toing and froing. Gah. Just when I thought we'd had a bit of positive news for a change!

Can anybody advise please?
We was supposed to exchange this week but we've been told our sellers are awaiting queries from the council.
At this late stage (3 months in) what could they possibly be asking the council for? Everyone else in the chain is good to go. I feel very confused. If the searches have been done what reasons would you need to send queries to the council?
Sorry I'm just confused and wondering if anyone has any suggestions to help me understand. I'm starting to panic it's something big or a deal breaker and then it will all fall through

@housemover0009 not heard that one before but could be a planning permission enquiry or perhaps sign off from building control?

That’s all I can think of x

Just heard from solicitors that we're going to try to exchange on Monday and complete at some point next week. I'm so pleased, as maybe I can relax a little bit this weekend.

We're in a more positive position than we were this time last week.

Our buyers revised mortgage offer has been received and the last other piece of documentation has been completed.

I've asked our solicitor to push for an exchange on Tuesday and to complete on 11th.

Waiting game now...

@Maybenexttime08 thats good news!

We were due to exchange today but of course it hasn't happened! Monday apparently. Have heard this many times now !

Yet another stalling tactic from our buyer, he wants us to pay for an electrical certificate. Our EA and solicitor have advised we don't have to do this, but we're backed into a corner yet again, because if we don't he's just going to piss about even more! At least if we do this we can bargain a bloody completion date. He's taking the piss now!

We are having an awful time with ours...and we were so close!

Out sale is fine, no problems and we were meant to exchange today. Don't think our buyer's solicitor bothered to call ours, but it should happen on Monday now.

Our sellers on the other hand...we have had weeks of lies and fobbing off about building regulations. They said they had them. Negative search. Our solicitor has been asking and asking. Last week they said they'd send over the certificate. Sent it. Doesnt mention the work done. Sellers insist it is fine, our solicitor says it definitely isn't. Worried about losing out buyer, we gave them an ultimatum yesterday - send us the proper documents, or agree to accept a reduced offer. Told them we wanted an answer by the end of today. Four o'clock we got a phone call insisting it's the right document and they were sending proof. Sent more unrelated documents through and now it's too late to do anything about it until Monday.

So we are exchanging on ours and seeing what happens next week. We have family we can stay with, so it's not terrible, just frustrating. Another house has just come on the market - the first in months - and we're tempted to look at it anyway and just pull out of this one. It was mean to be a sensible option, not a forever home, and it's just turned out to be a nightmare!

Hey guys! Just came to ask for some advice on my house purchase. We signed our mortgage deeds at the start of the week and the same day we received our hopeful date for completion, which is the middle of December. No mention of an exchange date. Just wondered for those who are exchanging at the moment how long it took between singing the mortgage deeds and then being able to exchange? FTB so I feel like I don't have a clue what stage I'm at

@OUB1974 have they done lots of renovation work / extensions?

Is there any indemnity that would cover it? Sounds worrying though...

@MinecraftMother and @Jujuball might know?

@Badgerbadger22 They have done a garage conversion. Our surveyor thought it looked quite poor quality, but the sellers insisted it met with the regulations. It's been going on for weeks and it was only yesterday we 100% established that there is no paperwork! The indemnity wouldn't cover the cost of sorting it out, which we would want to do as we'd be selling in a few years and inheriting the problem. If we'd known at the beginning we'd have pulled out for sure, but we're so unsure what to do.

@OUB1974 what kind of garage conversion? Are they claiming it’s “habitable”? Heating, insulation etc?

Can you call your local authority building control? Ask for their advice?

@OUB1974 @Badgerbadger22 indemnities are limited in what they cover, if your surveyor thinks it isn't very good quality then you're right to be wary. I wouldn't be keen unless they could produce the paperwork or arrange retrospective Building Regs (although if the work is poor quality that might not be possible). It sounds like your solicitor is advising you well!

What a nightmare though so many people think they'll just get away with these things.

Yes they are, but obviously we have no way of knowing! The council say we could get it done retrospectively, but obviously it could be a massive amount of work...

@OUB1974 that’s so dodgy. I’m so sorry hope you find a solution.