Is this normal?

[Cushionandpillow]

Hi everyone,
I don’t really know if this wait time/delay is normal? And whether I should stick it out or look at other houses.

I put an offer in early July which was accepted no problems. Had a bit of a wait 3 weeks for mortgage to be approved (I had a decision in principle) but it did come through and there wasn’t any issues just a back log post lockdown.

Anyway I am a first time buyer and the sellers told me they hadn’t found a house and are going to move in with a relative. The house sale is still ongoing. My solicitors sent some enquires to the sellers solicitors 6-7 weeks ago and they have still not fully returned. I had to apply for an extension for my mortgage offer at the start of November which is now in place until December. I emailed my solicitors again over the weekend to ask if they had a completion date and whether we could ask the sellers solicitors for a completion date. My solicitors have come back to me to say, they are unsure of a completion date and they also think the sellers solicitors will be unsure of a completion date and could not guarantee completion before the end of November and they are still awaiting outstanding enquiries which they have again chased.

I don’t know whether it usually takes this long to complete a house purchase when both seller and buyer are chain free and whether it usually takes this long for enquiries to be answered?

I don’t know whether it would be worth me viewing other houses? Because I really have no idea how long the purchase is going to take. Either way I think I will have to apply for another extension of the mortgage offer.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated, thank you.

You need to chase your estate agent and solicitor daily, it shouldn't be drifting like that.

Ask your solicitor to get more specific answers. What enquiries, from who? Should not take this long really although some places are slow due to covid.
I'd let them know that your time limit is December and you're going to start looking at other places now, whether you actually do or not is another matter. I'd probably go and have a look about. Also get the estate agent involved, they hate losing sales!

Hi. That does sound like a long time
They need to explain to you what is holding this up. It could be that because you are inexperienced they are just dragging it out ( not prioritising you or keeping you on hold while the seller finds something else?) If you have a mortgage adviser, they will help you chase up the sale or if not, keep on at the estate agent. Good luck.

In my experience, sellers never move in with relatives or rent. Sorry, but they are stringing you along.

I agree with all the above. I had exactly this scenario and got strung along for 4 months before I gave up. In my case though they hadn't even formally appointed their own solicitor.

Contact the Estate Agent - they won't get their money until completion so they should be keen to shift it along too. Also ask the solicitor to confirm what the outstanding points are - my solicitor had a great online system where I could monitor all the letters and responses so could help follow up if necessary.

If all else fails, give them a deadline to respond to otherwise you'll pull out.

Are both of you using local solicitors or is someone using one of the big online conveyancing firms?

@SoosanCarter

In my experience, sellers never move in with relatives or rent. Sorry, but they are stringing you along.

100% this.

@SoosanCarter it is actually happening in our chain - we exchanged a week ago and complete on Friday, and just exchanged on our ongoing purchase and complete on 4 December. We’re with family for the interim 3 weeks and the sellers of our new place are moving in with family from 4/12 until after Christmas (possibly so they’re guaranteed to spend Xmas together?) I think at the moment it depends on what your local market is doing - ours is slow and we really needed to not lose our FTB purchaser, and our sellers don’t want to lose us for the same reason.

With that in mind though OP, I’d definitely make noises about pulling out. Frankly as a FTB you hold all the cards, I wish I’d appreciated that more when we were doing it!

I'd say the sellers are stringing you along.

I put an offer in on a house on 4th September and everything's been pretty much done, we're looking at beginning of December to complete. It would be sooner but my buyer needs to get more paperwork sorted, that's still only delayed it by about 2 weeks though.

The general time frame is 12 weeks, give or take. I agree with pp, make some noises about pulling out