Chain of 6. So worried and it’s making me ill.

[Worriedhomemover]

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone has any advice or positive stories of a longer housing chain.

Our buyer viewed our house in July! We accepted an offer. DH actually showed them around on the second viewing and he said ‘we’re in a really good position and have exchanged’, our estate agent presented the same information to us. All great. We accepted the offer based on that, gave them a few grand off.

We then have an offer accepted on our new place saying we are in a short chain (they are chain free so we are number 5).

We then found out our buyer has 3 people behind her. We were angry and wanted to pull out but decided to keep going as this is our dream house and we don’t want to lose it.

The first purchase in the chain fell through and was re established in early September. We are still waiting and haven’t exchanged. Apparently they are still waiting for a search to come back.

I feel sick. This is a relocation for us and for various reasons we needed the sale to go through quickly.

I’m so worried that something else will go wrong. Our estate agent has been great (feel awful for her as she seems to be organising the whole chain’)

I almost want to pull out, but we’ve come this far and our vendors have been amazing- they have had a sale fall through previously and I don’t want to do it to them again.

Who had actually completely on a bigger chain? Any survival tips? I can’t relax at all. We started packing things into boxes thinking moving was imminent and then all of a sudden they’re saying ‘hopefully before Christmas’. There is just so much uncertainty!

Oh it’s awful at the moment, the waiting times are horrific. We’re a chain of 4, should be uncomplicated. It’s the lack of communication, our estate agent is clearly overwhelmed and not chasing up anything.

Yep I completely agree! I just don’t understand that there seems to be no system. I think other countries don’t have this issue and have something in place? We just chase different people/ EA/ solicitors and no one really communicates.How long have your been waiting now @shouldvebeenme

Also accepted in July. No chain on either side. Literally just us two, and we’re still waiting.
We are also relocating so it all rides on this sale. It’s making me ill too, I’m so anxious my chest hurts at times! No advice, but I’m right there with you.

@thewinehasgonetomyhead it’s horrible isn’t it. What are you waiting on? That must be so disappointing especially when you’d expect things to be quicker and more straightforward with no chain.

Relocations are so stressful as it is. We still haven’t been able to sort a new nursery for DD as we don’t have a date. We are moving from the south west to the East Midlands so it’s going to be a huge change, with no friends or family nearby. Would just be grateful to exchange even if we have to wait another month to complete!

@Worriedhomemover

Yep I completely agree! I just don’t understand that there seems to be no system. I think other countries don’t have this issue and have something in place? We just chase different people/ EA/ solicitors and no one really communicates.How long have your been waiting now *@shouldvebeenme*

Accepted offer 10 weeks ago. Awaiting one search on place we’re buying. Our buyers and their buyers have searches due back. I’ve filled in a gazillion forms. Enquiries all sorted on our sale.

@Worriedhomemover well when we accepted the offer we were told it was a cash buyer, great we thought! Turns out he’s an investor, who decided to set up a ltd co to purchase the property, and then get a mortgage after all. So we’ve had to wait and wait and wait. But he’s sneaky and it’s always false promises. We can’t pull out as we’ve come so far now but he’s got us over a barrel now.

I’m trying not to get stressed but it’s v difficult. The house we’re buying is 0.3 miles to the school we are applying for our daughter, so we really don’t want to lose it! Amongst other reasons of course. Viewing houses 200 miles away was a challenge!

Are you relocating for work purposes?

@thewinehasgonetomyhead what is it with people lying! It’s like they just trap you and by the time you find out you’ve already spent 1000’s. I don’t know how they sleep at night tbh. We are moving for DH’s work, so he is working away at the moment. I find it so hard by myself with our toddler! That’s great your new place will be so close to school. Fingers crossed it all works out for you! I have my Christmas decorations all ready to go, at this rate I’ll probably be putting my tree up on Christmas Eve!

@shouldvebeenme searches are horrendous at the moment. Hopefully everything with come back quickly with no other extra enquiries!

If your estate agent presented them as having exchanged and without a chain behind them, their due diligence is shocking. The minute I had found that put I'd have instructed the agent to remarket.

Last house I sold the buyers took us up to exchange and reduced their offer due to spurious survey claims. I had managed the redevelopment so knew they were pulling a flanker.

Oh dear I said and asked the agent to advise them I was sorry to hear their revised offer but it was my decision whether to sell and to whom to sell and I would not be selling to them unless they reinstated the agreed offer and meanwhile the house would be immediately remarketed.

They crawled back after 3 hours and I considered it until 4.55pm and still wish I hadn't sold to them. I loved that house.

I accepted an offer in May. Chain of 4 which has broken four times. We complete this week. Hopefully.
DD ftb had offer accepted June. Chain of 3. Still no completion date.

@Worriedhomemover yes you’re exactly right, you’re trapped with nowhere to move. You are completely at their mercy with no choice but to wait. Our solicitors are chasing all they can. We’ve been told today that as part of his mortgage offer he needs a personal guarantor as it’s a ltd company, which is an even further delay. We’ve now been told to aim for completion “early December”. I’m not holding my breath I’d be dead by Christmas if I did!

Same here! I do feel for you. We are still waiting for the mortgage offer to be issued to the first time buyers at the bottom of the chain (delay as it’s a flat and there were extra hoops to jump through because of cladding surveys after Grenfell) and a search at the very top of the chain who are moving abroad! I am in the middle, it’s also a divorce and my stress levels are through the roof! I feel your pain

@RosesAndHellebores good for you not backing down! I have to say I was very unimpressed with EA. She called us about 5 days after we accepted the offer, by then we had already had an offer accepted on the new place. Part of me does wish we’d just pulled out but we are quite desperate and this new place is my dream house. She did say that the buyer wrote down their position on the form though, and EA has done a lot of calling around for us. But just don’t understand why they didn’t check before allowing them to put in an offer?

I love this house too and I really hate the idea of them living here. She has been seen hanging around our car parking area taking photos and taking to one of my neighbours recently! Good thing I have badmouthed them to the neighbourhood gossips so she will arrive with a bad rep at least.

We are in a chain of 6 OP, and similarly to you accepted the offer on ours back in August. The issue for us is up the chain, as one of the parties above us is separating and therefore dropping down a couple of levels value wise. We are now not expecting the chain to complete until the new year. It's pretty stressful, I have to be honest.

I'd say a standard freehold purchase takes on average 8-10 weeks from receipt or issuing of contract papers to exchange, leasehold is more like 10-12 weeks. The more people in the chain, the longer it's likely to take as there are so many different parties on which it is dependent. Each party in the chain is likely to have a different estate agent, solicitor, mortgage lender, mortgage broker, etc.

At the moment, many solicitors' firms still have staff furloughed so those that are working are doing the work of two or three people. The stamp duty holiday means most firms are really busy. In addition, many of the mainstream lenders are ridiculously short staffed, so any call to a lender is likely to take at least an hour on hold, getting a written response to a query can take over a week in some cases. Plus it's taking ages to get mortgage offers issued. Search providers have a massive backlog and local authority searches are very slow to come back. And December is the busiest month of the year by far, as effectively it's only three weeks as most firms are closed between Christmas and new year, and everyone wants to complete before Christmas.

I completely agree that the system is flawed, it creates a wholly unnecessary amount of stress for clients and it is in serious need of reform. Good luck to you all!

Should say, we are pretty close to being ready, but the top seller has just pulled out... hoping that the top buyer will have an offer accepted soon on an alternative, but obv no guarantees. We were hoping our seller might break the chain and go into rented, but she won't, despite indicating earlier in the process that she would.

We offered on our dream house beginning Nov 16 and didn't complete until the end of July 17. Our house sale fell through twice and we had to go back to market twice, but our vendor held fast. It was one of the most stressful experiences either of us had been through, and we too relocated to another part of the country along with my partner's elderly mum and our anxious rescue dog. Nightmare! It made us ill to- the slowness of pace that solicitors work at, the lack of control you have over the process, just awful. But you will get through it OP it will all be behind you one day soon.

I’m in a chain of 5, offer accepted in August, supposedly exchanging this week. Was meant to be last week 🙄 Everyone does now have everything in place but we’ve faffed agreeing dates, solicitors just not responding & no obvious sense of urgency .. I thought we’d exchange today but no, the solicitor at the bottom of the chain did nothing until late this afternoon. It’s infuriating beyond words.

The whole process has been shit. I’m not an anxious at all usually but this has stressed me to high heaven. Now everything is sorted, I remain highly anxious the chain is going to fall victim to covid isolation .. I wish they’d all just get a move on!

Hand hold OP, it’s not easy. I relocated a few years ago & it was really hard. But hugely worth it eventually!

You have to wonder how people are allowed to get away with such an awful system?

Yes, everyone abroad is shocked when I tell them about the system in UK (England). Offers need to be legally binding and all the searches/surveys presented to buyers before they make an offer , by the seller. This is he US system (and I suppose similar in Scotland though the offers over there is a nuisance).

Nowhere else in civilised world turns people into nervous wrecks when buying /selling houses.

It is truly awful, how slow and untouchable conveyancing solicitors are allowed to be!

@joystir59 I think your comment about how awful, slow and untouchable conveyancing solicitors are is rather telling. Some are, but I think that is often because purchasers expect conveyancing to be done very cheaply - £350 to £500 is very common I believe and it simply isn't possible to provide a high quality service for that price. It's like comparing Harvey Nicks with TK Max.

Buyers and Sellers need to take more responsibility too. When we sold the last house I didn't accept the offer until the EA had seen proof of finances and discussed circs in full and provided me with a written summary of circs.

There is a sad situation in the uk where buyers and sellers get what they pay for.

We’re in a chain of 6 including our first time buyers. We accepted an offer in June, had an offer accepted July and still waiting!

It’s mostly done. Our sale is ready, the purchase and the vendor’s onward purchase is where the delays are, as they went for the most dreadful solicitors possible who have to be micro managed to do anything. It’s so frustrating. I just wish I knew whether we’re likely to be moving in December, I really don’t know what to do about getting a Christmas tree. Obv not the most important thing to consider but I’m a bit obsessed with Christmas 😅

We are due to exchange and complete today in under 3 hours, I'm still worried!

Just to add my sympathies, it's so stressful at the moment.

It will be worth it, hold tight, and try and distract yourself as best you can thinking about it (impossible, I know.)

I had a very simple and short chain but the delays were ridiculous, by the time we complete it'll be 5 months from start to finish. In the end I said I was pulling out, and I meant it, and suddenly 3 hours later we exchanged! Like magic words!

[quote RosesAndHellebores]@joystir59 I think your comment about how awful, slow and untouchable conveyancing solicitors are is rather telling. Some are, but I think that is often because purchasers expect conveyancing to be done very cheaply - £350 to £500 is very common I believe and it simply isn't possible to provide a high quality service for that price. It's like comparing Harvey Nicks with TK Max.

Buyers and Sellers need to take more responsibility too. When we sold the last house I didn't accept the offer until the EA had seen proof of finances and discussed circs in full and provided me with a written summary of circs.

There is a sad situation in the uk where buyers and sellers get what they pay for.[/quote]
I agree with the quality of solicitors and I wish people would be prepared to pay more.

Ours is £1200 + vat but he is absolutely fantastic. Once had a purchase where the vendor used a cheap online solicitor and they were so awful my solicitor ended up doing parts of their job properly to get it through!