Buyers Sellers Roll Call - 13

[lachy]

Staring a new thread!

Come and say hi 👋

Yes we similarly are emailing or phoning every day. 6 months down the line I can't believe others involved are so laid back... but anyway, hoping we will exchange this week... our mortgage offer expires in a month, so we are now up against it...

We’re waiting for one piece of paper and then we can exchange! Hopefully. It takes 10 days for the document to arrive and we ordered it last Tuesday....

My patience is worn

Good luck everyone x

Not sure if should still be ok this thread now that we have completed!
Just need to vent. So boiler keeps going off and takes about 10 restart attempts to get it to work and then only lasts 20 minutes. Had boiler round (luckily had already booked him in to do a service) and he says boiler is on last legs so could repair for about £500 but can’t guarantee how long it would last after that. Also had someone else round to look at work need on chimney and log burner and he also does heating so he had a quick look and also said very old and need a new one!
Heating in conservatory is electric and seperate and we discovered neither of them work after being told they do. DH took apart and both the capictors are broken. So need to buy new heaters!
Oven is filthy so booked a professional clean. Thought better test all works ok which it does but all the symbols/temp has rubbed off and the bottom of the knobs have melted so need to get new one!
We knew the seperate garage needs rebuilding but we told it was dry but it’s now wet inside after heavy rain so we will need to get that done sooner rather than later.

@BrieAndChilli oh no! That sounds awful. I've a feeling we'll have the same issues when we finally get in ours as it's been empty for a long time.
Hope you manage to get your heating sorted. That's the last thing you need in these freezing temperatures. Fingers crossed for you.

@BrieAndChilli how awful, so sorry to read your update. I hope you get it sorted out ASAP. An expected bill on moving is bad timing. You can only do the checks you can do. Very best wishes.

That's awful about the garage and boiler @BrieAndChilli
I'v never brought a house that's been clean though (I normally spend hours cleaning the one we're selling). The house we've just purchased is absolutely filthy - we knew it needed modernising (one of the reasons we purchased it) but thought it would be relatively clean given a family was living in it until a few days before completion. We're also wondering if it's easier to bin the oven than clean it (we had to do that at our previous property). Luckily we've not moved it yet.

Very stressed today... Searches on our sale were supposed to be back today, they've been delayed until the 19th. Our estate agent has forgotten who they're working for and is putting pressure on us to line stuff up to complete right after the searches are due back - ignoring that the date has already moved,several times, ignoring that we've repeatedly said we need 2 weeks between exchange and completion on account of the fact that we're breaking the chain. Our solicitor forwarded us a cracker of an email from her - "So to be clear you need to know a completion date before you can exchange contracts?" WTF?! What estate agent doesn't know that?

And then to top it all off - we got an email from Sky confirming that they're processing the cancellation of our broadband. We didn't order any cancellation. Turns out our buyer called and told them that she's taking over the property in two weeks!

Sorry to hear about your house, @BrieAndChilli. Have you checked to see if you've got any recourse through the fixtures and fittings form? E.g. if they claimed the heaters were working?

Thanks for the advice @catsfeet we are getting the storage unit tomorrow.

@powerslidepanda your post made me cringe.. our vendors also received a letter saying their broadband was being cut off. We had only asked our supplier to pause our contract for a month or so and that we'd let them know when we moving into the next address 😖 I was so, so embarrassed.

I am sorry to hear about your searches, what a pain! I hope your estate agent pulls their finger out soon

@PowerslidePanda I totally agree, our EA is exactly the same, nearly £7k in fees we are paying too. I will give them an appropriate google review.

Gosh @BrieAndChilli that's awful. You at least expect the obvious things to work. Our heating was rubbish when we moved. We ended up getting a new thermostat which has sorted it.
Our biggest shock was no living room main light. Not even the option, just a totally flat ceiling 🤦‍♀️

Oh @BrieAndChilli this is so depressing to read, we are yet to compete so I’m getting nervous about what we will find. Hope you’ve got some heat now.

I do hope it was just something like that, @ldnirish! I did think it might be to do with our buyer cancelling her current contract, but don't know where the date came from - it's definitely not going to be that soon!

@Roselilly36 - We will too. I'm tempted to invoke their complaints process, but don't know what would happen in terms of the sale if they decided it's easier to just drop us because of that. So gritting my teeth for a few more weeks.

I've only posted a few times here. House went on the market in August. I'm now in the final stages - one final legal document to be done and then we are ready to sign up for exchange. My buyers tried to get a £15K reduction on the back of their survey. Their list of faults included some exaggerated claims. I had made it very clear when I accepted their offer that it was lower than I wanted and that I could not go any lower. Anyway I stood my ground and they have conceded. So we are hoping to exchange next week (cross fingers) and complete second week March.

I'm now very aware I need to finish the sorting out. I've been doing it forever. But as I'm downsizing it's been needed and necessary. Once dates are sorted I need to get the removals booked and start looking at all the other things to do on the list. I've not yet looked at all of that.....

Best wishes to all of you trying to get in under the stamp duty wire.

Sold ours on 2nd August. Exchanged contracts today. Moving tomorrow. Building work starts in two weeks!

@Bouledeneige yes, our buyers tried that, we wouldn’t budge, on price. The agreed to pay the price originally agreed for our house.

We complete tomorrow, we are are downsizing from a large detached house to a 3 bed bungalow, we had so much stuff, and have let so much go to friends etc. DH on first name terms with the lovely guys at the local recycling centre. It has taken ages to sort, as I was determined not to take anything to our bungalow that we don’t want or need.

The owner of our Removal firm said he is fully booked for March, so if you haven’t checked yet that the dates are available of when you plan to exchange I would suggest anyone looking to move mid-late March to do it now. Of course if the SDLT is extended (pretty certain it will be, in some sort of capacity) it won’t be such a rush to move before 31 March.

Good luck everyone. Definitely one of the most stressful things you will ever do. Downsizing has been the hardest thing I have ever done. But nearly there now.

The owner of our Removal firm said he is fully booked for March, so if you haven’t checked yet that the dates are available of when you plan to exchange I would suggest anyone looking to move mid-late March to do it now. Of course if the SDLT is extended (pretty certain it will be, in some sort of capacity) it won’t be such a rush to move before 31 March.

Wow! We've got a date booked with movers mid-March, on the basis that we'll definitely be ready by then, but we might actually be ready a couple of weeks sooner - in which case our buyer is hoping to bring it forward. But I don't think she understands the reality of the situation!

Yes, hope stamp duty holiday is extended - both to take the pressure off, and because even though our sale should go through by the end of March, our purchase probably won't

I’ve posted here occasionally. Massive chain, sold in June and offered in July. Conveyancing has progressed at a snail’s pace due to awful solicitors used by the vendor. We were up against it due to the mortgage offer due to expire but thankfully we have had it extended. Finally we are in a position where all enquiries on the chain have been sorted and a date was being mooted for this week. However, now the top of the chain won’t commit to a date until their rental is sorted. Who knows how long that will take?!

I have got a removal firm lined up but don't have dates yet so can't confirm. They are busy but not yet completely booked. I think my vendors of the place I'm buying are also using them so that might make things easier.

Very fed up with "my" agent (inverted commas because they're supposed to be working for me). Phone call: Have you had survey on purchase property yet? Yes. Have you booked removers? Accepted quote but obviously don't know date yet. Have you booked cleaners for when you move out? Er..well...hadn't thought about it.....apparently covid guidelines. All very ahead of itself considering conveyancer has only just received package from vendor's side and so obvious just interested in commission. I was polite and friendly, giving as much info as I could but felt annoyed afterwards.

I've set a goal to be in the new house before we hit thread 14 on here . At this rate I'll still be here for thread 15.

Still no news on an exchange date and no news on whether our buyers have booked their removals so we can complete on the agreed date in a few weeks.
We've finally managed to book 2 vans but it's been difficult. Everything is booked up so far in advance which is why I'm so worried our buyer won't get a removal firm in time.

Morning all, I'm waiting to see what today's emails bring!

After the last week of our buyer messing us around and pressing for money off/towards the chimney being repointed we gave in yesterday and offered £300 on a 'shut up and get on with it' basis (obviously worded slightly nicer!). We've not had a response on that but have had her 'preference' for completion dates. I'm a little annoyed she's been so specific about days as she's not selling so can be more flexible about moving a day after completion or whatever - but I just want it agreed so we can crack on now. Obviously all depends on if this date works for the rest of the chain, but we've not really had anything on our purchase yet. Searches are back, survey done and nothing unexpected on those. Solicitor mentioned she'd sent a couple of enquiries but they were pretty standard ones. Will feel better when we have actual paperwork I suppose!

I have spoken to a couple of removal companies - the one we have "booked" informed me today that they actually double book each booking as no one knows when their actual move date will be and then it is first come first served - is this some kind of joke?
Both me and my vendors have the same company lined up which is weird! They have linked the two now as kind of "one job".
We are planning a Monday completion as apparently Fridays are a complete nightmare at the moment.
Internet - I was very, very clear to our provider that we were just finding out about switching over and that nothing is to be actioned yet... I am still traumatised over moving into our current house, BT cut off the wrong house, they cut off our new neighbour instead of our seller and she WFH she still doesn't speak to us really.

I have spoken to a couple of removal companies - the one we have "booked" informed me today that they actually double book each booking as no one knows when their actual move date will be and then it is first come first served - is this some kind of joke?

That's terrible! It might work in normal circumstances, where it's not a big deal if everyone has to delay a few days. But with the whole country working towards the same deadline, they're going to be letting a huge number of customers down!

Can I rant? Ready to exchange, having sold last September. Sellers at top (two transactions above) have second home to go to so no onward purchase, but are 'elderly' (whatever that means) and have always said they wanted 4 weeks between exchange and completion. Today it turns out they want six weeks and to complete on the last Friday of March!!! Absolutely the worst day IMO, but apparently they're very wobbly and 'may decide not to sell at all'. WTF?? They've known for months they were moving. Agent said they were 'having a meeting with their removal company next Tuesday.' Luckily my removal company can do that date (actually I've said I want the day before so we're not all stuck waiting for them to pack the last fucking Royal Doulton teacup at 10pm on the Friday) but who knows what the chain below me will say. Fuming. Absolutely nothing I can do about it. I've been massively proactive all the way through, answered every query the same day, chased for documents....aaaaargh!!!

Oh god @fresh that's ridiculous. Talk about eking out every last possible bit of stress from the situation...

On the removals, most of the ones we have seen were pretty much booked til March, but all did say that obviously there will be people who for whatever reason end up not taking up their slot and to keep in touch.

Seemingly no progress for us today. All queries on the top chain are back, but one is being referred to the lender.