So close to the end…help!

[FerretFumbler]

Hi
Not sure what to do.
Someone isn’t telling the whole truth.
I have been waiting on my seller’s enquiries for a a while now. My solicitor says he sent them a while ago on the 8th June, and then sent them a reminder on 13th June. I spoke to the seller’s estate agent yesterday and he said they only just received them, albeit dated the 8th. Consequently, after waiting for so long for them, we have been told we are now put to the bottom of the pile as they are concentrating on cases which are sure to make the June stamp duty cut-off.
My solicitor says if we get the enquiries back, we could still make the end of June.
I don’t know what to do. I need to get moving so that I can get the children into their new schools (we are moving across the country) and I can’t do that without a permanent address. Especially concerning as my son has SEN and is going to start secondary school in Sept, so it was really important he made friends and met some other kids making that transition/going to get the bus etc.

I have already asked my solicitor to get in touch with the seller’s solicitor and see what he can do.
What else can I do?
Beg the estate agent to contact the seller’s solicitors again and plead my case?
Ask seller’s if we can move into the empty (probate) property before we have exchanged?

I am so stressed by the school thing. Any advice?

So sorry to hear you’re having a stressful time. Do you know the nature of the enquiries? Is there anything you could take indemnity insurance against?

I’ve noticed two things in the last ten days: 1) lots and lots of the enquiries are inconsequential in reality and seem to come from a generic list of things that should be asked without any thought, 2) there’s lots of lying going on by solicitors - our EA says it’s getting ridiculous. For us it was our buyer’s solicitor telling our buyer we hadn’t supplied ANY of the household documentation all of which had been sent to them by our solicitor months ago (& I’ve seen email to prove this). The EA says many of them have taken on too much work and are now panicking and lying to clients to save face. [Disclaimer: I know lots of solicitors are brilliant - mine is! - but many are cracking under pressure reading thread on here].

I have no idea of the enquiries! I am hoping they are the like usual ones I received from my buyer - boiler serviced/gas certification etc. Am I meant to know what they are??

I don’t even know if I should pull out now and just rent somewhere just so my son will be ok at school.
I honestly feel so close to breaking at the moment.

Can you afford to move after the cut off? Make a nuisance of yourself, the squeaky wheel gets the oil.....

Getting rentals is really hard at the moment so might not be any less stressful.

Good luck!

Is there a typo in your dates, or did your solicitor only raise enquiries on 8 June - ie seven working days ago? And you're already thinking of pulling out?

Solicitors are absolutely stacked with work at the moment and with sales that are likely to make the end of June cut off. Depending on the enquiries and how complex they are, I don't think yours going through by then is very realistic. Presuming you need a mortgage, most mortgage companies want a week to draw down the funds, so you'd need to have everything finalised by 23 June. Which means four working days for their solicitor to respond to all enquiries and for your solicitor to go through those responses and check they're satisfactory. It's tight tbh.

Have you already had all the searches back and already signed the various forms (title deed transfer, mortgage forms etc)? Or is that still to do as well?

Ask what the enquiries are and see if they can be answered via the estate agent / owner if they are straightforward enough questions. Some of what we were asked was definitely in that category! And yes ask your solicitor if there is anything you can do without. You are going to make a financial saving if you make the deadline so factor that in to any cost / risk attached to anything outstanding and maybe an indemnity can sort those things out and you’ll still be way up financially?

Re: schools would pulling out and renting really speed things up that much...it’s there as an option but say you miss the deadline, you might still be sorted within a couple of weeks...?

The enquiries are the only think left to be sorted as far as I am aware. We started this whole process months ago, so I thought we would’ve had plenty of time, even with the extra burden solicitors are having with the stamp duty extension.

We can copy with the financial side of things if we have to, as I said the main reason for getting so stressed and wanting it done pronto is schools. Going to secondary and a new house is enough to cope with, let alone having autism and not knowing anyone in a different area. Hence the urgency to get him in there and make him familiar with kids living nearby who will also be starting secondary.

I would be asking your solicitor why they only raised enquiries last week if this purchase has been going on for months.

Enquiries will often take several weeks to resolve - months, if something like a boundary issue comes to light. And if solicitors end up in back-and-forth discussions over the responses, these things do tend to drag on.

Everyone is fobbing me off!
Spoke to estate agent, he said he’s already spoke to the seller’s solicitor so won’t do so again and it is up to my solicitor to sort it out and speak to them as it’s not estate agents job.
My solicitor says he can’t speak to them, ask estate agent to speak to them.

OMG. I want to bang my head against the wall and cry now.

Email your solicitor, and the estate agent, and the seller personally. Say that time is of the essence and you need to complete before the June cut-off, and that if this doesn't happen, you will be to re-thinking your position.
There's no reason that I know why replies to enquiries and copies of documents can't be emailed.
However, you need to have a mortgage offer in place - if you haven't got that , you can't go ahead.
If you are buying a freehold house then the enquiries should be relatively straightforward, they'll be asking for things like evidence of consents for any extensions. But the solicitors can't just answer them themselves, they have to get the seller's instructions on each and every question. This is normally done by sending the forms to the seller to fill in and return, and asking them to supply any relevant paperwork. If it's done by snailmail, it can take a while to turn it all around. If it's a probate sale, it's possible that more than one person has to check the replies, eg a brother and sister living in different cities/countries who are both executors for the deceased parents.
So if everyone was willing to fast track this AND the paperwork itself does not present any problems, then theoretically it could be done before the end of June.
Realistically, maybe not.

I'd be inclined to say you're pulling out if you don't get the answers you need by close of play on (pick a day) next week. Then do it and rent.

It's not worth the stress!

I'd be inclined to say you're pulling out if you don't get the answers you need by close of play on (pick a day) next week

But this is madness. As a pp said, enquiries might not be that simple, even with everyone working as hard as they can to turn them around. You need to understand what enquiries there are, and what information is needed to respond to them, before making a rash decision. @DelphiniumBlue puts it very well.

Some enquiries are stupid. My buyers solicitors asked for gas certificate (no gas to building which was clearly stated on property info form), and for competent person certificate for a form which read: 'as a registered competent person I hereby certify that X was installed etc etc'. Box ticking. But some are legitimate and are to protect you.
Your E A is limited and it's really your solicitor to chase, but they can't force the other side to respond.

I would ask your estate agent to contact the estate agent of the house you are purchasing to contact the vendors and explain why time is of the essence and find out the answers to the enquiries quickly hopefully via email.
I’ve just pushed my house sale through by chasing everyone up constantly, ringing the solicitor to find out why there was a hold up and when she couldn’t get a response from the vendors solicitor I phoned my estate agent to speak directly to the purchaser to get him to chase his solicitor up. It’s taken days of time but it is the only way and if you are on the case you tend to be further up the pile. I hope it all works out for you

Enquiries can be ridiculous. Our latest house sale was held up by weeks with a back and forth over why we hadn't got certification for a "new kitchen." The answer was, there was no new kitchen. But it took weeks for that one to go away, with increasingly Kafka-esque conversations trying to prove the kitchen was not new, and wondering where on earth that idea had come from in the first place...

We are in the same position. Our sol sent 10 enquiries on 4th may only got answers to 1 . We are being threatened by bottom of chain who unwisely completed on the sale of their house . We are being forced to go into rented really which is not easy with two dogs and we will have to pay stamp duty on our purchase or face losing our buyer .

It’s so stressful .

We exchanged yesterday, we were ready Tuesday but the sellers solicitors were not playing ball. Yesterday I rang the sellers solicitors and was really stroppy with them. Suddenly everyone was galvanised into action and we exchanged within the hour......

Try not to give up hope but with the solicitors being under massive amounts of pressure you can’t sit back.

Good luck - it’s so energy sapping so try and rest a bit this weekend ready for the fight next week.

I would be phoning the solicitor and estate agent every day. I had this where one of the solicitors was economical with the truth, as I found when I managed to get the sellers phone number and compared notes. Once I was phoning every day things really started shifting as they were all sick of hearing from me.

Do you know the local authority cut off for a school place at the start of term? For ours it is 9 july so you may sneak in if you are less bothered by the end of june stamp duty date most are chasing.

I understand your frustration.

I am not a solicitor but can you exchange or get a memorandum of intention to exchange subject to enquiries, can you chat to the owners and ask them what the answers are likely to be (is it a freehold property? These are generally more straight forward.. sweeping generalisation!!!). And can you contact the LA and ask them what they would accept as evidence that you will ge buying this house so they can start to process your application.

Can you also contact the schools that your children are likely to attend and see if there are parent groups you could join to start making connections and plan to meet people over the summer?

My kids go to international school and we have ways for new arrivals to make contacts .. I appreciate that this is different and that year 7 is a whole different ball game to primary in terms of PTA etc..

And you should all try Walnut Bach Flowrr drops to help you through this... Yes, it will be difficult, change always is and multiplied by X for neuro diverse kids. Maybe see if there are any parent support groups for your new area on Facebook..

Find a mantra, every step is a little closer, one step at a time, all will be well.

Good luck!!