Buyers Sellers Roll Call 16

[Househunting21]

Because the last thread is nearly full and I for one very much appreciate the space to vent

Good luck to everyone hoping to exchange and/or complete this week!

We have finally exchanged this afternoon after being told it will be “tomorrow” every day for god knows how long! Completing on Thursday, which is a good job given I’m being induced 2 weeks today!

@notinthestarsigns congratulations! fingers crossed the baby holds on . There are a few of you on this thread completing near to your due dates - you have my admiration I have to say! I found it stressful enough without being pregnant - goodness knows what I would have been like with a pregnancy at the same time!

@Ruralbliss given it's the largest purchase you'll probably ever make, I think it's worth getting a survey. It's not only the house itself but the environment the house is in. I totally understand why you might want to skip it if you feel it may not show anything. I would make a call on the paperwork you get (and see if it shows anything having to be fixed under warranty). But personally I would always get one done tbh.

And we’re in! All complete 🥳

Beyond shattered. No curtains or blinds 🙄 so we shall see how night one goes!!

Time to celebrate @newhousehope !
Curtains will come with time!

And good luck to those expecting and exchanging. That sounds hairy.

Well last week it was suggested that our vendors would be ready to exchange this week....

However, we are STILL waiting to hear about the remaining enquiries that have been outstanding since MARCH!!!! And we need time to move funds.

It's now Wednesday and we've heard nothing from our solicitor or the estate agent - so god knows.

DH is stressed out at work and about this and thinks it's never going to happen....He's getting very snappy and low about it all

We have quite a big chain (7 in total - bottom of chain FTB, top of chain going in to new build). Chain completed end of April/beginning of May. Was hoping for a date to exchange & complete but have just heard from our solicitor that a solicitor in the chain is still waiting for their clients mortgage offer. How do you progress this far without that?

I'm embarrassed to say that I did have a little cry (I have my own office so nobody saw). No idea if/when we will get a moving date. I'm on my knees and heading for a breakdown. Split with ExH in May 2020 but still living in the same house. Much longer and one of us might not survive!

it is incredibly stressful @LODReturn I don't blame you for crying. And you have the added exh horror. Be kind to yourself!

I have name changed but this is the 3rd Buyers/Sellers thread I have been on . Dp is basically not sleeping at night now from the stress. We have been selling 2 properties to move into one. Honestly if I never spoke to another estate agent in my lifetime it would be too soon.

Today we might be FINALLY exchanging. Completing will be a few weeks later due to the non cash buyer (fgs) but i've told dp if exchange is confirmed today, we must get some prosecco and celebrate (will probably pass out after one glass!).

Fingers crossed for you @StrongArm

Just found out our seller who had sorted going in to rented hasn’t actually secured the rental property as the agents won’t do this until we have exchanged with our seller. We are now holding up the exchange as we are still waiting for official mortgage offer and we go on holiday tonight. I could scream!!

How is the unpacking going @Newhousehope ?

We have exchanged! I thought I would be more elated but I'm actually just exhausted and relieved. Need to get a few documents the buyer wants before completion but other than that, should get there. I feel like weeping with relief. Thanks to everyone for their ongoing support! Not sure I would have managed without an outlet!

@Iamsodonewith2020 commiserations! I keep repeating - why can't people be honest!! Argh!!

Finally received the memorandum of sale today after more than 2 weeks of my offer having been accepted. I can tell this is going to be a slow purchase, but I need it to move quickly. Argh!

My buyer has just dropped their offer on my flat, on the grounds that their survey suggested £X-Y amount of work needed doing on the exterior (with no explanation of what for, why the amounts involved are so fuzzy, whether this is/includes some obvious things which were factored into the asking price, or why the amount they want to drop the offer by is more than £Y). Sod that for a game of tennis.

All my lingering lack of enthusiasm for the practicalities of moving is now boiling over - we're now moving into my busiest time at work so my headspace for anything else is limited. Plus I've been questioning whether I really want to move to the place I'm buying - there are a lot of positives about it, but there are also some compromises that I've been mulling over how I really feel about. And I do like my flat! All things being equal it's feeling like my buyer may need to work to keep me, rather than the other way around...

Congrats StrongArm! Hope the Prosecco is going down nicely

We're crashing and burning. Had a completion date of 6 September, all agreed, about to exchange, then the top of the chain (meant to be a chain free property) that they won't be completing until they've purchased their flat, ie early October. Quite apart from the stamp duty implications, this means both we and our buyers need to get our mortgage offers extended, while our sellers (who already extended once when the chain collapsed before) will have to reapply. Am really worried that we're going to lose this house and there is sod all else around. I could cry

I've sworn to my husband I'm not doing things this way again. Either we save enough money to buy without selling or we die in the new house. The chain links are way too stressful!

Hope I can join! We had an offer accepted on a house back in january(!) with no chain (we are FTB and vendor moving into rented). Our legal work was complete back in April but the vendor has been struggling to find something suitable.

After much stress and tearing our hair out (our mortgage offer expires next Wednesday!) the vendor finally agreed yesterday to complete on the 3rd August. We have transferred funds today and just waiting for confirmation from the lender so we can exchange. I know it's not legally binding until exchange happens but for the first time in 3 months things are looking hopeful!

omg just when I thought we were over the line

one thing they were waiting for is the building control sign off from the extension in 2010. I had contacted the council and was waiting for it.

Just heard back from them today. It doesn't exist. We must have used another company to do the building control work but there's nothing in my emails and my ex husband can't find anything either. I can't even remember the builders we used let alone the building control firm.

I've just told my solicitor and she's absolutely horrified. She told the other side the certificate existed, we just couldn't find it (that's what we thought as we thought it was at building control at the council). She says their buyer and his solicitor are insisting on this (even though it's more than 10 years old) and if we can't find it, they will probably pull out.

I have basically 6 working days to try and find it. I have absolutely no idea where to start. Just emailed ex husband to ask him to look but he lives somewhere else and I doubt he has it. Have emailed the person we used to draw up the plans but I don't hold out much hope! I don't know how we are meant to find this after so long!

@StrongArm we were struggling to get hold of a building control certificate from 2008. Similar stress!

I spoke to the building control dept at the council who didn't have it, but had a record of it and were able to tell me which company did have it. After a 5 min call to said company I had a copy sat in my inbox.

Also, have you got your building control history from your council? I realised after ours was sorted that the name of the company who held our cert was in the ref number for that work in our council-held building control history.

Hi everyone hope you dont mind me joining!

We have accepted an offer on our flat from a chain free investor, had our offer accepted on a house and had confirmation that the owners of the house have had their offer accepted on a chain free house so a nice short chain! (and not bad work for two weeks!)

We've instructed our solicitors for the buy and sale, looking to get a full building survey for the house booked in next week, and mortgage application started tomorrow....

Is there anything more we should be doing?!
All being well do you think theres any chance we'd complete before the end of Sep or shall i just get that out of my head right away?!

Excited and nervous!!

@BlueCherryBlossom no building control don't have a clue. All I have is a reference number - there are no documents they say. The builder we used has gone bankrupt. Just phoned the bank in desperation but it takes 5-7 working days to post me a statement from 2010 so I can see who I paid then as I paid for it all. Ex husband has no clue. Work have deleted my email archive from then. Planning guy just did the plans and handed them over. No one knows :(. Bank statement might take too long to arrive. I'm not sure where else to turn. Can't decide now whether to call the whole thing off or give it till next Friday in the hope the bank statement might arrive before then?

Solicitor is saying better to do it sooner rather than later as could be legal issues as we have exchanged :(

Building control said the only avenue though them is regularisation and that could take months. The annoying thing is it was done properly and signed off! Next door neighbours just told me they didn't even ask for it as it was more than 10 years old (lofts done together - they don't have it either - they bought a few years ago). Our buyer is fixated on it!

May I join you in this stress?

Our chain of three properties was established in May. We're in the middle.

We've had the hassle of down valuation for our buyers mortgage. That's all sorted, but their surveyor (SDL) keeps cancelling and they are so useless to deal with that I could cry. Seriously impeding our potential to meet the stamp duty threshold.

I'm never doing this again!!

So sorry this is happening to you! Can you not try and go into a branch tomorrow? Surly someone can help. Your buyers will be silly to pull out at this stage isn’t it all legal after 8 years I believe anyway. Try not to panic keep positive 😊

Oh @StrongArm what a nightmare.

Surely they shouldn't have exchanged if they weren't satisfied with everything?!? I'm not a legal conveyancing expert (far from it) but this sounds highly unusual to me! By exchanging they've contractually agreed to buy the house, so I would assume the onus would be on them to withdraw and take whatever legal consequences?!

If you haven't already I'd ask advice on a new thread as there are far more knowledgeable people on here than me (which is a low bar!).

Neither side's solicitor can have done their jobs terribly well if there is a deal-breaking document outstanding?

Yes it's 11 years ago!

Solicitors (both sides) say it is my fault as I told them the council had it and i was getting a copy. This is true because I called the council and they said they would send me an email with an amount I had to pay for them to make a copy and then they would send it to me. But it turns out that was a stock response and they hadn't actually at that point checked if they had it. I relaxed thinking it was due to arrive - I forwarded the email from the council confirming the above and everyone accepted it.

Except I got the response from the council now to say they dont have a copy .

Have just called the bank again and pleaded with them. Apparently they won't have the archive on the system if I go in but I have emailed the branch manager and they are going to see what they can do. Am worried even with this it might not be enough because I can't remember if I paid the building control people separately ARGH!

I'm really busy at work which doesn't help either :(

Have found an old phone with a reminder to pay someone at the time of the building work in 2010. It's just 3 letters but if I Google those letters a company comes up who used to do building control and have now been taken over and I have just pleaded with them to look in their archive. Woman said it might take 24 hours but she's going to check for us

Agree with BlueCherry

If they've exchanged then I'm not sure what they can do now.

If they were so fixated on it they shouldn't have exchanged.

Solicitors (both sides) say it is my fault

I'm not sure that's entirely fair of them!

I have never known a solicitor acting for a buyer to be happy to go ahead with exchanging contracts whilst still waiting for the vendor to supply documentation.

Apparently they did it on my and the council's say so (!) - we were pushing hard as they have been delaying (and changed from a cash buyer etc)

I guess we are where we are and I have till next Friday to find it or they are out!

If that happens, I've told dp we are not relisting. I don't think I can cope with the stress!