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Who should we be pushing for progress here?

6 replies

SmokeAndMirror · 30/08/2021 14:17

We got two identical offers for our house in mid-June.

We made an offer on a house, and it was accepted on the proviso that the rest of the chain of 5 was already ready, and we all needed to complete by the end of September.

Our EA pushed us towards buyer #2 as they'd worked with him before. Buyer #1 wanted to be in by the end of August, but they didn't know him that well. Buyer #2 made it a condition on the memorandum of sale that they wanted to complete within 8 weeks.

We jumped into getting things done - full mortgage offer recieved within 3 days, searches bought from previous buyers, full building survey done, all forms completed.

Our buyer did nothing, despite us chasing the estate agent, until our seller's estate agent kicked off. He then instructed his solicitors, and paid for searches.

We've had answers to enquiries, and the first round of enquiries from our buyer, which we've responded to. Nothing in the 8 days since. Nobody seems to know the status of the buyer's mortgage - we were initially told he would be remortgaging another house to buy here in cash, then he'd not managed to get his other place revalued so was getting a mortgage for here. They've not asked about having someone come round for a valuation, or survey.

On Tuesday, the sellers EA kicked off again that they'd been told something completely contradictory to another EA from higher up the chain when they called our EA. We called to try and work out what was happening - our EA said they didn't know where funds were coming from or what was left to do, but they felt that at the current rate of progress, we'd be ready but our buyer would not. They also said that they'd talked to the buyer's solicitor, who was missing paperwork.

Our solicitor has been off for 10 days - after a LOT of chasing, we got a reply from her assistant on Thursday that she'd been overrun with work but would work on our case that day, and didn't know anything about any missing paperwork. She didn't contact us again.

I'm 30 weeks pregnant, so quite keen that we know where we're going to be and get organised, and I'm finding it really frustrating being passed from pillar to post...

Do I chase our solicitors, as they should be progressing things?
Or the EA, as they should have checked where his funds were coming from, and work with him a lot?
Or both, as we're paying them both?

OP posts:
Gettingonabitnow · 30/08/2021 15:17

The EA should have definitely checked your buyers funds. What do you mean you EA had worked with your buyer before, are they are 5 / developer? Chase your solicitor too, and if they aren’t being efficient, escalate it their supervising partner.

Gettingonabitnow · 30/08/2021 15:17

*landlord not 5!

SmokeAndMirror · 30/08/2021 15:39

Thanks @Gettingonabitnow! I thought so, we've always had to show our AIP and explain where the deposit etc is coming from, so it feels odd that they didn't...

Yes, I believe the buyer is a commercial landlord, who owns 4 properties locally. They're all let out by the estate agent that we were selling with.

I've been trying to be "nice" and not hassle anyone too much; but I think I'll call tomorrow and escalate it if we haven't heard anything by the end of the day. Thank you Smile

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readytosell · 30/08/2021 18:01

Personally I'd go to the EA and give them clear timelines and clear questions you want answering - not just 'can I have an update' which is open ended.

Solicitors aren't really there for chasing as such, they're there to deal with what is in front of them - by all means you can chase your own as you're paying them, but they can only request specifics from the other solicitors.

I try and be "nice" too but I also know when to kick some butt!

Wombat96 · 30/08/2021 18:24

Hassle away, we were also selling to a local guy wanting to buy several houses. Dragged feet for a few weeks, finally made some progress then they withdrew completely after wasting a couple more months. Deeply unimpressed.

SmokeAndMirror · 30/08/2021 22:07

Dragged feet for a few weeks, finally made some progress then they withdrew completely after wasting a couple more months. Deeply unimpressed.

I'm really concerned that this will end up being the case... He's been so reluctant to do ANYTHING, and I really don't understand how the EA can not know how he's financing things...

The EA were really rude when I spoke to them last week. They basically said that they have a lot of sales to get over the line, and lots of them have been waiting a lot longer than we have, so we just needed to wait Hmm

I'll talk to them both tomorrow. Thank you!

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