When will we exchange. anyone experiencing similar !

[Mumsybud]

I thought I would start this thread as a bit of therapy or something 😂😂. We are moving home (hopefully) for the first time since buying our first house in 2005. It’s like an actual roller coaster and the feelings it entails are crazy! I wondered if anyone else is going through the process and it’s all normal. I am such an over thinker and it’s killing me !

We sold our house at the end of July and more or less straight away has offer accepted. We were and still are in no real rush but like most, we would like sooner rather later as living in limbo 😭. I’m trying to be excited because we are living in limbo. Every day I have a mental battle not to ring my estate agent or solicitor as they need some time to actually work and not just answer the phone 😂

I just worry over every little thing! Is this normal! For example, over the last 16 years we have made minor changes to the house without building regs. So will need indemnity. But my over thinking brain has gone though every scenario possible and I can’t help but maintain the ‘glass half full’ Attitude. It’s awful!!!! We are in a chain of 4. Everyone was at enquiries when I last asked. Our purchase has all we need but our title deed is delayed. This is because something to do with it being done Manually. I don’t even know what that means!
We have responded to one lot of enquires, solicitors missed an email and never got sent in sept !! So resent and came back with 3 more enquiries which all relate to the building regs which we expected. We are currently waiting to see if they are satisfied. If so then that’s everything. I have moments when I feel so close, but then we are so far.

I would like to ask how long this could go on for , but I know it’s not really answerable as we could end up with ongoing enquiries.
Does anyone know what the thing with the title deeds mean ? Ans is anyone else living in limbo. I will relax once enquires are complete and we are looking at exchange. I want to enjoy the process but I’m so stressed internally it’s consuming !! 🤪

I only had to live in limbo for two months but it was hell. My stress left when we exchanged then went up again when I realised I only had a week to pack and was away for three days of it.
But I’m sat here this morning with my house in boxes and moving today. Stress gone now just nervous something will go wrong.
You will get there. I promise. It’s just a hard slog.

There is a buyers sellers roll call on going thread for people moving. Join that. It has saved my sanity over the last few weeks.

It's so frustrating isn't it. Our mortgage offer expires in a month and there is no feeling of urgency from the top of the chain. We're holding on to hope but I'm also starting to look at chain free offers on Rightmove.

@Paranoidandroidmarvin

There is a buyers sellers roll call on going thread for people moving. Join that. It has saved my sanity over the last few weeks.

I came on here to say this too. That thread is literally my sanity. We are on week 20 I think now. Maybe longer. I've lost count. Our sellers took ages to apply for their mortgage for their onward purchase, 5 weeks passed then was told they'd been declined but that "it's fine" they applied again and it's been two weeks and they're pissing around now trying to get hold of the prev owners (they part ex to a builder) to see if they got an extension signed off (of course they didn't that's why they part ex and didn't sell!!) But we are just constantly told "were chasing it, we'll update you tomorrow" but they never do. We are keeping our eyes peeled In case anything else chain free comes on the market.

To top it off, me and ds have to stay during the week with my parents because we moved him to a new school near the new house and thought we'd be in shortly after the new school year started. Dp has been staying here as his job is here (will commute when we properly move) and we have cats etc. We might have to all move in with my parents soon if we don't make any progress.

So in short you're not on your own.

I will not tell you how long it took for my sale/purchase to be finalised. I got sick to death of answering reams of questions and fending off incompetence.

You should not need title deeds any more - your ownership is registered with the Land Registry.

Our purchase has all we need but our title deed is delayed. This is because something to do with it being done Manually.

Is the property unregistered? Perhaps the sellers have applied for a first registration (which is done manually) and they are currently waiting for Land Registry to issue the new electronic title before they proceed to transfer the property to yourselves.

@PenguinWings

It's so frustrating isn't it. Our mortgage offer expires in a month and there is no feeling of urgency from the top of the chain. We're holding on to hope but I'm also starting to look at chain free offers on Rightmove.

We’re in the same position as you and it’s so stressful being in limbo. Also worried about searches expiring before we complete and mortgage offer expiring or being withdrawn due to months of having no fixed abode. Our seller’s seller is calling all the shots, seems to be taking all the time in the world and it’s horrible. Regretting breaking the chain by completing on ours before buying the next place now as I feel it will never happen!

I’m not sure to be honest. I have only ever bought my first house 17 years ago, so I’m learning as I go. The house was built summer’20 if that makes any difference. The solicitor says that’s all we are waiting for on the purchase.

Wondering if we end up with 5million enquiries as ours is an older house. I would have thought this stuff would have been dealt with whilst waiting for search results ? The solicitor sent us enquires mid august and for some reason sent our replies. It’s all very frustrating! But reading back there are people who are in much more difficult situations than us. I will make my way to the recommended thread. It’s almost almost consuming! It’s a good job I’m busy at work Or I would go mad!

I want to start packing and be excited but I just can’t until I have something more solid

Hope your move went well x

Oh what a nightmare. Things were going well. I chased our EA today as other people ready and asking for dates. They have rung our buyer turns out their solicitor isn’t satisfied with replies. This is related to our lack of building regs. Our solicitor early on assured us this was very common and indemnity would be fine. From what I gather as my other half spoke to the buyer direct, he’s has a letter from his solicitor and states they cannot have indemnity. I’m not sure why? And can a solicitor say they can’t ? I thought it was their job to provide information to make an informed decision re the purchase ? To be clear the buyer is still very happy and wishes to proceed. They have suggested calling over to discuss their solicitors concerns. I’m happy to do So as that should clear things up, save a lot of (very slow) back and forthing. No one has has approached the council to chase building regs so it can’t be that.

We were asked these enquiries in august. Somehow the response didn’t go from our solicitor to the buyers 🤔. So it’s very annoying it’s come up literally in the last stages. If it wasn’t for this we would be setting dates 😢. I just hope we can find a timely way round this.

Has anyone any further experience with this? I’m hoping that someone has misread something somewhere and we can put indemnity in place. We are happy to pay !

It could be that as the solicitor is also acting on behalf of the mortgage lender and they may not be happy with indemnity insurance depending on the company.

I believe that if anyone asked the Council then indemnity insurance couldn't be applied for as it would immediately invalidate it, as the Council cannot be aware. As that's the position we were in when selling last time.

@Thecatisboss

It could be that as the solicitor is also acting on behalf of the mortgage lender and they may not be happy with indemnity insurance depending on the company.

I believe that if anyone asked the Council then indemnity insurance couldn't be applied for as it would immediately invalidate it, as the Council cannot be aware. As that's the position we were in when selling last time.

What did you do ?

No, no one has looked into indemnity. So it can’t be that. My feeling (without the full facts) is that is could be the lender.

If we need regs in retrospect I need to do some research if it’s quicker to have a private survey to sign off or how soon the council can get out. Not sure what the rest of the chain will think so late in the day.

Definitely speak to your solicitor as soon as you can and get some clarity about where the issue is. We had building regulations compliance certificate recently and it was quite quick however they had been out during the build to inspect as the work progressed. However depends on what work you've had done.

Our issue was resolved quite easily as it was only Windows/lack of Fensa certificate and we could get insurance as long as we didn't approach the Council to ask any questions however our solicitor was emphatic in telling us not to speak to the Council about it.

Thing with the title deeds - are you buying a new build or one built on land belonging to an existing house? Land registry are taking months to deal with transfer of parts aka splitting of 1 title into 2 though this can be requested to be expediated.

Good luck!

Thankyou. It’s a wall down, a car port, the chimney on the roof and inside attic but was done by roofers, just no cert for it. All over the last 17 years. A wall that was 17 years ago maybe. Oh and one window. So a few things. Fancy sending our buyers this email on a Friday evening and leaving us all hanging !

Sorry but you are being quite naive- a wall down and chimney with no BR? That's quite major.

Pointless comment. I’m looking for helpful advice. That’s not offering anything but judgement

A wall down was it load bearing? What level of chimney work? These are quite big issues without buildings regulations.

These aren’t necessarily things that can just be written off with an indemnity which frankly aren’t worth the paper they are written on.

The lender may well require retrospective BR sign off on these and it really would be best if you urgently look into this.

Would the car port have required planning approval or not?