Dear vendor, will we ever exchange?

JustMakingBananaPancakes · 2021-11-27T10:04:42+00:00

Here's an open letter to my vendor. Join my moan! Dear vendor, It's me again. Yep. The buyer of your property. Remember how you wanted to be moved by Christmas? And how you encouraged us to go as fast as possible so we could get everything sorted before the holidays? And then you go silent! You ignore my solicitor's enquiries, stating you need to find some paperwork. Oh yeah, and then your estate agents go bankrupt, so I have no one to push as an intermediary. So here I sit, wondering when we'll ever exchange. Should I put up Christmas decorations, or keep holding off in case we actually get keys before 2022? You used to be so good to me, vendor. Quick communication, lots of reassurance. Why did you go so cold? Sincerely, Your (still besotted, yet annoyed and anxious) buyer

Viviennemary · 27/11/2021 10:06

Id say look for another house. Or go round and knock on thir door unless its very far away.

languagelover96 · 27/11/2021 11:31

Find another property.

TuesdayRuby · 27/11/2021 11:33

This was me last year! We eventually have them an ultimatum in March and we finally moved. It’s such a nerve-wracking time. I feel for you!
In fairness things are taking longer than they should (searches, paperwork etc) but there’s always that threat of them getting cold feet!

EdgeOfTheSky · 27/11/2021 15:22

What were their forward plans?

I bet their vendor has pulled out…

Original poster

JustMakingBananaPancakes · 27/11/2021 17:09

It's only been 12 weeks so I'm being very impatient. I'm just going crazy not knowing what the timeframe looks like. The vendor's onward purchase is an empty property because the owners moved to France. So fingers crossed it starts moving soon.

I just needed a moan more than anything. Anyone else in the "when will we ever get there" boat?

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Flowersandthorns · 27/11/2021 20:12

I feel like this and it has only been 5 weeks

Cosmos123 · 27/11/2021 20:15

My friend offered mid Sept and completed last week.
So about 8 to 9 weeks.

She did knock on door and got to know vendor.
They exchanged numbers and often spoken to each other to push their solicitors on.

Maybe it is worth knocking on the door.

Atleast u will know one way or another.

Starseeking · 27/11/2021 20:16

Me! I'm also in this boat OP, I know how you feel. I'm further along than you though, it's now 4.5months since my offer was accepted (I've given up counting in weeks!).

My vendor is elderly, and her onward purchase is a leasehold sheltered flat, so the whole thing is moving verrrry slowly. I thought I'd be well settled in by Christmas.

Sold early summer to best stamp duty deadline, and currently living with family, so at least I'm not spending exorbitant amounts on rent, but it's definitely time for me and my DC to move into our new home.

The vendors solicitor has been quiet for 2 whole weeks, and is not answering emails or calls, I have been ready to go since 30 September, so sitting here 2 months later is extremely painful.

The estate agent has promised to put a rocket up them on Monday (not sure how when they've gone incommunicado), which should hopefully get things moving. I haven't seen anything else suitable in the time since; I've been keeping an eye, plus done a couple of other viewings to try and see if I could make something else work, but nothing.

Prices have also increased since July, so my vendor could easily go back on the market for £30k more than they accepted from me, and probably get an offer close to that, so they hold all the cards.

I hate this process!

Dougieowner · 27/11/2021 20:27

We were in the same situation earlier this year.
We were being constantly pushed by the sales agent at the newbuild estate where we are moving to with actual threats to pull our reservation if it didn't happen soon.

Plan was to sell our house, move into temporary accommodation (my late parents house) and then move into the newbuild 12-months later. Got a buyer straight away (recommended by the EA who turned out to be a lazy, good for nothing liar!) but despite them being "sold and moving into temporary accommodation this week" it was actually months before we exchanged as it turned out they hadn't sold their current house, had no mortgage and when they did get a mortgage it had to be handled by a different solicitor.
In the meantime a newbuild house came up to reserve earlier than expected so what was to be a fairly relaxed transaction now took on a new urgency.
All this time our EA either fed us lies or just failed to respond to emails & calls and the only way we got any information was through the newbuild agent who was a terrier speaking to and getting answers from people who had no need to speak to her!
Eventually we exchanged (at the fourth attempt!) and it was cheers all around.

The odd thing was that after we had moved out the new owner didn't move in and here we are 9-weeks later they still haven't despite the house being in fantastic condition and being thoroughly cleaned (to within an inch of its life) after we moved all our furniture out.

Roselilly36 · 28/11/2021 07:32

Our buyers were like this last year, wanted to move by Christmas, we moved middle of Feb. Good luck 🤞

Roselilly36 · 28/11/2021 07:34

@Dougieowner

We were in the same situation earlier this year. We were being constantly pushed by the sales agent at the newbuild estate where we are moving to with actual threats to pull our reservation if it didn't happen soon.

Plan was to sell our house, move into temporary accommodation (my late parents house) and then move into the newbuild 12-months later. Got a buyer straight away (recommended by the EA who turned out to be a lazy, good for nothing liar!) but despite them being "sold and moving into temporary accommodation this week" it was actually months before we exchanged as it turned out they hadn't sold their current house, had no mortgage and when they did get a mortgage it had to be handled by a different solicitor.
In the meantime a newbuild house came up to reserve earlier than expected so what was to be a fairly relaxed transaction now took on a new urgency.
All this time our EA either fed us lies or just failed to respond to emails & calls and the only way we got any information was through the newbuild agent who was a terrier speaking to and getting answers from people who had no need to speak to her!
Eventually we exchanged (at the fourth attempt!) and it was cheers all around.

The odd thing was that after we had moved out the new owner didn't move in and here we are 9-weeks later they still haven't despite the house being in fantastic condition and being thoroughly cleaned (to within an inch of its life) after we moved all our furniture out.

We must have used the same EA!

ALbigbump · 28/11/2021 21:53

@JustMakingBananaPancakes yes we are. Our vendor is apparently desperate to move but after weeks of her vendor holding everything up, she’s the one delaying it. We’ve been living in a campervan for 2 months and now a holiday let for a month. It’s soo unsettling wondering if we’ll ever get there so I totally feel your pain

Original poster

JustMakingBananaPancakes · 29/11/2021 06:50

@Roselilly36

Our buyers were like this last year, wanted to move by Christmas, we moved middle of Feb. Good luck 🤞

If it's all the same to you, I'm going to pretend I didn't read this 😂 A Valentine's Day move just doesn't hit me in the feels like a Christmas move lol!

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Original poster

JustMakingBananaPancakes · 29/11/2021 06:54

I'm sorry there are so many of us in this position! It's so awkward!

We need a new sofa, but do we order it now in the hopes we're moved in 8 weeks from now? We need to give our landlord notice, especially because he's considering selling our flat in the new year. Our broadband company needs a month's notice to move our internet over to the new address. It's so frustrating to know there's a tonne we need to do before we move, but we have no idea about the timeframe. Oh so very awkward.

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Starseeking · 29/11/2021 08:01

@JustMakingBananaPancakes

I'm sorry there are so many of us in this position! It's so awkward!

We need a new sofa, but do we order it now in the hopes we're moved in 8 weeks from now? We need to give our landlord notice, especially because he's considering selling our flat in the new year. Our broadband company needs a month's notice to move our internet over to the new address. It's so frustrating to know there's a tonne we need to do before we move, but we have no idea about the timeframe. Oh so very awkward.

Same here! I've seen a gorgeous reasonably priced sofa that previously went out of stock, and has now come back in. I want to buy it quickly just in case it goes again, but I really don't have anywhere to put it (my storage unit is full to the brim!), and can't take the risk that my purchase completes quickly - grrrr!

PissedOffNeighbour22 · 29/11/2021 08:28

I was in this situation last year. We finally moved in March. Make sure you get any paperwork they're dragging their feet on - we eventually got so fed up we went ahead anyway. Wish we hadn't as we've found all sorts of things they lied about.

beguilingeyes · 01/12/2021 10:54

raises hand, I feel your pain. Our purchase is ready to exchange...our sae not so much. The EA keeps saying it's imminent. What does that even mean? It's been 'imminent' for the last three weeks now.

Original poster

JustMakingBananaPancakes · 02/12/2021 09:35

@beguilingeyes Imminent means "when we bleeping-well feel like it."

I'm so tired of just waiting. So much waiting. Hopefully we'll both make some headway soon, though the possibility of being settled before Christmas feels smaller and smaller... WAHHH time for chocolate.

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beguilingeyes · 02/12/2021 09:58

We've agreed a completion date on January 12th, so theoretically we've got wiggle room, but it's making me crazy.

Changecountetextraordinaire · 02/12/2021 10:08

We're buyers in a chainless situation, offer accepted early October. We would love to be in by Christmas but council have advised local searches won't be back until after New Year - they were applied for on 12th October......... our vendors don't appear to be getting twitchy yet, but we won't be going anywhere without searches/planning approval and building reg documents, so hopefully by end January.

Meanwhile we're spending Christmas crammed in with relatives, surrounded by boxes. Not brilliant, but grateful for their generosity and looking forward to a new start in the New Year.

Starseeking · 02/12/2021 11:39

My vendors solicitor has come back and effectively pushed things back another 6 weeks until the new year, as they have to complete their reports for the lady's onward purchase (chain free leasehold flat), then they have to go through them with her in detail, in person.

These same reports they have been claiming to be preparing for the last 6 weeks! I honestly don't know how some people sleep at night behaving like this.

Have resigned myself to living with family until the end of January, by which point it will have been 7 months, and if I haven't completed by then, I will have to start thinking about renting somewhere as I'll likely be priced out of the market for what I need by then.

Original poster

JustMakingBananaPancakes · 03/12/2021 20:44

@Starseeking

My vendors solicitor has come back and effectively pushed things back another 6 weeks until the new year, as they have to complete their reports for the lady's onward purchase (chain free leasehold flat), then they have to go through them with her in detail, in person.

These same reports they have been claiming to be preparing for the last 6 weeks! I honestly don't know how some people sleep at night behaving like this.

Have resigned myself to living with family until the end of January, by which point it will have been 7 months, and if I haven't completed by then, I will have to start thinking about renting somewhere as I'll likely be priced out of the market for what I need by then.

Arghhh just reading that made me frustrated! The house process is ridiculous. My solicitors have chased our vendor's solicitors for the last two weeks for this one remaining piece of paperwork. No response yet.

Sending all kinds of luck to each of us this week. May the housing gods light a fire under our vendors/sellers/solicitors and make a 2021 completion possible. 🤞

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Starseeking · 03/12/2021 20:57

It's the lack of transparency that irritates me the most @JustMakingBananaPancakes. If there was some sort of portal which outlined the whole process in increments, and showed you where you were at any given time, and who was holding things up, I'd certainly pay extra for it!

Original poster

JustMakingBananaPancakes · 03/12/2021 21:06

@Starseeking

It's the lack of transparency that irritates me the most *@JustMakingBananaPancakes*. If there was some sort of portal which outlined the whole process in increments, and showed you where you were at any given time, and who was holding things up, I'd certainly pay extra for it!

100%. My solicitors use an app which shows you where you are in the process. The annoying thing is it's been stuck at "outstanding enquiries" for weeks. Oyy. I told my solicitor that they need to hunt down this vendor's solicitor and demand a timeline update. I would even be ok if the exchange was in January at this point. Just put me out of my misery by letting me know if I should unbox my Christmas tree or not 😬

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CHIShandler · 03/12/2021 21:13

I found out yesterday that my vendor's solicitors suffered a catastrophic data loss in early November, and no-one bothered to tell us. We've been asking our solicitors for answers to queries about paperwork for weeks, and this is the reason for the total lack of response from the vendor. Our solicitors were aware of this issue but didn't realise it applied to our purchase. Very frustrating.