How long has your house purchase taken [so far]??

[dubyalass]

I had an offer accepted in mid-June; no chain. I've had my mortgage offer through and the survey done. There is an issue with ownership of an outbuilding so the vendors are sorting that out with the Land Registry. Searches not done yet but unlikely to be anything tricky there.

I'm hoping that I might be in by the end of October but realistically who knows. I've no idea how long the LR are taking to process casework at the moment. Once that's sorted it should all be pretty quick.

Congratulations @ISeeTheLight !

@RM2013 thanks for checking in! I have booked a final visit for Friday to check the house hasn’t fallen down etc, and the vendors have come back to say OK but they then want to exchange on Friday afternoon. This is fine by me but I don’t know where we’re at with outstanding enquiries or if we’ve even had the updated contract etc back from their solicitors. I can’t work out if they just don’t speak to their solicitors, or their solicitors are lying to them, because they seem to want to exchange long before anyone is ready. So do I for that matter, but we can’t do it until our solicitors have got everything ready!

Congratulations @ISeeTheLight

As expected we have not exchanged today. Im so angry. They are now saying they "should" be able to exchange by Friday at the latest. I feel they have been stringing us along all week and have known all along they wouldn't be ready til Friday. We explicitly said we wanted at least a week between exchange and completion and they just trodden all over that. And what happens if we don't exchange on Friday? Our removals are coming on Sunday to pack. We're just up in the air. Im so angry I could just cry

@dubyalass that all seems a bit bizarre that they are asking to exchange but still have enquiries outstanding

@annonymousse thats awful I can see why you are so angry - the whole system is crap. I hope you can get some more answers tomorrow

well I hadn’t heard anything since Monday so I chase solicitor to see if the signed transfer form from the previous owner has turned up as was apparently posted last Weds. it hasn’t arrived so they’ve said if not received by Friday they will ask them to go in to complete form.
I have a little bit lost my shit and said that they should have asked them to sign in person before now seeing as it’s a time critical document and relying on post during a Mail strike isn’t the best way of getting important documents safely.

I’ve also suggested that if I was the previous sellers I wouldn’t be inclined to take time off work to drive to a solicitor to fill out a form that should have been done years ago when house was sold and this is all because of a conveyencing error.

im really cross now there is no way we are moving before Christmas so now I’m going to have to let our lovely FTBs know that it’s very unlikely they will be in their own home for Christmas.

I hate this

It's just so frustrating and we are powerless.

How frustrating for you both, I'd be furious too. And probably crying constantly.

Just spoke to my solicitor who said they'd received a response to enquiries late last night and she was going to review them - it looks like this includes the updated contract etc. The estate agents are apparently aware of this as they spoke to my solicitors this morning so why they're entertaining the notion of exchanging on Friday is beyond me.

There's also the issue that all the indemnities need to be checked by my lender, who are thankfully pretty quick to respond, but that takes time too.

Anyway, I'm going to email the estate agents to tell them this and they can feed it back to the vendors. Nothing more I can do. 🤷‍♀️

So my stroppy emai to the solicitor yesterday did prompt an early reply this morning saying they understood our frustrations and they have suggested completion on 21st (as long as the signed paperwork arrives) - I already know it’s unlikely our vendor will agree to this as he already told his EA his cut off was 16th. I’ve asked EA to clarify.
solicitor did say a report and documents to sign would be sent across today as they would be working on our file but surprise surprise nothing has been sent. Really hope it’s not been posted by snail mail as there is another planned strike tomorrow 🥲

No news here. I emailed the estate agents this morning to say exchange tomorrow v unlikely. No word from anyone.

@dubyalass frustrating when you get radio silence. Maybe there will be a flurry of activity and exchange tomorrow?

We've had nothing through the post it's all come through to download print off and sign then re upload and send back ... Their is really no need to be using the postal system at all .. This country can be so bloody backwards it's infuriating.

@pavillion1 I agree!!! Pretty much everything we have had has been sent via email which we have then printed off, signed and sent back. The issue is that the cock up with previous conveyencing meant that a transfer form was posted to the previous owners and they posted it back last Weds and it’s not shown up yet. I fully understand Royal mails decision to strike but it’s really delayed things for us

Plus some paperwork has needed wet signatures which has meant we have had to post things back. Solicitor dealing with sale isn’t local 🤦‍♀️

I completed today, but... I've had covid the past week so packing was incredibly painful (just me and the kids).

Got the keys for the new house this afternoon (previous owner left yesterday) and the house is FULL of stuff. Various bits of furniture in each room. Cupboards full up. Loads of stuff on the walls. Ornaments on each window ledge. I could cry!

I'm feeling very nervous about it all. Nobody is viewing our house at the minute. I'm worrying about the market going dead. Our purchase is a cash buy due to inheritance so appreciate it is a lucky position but it doesn't make it any easier to see constant price reductions that make me fret about prices etc. Waiting to exchange. Tenterhooks.

@hanna65 congrats on the completion but poor you having Covid. Hope you feel better soon and I can’t believe they left all that stuff behind!!!

@Fritilleries people will still want to buy houses it’s just not as manic as it was a few months ago. Good luck with selling. When are you hoping to exchange on your purchase?

@RM2013 exchange by Xmas hopefully. All searches etc etc done.

@hanna65 oh no, that sounds awful.

Have you told your solicitor about the state the house was in and the amount of things left behind? Our seller did this and it meant he was in breach of contract. I sent a list of stuff to our solicitor, who sent it on to seller's solicitor. He was offered opportunity to rectify situation ie come back and clear it properly the next day but refused and offered £500 to pay for house clearance instead.

Obviously it's hassle as we had to organise this but there's no need to be out of pocket dealing with it.

@RidingMyBike I've not had a chance to speak to my solicitor yet but I will. I've bagged up nearly 30 black bin bags of her rubbish, plus there's a load of furniture and both sheds are full!

We have exchanged. The relief!!! Completion on Monday. The deadline was 4pm. It happened at 3.50. We were resigning ourselves to be in our current house til after Christmas.

Good luck everyone who's still waiting.

@annonymousse great news. Good luck for the move

solicitor has tentatively suggested a possible completion date of 21st. Our buyers are happy and sellers can do it although they would have liked an earlier date. All depending on the transfer form arriving (we assume it’s stuck in the postal delays)

DH not overly thrilled as he would rather wait until the next year as thinks this will impact on the “relaxing”‘Christmas he had planned.
I literally can’t win 🤦‍♀️

@RM2013 tell him short term pain for long term gain.

I have never had as stressful a move as this before. Maybe I've blanked out previous trauma 🤣

Went in to sign the updated contract and transfer form this afternoon - my solicitors need to chase my lender for the final couple of queries and then we should be ready to exchange. They think completion before Christmas is very doable so I now need to start transferring the rest of my deposit. Daring to get excited now.

And congratulations @annonymousse ! Very pleased for you!

We are waiting to exchange too. Honestly I am so anxious every day at the moment that I shake constantly. Every time we are almost there, our buyers solicitor drags up something else like another indemnity policy. I can't take much more!!

we completed today xx

@dubyalass fingers crossed nearly there

@nellyelloe honestly I know what you mean. This has been so stressful

@pavillion1 brilliant news hope you enjoy being in your new home