Am about to have a compete breakdown about flat sale

[cantype]

Been trying to sell flat for two years, initially had issues with cladding/EWS1 form, then got a buyer, but he pulled out right at exchange having strung me along for SEVEN BLOODY MONTHS. Lost my dream house and lots of money.

Tried again, accepted an offer and they pulled out after two weeks. Tried again, and current buyer has been ongoing for five months now, some delays on their part, and I had issues with my solicitors (so bad I had to sack them and get new ones), but we have now got to the point of exchange and...buyer has suddenly decided she wants gas and electrical safety certs, and as I don't have any (which I detailed on the forms ages ago) to arrange for a company to come round and do these (at her own cost to be fair). Its a 17 year old flat, not a 100 year old house or anything unusual.

This is very similar scenario to my last buyer, raising pointless things right at the last minute, and I am just so stressed and anxious I can't cope with it anymore. In particular as if she pulls out the interest rate I will now have to fix on will be at least 6% (have been on SVR for the last year thinking I was moving) which is just absolutely shit. I cried down on the phone to my estate agent this morning (in my defense I have covid and feel really rough!), and have said I don't want any more delays and am not prepared to allow the inspections to go ahead, either buy it or don't buy it.

Waiting to hear back, but not sure if I've done the right thing. Urgh, WHY WHY WHY is this process so incredibly shit? If anyone has any words of wisdom they would be grateful received. Platitudes also accepted!

I don't think it's the wrong time to buy a home that you are going to live in for a good few years, my worry is you haven't found anywhere and will waste your money renting. Then be unable to buy.

Can you set a strict time limit on when the checks are done? Agree a firm date for exchange.

We are mid selling, to the third set, but the first 2 pulled out at a much earlier stage than you got to.
We also got a request for boiler paperwork at the start of the week. We were hoping it wasn't requested, as there was a fair chance the boiler was going to fail looking at all the boilers round us replaced last winter (all houses 15 years old). But we gritted our teath, and got one done yesterday. Thankfully it has all been signed off. I suspect you saying no will be worse in terms of the sale progressing than letting them in and some minor issues identified. You saying no suggests there is something to hide. If you can manage it, I'd let them happen.
House selling is one of the most stressful things. The system in England doest hep at all.

I got my certificates at the end of the appointment- you shouldn't have to wait.
I'm amazed your solicitors didn't tell you to get these done with the first sale as they are pretty standard now.

@Happydays321 it is a risk, but I don't know what else I can do, I lost the house I was buying due to last buyer pulling out, and didn't want to start looking again until current buyer actually had a mortgage in place and got survey done - that took over two months, and by that point I felt it was too late to try and find somewhere to buy as I need to be living someone by December really to apply for school places for my kid. So renting it is for a year, and hope to god I can actually afford to buy something with the interest rates at what they may be in a years time.

Honestly, I had it all sorted, has stared packing, was moving to perfect house near to good school, locked into a five year 1.9 rate mortgage, was going to be great, then first buyer pulled out after seven months and totally, totally fucked everything up. I cannot put into words the intense hatred I feel for him!

@mondaytosunday I've been told it'll take two days from the inspection for the buyer to be provided with the outcome.

Also I've had two different solicitors - neither of them told me to get them done!

Electrical certificate is not a legal requirement when selling the property.
We've had our buyer demanding one and luckily we have a good friend who is an electrician who has done it for us, but a lot of issues were found by him on initial inspection due to previous electricians doing a dodgy job, ie all the downlighters had to be replaced downstairs because none of them weren't fire rated, few pendants had to be replaced as had cracks on, therefore our electrician couldn't issue a certificate until all the problems were rectified. This cost us a hell lot of money to get sorted... hopefully your electrics will be fine and done up to standard requirements.

@Notnecessary I hope so, I don't see why electrics would have any issues given age of the flat.

Our vendor didn’t provide Gas or Electric certificates but we were already aware the whole place needed rewiring. She didn’t even have up to date insurance on the property so we knew we were dealing with someone who didn’t exactly play by the book. We took a gamble on buying the worst house on a lovely street 5 mins from a great school for the DC as it was £100k less than two other similar houses on sale (in better condition) on the same street and we loved the location.

It sounds as if you you have a newish property and really nothing to worry about with these checks. Best of luck.

Thanks everyone - checks booked in for next week with a PROMISE of exchange on 7th Oct (though I won't hold my breath).

I shall spend this weekend getting some more fretting and worrying in - DS is with his dad so I can do it undisturbed 😄