Buyers/Sellers Exchange waiting room

[spidershavetoomanyknees]

Currently waiting for exchange, stuck in a never-ending loop of "there's been a couple more enquiries higher up the chain" and "we're nearly there now". Wondering if there's anyone else who would like to join me here in the waiting room of doom to vent into the void.

Next train for Exchange (line terminates at Completion) is currently delayed and they'd like to apologise for the delay.

Silence from the bottom of the chain here. My buyers want to complete on Friday but we don’t even know if all enquiries have been satisfied on their sale and no one has approached my solicitor or EA with any update so it’s looking very unlikely. We moved out over a month ago on the expectation that we would complete end of Jan at the latest. The stress and expense is taking its toll to say the least!

Everything's gone silent while we're waiting for everyone "to be ready"... I kind of have images of them doing some warm ups while clicking a pen constantly - but if we don't get somewhere soon we'll be into "oh all the Friday completions take priority" weekend uber limbo soon.

I hereby rename today as Silent Tuesday. Maybe they're too busy tossing pancakes about to be dealing with minor inconveniences like contracts 😥

So despite my buyers being very enthusiastic about their pre-exchange visit, it transpires there are on-going issues with their sale. First a ground rent problem, now a cladding certificate issue (which I was assured was sorted when I accepted their offer). At my agent’s advice we are now issuing ultimatums as they suspect that we have been deliberately kept in the dark about these issues. I’m mentally preparing myself for going back on the market. I will have to get some roof work done which came up in the survey and for which I gave my buyers a reduction. I feel vulnerable that the house is empty and would rather get it sorted than risk the problem getting worse.

Well since the buyers are tossers anyway - it would fit :D

Hi all, can I join and hope for some thoughts please?

First off, apologies for everyone stuck right now, I feel your pain!

I've been in the middle of the chain since October, transpires there was a lot of drama behind the scenes of the property we're buying, good cos it took us a while to find a sensible buyer! So no pressure was put on us thankfully.

However since we viewed last year, the property has been empty and a pipe burst in the winter weather 😳

The works are going to take ages, so we've said that we'd take on some of it taking the burden off the seller. Not the major stuff, but you know, don't worry about painting, papering or new carpets etc.

We will have to rent and put stuff into storage too, as the drying out won't be sorted for the current exchange date.

They've agreed to a reduction, if it was you, how much would you reduce your offer by?

So our buyers demanded a ridiculous amount off the price because "they can't really afford it" just a few days before we were due to exchange and then they pulled out when we refused the amount and said we'd drop a smaller amount. They flipped. They got really nasty with us , their own solicitors and the estate agents. So after all that our house is now back on the market, reduced. Onward purchase also now back on the market, also reduced which I can't blame them for. We are relocating so have to sell asap. A lot of time and money wasted. Bastards. This is all making me really ill.

I should also add that the electrics, heating, bathroom and kitchen will also be our responsibility to fix

Yes were crazy, but it's kind of like a blank canvas for us

@boogii Had they stopped running the heat? We have an empty property too but we left the heat on at about 16 degrees so pipes don't freeze. We have family check on it nearby now and then.

@Sousuke

I don't really know what they did, i think it's just been freezing. They don't live local and its not really there's, it's probate.

It was already a fixer upper, but now it's heaps worse and obviously timeline to fix things has rapidly sped up.

It's covered in black mould now too as no action has been taken for a couple of months since the leak

The more I write the more I think we are mad to still even consider it!

Can I join? And say thank you. I saw the first post in this thread the day before I was due to exchange. I was suuuper stressed and it really helped me knowing that I was not alone. Well I have been due to exchange “tomorrow” for nearly a month. It’s the fact that I can almost see the end that makes it soo hard. I thought I was quite a resilient person before this but sometimes I actually worry I will have a heart attack with the stress. It’s so stupid it’s only a house. But the lack of control over the process is so hard isn’t it. So sending strength to all of us stuck here and trusting the right thing will happen in the end for all of us and we will soon forgot the pain of the journey

@boogii when I worked in litigation there were a group of executors who sued our firm because they didn't realise they needed to insure the property. There was a water tank in the loft and it leaked causing a lot of damage. It was just a freak accident from an unoccupied property. By the time they realised there was a leak, it was too late. In a normal, occupied house, it would have been noticed far earlier. Assuming your sellers have insurance, they should be able to claim to rectify all of the damage.

@Karmatime I'm glad you are thinking of going back on the market. I hate gazundering. How bad is the roof? The property we're buying has decades of moss on top and some slipped/broken tiles. The surveyor said there will be more tiles to replace once the moss is cleared and we can see the damage. We haven't asked for a reduction. The surveyor estimated £1,500- £2,000 for repair. When we viewed the house I looked up and assumed the whole roof would need replacing so it was a pleasant surprise from our point of view.

@PleaseJustText thanks for that info.

I'm wondering whether there is insurance tbh. The call we got was from the EA that asked if we would consider renegotiating and still take it.

Our solicitor hasn't been able to confirm anything yet. It takes weeks for the vendors to respond.

We're just in limbo with no idea what's happening. Like everyone else here I suppose!

@PleaseJustText I had a quote for issues that came up in the survey back in November. It’s a total of £5000 which I agreed as a reduction. The main worry is the roof over the bay window which needs replacing and some repointing (just over £1000). Initially there was just a small brown stain but it has got worse. The other things are a total replacement of the single storey kitchen roof and some chimney repairs and replacement guttering. These are not as urgent as there is no apparent water ingress currently. My buyers were keen to progress quickly, otherwise I would have got the urgent work done earlier.

@AlwaysGinPlease wow that's quite an adventure, I really feel for you going through all that. I despair for the system here - why people aren't tied into a purchase sooner is beyond me. Sending solidarity and hoping everything gets going again soon

Welcome @butterflyfox! It really feels never-ending doesn't it, that "we're almost there" phase. I definitely didn't realise just how lucky I was the first time I bought - from offer to completion in a couple of months! I knew a chain would be a bit longer... but wowee. I now understand the "we are never moving ever again" thing that people talk about. Do you know what the holdup is on your purchase?

The not being tied in thing is ridiculous @spidershavetoomanyknees and then short gaps between exchange and completion. I’m never moving again the whole experience has been bruising!

Apparently we’re exchanging this afternoon!

Fingers crossed @CoffeeWithCheese

Thank you @spidershavetoomanyknees I'm done with it all 🥹

About to combust. We accepted an offer on our house in December, and the buyer has only just been advised to get a survey by his mortgage company...! I mentioned it to our agents weeks ago and they said that they didn't necessarily need one. I'm not happy as this is going to delay things even more as we are all ready to go on our purchase and contracts have already been signed on our sale too!! Our house is an old terrace so the chances of the survey being perfect are slim. Our solicitor isn't happy saying the Agents shouldn't have agreed this at all or advised us to accept this offer?? Could weep

@AlwaysGinPlease What a-holes. Unbelievable behaviour. I hope you can find new buyers, who are more reasonable, very soon.

@Allfurcoatandnoknickers Same thing happened to us. Had an offer accepted in October and it only occurred to the buyers to have a survey in late January. I was quite annoyed but it all worked out fine.

Still no change here. Everyone is chasing the bottom of the chain but nobody can reach the solicitor and figure out what's going on. Hoping to exchange tomorrow but who knows. Who just disappears so close to exchange? I am getting really shakey thinking they've changed their mind and the whole thing collapses.

@Allfurcoatandnoknickers That's somewhat irritating to have left it until now to decide to have a survey. But, if the bit about the mortgage company advising them to get a survey carried out is accurate that generally means that something has bene picked up when the lender carried out the valuation.

Our solicitor isn't happy saying the Agents shouldn't have agreed this at all or advised us to accept this offer??

I really don't follow what your solicitor means here. How could the agents be expected to know that the mortgage lender would recommend your buyers get a survey carried out when everyone else is a couple of months down the line? The solicitors comments don't make a lot of sense.

Anyway, hopefully it's something that can be booked in and turned around pretty quickly, and won't delay things a great deal.

My agent has spoken to my buyer. He has promised to be transparent from now on and give us timescales for the sorting of enquiries on his sale. I’m hoping that this will also mean he is more proactive in getting information out of his management company. Apparently all the certificates that are being requested exist they just haven’t been sent to his buyer’s solicitor. I’m not sure we have really progressed and I still don’t have dates but at least I know why!
I have been told that both he and his buyer are still committed and keen to move as soon as possible.
Anything is better than the last 2 months of hinting that we are ready to exchange and then no explanation as to why nothing happened.

Oops - we have a hard stop deadline now. Bottom of chain has offer expire on the 7th. Their solicitor asked to exchange on the 28th of Feb and complete shortly after - denied because middle solicitor isn't ready with our property yet....they are asking new date and wanting to know where our property status is. My solicitor is away this week but has our signed contract, responded to enquiries a month ago etc. so from our perspective we are ready. The middle solicitor is just saying they are reviewing the revised mortgage offer of their clients and checking their files...

I'm going to call our office in the morning just to make sure the middle solicitor hasn't sent anything this week while our solicitor has been out. If push comes to shove, I'd like the bottom of the chain to complete regardless of our property status and I'd sign a side agreement keeping us linked while we wait for their solicitor...