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.

So frustrating @Sousuke - I hope it gets done speedily tomorrow, talk about leaving everything to the wire! I’m going to push hard to at least aim for an exchange date earlier than Friday, then if it doesn’t happen there’s still time to complete this week. I don’t understand why they would propose exchange and completion on the same day if it’s avoidable.

@Karmatime I think I understand better how exchange is supposed to work...normally you schedule exchange a week in advance with completion one to two weeks after. Banks take 4-6 days to clear for exchange and completion. What ends up happening to alot of people is they run out of time and only ask for release a day or two before the exchange date which rarely works. Then exchange gets delayed 2 to 3 days and gets jammed right up to the completion date

That’s useful to know @Sousuke - so it might be that Friday is the earliest day they can exchange? I guess I’ll find out more tomorrow. Exchange and completion on the same day is not an issue as the property is vacant, it’s the risk of it running into yet another week that concerns me as it’s been 2 months of various delays and missed deadlines.

@Karmatime Its the same for us. We are vacant and even had final meter readings tonight. The stress is probably on our buyers. I bet they have a house of boxes this sunday with a mover coming to collect in the AM without knowing what is going to happen Monday. I have told my agent they are to unconditionally give over our garage key to the buyers tomorrow if they want them. They are moving from a 3BR 1 bath so unlikely to be able to jam it all in, but I'm hoping that helps them.

We didn't exchange today either but it sounds like the lender go ahead was granted late today so can probably do it tomorrow. I've also learned, for whatever reason, the bottom of the chain can buy time because funds were already requested and in place so their Tuesday deadline has softened to Friday. We actually expected the chain to collapse today because this morning the bottom demanded exchange by a certain time and that came and went...only to discover alittle more time is now available and the final hurdle is cleared.

That's not really the case, at least not in my experience.

Exchange is rarely scheduled as such, it generally happens at the earliest point at which all parties are ready.

It seems slightly mad to me to have anything less than 2 weeks between exchange and completion. Although I accept there are certain occasions when a mortgage offer is close to expiry this may be unavoidable.

I'm buying a probate house and am chain free. My mortgage is done. My survey is done and the searches are completed. My solicitor is just waiting on one minor query from the sellers solicitor (the secretary says they should be able to respond straight away as its a minor thing). Once that comes back what's next? Are we almost there?!

Hope it happens tomorrow @Sousuke .
@TeaChocKitKat once all enquiries are sorted and with no chain you should be able to proceed to exchange quickly. The solicitor will send you contracts to sign and return and prepare your file for exchange so if that hasn’t happened yet that is a further step.
No real news or progress on my drawn out sale. My buyer’s solicitor is apparently still doing funding checks but they have verbally said we will complete on Friday. There’s no need for a gap between exchange and completion as my buyers are no longer dependent on their sale and are keen to move into my empty house as soon as possible. I just want to exchange asap so I have the certainty that it will happen.

Oh I hope so! Compared to most people here my purchase has been easy but I cannot wait to move as my personal situation is tricky!
Fingers crossed for you on Friday.

@Mildura Yeah I agree if everyone has been prompt and there is plenty of time on the clock. Ours has been plagued by two issues. First the middle of the chain has a slower conveyancer which probably ate up 6 weeks of time. Second the bottom of the chain pulled a gazundering and I don't think made people aware they were doing it at a time when they had about 4 weeks left on their mortgage offer. They then only warned the chain at the 2 week mark. The combination has forced exchange against completion.

Thanks for the good luck @Karmatime - the electrics weren't too bad in the end. We'll be moving a fusebox and adding a few sockets in bedrooms where there's currently only one (!) but that's it, so nothing too serious.

@TeaChocKitKat it sounds like you’re almost there! Have you sent over your deposit monies yet? Signed contracts?

@Sousuke sorry to hear you didn’t exchange as planned! Our exchange definitely wasn’t scheduled in that sort of way – it was more that someone needed to request money that would take a couple of days to come through (I’m guessing premium bonds or a family loan or something) so we knew all the paperwork was in, we were just waiting on deposit money. As for banks taking that long – we sent our deposit by CHAPS on a Wednesday and it arrived by Friday, so that was barely 2 days really.

I think time between exchange and completion depends on whether people have booked removals that charge for a change in date, or they have other logistics to arrange in advance. I couldn’t do exchange and completion on the same day – the stress of not knowing when we would definitely have access? Madness. This week is bad enough, knowing we’ve exchanged but not completing until tomorrow sometimes I have the worry that someone will pull out, even though I know it’s unlikely as it would be a lot of bother right now! Until I have those keys in my hands, there’s still a possibility it might not happen…

Morning all. Looks like the majority of us are in the same boat.

We still haven’t exchanged. We’ve been ready with money with our solicitor for about 10 days. Onward solicitor is a nightmare to get hold of. Apparently that file is with the compliance manager for checks (since this time last week!) so I’m endlessly chasing that.

I’m getting hassle with the removers about confirming the move as it’s only a week to go but at 3k I can’t do that until we exchange. They’re starting to pressure me to postpone the completion date (everyone has agreed to it) but when I’ve arranged transport for 4 horses, and partner has booked annual leave etc, it’s not that simple to just change it.

I’m in your boat @Inapicklee - compliance checks still going on for my buyer’s deposit and we are due to complete on Friday. His solicitor who thankfully for once is not on holiday is being chased from all angles, my buyer, EA and solicitor but no go ahead for exchange yet. They also don’t update on progress at all and are incredibly difficult to get hold of.
I don’t have your logistics problems as I’ve already moved (and don’t have any horses🤣) but this was all supposed to have happened 2 months ago and I can’t cope with the waiting for much longer.

Popping back into the thread to join the "still haven't exchanged" crew. It does sound like we are finally getting very, very close. Bottom of the chain has supposedly finally sent the deposit yesterday. But then that's what they said two weeks ago, so...don't want to get too hopeful.

@Inapicklee It is so bloody annoying isn't it? I have rebooked the mover 3 times now! Same with annual leave, broadband, dog sitter etc. In fact, I have to call our broadband provider again tonight to tell them to move the date for the fourth time.

@thunderouslug and @Karmatime i think there is a special place in hell for people causing these hold ups so long down the line.

I had a good chat with my solicitor, she is sounding equally frustrated. She finally got hold of the AWOL solicitor at around 3 despite trying all day who then said they don’t have mortgage redemption statement yet and the last enquiry was only completed yesterday….so now it’s going to the compliance manager. So it wasn’t with them last week like they said!

Everyone is still on for the 15th but getting highly concerned I won’t get my move date if it takes much longer and we will need to try and find another company or end up having to delay because of that!

On the plus side at least it looks like no one is getting cold feet which is one plus since I’ve officially left my job now 😖

I keep saying that to myself too @Inapicklee - I think my buyers are as frustrated as I am and are very keen to move in. It’s their solicitor who is holding things up and keeping a stony silence on whether or not we will complete on Friday.
@thunderouslug - like you I dare not get my hopes that we are close. I’m just soooo fed up of living in limbo.

Hi all - pretty similar to other's statements. Completion rescheduled for Friday as everyone officially said they are ready to go yesterday. It appears the bottom and middle are just waiting confirmation on funds arriving for Friday...so exchange expected tomorrow Thursday. Was really hoping they were going to exchange this afternoon.

People with exchange close to completion; what are you about about movers? This is currently my biggest issue as I get charged (and a fair amount) to change the date within 3 days of the move. Which if we are aiming for the 15th is close of play tomorrow so I’m pretty much out of time

We're back to square one on our sale. The very slow buyer has admitted that his mortgage application was declined. He's going to resubmit and include his second business apparently. He's been very slow since we accepted his offer in January so our agents have told us to go back on the market. It will either light a fire under him or we'll get new buyers. Still, I'm glad we know now and not further down the line.

Our sellers haven't put their house back on the market so hopefully it means they have faith in us moving quickly. I like to think we earned brownie points when we told them the survey was back and we weren't planning to renegotiate. It was all normal stuff for a 100 year house but its a risk if you don't know the type of buyer you have.

Oh no really sorry to hear that @PleaseJustText - you sound very calm about it all! Best of luck with the re-listing :)

Hallo, can I join this thread as I seem to be in the same boat as everybody else. We were due to exchange last Wednesday with 17th March as completion date. However our vendor’s solicitor had not requested a redemption statement so it didn’t happen. A week later they still don’t have the redemption statement as this particular lender will only use the post, will not use email, fax etc. I don’t know if the bad weather is making postal deliveries slower, this solicitor is in Durham. We are now only just over a week away from completion and the rest of the chain (there are 6 of us altogether) are getting very anxious understandably. We have removals booked etc and have half packed the house but this limbo is very difficult. Has anyone else heard of lenders that will only use the post? Good luck to everybody

Thanks @EstherHazy With hindsight, I had a sneaking suspicion he had mortgage problems. Now we've made the decision we're desperate to move ASAP so it was strange his purchase was progressing so much slower than ours.

Sorry to hear that @PleaseJustText, I hope you find a new speedy buyer quickly. That’s a long chain @maxiewaxie - if that one document is the only thing outstanding then completion by next Friday is definitely feasible despite the post issue. However I totally understand the concern and hope you exchange this week so you don’t have to go into the weekend without the certainty of exchange. We are supposed to be completing this Friday but haven’t exchanged yet!

Thank you, that’s reassuring to know. Do you know what is holding up your exchange? Just feel so fed up in a half packed up house just waiting for the phone to ring, hopefully it will all be a distant memory for us all before long. This has been going on since October as up to a couple of weeks ago it was the buyers at the bottom of the chain being painfully slow, they waited 3 months before getting a survey done. Now it’s our vendors who are the problem. Good luck for tomorrow