Buyers/Sellers Exchange waiting room new thread

[thoughtsofmoog3]

I noticed the last one was full, so here we go!

Hello to the newcomers and welcome back to those who are still working their way through the joys of house buying/selling.

For my part, small flurry of activity today.

All the funds (minus the mortgage) are now with the solicitor and we are waiting the sellers solicitor to confirm exchange and completion can be this week.

Have been waiting since 10 am, so I'm guessing the answer may be no!

Our seller asked to exchange and complete this Friday. We are happy to exchange but can't complete this week. We asked to see the property before exchange, and now the seller is saying she doesn't want us to see the property for a few weeks as its messy due to packing. Not sure what is happening! Wondering if they have done something to the property and wanted to complete before we saw... sneaky.

I've had an email from my conveyancer asking on behalf of my sellers solicitor that if I can take photos of the metres (of the property I'm buying) on completion day and send them to them, via my conveyancer.

A bit odd/cheeky but as they're letting us have the keys from exchange I've said we'd do it.

The alternative is probably someone from the EA or solicitors doing it so I'd rather get up early and do it myself and avoid delays later in the day.

That's a bit odd. It's not as if you'd expect them to make their packing invisible! Perhaps they still need to give it a decent clean - I know that I found a new ecosystem thriving on DS's bedroom shelf!

I'm hoping my buyers don't ask to view again because my house is an absolute mess with packing, furniture we've bought for the new house etc. but we'd suck it up if they asked.

@BungalowBuyer I suppose that shows a level of trust - you could pop in there and boil a kettle on their bill first!

I'll be boiling a kettle when I'm there having the boiler serviced and giving it a good clean through between exchange and completion 😂

hi all, new to the thread here. getting quite frustrated with the process here as we and the rest of the chain are all ready to exchange, but our buyer is still awaiting her mortgage despite us accepting her offer nearly 3 months ago! getting quite ridiculous now but its due to her lender being quite specific over what is needed for the EWS1. wondering if she'll ever get the mortgage at this rate given its been so long

I had to look up EWS1.
I am sure it doesn't all have to be this difficult - some sort of reform is needed!

They’re probably worried you’re going to use it as a reason to knock money off at a late stage.

Getting our paperwork signed and witnessed tomorrow, and then we’re all ready to exchange. Hoping that puts things into motion as there’s lots of talk about the chain being ready but not much action!

It was a rocky road to exchange for us but we are due to complete on Friday! A top tip I have is getting the number of your buyer/ seller - it was the only thing that got things moving for us!

Wishing you all the best with your chains and stay strong!!

Congrats! Yep our vendor has been pushing everything along up the chain - it’s great having his number.

We are supposed to complete this week, but haven't exchanged yet.
tearing my hair out.

Bl*y conveyancers.

They have all my money , they told me last week we were aiming for Thursday - you can appreciate I might like some info. Can I get hold of them? Can I heck!

Just an email to say 'Still waiting a response from sellers solicitors' would be enough.
The receptionist (when I phoned for second time having emailed and phoned and been promised a call or email back) laughed and said 'oh - they obviously forgot - chuckle - I'll try and remind them in the morning'

The rage and stress! Will not be leaving a positive review!

@hexsnidgett Completely understand.

I am not convinced ringing them is likely to speed anything up. Our mortgage company is dragging their feet about the settlement figure, nothing to do but wait.
I am feeling for our purchaser-they are the ones moving.

Fair enough - my conveyancers have been awful, really awful at communicating.

I just want them to update me, that's all. Would take 30 seconds.

Hello everyone,
Joining the thread for what us hopefully (knock on wood) the end spurt for us after a looong process.
My dad passed away and I inherited some money, so we decided to upsize. We already have our new house. Just waiting for our old one to finally sell.
Put our house on the market in October 2022. Accepted an offer in November 2022. Buyers decided to not go ahead literally just before exchange at the end ofJanuary 2023.
Put the house back on the market with the same estate agent. Didn't get an offer for several months, eventhough we dropped the price in stages by 35 000£.
Changed Estate agent and got an offer immediately in April 2023.
We are finally in the end stages but after last time scared things will go wrong last minute again. Both parties have signed the contracts and sent them to our solicitors. Just waiting for the buyers solicitor to confirm the last enquiry has been closed off.
Estate Agent called today And said buyers are keen to exchange this week or next week. With a completion date at the start of July, because they are currently renting and need to give 2 months notice.
I have all my fingers crossed that it doesn't go wrong this time

We wanted to see the house we were buying before exchange, to measure things up. Seller at the time also was hesitant because it was messy. We told her we didn't mind it being messy that we just wanted to measure up spaces for our furniture.
It might also be that they are worried that you want to see it, because you are worried about something and thinking of pulling our last minute.
I certainly would feel anxious about our buyers wanting to see the house. Even more so because it is chaotic right now whilst we are packing everything to move.

@FigandHoney that's true, they could be anxious especially if its messy. Odd though, because our solicitor recommended we see it before exchange since you are buying it as it is, so if you havent seen it in months anything could have happened. I'd have thought then that all solicitors recommend viewing before exchange so people would consider it normal. But obviously not! We aren't looking for deductions anyway, just want to have a 5 minute check and then exchange and complete soon! Stressful process for everyone since its so late in the game and anyone can still pull out if they want.

I think it's always a good idea to see the property before exchange. As I believe the house you buy is in fact the house in the state it is in at exchange. After exchange the seller needs to keep it in that state. Before exchange they don't necessarily.
We didn't do a second visit the first time we bought. As we weren't advised to do so and we lived pretty far away. But this was silly of us and could have gone wrong.
So your Solicitors recommendation is a good one and I would push for it.
Just be aware that the sellers might be anxious about your intentions. Now that we are on the other side and have been burnt already, I understand that point if view. So anything you can do to ease their anxiety about your intentions might help get a yes to the viewing.

We let our buyers see our house again for measuring up, and showed them about and how things work. It didn't seem to put them off.

We are currently in an interminable wait for some final replies from our vendors. We have been waiting for weeks for a few replies and our vendors seem incapable of sorting it out. I've practically begged them to speak to their solicitor. They are keen to move, and are busy packed up, but don't seem to realise they need to answer some queries before we can exchange despite me telling them repeatedly. I'm so frustrated by it all.

Now they said today they had spoken with their solicitor and our solicitor would receive a reply this afternoon but we've heard nothing and we are less than two weeks away from proposed completion and I have no idea what to do. I'm so stressed about it all. Is it ok to ask a solicitor to call the vendors solicitor? Our solicitor don't like us calling and I feel like I'm hassling them every time I email them, but I don't know what else to do.

@hexsnidgett what's happened? I'm convinced this will be me. Supposed to complete on 26th.

@dontlookgottalook Yes that what our sellers eventually did. After first being reluctant. And it was amazing. Found out about some stuff we would otherwise never have known about. Double bin collection, etc. Advice on schools. Left us the number for their window cleaner and hedge trimmer.

I think sometimes it is the solicitors dragging things out. They don't necessarily immediately send the reply. Maybe your buyers have actually finally answered the enquiries. Fingers crossed