8.5 weeks in and no contract pack

[Nortam]

We are first time buyers buying an empty house so no chain.

Had our offer accepted 8.5 weeks ago. We've had our mortgage offer, survey completed and searches but our solicitors have had absolutely nothing from sellers solicitors.

I rang my solicitors again yesterday who said they have chased it yet again but still nothing. The estate agent last said they'd look into it nearly 2 weeks ago but they're on holiday this week.

I'm starting to worry that we won't be in on time for primary school applications now.

Is this a normal time frame or should I be worrying? I'm not sure if I'm being unfairly impatient. Thanks.

The contract pack is usually the first thing the seller would sign off and get back to the solicitor so searches can start? This also gives you an idea of fixtures and fittings and whether there is a water meter in situ or not. When I sold my property and instructed my solicitor the contract pack arrived 2 days later and I handed it back in to my solicitor who is local. Once this was received my buyers then instructed survey and their solicitor got to work with searches. It seems your sellers are very unmotivated and need a little shove! I would contact your solicitor and estate agent and start giving dates that searches need to be started as you’re considering looking for something else. Even if you’re not use this as a tactic to get the vendor moving! I hope this gets sorted as it’s so stressful without the added stress. Good luck with everything.

It took our sellers almost 3 months to do ours. We kept being given excuses about why not, but it turned out that they had pulled out of their onward purchase without telling us, so probably trying to avoid paying any solicitors fees in case the chain collapsed. Once we threatened to pull out they got their act together and we did eventually move in - took almost 5 months in all but could have been much less if they hadn't been so slow with paperwork.

Thank you both. Are they able to start searches without the contract pack? Our solicitors have definitely started searches as we've had some back. But they are adamant they haven't received it and have even encouraged me to speak to the estate agents to speed things up.

Solicitors can start searches before receiving the contract pack but often they don't like to. They like to see the title documents just to make sure that the title number matches the search area, because searches are expensive if they get the wrong address!

Just be aware that solicitors don't really like chasing - they want to do the work, not waste time chasing people to send them stuff. The EA is the one to do chasing and they should be asking the vendors if they have filled in all the forms they need to submit to their solicitor and sorted out their ID and paid some monies on account. Without this, their solicitor may not have started doing any work on the file.

Ah I see, I didn't realise that. I.feel completely clueless. I don't know what's normal and what's not. I will get on to the EA as soon as she's back from holiday to do some chasing.

@Reallybadidea at what point did you threaten to pull out? Glad you got there in the end.

It was when we started chasing our solicitor about what they were doing and they said they hadn't received the contract pack. Sellers estate agent fobbed us off for a few days and then confessed that the onward purchase had fallen through.

Our sellers were utter twats (there's more stuff that I won't bore you with). Hopefully yours are just disorganised!

You are being fobbed off. Unless the agent works completely alone, there will be other people in her firm who can chase up the sellers solicitors. Don't wait till she's back from holiday, ask them to get another member of staff chasing it.
You could also contact the seller yourself and ask specifically whether they have returned the necessary paperwork to their solicitors, and tell them that time is of the essence and you need to have contract papers received by your solicitor by the end of this week. Tell them you've laid out money in good faith for the valuation, and you have the mortgage offer. You now need them to demonstrate good faith.
You should also contact your solicitor and ask them to chase this and find out what the delay is.
It sounds like they don't want to commit themselves yet.

Thanks @DelphiniumBlue I think I'm going to take your advice and be a bit firmer as I'm starting to get worried and impatient now. I know things take time but nearly 9 weeks to fill some paperwork in is ridiculous. I don't have contact details for the seller (they don't live in the house) so no way of contacting them.

One of my relatives had this situation earlier in the year, the seller’s solicitors just weren’t getting on with it.

He started threatening to pull out and miraculously, the contract pack arrived that week! Once the EA returns from holiday, I’d start hinting that you’re looking at other properties as this sale clearly isn’t moving forward, etc. Good luck.

@HamBone if things don't start moving soon we actually will have to pull out. Our car is on the brink of dying but can't take out any finance until we complete on the house. I just hope the car survives long enough!

When you say the estate agent is on holiday, do you mean the whole office is shut??? If not, I'd ring and speak to whoever answers the phone.
If the whole office shuts down because of a holiday, this isn't going to be a quick process.

No sorry I just meant the estate agent who is dealing with this sale, not the whole office. They said to go through her for everything. With us being first time buyers I don't know what the usual process is.

I'm going to insist on speaking to someone today though.

Hi OP. We are in exactly the same boat! Our offer was accepted at the beginning of June, we have our mortgage offer, survey completed and paid our solicitor for searches but we're not off the starting block yet as the contract pack has not been sent. We are not in a hurry as such and not panicking yet but conscious that the mortgage offer will expire in 6 months time and our solicitor will not start searches until they have the contract pack. The hold up for us is the fact that it's a probate property with several executors living all over the place so the paperwork has been doing a grand tour.

Good luck! Hope you get news soon! 🙏

If you know their surname, you could try writing to them at the house, they might have a mail redirection set up. No good if you don’t, as RM redirects on surname only.

@girlfrombackthen to begin with we weren't in a rush either but I assumed we would be in well before primary school application deadline but now I'm not so sure. Plus we have the added pressure of the car now too. I hope things start moving for you soon. I think if I had a reason for the delay, it wouldn't be quite so annoying but I've just had complete radio silence.

9 weeks to get contract pack isn't right. I've always got it within days. Some agents have it ready for agreed offers.
I'd give a 1 week.deadline today, through the manager of the estate agency. I'd also ne asking the EA why this hasn't been followed up before. I think they will know why it hasn't, but may not be keen to tell you, so try to get it out of them.
Agent is chaser. Solicitor just does legal stuff.
Start looking elsewhere anyway. It's likely this sale won't work out.

"Some agents have it ready for agreed offers"

The agents do not prepare the contract pack. They have no input. The contract pack is "just the legal stuff" and you wouldn't have it within days. You don't even see it until much further down the line, when you sign the contract.

The seller instructs a solicitor. The solicitor sends them forms to complete and only once those forms are returned, does the solicitor start compiling the contract pack to send over to the buyer's solicitor. If someone hasn't done their bit, then it delays starting the legal work. 9 weeks in tells me someone either hasn't filled in the forms, hasn't completed their ID checks or hasn't put monies on account, or maybe the solicitor has got so many files to deal with that they can't keep up.

"Agent is chaser. Solicitor just does legal work"

How insulting. The legal work is the major part of transferring a property from one person to another. Get this wrong and it will cause all kinds of problems further down the line when the property is sold again. Not to mention the due diligence that goes into making sure a client buys a good and marketable title. The EA may be your friend, chasing and speaking on the phone to you to reassure and keep the chain together, but they are salespeople who couldn't give a *hit what you're buying, only that they get their commission once a sale completes. Their commission is also vastly more than a solicitor will get for a lot less work.

Ah. I thought the contract pack was the fixtures and fittings form and disclosures etc. I have indeed been given that immediately and have also been required to give it to the agent before selling.

Is the contract pack the solicitors report and their findings, replies to all queries etc? If so, yes just before exchange of contracts. I wouldn't be concerned if I didn't have this within 9 weeks.

But the op was stating they've been on radio silence since offer agreed? 9 weeks in and no documentation would be a huge concern got me... there would usually have been lots of back and forth by this point.

I definitely don't mean to run down the solicitors part in proceedings. They're the most important bit. But it's not their job to be chasing up sellers if they are not responding, that's on the agent first I would have thought? I agree they should be paid much more than the agent.

Apologies for any incorrect info- seems poster above knows a lot more than me!

I also thought the contract pack was fixture and fittings ect. Whatever it's called, that's the information I'm talking about. My solicitor has told me that they don't have the information they need to start enquires and I haven't received any paperwork. Hope that clarifies. Thanks all for your advice. I'll update once I hear something.

Ah. I thought the contract pack was the fixtures and fittings form and disclosures etc. I have indeed been given that immediately and have also been required to give it to the agent before selling.

If a seller chooses to supply a copy of the Fixtures & Contents form to the EA selling their property, that is their choice but that isn't what usually happens. The Fixtures & Contents form does form part of the contract pack, but it is not THE contract pack.

Whatever contract/disclosures you are signing with the EA has nothing to do with the contract pack supplied by the solicitor.

If you are a buyer and have instructed a solicitor, you are waiting for the seller and their solicitor to forward the draft contract pack in a timely manner.

Is the contract pack the solicitors report and their findings, replies to all queries etc? If so, yes just before exchange of contracts. I wouldn't be concerned if I didn't have this within 9 weeks.

No. That is the Report on Title.

But the op was stating they've been on radio silence since offer agreed? 9 weeks in and no documentation would be a huge concern got me... there would usually have been lots of back and forth by this point.

Various documents form the draft contract pack. The seller, the Land Registry and the seller's solicitor provide the documents needed, so it is important that everyone does their bit to provide everything in a timely manner.

The seller needs to engage the solicitor, pass their ID checks and provide monies on account as well as send back all the completed forms (The Fixtures & Contents form, the Property Information Form, any certificates/warranties etc).

Once the solicitor has the forms (protocol forms) and monies, they will pay the Land Registry for the title documents, such as the Title Register, Title Plan, any old Transfers, Conveyances or Leases.

If it is a leasehold property, then a Management Pack will also be needed from the freeholder/management company, which the seller pays for.

All this is sent to the buyer's solicitor by the seller's solicitor. The buyer's solicitor will have no influence on how quickly the seller's solicitor can send it to them.

I definitely don't mean to run down the solicitors part in proceedings. They're the most important bit. But it's not their job to be chasing up sellers if they are not responding, that's on the agent first I would have thought? I agree they should be paid much more than the agent.

Yes, solicitors don't consider chasing as part of their job. Chasing is the EA's job. 9 weeks in without any of the above is worrying. Somewhere, something is not right. The EA absolutely does need to find out where the delay is and what needs to be done to proceed. Whether it's the seller, their solicitor or something else, the EA should find out.

Thank you @Frecklespy that's really helpful. I've/my solicitor has had absolutely nothing from the sellers solicitor. As first time buyers buying an empty house with no chain I really thought it was going to be as straightforward as it can be but obviously not!

I do hope you get some information soon. It is concerning that 9 weeks have passed with absolutely no information being provided.

My office has a client selling their property and they still have not provided all their ID documents. They have sent a copy of their passport, but no utility document to confirm their home address and neither have they paid any monies on account to start the process of issuing draft contracts. They have been advised multiple times to get this information and monies to us, but still have failed to do so. They instructed us in May, so a similar timeframe to you? Without this information we will not send over a draft contract to the buyer's solicitor. No doubt the buyer is hacked off too (could be you?!).

Spoke to the EA today and honestly I'm seriously losing patience now. Apparently neither mine or the sellers solicitors have responded to the EAs update request.

I was explaining the situation to the EA but she just spoke over me so I still don't have any answers.

I think it’s time to withdraw your offer, OP. Contact your solicitor directly and instruct them to withdraw- if you want to give them a chance to get the contract pack, give a timeframe (a week?) or you’re withdrawing.

Don’t go through the EA.

To give you an idea of our timings:

Our solicitor sent our buyer the draft contract within a week. Our seller's solicitor took 3 weeks to send us theirs. We have one search due back next week and we are then ready to exchange with the seller.

The buyer has 'started' to do stuff. Haven't had any news about a survey. Solicitor has been appointed and mortgage completion applied for. So we're waiting for our buyers to catch up. Still not worried as the processes only started at the end of June.