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.

@HamBone I'm close to this but I'd at least like to know what the actual problem is first. Have the sellers filled out the paperwork? Do they have it? Do their solicitors have it? Maybe mine do? (They say they don't) plus this house is perfect for us, we wouldn't be able to keep our mortgage rate (nationwide will make us reapply with a new rate) and we've spent a fortune already.

I'm going to ring the EA again at 5pm and see if they managed to contact ANYONE.

Thanks @SuddenlyOld I've seen a few threads on here where there's been a 2/3/4 house chain who are so much further forward than us it's so frustrating especially since we've done everything we can.

I am also buying a chain free empty house and after two months of nothing from my seller - I told the estate agent I was going to withdraw my offer if I didn’t hear anything .

This week the seller has now returned all initial documents . Some people are so slow at doing stuff it’s very frustrating .

@Fidgety31 what is wrong with these people? Do they not want to sell their houses or not? I'm glad you finally got your seller moving. Please pray for the sake for me! I'm all up for threatening to pull out but I don't think DH will need convincing.

My vendor went off to Spain for 6 weeks without signing his paperwork first and he is really messing me around. I have been ready to exchange and complete, since June. He just got back from holiday on August 2nd. I think I am finally completing, on August 8th. He accepted my offer at the end of February and there was no chain.

I’m all in favor of going straight to your solicitor’s rather than the EA, tbh. My relatives’ solicitors were able to find out more by directly contacting the seller’s solicitors. The EA was getting fobbed off (or perhaps not being pushy enough). Good luck. 🤞

So 9.5 weeks in and my solicitors finally got a letter from sellers solicitors saying they have been instructed and draft contract to follow soon. To me that sounds like they have only just instructed them?

EA keeps saying they're going to chase the. Don't bother to get back in touch with me. I'm trying to make DH agree to a deadline of a week or we are pulling out.

That's exactly it @Nortam. The sellers had to formally instruct their solicitor by completing the paperwork sent to them and returning it to confirm their instruction. Until this had been received by their solicitor, no legal work would have started.

I assume the paperwork was sent to the sellers quite a while ago, but they haven't completed/returned the forms until now.

The other issue could be that the sellers haven't found anywhere to buy yet, so were delaying on purpose until the chain was complete. Obviously you can't proceed very far with your transaction if the chain is not complete. There needs to be an end of the chain so that all of the transactions can be tied in, unless someone is breaking the chain.

@Frecklespy they are chain free, the house is empty. So honestly I have no idea why it's taken so long. I'm looking at other houses which is so frustrating because nationwide won't let us transfer our mortgage offer to another property so we will be paying so much more.

@Nortam It's about time the EA started pushing them to respond to their solicitor as and when they are asked to do something. Just think how long enquiries are going to take if the sellers spend weeks dithering.

Oh goodness, OP. I mentioned upthread that you might want to get your solicitors to contact the seller’s solicitors directly and push abit. My relative’s experience was that you get a far quicker response bypassing the EA. Sometimes being pushy is the only way to get answers.

I've been calling my solicitor and the EA. Solicitors have been trying to contact sellers solicitors for weeks with no response until now. EAs have said they aren't getting a response from either solicitor. EAs also seem reluctant to contact the seller directly.

I don't know what else I can do.

I'm dreading the enquiries. I really hoped we would be in by primary school applications deadline but I'm very much doubting it now.

It's starting to make me hate the house which is ridiculous I know.

Oh dear, yes its the case that they've only just instructed solicitors which you could reasonably expect to happen in the few days after offer agreed. That's a serious delay, and implies seriously unmotivated sellers.

Its not the end of this sale though. If I were you I'd be extremely aware of when my mortgage offer expires and whether it'll be doable. And I'd also be on the agent to find out why it's taken the sellers so long to instruct. It's possible they've got a genuine reason but if not I'd be seriously concerned about whether or not they actually want to sell.

Our mortgage offer runs out mid December which I would have said was fine but not so sure now!

Also, it turns out the driveway/ front garden is owned by the council which I think the owners are unaware of. The survey showed up that the drains are blocked which we want dealing with before exchange, plus whatever else turns up during enquiries.

I can seenthem being in any hurry to reply to enquires if it's taken them this long to even instruct their solicitor.

Sorry I'm just really stressed!

I absolutely feel your pain! We had an offer accepted in April - the vendor STILL hasn't even instructed their solicitor. Naively we've already paid for a survey etc.
The EA has been really good at chasing the vendor but they don't want to instruct a solicitor until they've had an offer accepted. Our mortgage agreement runs out in October so I highly doubt the sale will go ahead. Although we've not withdrawn the offer we are now viewing other properties and will withdraw as soon as we have another offer accepted.
TBH, even if they instruct the solicitor now the sale is unlikely to be completed by October and I'm so annoyed with the seller I don't want to proceed on principle!

@Pressuretoohigh Ita so frustrating isn't it? We also already paid for surveys too. And I know what you mean about not wanting to buy the house on principal because I feel a bit the same. DH is really reluctant to give an ultimatum otherwise I would be. I do get where he is coming from as the house is perfect for us even though it needs a lot of work. I hope you manage to find another house soon!

A friend withdrew their offer last Friday after having it accepted in March. So much BS from the EA’s for months and everything’s been paid for (searches, etc.), but they’re fed up. Sometimes it’s worth losing some money just to get out of an uncertain situation. Grrrr.

Okay so finally got to the bottom of what's been happening. The sellers solicitor retired but wasn't assigned another solicitor from the firm. Because she didn't contact them, they kind of just forgot about her until now. She's had no paperwork from them so none of that has been filled in so contract pack isn't anywhere near being ready. I had to threaten to pull out for the estate agent to call the seller and find out what was going on. I am so annoyed. I can't understand why the seller didn't contact the EA or her solicitor after having zero contact from either?!

Thanks for updating, OP. Hopefully things will now speed up for you. I'd say that apart from the solicitors, the EA is mostly to blame - it should not have taken you threatening to pull out for them to do their job, which is to expedite the sale.

Absolute bullshit (excuse my French). Any reasonable person would have chased their solicitors if they didn't hear anything from them in the first couple of weeks after sale is agreed. Are you sure your sellers haven't decided to buy an onwards property?

They 100% aren't buying.

Still haven't received anything from solicitor. EA said they were calling seller again and would get back to me as soon as they'd spoken to them. I'm still waiting. Sent an email this morning but haven't heard anything yet. This is beyond a joke now.

Another update. A positive one for once! Seller has received, filled in and returned paperwork to their solicitor. Yippee!

Congratulations OP! I'm so pleased for you - do keep us updated on progress, I'm heavily invested in your purchase now!

Still nothing from our vendor, we haven't withdrawn the offer but there is no way the sale is going ahead now considering our mortgage runs out in October. The vendor knows this so I don't understand what on earth her thought process is!

Ah that's good news OP. It feels like a long distance obstacle race doesn't it?! We've also got over the hurdle of the contract pack (apparently the delay was caused by some complication with the Land Registry which the executors weren't aware of) and so our solicitor has now been able to start searches at least... Have allowed myself to start planning how to decorate and update the house so hoping it's plain sailing from here. Good luck!