The all new buyers/sellers waiting room (continued) thread

[sweetpickle2]

New thread!

Yep yep. All in hand and everyone in the chain is in agreement, we've been very clear all along what our timeline is due to schools.

Now everything is confirmed, I don't want to waste any time so I'm ringing the council's SEN team today for their advice. At the moment I'm going off of advice from this council but I need to communicate with the new area as well.

Any advice gratefully received!

We've been ready to exchange for three weeks now. Our seller is also ready, they're selling a vacant house.

Our buyer and their solicitor ignored our initial suggested exchange/completion dates. We've asked our EA and solicitor for updates on where the buyer is at, and all we know if that 4 weeks ago the buyer's solicitor was preparing the final contract. And 3 weeks ago they were waiting for outstanding anti-money laundering evidence. Nothing since then. It's been 13 weeks now since offers were made, and I'm fed up. We move onto the standard variable rate in May for our existing mortgage, and I never thought we'd still be here in May with such a simple chain. We have no idea what they have left to do, and neither does our solicitor as she can't get answers.

Our buyer is a mother and son (mother doesn't speak English well and is moving to our area to live near her son, who is named on the contract). We know that she isn't planning to move in upon completion and will live with her son. The EA just passes us on vague updates as a middle man and isn't pressing or applying pressure. The buyer's latest message (sent beginning of last week) ruled out April based on personal issues. We weren't happy and our EA said we'd have to send a message from us because there was nothing more they could do. We did that, and said we want to exchange and complete this month, and if that wasn't possible, we wanted to know why and for them to confirm when will work. We also flagged our mortgage situation and why we wanted to do it in April.

The son responded to say they were in hospital, but would aim to catch up with his mother last week and provide an update at the end of last week, which they didn't, and we still haven't heard anything. We know that the son's wife is pregnant with their first kid, so whilst trying to be understanding of what could be happening, they haven't told us their situation and we feel in the dark, no idea if the anti-money laundering stuff is dealt with, if they've signed contracts or even received them.

The whole thing has left us feeling frustrated and deflated. We've accepted April won't happen now, but how do we move forward? The buyer is calling the shots, answering messages when they feel like it and they're in no rush whatsoever. They took 7/8 weeks to instruct their solicitor and starts searches, and got all stroppy and refused to answer emails after we chased a few times.

Do we just chill out, back off and wait, or issue some sort of ultimatum?

Thank you! Still feels like a while away though. Also we got the results from the school choices back yesterday and my daughter got the school right in front of our current place, would have been brilliant could have rolled out of bed to take her and it's got an "outstanding" Ofsted rating, however we also applied for thread schools near the new house and fingers cross we get the good one there as well. We get to find out in the 24th so fingers crossed.

@Laughingravy that mother and adult child duo sound like a class act

@Sc8880 , sorry to hear that things are going so slowly. My buyer also isn't planning on moving in straight away, and my experience was that this definitely led to there being no sense of urgency in terms of getting the paperwork in order ready to exchange. The hospital situation may well be genuine, but I would still expect the EA to be earning their fee by chasing things more actively. If it were me I would not be happy to leave things open-ended with no target date in sight. Perhaps a deadline is a good idea - you need to know that you're not wasting your time and potentially jeopardising your purchase, and it might motivate the EA, if not the buyers themselves. Maybe ask them if they have any similar properties you can view 😉.

@runningmom - finally! That's great news.

Best wishes to all whatever stage you are at. I feel quite strange having finally exchanged. A couple more visits to the house to clean up and take meter readings, then completion is set for Monday. I think there might be some tears when I close the door for the last time and hand over the keys.

Solidarity for all those waiting in this horrible process. We are almost 5 weeks in and heard our buyer wants a survey now, I was hoping they would have organised it a bit sooner as mortgage applications have gone in, if we then have renegotiation I am worried it will mess it all up! I know our house has a few little niggles but don't think anything major its 60s so of course it wont be perfect but we have maintained it. We are still waiting on our survey report for our onward purchase so hoping that doesn't flag anything too major.

Sorry to hear other people are finding that everything seems to move at a snails pace. Offer was acceptable in January and we still haven't even got an exchange date! Unfortunately our solicitor turned out to be shockingly bad, she basically ignored us for 2 months. We've now changed solicitor so fingers crossed we can be in next month

Good news for those of you who’ve had some movement.
We have had some movement. I’ve got contracts to sign and send back to solicitors! I’m hoping to be in mid May but we shall see. How long has this bit taken for everyone else?

I feel a bit deflated with schools though. My youngest got a place at our local school where her brother goes now and I’ll have to try and get them in to the local schools which are full. I keep wondering how I’m going to manage the driving back and forth but also trying to remind myself it’s a all out of my control.

A bit of movement today. We are beginning to talk dates! Hopefully this means that exchange is in the next week or so 🤞

Got the news from the buyers and their survey today. They are asking for 10k off to pay for absolutely everything that is on the red or amber list in the Level 2 survey, including things like installing mains operated smoke alarms and installing an extra banister on a staircase which has walls on both sides and is perfectly normal and safe but just built to 1920 standards, not 2020 standards. Not to mention the asbestos survey that is recommended to check if there is asbestos in a small amount of artex and it only recommends it if there are plans for demolition works - apparently I should pay for that. Fortunately I am 95% certain to be pulling out of the sale anyway because I have lost my onward purchase and I don't want to be homeless. This just makes me feel a whole lot less guilty about it.

I'll be departing the thread now since I'm no longer a buyer or seller, but good luck to all. I hope things go well for everyone else - the agony of all this is so unbearable, you all deserve to have it end brilliantly!

Sorry to hear that, @Tupster . Hope things work out for you whether you decide to stay put long term or give it another go at some point. It certainly is an agonising process, but the power is with you if you aren't a forced seller.

@Tupster so sorry to hear that, but you're right to feel a whole lot less guilty if they're asking for £10k off!! Imagine if everyone did that after looking at a survey. We put a banister into our current house which has two walls and it cost about £50 from B&Q...sounds like they want you to pay for a cruise or something!

Best of luck with everything.

Thank you @ClematisBlue49 for all your sound advice to us all. So pleased that you've exchanged and will be moving in soon. You'll make endless happy memories in the new place, with lots of fond ones to look back on from your current home which someone else will love just as much. Life's journey continues! ✨️

@Tupster - sorry to hear that you have lost your onward purchase.

Reference your 'buyers' - they sound a nightmare anyway. As if they want you to pay for a bannister and wired smoke alarms. It sounds like you may have dodged a bullet with these buyers.

Welcome to a new day all. May the conveyancing gods shine down on us and we move a CM closer to completion. I'd ask for an inch but we all know a conveyancer cant work that fast so I'll settle for a CM 😂

Sorry to hear that @Tupster
The buyers sound very naive. Or perhaps they are simply CFs.
Good to hear they can’t back you into a corner. Good luck with whatever comes next.

Thanks for everyones thoughts and best wishes. We got in on Tuesday evening, it was clear of junk and we raised a glass to our future.

Currently it all a bit 'what have we done' as there is such a lot to do. The sister of the lady that lived there came round full of tearful apologies at the state of the place - nothing had been cleaned for years and adult child has two dogs.

So we are talking up the potential while removing all the manky carpets and waiting for the doggy stink to subside. And it really does have potential and we have the budget to realise it thankfully.

Good luck to everyone stuck in the waiting room.

Congratulations @Laughingravy , that must be a relief.

Best wishes for your renovation. It's another potentially long and stressful journey, but you will get there and it will be worth it when everything is exactly as you want it. (My top tip... hire a project manager to help you select decent builders and tradespeople, and, most importantly, keep things on schedule and on budget.)

@Jaq27 To be fair, I think they are naive rather than evil, but naive to an extent that they shouldn't be buying anything other than a newbuild. They've shared the entire survey so I can see everything and the only mention of asbestos is standard "might contain asbestos" referring to two rooms with slightly textured ceilings and the remnants of a back boiler inside a chimney and a chimney pot, which is again is only "might" and comes with a caveat that it only matters anyway if they do major works like demolishing chimney breasts. They want to commission an asbestos survey before they buy and I've seen a long back and forth email chain with the asbestos company getting quotes and discussing scaffolding access. So they are obviously getting themselves genuinely het up about it, not just trying to get a discount. But thank god I've just got an easy way out of this because I feel it could have become a very long drawn out process of them slowly pulling out of a house which it literally says in the survey there is no reason not to buy.

Yes - I think your instincts are correct @Tupster .
if you don’t know your way around buying houses all those red traffic lights look very scary.
survey report on the house we bought showed exactly the same re: chance of asbestos in the ceiling artex but no worries until/unless you remove it or drill it.
im just glad to hear they haven’t got you over a barrel … gutted for you though cos I know how it feels to go back to the beginning again.
we took a 5 week break before getting back in the saddle. It’s a heartbreaking process.

I am waiting for the searches to start due to sellers solicitor.. think we are 4 weeks in. Nothing to sell. Just going to ride it out and hope to be in for the summer hols.

Was q excited about viewing somewhere today but they have cancelled this morning. Bit concerned they are timewasters as they were on with another agent previously. Pretty annoying as we had made arrangements to be able to make the viewing 😡

@WimbyAce i once got to a house I was due to view to find no one there. When i called the estate agent they told me it had been cancelled.. nice of them to tell me. I was lucky I had another viewing booked otherwise it’d have been an hours round trip for nothing!

I’ve signed contracts and returned them and have been told they are preparing my file ready for exchange!
im hoping I’m nearly there!

Yes luckily the agent phoned me early to let me know. Will give them another chance but I hate being messed about 😮‍💨

We are buying a 1950's 3 bed semi. The house although furnished is rarely lived in as the lady in question is now living with her partner, hence the sale.

We have had a Level 2 survey done which picked up on low level damp in some areas, but nothing specific. We were aware of this as it's a 75 year old house.

We have viewed a total of 3 times and the last time we went we noticed some serious areas of damp.

I have raised this with the estate agent, the vendor has replied with basically a fob off.

I have attached 2 photos.

The first one is the front dining room window. This was wet to the touch. The vendor has said that leaves in the gutter may have caused this and because she hasn't got a window cleaner anymore (he cleared the gutters) that's why there is a wet area.

The second photo is an interior wall between the kitchen and living room. She gave no explanation for this.

She has basically fobbed us off.

What do we do now? Do I insist she addresses these issues or do I have to get a damp expert in to take a look at my own cost?

I'm a cash buyer on sale of my house so no mortgage involved.

Can my solicitor intervene or advise me? Never been in this situation before so I'm a bit stumped

@BG2015 , I would definitely want to get to the bottom of those issues. By the sound of it they weren't there when your survey was done, so is it worth going back to the surveyor and asking their advice? You could get a damp report from a specialist company, although bear in mind that they vary enormously in what they come back with. My previous buyer had one which suggested the house was riddled with damp (it isn't), so I had one of my own done by a more reputable company which only found two quite minor problems. Do you know any builders who might be able to visit the property with you?

I've arranged for someone to take a look next week.

I'm very concerned about the damp as I have severe asthma. Not ideal.