Before ranting, I know we are fortunate to not 'need' to move urgently as we a chain free and in rented accommodation. Technically there is nothing that means we HAVE to move at any point but...
We saw a house come on the market in June 2023, it was well priced so we tried to book a viewing but where informed the tenant was refusing access. Fine we just struck it off the list.
Six months later estate agent emails back to say tenancy ended and the tenant is now gone (house empty) if we still wanted to view. We had just had the other house we offered on fall apart (literally) so thought why not and we liked it so put in an offer which was accepted.
We where told it had damp (they seemed very honest about that pointing out the damp) hence the reasonable price. To be honest its an old house and damp is common in most Victorian houses so didn't bother us. We plan on it being a forever home and we are not expecting perfection in a 100+ year old house so have a budget to fix issues like that and make some changes to suit our needs.
After offering we where also told it was in probate so couldn't be sold until probate is granted which would be 'Easter'.
The hope was to be moved in by the 6 weeks holidays so we can enjoy the garden in the summer time and then the kids are ready for the school start. Figured 6 months was plenty of time.
That was 6 months ago. We have had surveys done and the pointing is fine but it needs a whole new roof as its leaking and structurally damaged due to wood rot (so a lot more expensive and a lot of building work before we could move in delaying moving even more). The longer it stands empty the more I worry about the damage being done to it buy the leaking roof.
However we emailed the EA again to chase up whats going on with probate as 6 months is a long time, to be told by the head EA (not the one we have been dealing with) that the seller hasn't even applied for probate yet but 'assuring me' that he plans to 'next week or so'.
The paperwork from the conveyance solicitor shows the owner died over a year ago. I though you only had 6 months to apply for probate under inheritance laws (thats what we where told as we just went through probate last year ourselves).
We still want/need the house + have put money into the surveys and everything. There is no other suitable house for sale (size, price or location wise) and we would rather not move than to move to somewhere not suitable but I'm just sick of being lied too and waiting round for nothing to happen.
Previous sellers of the other house we offered on messed us around for 6 months too by just refusing to instruct a solicitor (and the roof collapsed in a storm during that time). That's why we gave up, withdrew and offered on this one instead.
Is house buying always this bloody hard or are we just insanely unlucky? to get two sellers who seemingly have no interest in selling and would rather let the house rot that complete a sale even though we offered asking price (well above value price on the first) both times and been nothing but patient and easy going.