How long from accepting an offer to SSTC?

[AIAAH]

We accepted an offer on our house almost 2 weeks ago, but our listing hasn’t changed from ‘for sale’ to SSTC. We also haven’t had any other viewings or heard anything from our agent. We phoned our agent ourselves after waiting and she says it’s because she hasn’t received solicitor’s details from the buyer. Is this a normal amount of time to wait for this to happen these days?
We haven’t been through this process for decades so don’t know if our buyer is messing us around, if the agent isn’t doing her job properly or if this is normal? I don’t want to be a pest and chase the agent again if this is normal and I’m just being impatient!

Thanks.

If she hasn't received details of who the buyer's solicitor is then the Memorandum of Sale can't be sent out to start the whole process. It might be that your buyer is flaky, either continuing to view other places and perhaps even putting in multiple offers, or maybe they are not doing that but are terrible procrastinators, in which case expect the sale to be a long PITA. It's good that the EA is keeping it on the market pending a sign that your buyer is willing to do the very first, baby, step.

The agent needs to see proof of funds and have the solicitor details
It took about 3 hours for our buyers to provide all of that.

Thanks for the replies .
So it isn’t normal and an indicator that we have an awkward buyer? Would this person be classed as a ‘proceedable buyer’ if they aren’t providing the paperwork? Our contract with our estate agent has a clause that we can’t pull out if they find us a proceedable buyer, but I don’t feel overjoyed about this buyer now.

2 weeks is too long. Ask your agent why they are not continuing to actively market and do viewings.

At the moment the buyer is not proceedable. Do you have an 'able, ready, and willing' clause in your EA contract (best avoided, but if you have, too late now)? At present there is no evidence your buyer is 'able' (no agreed mortgage), no evidence they are 'willing' (hasn't done even the first thing which is to provide solicitor's details), and therefore a million miles from being 'ready'. Get your agent to keep going with the viewings. And check your contract to see how long you are tied in with them. The able/ready/willing clause is very contentious and can lead to disputes with agents, btw.

@TheRoseTurtle I think we do have that clause, yes. They don’t have a tied in amount of time though, can leave anytime with a 4 week cooling off period.
If they don’t provide the paperwork in the next couple of days, do you think we will be able to pull out ourselves given it doesn’t meet the criteria for being proceedable? I feel really uneasy about it all.

I can only comment on our experience but the agent we sold with was very active & we were provided with details of our buyers solicitors within the same week we accepted the offer. I would speak to the agent to find out more about the situation with your buyer. When we had our offer it included information about the buyers position (no chain, large deposit etc). I would think you should have been provided with this information when you received the offer as you would only accept if you knew it was proceedable.

No this is an unreasonable length of time, they are stalling for some reason and definitely not motivated. It doesn't bode well for the rest of the sale process if this is the speed they are moving at. Ave conveyancing timescales are running at about 12 to 14 weeks. They've added 2 weeks on not doing anything.
You wont be 'pulling out of the sale as it's not started. If the agent hasn't marked it SSTC they may have had other enquiries. Make it clear you want to continue marketing and taking viewings. I'd swap buyers if you can get an alternative, these sound like hard work. Ask the agent to find out why they've not instructed, my guess is theres something else going on. Then give 7 days for searches to be instructed and survey to be booked in. If they are stalling still, get the agent to keep marketing and taking viewings and dont mark SSTC until they are booked in.

@Percivaleverett We know very little about our buyer, the only thing we were told is that they have a Mortgage In Principle and they are chain free, but nothing more than that.

@Justgivemesomepeace Can the estate agent refuse to carry on doing viewings now they have found this buyer? We have heard nothing from them at all until we chased them. I’m worried they’ve almost shelved our property now.

I thought this part was going to be the easier part of the process!

No they work for you and should be acting in your best interests. Your offer shouldnt be formally accepted until they have a solicitor. They should be carrying on marketing and conducting viewings until formally accepted and memos gone out. There is no commitment from that buyer at all yet. Just an offer sitting on the table.

I'd call them tomorrow and try and get to the bottom of what's going on. If the buyer has gone quiet, or is stalling instructing, be very clear that you expect marketing and viewings to continue.

@Justgivemesomepeace Thanks for the reply. There is part of me that thinks the agent knows the buyer, there is something about it all that’s not sitting right because the whole process has been not what we were expecting. It feels more like the agent is working in the buyers best interests rather than ours.

How frustrating OP! We are just about to complete on our house & the whole process took around 12 weeks but that’s with a very motivated buyer & proactive estate agents at both ends. I’ve no idea if this is the norm but our London estate agent was very good at updating us on any enquiries from our buyer & chasing our solicitors when they needed a push (quite often!). The estate agent at the other end was also very helpful in terms of chasing things & updating us on the vendor’s position. To be honest without such proactive EA’s it would have dragged on for longer. I think you’ve already had great advice from other posters but if your buyer has a mortgage in principle & is chain free it’s even more confusing that they haven’t instructed a solicitor. I would definitely call them tomorrow & ask for an update.

I’m feeling even less happy about it now.
We spoke to the estate agent today and she said they are still waiting for the buyer to give their solicitors details so we still aren’t SSTC, but they have everything else, so they class it as a proceedable buyer (ie. We can’t walk away from this buyer!) and they aren’t going to be doing any more viewings!! Does this sound right??

So how long will they wait before deeming this person not proceedable? Six months? Ask them - by email, so their response is in writing. If I were you I'd be reading your contract with the EA very very carefully - usually if you have a buyer even beyond the life of the tie-in but who was 'introduced' by them (and this can include just seeing the listing on RM while that EA was advertising) they can claims costs from you and this could be for up to 2 years beyond the tie-in.

@TheRoseTurtle I will find this out.
This estate agent has been giving me bad vibes for a while, I wish I had trusted my instinct now.
It doesn’t feel like they are working in our best interests.

Check your contract carefully as others have said, but I'd be throwing my toys out of the pram a bit at this point. You can pull out of a property sale/purchase in this country at any point up to exchange so estate agents must be used to dealing with this kind of thing. You really don't want to deal with a buyer who's dragging their feet over something as simple as appointing a solicitor (trust me!). Give the estate agent a deadline and start being a bit difficult.

A mortgage in principle is meaningless

Has the agent seen proof of deposit?

After 2 weeks the mortgage in principle should have become an offer subject to valuation/survey if they have progressed it further

Searches should have been applied for by their solicitor (hard if they don't have one!)

@Bootoagoose123 I took your suggestion and have given them a deadline, thanks for the advice.

@Peoneve They said mortgage in principle and (non-specific) ‘everything else’ , just not the solicitor.
We haven’t moved house for years and years, but when you have put into perspective what should be happening that obviously isn’t happening when they don’t have a solicitor, it’s making me wonder what the hell is going on.

How are you getting on? What deadline did you give? If I was your agent I would be leaving them on the backburner and looking for another buyer. Why are they so stuck on only going with this one?

@Justgivemesomepeace We are now listed as SSTC! I still feel a bit uneasy about it all, I strongly believe that the agent must know the person we are selling to. It really feels like they are working for them rather than us. I’m expecting more blips along the way!

But does your solicitor ahem their solicitors details and been in touch?

The memorandum of sale has been sent out, but nothing further.
I think I will have to chase it up tomorrow. I wasn’t expecting this part to be such a headache. I thought this was going to be the initial easy part. It doesn’t bode well.