The all new buyers/sellers waiting room (continued x4) thread!

[TheEnglishSystemSucks]

As @fromtheshires is in their new abode, and we've almost filled up the last thread - hope people don't mind me starting a new one.

My situation: waiting on survey reports before enquires/searches can start - so expect i'll be here for all 40 pages.

Hope exchanges and completions come quickly for all and no-one has the christmas 'will we won't we'.

Old thread here: https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/5105250-the-all-new-buyerssellers-waiting-room-continued-x3-thread?page=40

Most delays are because no one uses the phone anymore! A solicitor thinks sending an email is proactive! It isn’t! Pick up the phone and have a conversation.

Radio silence again for us today. We’ll be changing agents this week if someone doesn’t respond to us soon.

Yes can you imagine how much faster it would all be if they used a phone! Once this has all gone through I definitely won’t be doing it again!!

Good luck @kirinm .

@BumbleB13 and@MendaciousMabel I would be ringing constantly and making a nuisance of myself so it's easier for them just to do the work. They'll be doing it for someone else.

My dilemma. Please help. Viewers have come back with what I asked for. Another couple who don't need a mortgage and have sold want to view. My friend think couple 1 are pulling a fast one as have the asking price, they don't want to pay it as want to do work in the house. My friend and both sons think I should let the other couple view. To try and see if they will pay more and I have to be selfish. I want to be decent as they've come back quickly with the money I asked for but I need to move ASAP and anything extra would obviously be great. Don't want to discuss with ex as decided no way am I talking to him unless I have to after last night and he clearly isn't bothered whatever. Any thoughts? My estate agent doesn't want to tell me what to do and has said he will see how quickly this other couple can view as they were asking for Saturday.

@BirthdayRainbow I just wish our buyers solicitor was better at communicating, I can tell my solicitor is now getting annoyed at me asking what the hold up is!

have you already accepted the offer from the viewers and do you get a good feel from them (ie are they showing signs of making this process harder than it needs to be?). If the other people can view asap then I don’t see the harm in letting them view the house!

@BumbleB13 I wish they were better too!

I haven't met the viewers. I saw them briefly leave my house but couldn't pick them out of a line up. Apparently the whole family love the house. My heart sank when they said they would borrow from family as the ones who pulled out were doing mortgage, savings and borrowing from family.

The other couple seem better in terms of money as they don't need a mortgage and have sold as well. Not to be ageist but the agent thinks they are elderly.

I am trying to be nice and my son is getting cross saying I need to not care what people think and to be selfish.

I think it's completely reasonable to go for a cash buyer over buyers that might struggle to get the money sorted out. You haven't accepted yet have you? So there's no gazumping going on here. Id probably be (semi) honest and let them know you're letting this other couple view and that your reason is that they are cash buyers so likely to be quick. I probably would imply (but not outright lie) that it's a second viewing though.

We have an enquiry from our buyers solicitor that I don't know how to resolve and I'm feeling a bit stressed. The photos of our house on Rightmove show the front of the house with our kitchen, which is a garage conversion, extending about 2 inches out past the fence in the front. They are saying this means that the conversion hasn't followed planning permission and we've extended into shared access space. But we have docs to show sign off (it was done before we moved in) what do we do? The reason the fence is slightly further in is so that it sits onto the edge of our raised driveway for safety. So that there is no gap. But I don't see how we can prove that we HAVEN'T gone past if that makes sense.
I've sent pictures of the rear of the conversion showing the fence up to the edge, and we've sent photos from Google street view timestamps back to 2008 showing there is no change. Do you think that will be enough?
It really makes no sense anyway that someone would have knocked down a wall just to build it 2 inches further out, then go to the trouble of moving the fence boundaries at the back but then not do the same at the front. Agh!!

@0hshutupshirley from our experience, our buyers solicitor tried saying we needed planning permission to remove an internal wall and said we needed to get an insurance indemnity policy. Tbf I argued back with them and dont we need it as we haven’t broken any rules and that was weeks ago and I never heard back from them but maybe this is something they might ask you to do? I may be wrong but I’m sure it’s pretty straight forward and only £30ish. I guess it depends how picky the solicitor is! Hopefully they just accept the photos, I always find the enquiries to be very intimidating!

Hi!

After lots of pestering, today we established from estate agents that probate was actually granted in 2022! I am hopeful this means smooth sailing from here on out, but it does make me question why it's been a month of no progress if thats the case!

Another day of nothing. 17 weeks in and still no exchange/completion agreed. Bored of it all!!!

Thank you @BumbleB13 that does make me feel a bit less worried. I know it's the original wall but I don't really see how I can prove it. Having said that the conversion was done in 2013 so even if it wasn't and for some insane reason they'd moved the wall a couple of inches I think there's a 10 year rule, where they can't enforce retroactive planning refusals (but I might be wrong on that) I'd be happy to buy a £30 indemnity though if it makes the whole nonsense go away 😄

How bizarre! That’s good though, hope it’s an easy process now. No word on mine, will chase again at end of the week.

Very bizarre. Wasn't sure whether to celebrate or scratch my head to work out why it is taking so long! Fingers crossed you get a positive update by the end of the week.

Are you still day dreaming and planning your probate property purchase as your future home? We tried to put our thoughts on hold but I think we're going to visit kitchen show rooms next week. Don't want to jinx or tempt fate but I also can't live in a perpetual state of hopelessness.

Here to vent out, our property was under offer in first week of July. Survey done by the buyer in the first week of August. All enquiries answered, most of the paperwork signed. Very close to exchange, date was supposed to be decided this week. All of the sudden the buyers get back stating they would want a structural survey as suggested by their level 2 surveyor, since the level 2 surveyor feels there could be some issue. I understand surveys could throw up issues and it is fine to get structural surveys but not just before deciding exchange date. Wondering what took this more than month after survey to decide structural survey. I have completely given up and decided to walk out of this sale :(.

@Knownoone how frustrating for you - is it possible they only just got the report back? I've heard of survey reports being anything from next day to 3/4 weeks. Did you have an onward purchase this is going to affect, or are you just happy to wait and find a new buyer (unless you were joking about walking out of the sale)?

@BirthdayRainbow I don't think your potential buyers are pulling a fast one. House buying is a negotiation: they offered, you countered and they've agreed to that amount. You could have pushed for asking price but you chose not too, whether they could afford it is irrelevant.

I'd personally be wary of cash buyers because they may want a discount for cash! (There was a thread about it in the last few days).

The reports were back in a week. The survey was on 8th and the reports were back on 15th. They took more than a month to decide about structural survey. Also most of the questions posed by Level 2 surveyors are senseless. The porch has a slant hence could be subsidence. The porch has a slant so that the water can flow down to the gutter. The kitchen floor looked uneven. It looked uneven since it has floating laminates which were not fixed properly.

We have given the seller to decide without a structural survey or walk out. We have decided to put this on rent and move to a rental place. We would have to unfortunately back out of our onward purchase since we do not have time and energy for this sale to take place. We need to move to the new city ASAP due to a family obligation.

Pretty sure the second viewer will make an offer. I hope it's a decent offer so we can stop viewings!

I've been on the phone e ery other day with EA and solicitor for two weeks trying to tie down a completion date: called this .morning and the solicitor was absolutely usless!
Said she'd heard nothing from the other people in the chain (so how about you do some chasing?) and she's update me tomorrow.

Having spoken to the EA he's not aware of any outstanding enquires and as dsr as he knows everyone has been good to go since last week.

Just so desperate to exchange because thr stress is actually making me ill. Baby due in two weeks and I NEED to have thr security of exchanging on our sale and purchase by then.

Have agreed to a three week hiatus between exchange and completion as the vendor of our onward purchase is elderly and needs more time to organise removals.

Am so frustrated and anxious. Why does it always have to be so hard?!

Oh wow - no excuse for taking this long to decide then, don't blame you for issuing the ultimatum. Hope you manage to get a nice rental sorted if it comes to it!

@Gamergirl86 really hope you manage to exchange this week, can't imagine how stressful it must be with baby this close. I suppose at this point the 3 weeks will also help you (assuming baby is on time - eeek).

Well I’ve made a spreadsheet of the jobs I would want to do, estimated prices and priority level for each. There’s a lot! But none of it is a screaming emergency. Can do some over time as my savings won’t stretch to everything at once. I have a basket saved on DIY Kitchens and but that’s as far as I’ve allowed myself to go until I have the keys in my hand. You just never know what can happen. Until probate is granted it’s not even theirs to sell. I’ve also been keeping half an eye on Rightmove just in case but nothing better in my budget has come up in the last 3 months.

I've gone with the couple who offered. Having spoken to the agent and got more info on the other couple I decided they were too risky. I might have got more but I'll never know. I'm happy with what I have got.

Someone just tried to scam me for something I was selling! Bloody hell. Thank God for my son who realised.

Good news was I got a refund on my Hoover that has died after six months.

Thank you everyone for your advice.

Our buyers solicitors raised enquiries nearly 2 weeks ago. Radio silence since then from my solicitors. I emailed them today to say a survey is being done and asked them to confirm that all enquiries have been answered. They replied with 6 questions that were enquiries. Why have they sat on these? Would they have just left and left them unless I queried it? I have absolutely no faith in them at all.

@lingmerth that's so frustrating! I think as soon as I find out our buyers have raised enquiries I will be asking for feedback the next working day.

Our searches have been back for more than a week, and we've not had the 'report' from our solicitor yet - so I'm going to chase today because a week is bloody long enough for the amount we are paying you.