The all-new buyers/sellers waiting room (continued x5) thread!

[BirthdayRainbow]

Hi I took the liberty of starting a new thread as I couldn't answer on the last one.

@kirinm I am glad you've decided I pull out. I wanted to suggest it but didn't want to stress you out. I hope the next house you view is the one and it all goes smoothly.

@ingkir I have just read all the search results. My son has helped with a couple of questions, I've left a message for my friend to help with something else and I am waiting for the solicitor to ring me back as they've attached someone else's details to the end of the paperwork 🙄. I'm distinctly unimpressed as of course potentially someone has mine and the whole stream could be wrong. Looking at what the emails say it is likely it is a one off but I needed to tell them. The receptionist was going to put me through to the solicitors secretary until I said why I was ringing. Already over the time of when she said she'd be back.

I still have a few things outstanding but I won't exchange until I have answers so I'll wait it out.

£5k

@Cheeseandcrackers40 Congratulations! I am so happy for you. Enjoy your new home and enjoy never having to deal with your crazy vendor ever again!

@Cheeseandcrackers40 - lovely news- sounds fab !!

I'm absolutely raging. After being hassled to move quickly by the estate agent, my solicitor has just contacted me to say that the buyers surveyor doesn't think the place is compliant with Building regs. That's the statement made but no indication given as to whether they are expecting us to fix something.

The whole place was signed off (as complaint) by the councils building control department in April 2024.

We were also told in mid October that the survey had come back with only very minor comments and I'd say this is actually pretty major.

If you got that kind of statement from a buyer, what do you think you're being asked to do?

That's really frustrating @kirinm It's not clear what they are asking for, if anything.

Do you have any document that shows the property was signed off by building control in April?

Yeah our completion certificate! There's literally nothing else we can do unless they prove it doesn't comply (at which point, we would have to return to building control and ask why they issued a completion certificate a few months ago).

It's a bit odd as they've just mentioned this - having asked stupid questions about cat flaps and water bills up until now - despite having had the survey for well over a month and telling the estate agent it was fine. But also, not actually asking us to do anything.

@kirinm I'm amazed the building regs completion certificate doesn't trump anything the surveyor says! Really frustrating.

@kirinm I know the survey my buyers had done on my 1920 house had quite a few comments on it like "stairs are too steep to comply with current building regs", mentioned where there's about a six inch gap between different banisters and how an extra banister should be added "to comply with current building regs" - I don't have mains operated fire or carbon monoxide alarms - again "current building regs" specifiy it. There was no mention that all those regs only apply if the house was brand new as of today and that houses of this age don't have to comply. It's infuriating that the surveyor set it out as though the house was some kind of death trap!

Could it be something like this in this case where there's been a reg change since your sign off and the buyers haven't understood that building regs don't get applied retrospectively?

I don't think there have been any changes since April. I think the issue with Building Regs is that they are open to interpretation and there's no mandatory route to compliance so it could be argued that their surveyor interprets the regs one way and building control interpret them in another. The facts are that BC have confirmed we comply so why should we do anything else?

So I'm joining this thread more actively now but tentatively I might add, we went up for sale this week and had a buyer view and offer 7.5% over asking price!! We were up for sale earlier in the year and dropped the price twice so this is a shock as they are offering more than we ever listed it for in the first place.

Estate agent is trying to find out what their financial situation is with regard to percentage of deposit because if it's under valued by mortgage lender then they wouldn't need to find the difference. Waiting for a call back on that but it all just feels so unbelievably slow even though it was only 40hrs since they viewed

We want to reserve a new build so I'm in tenterhooks now in case the plot we want is sold in the meantime!!!

You definitely need to get the detail on exactly what the surveyor has said. It could be surveyor type disclaimers of "I can't see enough to guarantee this property is compliant with building regs". I can't see how anyone can argue that you aren't if you've got the completion certificate.

Yeah @kirinm I reckon it's confusion. Our survey we just got done showed a few things as RED Level 3 problems. But then in the notes it says something like - evidence of change of use, could not access to see building regs compliant. Ensure all certificates are available as proof. Or something like that. So maybe they're just not understanding that as long as they HAVE the proof then it's fine?

That’s brilliant news!! Fingers crossed they’re good for the money and you get your plot reserved!

we have had photos done and are going to market on Monday…

If it's not a significant amount like £30-50k over you might be fine there's a lot of this in a Facebook group. I'm in a group where people are offering the equivalent to £30-£50,000 over and then it gets undervalued.

@kirinm It does sound like confusion.

I would go back to my solicitor and point out the building regs certificate has already been given to the buyer's solicitor and ask how my solicitor advises we reply, if any reply is needed.

I am finally joining this thread! I had an offer accepted over a month ago now, but things got real only a few days ago, when the chain was finally formed! It's us (FTB), our seller and their seller. That's a chain of 3, right? Apparently, end of chain is moving into rented (here's to hoping they won't change their mind 😅)

Our broker said something that made me think the other day. Do you think, for people now in the process, there will be a mad rush to complete before the infamous end March SDLT change?

@HavenSprings yes. I work in conveyancing (not a solicitor) and we're so busy, not the expected level of work at this time of year at all. The stamp duty is the cause!

Wow! That's really quick. Fingers crossed for you.

Yes @HavenSprings If I was buying at the moment I would definitely be focused on trying to complete before the stamp duty changes take effect.

So estate agent said their deposit is huge so that's reassuring but they are not British nationals so there is a language barrier and they are trying to get details of who their DIP is with etc and have struggled today. It's making me nervous. Meanwhile the developer has said we can go and reserve this weekend but I don't think that will go ahead if they don't have the memo of sale from the estate agent, they are frantically trying to get that completed before the end of the weekend. So hoping they can get in touch with the buyer and hopefully someone in the family with better English can help them provide what is needed, it doesn't bode well for a quick simple transaction though

I will try and come back and answer properly tomorrow.

@Cheeseandcrackers40 congratulations! I hope you'll be very happy there.

Sorry to all the ones who are having a nightmare.

This week was pivotal for me. But it looks to have worked out better and I hope to be able to share next week.

Congratulations @Cheeseandcrackers40. After all the trials and tribulations with your vendor you finally made it.
We completed today at long last🥳
Didn't pick up the keys till nearly 3pm even though our solicitor had received and transferred our funds by 11.30am.
Our house is lovely but needs a good clean. We have a zillion boxes to unpack but just happy to be in.
10 months ago we put our house on the market and at times we despaired it would even happen. Having somewhere to vent has been a lifesaver at times. Thank you.
This has been our dream to move to the Lakes and at last we have done it. We're so excited!
Good luck to everyone still in the process. I shall never understand why we allow such an antiquated system to continue but I guess we have no choice.

I think my appearance in this thread might be a bit short and sweet. My offer was accepted on a house in London on 28 October. EA had MoS issued and we kick-started legals on 31 October.

This Friday 22 November, I sent my full completion statement monies (including deposit) over to the solicitor, who already has signed docs, mortgage offer and all enquiries satisfied.

So I could in fact be exchanging next week - less than 1 month after offer accepted.... I am truly gobsmacked.

It happened so fast I've actually had scrap to find £1.5k to top up my fees, as I'd expected to use my December pay. I'm not complaining, just in disbelief!

The absolute best thing I did all year was sell and break the chain before starting on this purchase - very grateful for all the people who advised me to do it...!

CongratulationsCheese enjoy your new home!

I pulled out of my leasehold purchase on Monday, so glad I did. The residents WhatsApp group was pretty damning about the freeholders, management company and service charges not to mention issues with mould and maintenance.

My buyer wants to have an asbestos survey this week, hoping it goes well. He's a cash buyer and we could effectively move early next year.

My next port of call is looking at renting, had some excellent advice from further down the thread on shared ownership problem is that my credit is shot to pieces with two recently given ccjs making getting a mortgage impossible but also a lot of shared ownership properties do not allow for this at all. I'm worried that renting itself may be a hurdle too.
Ultimately the ex and I need divide our interest in this property and I need to be free.🌞 Time for a new thread?
Oh and it appears I can't sleep either.