The all new buyers/sellers waiting room (x 6!) thread

[Champere]

Welcome across everyone!

We’ve got six nights until we move and the insomnia has set in!

It’s taken us three threads to move and I hope this thread is the one I graduate on….

Best of luck to everyone! May your agents be truthful, your conveyancers responsive, your lenders generous and your chain reasonable!!

I haven’t returned my fixtures and fittings form, but only because I’ve been waiting to receive from the people selling to us - if they’re leaving white goods I will too etc. I’ve been super quick returning everything else so hopefully my buyers aren’t putting me in the scatty category 😅

Good point. I think as long as you are communicative about why you haven't done it yet it's fine. Then if anyone asks for an update, your solicitor or EA can explain that the delay is being caused in the upward chain. The problem occurs when people don't communicate as without information, people fill in the gaps with assumptions.

That's it. Communication is key, and I would find @WittyOchreBird explanation perfectly understandable as a buyer. Instead, I'm finding that our solicitors are not bothering asking for explanations and the seller's solicitors are not bothering giving any. It is all very frustrating!

Eeeeeek we SHOULD be exchanging today. Just waiting for the solicitor to phone. Boxing away like crazy now!

The radio silence is driving me mad. The buyers solicitor is not responding to the EA. They have responded to our solicitor but given zero information on where the buyer is up to. EA has also asked the buyer for an update on their mortgage app, survey results, searches etc and had nothing. Why do people do so quiet? Why can't people just communicate!

Happy new year everyone! I've started getting removals quotes today. Last I heard from my solicitor was that we were still waiting for some responses to enquiries on my purchase. My sale is all done and ready to go. Solicitor is only back from Christmas hols this week, so I'm starting on a hardcore chasing run on everything now. Expecting to move end Feb, so I need to get pushy now!

So I have had a text to say that my lender has issued a mortgage offer after valuation. Should I presume that it is for the amount required ? Would they have said if wasn’t?! I now have to await the offer in the post ..

Just curious. How do you chase your solicitors? By calling on the phone or emailing them?
I thought emailing would be better as it would give them "time" to check and reply, but my solicitors have not been responsive. I then called, managed to get him, and he had no idea what was happening with our sale & purchase, as he usually deligate work to his assistant/s.

Should be completing tomorrow.... exchanged two weeks before Christmas.

Had a call from EA this morning saying vendor pleaded with them to call me and beg for another two days! Removals van is stuck up north and apparently they're running two days behind.

Don't removals companies have insurance policies for situations like this?
Obv we can't move completion date at this late stage. What happens if she's not out at 2pm tomorrow?

I'm worried about the legal responsibilities if the house is still full of her stuff but her name is on then deeds.

Why is it STILL so difficult? Right up to the last minute this move has been horrendous 😫

I'd be getting the solicitor involved in this to advise.

You should get a document from that with the formal mortgage offer. I would think it will either be emailed, posted or available via portal.

Oh wow, normally I'd be in the "don't be ridiculous" camp, bit given the horrendous weather I can well believe your seller is stressing out and I don't know what the answer is. I think I'd be phoning your solicitor.

After 7 horrendous months we’re finally trying to set a date for complete! However… the top of the chain have said they need 2 and a half weeks to have time to clear the house. Not too sure of their situation, but they’ve had 7 months to prepare and they knew we were close to exchange! Everyone else in the chain have agreed and are desperate to exchange next week. Very frustrated. Hopefully they see sense and agree with the rest of us.

@TartTartin I started chasing by email but ended up having to arrange phone appointments to get things moving. It gave my solicitor time to check my file in advance so she knew what the status of things were.

@Gamergirl86 definitely get your solicitor involved. The property should be vacant at completion and if it's not you need to be compensated for any costs you incur because of it.

I exchanged today 😀 5 months since my house went SSTC and 3 months since I found my new house. We're completing on Friday so i'll just make the school application deadline. I am so relieved!

@ingkir congrats to you!!

Our enquiries (or rather our buyers enquiries) are complete so we really need to find a rental!

EXCHANGED!!!!!!

Over a year since we accepted an offer from our first buyer and they pulled out the day we were due to exchange, less than a week before we were due to complete. Everything was boxed and removals paid for - nightmare!

We then relisted and got the most wonderful buyers who have pulled out all the stops and absolutely restored our faith in humanity! We complete in 2 weeks.

We will leave chocolates and wine for the buyer and have paid a professional cleaner to be in on moving day. Is there anything else you think would be a nice surprise for them?

Also any gift ideas for the estate agent who has been amazing too?

The hell of this whole process has been awful - hoping you all get your exchanges soon!!

@mamnotmum I'm so pleased for you -

Discovered today my buyer is using enact as a conveyancer, I've read the reviews and it's totally pissed me off. They are slow and useless apparently, the rest of the chain have been ready for weeks. Anyone used enact and managed to speed them up.

I've received the draft contract for my sale today. Signed the title document and draft contract for my purchase over Christmas and returned these (new build so pretty straightforward and only us and our Ft buyers in the chain). I was expecting some challenge from survey as damp was noted but nothing raised.

The buyers solicitor has sent some enquiries which have either a) already been detailed on property form or b) relate to documents already provided to the solicitor. The only new questions were around a shared boundary (no disputes, no replacement during our tenure) and an ask for docs re planning permission and building regs for a kitchen and bathroom extension that is at leat 30y old and predates my seller's sellers! I don't have it, can't get it as it predates our councils planning register and given it has been a sturdy structure with no issues in >30y I think they could take a risk on it (we obviously did!).

They may come back on it but I don't know what recourse we'd have at this stage. There is no requirement to seek retrospective planning permission for structures this historic and I don't know if it would be possible to get an indemnity policy in such circumstances. Of course, if theyre very worried they can commission a full structural survey.

Our new build is built to the first story, so around half of the brickwork and the roof still to go. Once the roof is on, time to completion is around 8 weeks, we've been told, so I'm hoping they get cracking and we have a roof on by early Feb. Our original target handover date was end of March and I'd love it if we were in before Easter. We have options meeting with the developer in a couple of weeks, to choose kitchen, tiles etc. We have a 10k contribution to extras from the house builder and need to see how we can best use it to upgrade kitchen, appliances, tiles and some extra electrics like spots and outdoor plugs. We are considering holding our nose and paying the developer to put in carpets and flooring so that it is all ready to move in to, but accept we will be paying twice the price of a local fitter.

So far so good for us. Our solicitors were recommended by our developers due to their experience in contracts for new build properties. We also went though an assisted move scheme where we have an intermediary who 'manage the chain'. There's not an awful lot for them to do in our chain of two, however they are a key point of contact for all solicitors and the EA.

Congratulations @mamnotmum you must be so relieved! Also, you’ve given me hope! We’re one year on from accepting an offer from our original buyer, who, like yours pulled out on day of exchange 5 months later. Carnage. Trying to find another buyer now in a quieter local market and hoping against hope we don’t lose the house we’d love to buy. What a system we have in the UK

@TheCatCameBack112 We had this issue with my old cottage, the extension must have been over 100 years old, the cottage itself was about 250. My buyer was insisting on planning consents, bonkers. Someone had to explain to him it really didn't exist, wasn't going to arrive and if he was that worried he should buy a modern property. He agreed and we proceeded.

Utterly ridiculous, isn't it? I wonder if it is one of these things that conveyancers pick up just to make them look they are worth their fees to their clients (buyers). I do feel that some conveyancers are not acting on their clients interests at all. In your situation, was it the buyer insisting or the buyers solicitor insisting on the extension planning?

Does anyone have any idea how much would it cost to replace bay windows in a 1930s property ? Survey actions has this as a priority but cant seem to get a general cost online without having to give phone number 🤪