The all new buyers/sellers waiting room (x 7!) thread

[JoyfulSpring]

Starting a new thread so we can continue the conversation...

Morning! Does anyone know if there is any type of insurance which would cover solicitor fees in the event of mortgage/sale not going through? Bit nervous about paying the solicitors without mortgage offer firmly in place!

Congratulations, @AngeloMysterioso!

My parents' conveyancer ordered searches yesterday. I had a little to-ing and fro-ing over proving an inheritance from 13 years' ago (reminding them that solicitors only have to keep files for 7 years, so no, there is no way of getting a letter from the (now closed) solicitor who dealt with probate. And no, my mum doesn't have any letters about it still! I did offer to download the Will and Grant of Probate for them, but they decided it wasn't necessary in the end!

All fun and games! I haven't told them I'm a solicitor of a different discipline yet, meaning I understand AML regs and checks. Decided it would convey the wrong tone! At least I got it resolved though.

My son is a solicitor in another field, too, and it can be quite handy at times!

We have gone back to the estate agent and said we want a response (to our email reply to the buyer's request for a price cut post-survey) by close of play today or we will put the house back on the market. We have rushed things through so that they can make the stamp duty deadline, but I don't see why we should hang around. My mother's spring flowers will start to come out in the gardens shortly so perhaps we can draw more potential buyers in.

Final report received, if you can call it that, as enquiries have been raised TODAY! They've sat on everything for 3 months! That completion date of 18 February is rapidly vanishing into the distance. It's no wonder I'm so run down. Never again!

https://hoa.org.uk/advice/guides-for-homeowners/i-am-buying/homebuyer-protection-insurance/

This is the only one I've heard of and you have to take it out within a short time period after offers accepted etc.

Thank you I’ll have a look

Ugh, I feel your pain, although in our case it was just one month. Did you find out why the delay in raising the enquiries? Were all the searches back 3 months ago or did they still have one outstanding?

@HavenSprings I asked the solicitor about 3 weeks ago and he said there were no enquiries. I thought it was weird but he's head of conveyancing so what do I know lol. I've just looked through the searches and the last one was dated 30 October. I used a proper solicitor witha physical office as that's what everyone says to use and they're useless!

We are going to second view a house on Saturday but we are both very 'meh' about it. I think knowing that we are having to borrow so much to buy what are very basic Victorian terraces (albeit in an area of London that we love) has taken any excitement out of buying that we might have had once.

We have finally sorted out the referencing for our rental at least so will pick the keys up for that next week and complete the following week!

@NormallyAwkward oh that is beyond frustrating.

Our 4th attempt at exchange has now failed as the solicitor below us abruptly left the firm yesterday and didn't hand over a vital piece of paperwork so our buyer had to resubmit it. EVERYONE ELSE WAS READY.
I just can't take this. Our removal company have given us today to confirm and pay a deposit which we haven't wanted to do until we exchange but other people waiting for our date so we will have to lose out 😭

@Lemonyfire what an absolute nightmare. Hopefully you can get everything resolved soon. It's beyond stressful all of this. I just want to fast forward till this is all over and I'm sure you're the same!

Our seller has now said their expected completion is 10 days later than what we've been saying for weeks but now enquiries have only just been sent it's probably more than likely. This is too much stress!

@NormallyAwkward the unknown aspect is so hard.
And for us every time we've been told it's all done, something else crops up!

Really sorry to hear about all the delays people are encountering with solicitors sitting on stuff. I'm like a flipping squeaky wheel, endlessly on at mine. Checking to see if they've requested this, paid for that, replied to this etc. If it seems quiet for a day or two I ask for an update on all outstanding matters. They must hate me!

The buying and selling process in this country is mental and has definitely got infinitely worse in the 30 years since I first bought a place. I think the burgeoning regulation of everything that you do to a property makes it more stressful too, because everyone has a freaking fit if certificates for this that and the next thing aren't available. Even though I have everything for my place, I live in constant anxiety that I will have done something that there should have been a certificate or building regs, or an inspection. Even replacing a window these days is a certifiable offence! 🙄

Last week we were all set to discuss dates and exchange as soon as possible ! I heard nothing yet ??

Hello can I join?
House went on for sale last year Jan. 3 buyers later and offer accepted in December. Currently dealing with buyers enquiries. We're at the top of the chain of three, selling because I need to divide assets between myself and ex-partner. Looking forward to a fresh start and hopefully the sale to go through before stamp duty rises and most likely will go into rented. Quick question, does anyone know if at exchange of contracts whether I would have access to part of the buyer's deposit to put down a deposit for my onward rental?

I agree - definitely got worse. It's 20 years since we last did this and there wasn't anyway near the same fuss over certificates. We didn't get a single certificate for anything when we bought this place, but now bloody everything needs one. I'm sure you'll need one if you so much as lift a paint pot soon 😂.

I'm having a week off chasing. I've exhausted myself so need a break before I go again next week.

Tell me about it @MargoLivebetter !

Our buyer is being a pain about planning permission and building regs for a 1976 loft extension. We have all the paperwork that was legally required at the time, but can’t magically make it meet 2025 standards. The house was priced to account for the fact that it is older and in need of some refurb.

He seems to want a 2025-spec house at our lower agreed price. He seems to assume that everyone is trying to pull a fast one on him and if one claim is rebutted, another one materialises.

I have offered him 40% of the price drop he wanted and told him if he doesn’t agree,
the house is back on the market tomorrow.

Hey everyone, thanks for the new thread. Congratulations to you @AngeloMysterioso and commiserations to everyone dealing with endless delays.

I'm waiting for my final mortgage offer to come through and wondering if I've done the right thing going for a 5-year fix, in view of the things being said today about likely interest rate drops over the next year or so. I'm about to go over to the mortgage rate thread but if anyone here's got any opinions I'd love to hear them. I was offered a 2, 3 or 5-year and reasoned that I'd like some predictability after several years of upheaval and worry after my divorce, but I'd also like to be more financially savvy than I might once have been, so I don't know really what's the best thing to do. Monthly payments wouldn't be that much different from each other, it's just a question of whether fixing them will save me or cost me...

Personally I'm a fan of the 5-year fix. To me the certainty of just knowing what I'm paying and just kind of forgetting about it for a good long time is worth more to me than the small amount of money I might save if interest rates drop below the fixed rate. I think it depends a lot on your personal risk appetite - for me, I'l take a risk on small scale things but for a house, peace of mind is the winner.

Thank you @Tupster, that makes me feel better. After reading the interest rate thread and the tracker thread I was starting to think I was making a horrible mistake. I'm quite risk averse, particularly at the moment. Tbh if the purchase just goes through without a hitch I'll be doing cartwheels at any rate of interest.

There were no enquiries... and how many enquiries have they suddenly realised they needed to raise? Ridiculous.

We've gone for 5 years too, @BarbaricYawp. I honestly don't think it's worth going through the hassle again in 2 years' time.

Glad I found this thread - it might save my sanity a bit!

We are FTB and had an offer accepted on our dream property on 8th October - it literally ticks all our boxes.

Mortgage offer was received, solicitor completed surveys and all was good until a search threw up a random piece of the garden which had never been registered with land registry. The house we are buying is a deceased estate so there's no chain and the vendor solicitor submitted an adverse possession order for the piece of land in early December - this was accepted as an urgent matter and expedited - we were told 10 working days for it to be resolved.

Then Christmas happened and the survey was finally done on 14th Jan and submitted for review. We were told last week it has gone to the senior review team and that takes 2-3 weeks to be reviewed.

Everything is in place and the final date for this report to come back from land registry is 10th Feb- so next Monday.

I've asked our solicitor to chase and chase and said we need to exchange at least by 12th Feb so we can give notice to our landlord and not have to pay another month rent. This is assuming the landlord hasn't arranged to re let our house as he was expecting us to move out before Christmas.

The stress is making me physically ill, I can't eat, i can't sleep and we are half packed and living out of boxes.

Every single day is taking me a little closer to the edge and I don't know how long I can take this for.

Any advice with speeding land registry up would be much appreciated!!

Thanks @HavenSprings x

Welcome @Icanflyhigh it's all so stressful, isn't it? I don't know anything about speeding up land registry or if that's even possible, but I think it really helps that you're a FTB buying a probate property and don't have a whole chain putting pressure on. Probably doesn't feel like it though!

Thank you for the welcome!

I was beginning to think we were the only ones in this position.

I just don't know what else we can do and I am so impatient!!

I can't even chase land registry myself as we're not the party who has applied for the adverse possession - but the temptation to go to their office and ask (politely) what the hold up is, is strong!!

Fingers 🤞 for everyone waiting on surveys mortgages and exchange/completion dates - here's hoping we all get news soon!