Would you walk away

kirinm · 2025-05-01T07:17:41+00:00

Offer made on 7th March. Delays and delays. Memo of sale issued on 20th March. Since then all that has happened is a fixtures and fitting form has been sent to my solicitor. We were told it would be a quick sale. Estate agents won’t pick up the phone to us - I know they work for the seller but they were our agent and also our agent for the rental we are currently in (having agreed to go into rental to facilitate our sale). We asked them to find out what was going on with probate on 7th March. We still don’t know. We were ready to exchange 10 weeks in on our sale. Being nearly 8 weeks in and having made basically no progress and not getting any updates doesn’t seem okay to me. DP wants to walk away. We’ve been lied to so many times which hasn’t helped. I’m sick of the whole thing but the housing market is extremely slow where we are.

TheLightSideOfTheMoon · 01/05/2025 08:18

Yes. Walk away.

If they suddenly decide to pull their finger out they have your details.

Itchyblister · 01/05/2025 08:19

Probate can take ages!

We sold our private property and our poor buyers had to wait ages

but all came through

Original poster

kirinm · 01/05/2025 08:23

Probate has been going on for 2 years. We can’t even find out if they’ve applied for the grant of probate.

OP posts:

Itchyblister · 01/05/2025 08:26

Do you love the property?
are you selling?

Original poster

kirinm · 01/05/2025 08:30

We’ve sold. We completed in Feb.

I don’t love any house anymore.

OP posts:

KingMungBean · 01/05/2025 08:33

If you’re the same poster I think you are with the vendors living in the probate property, for the love of god start viewing other houses.

Feelingstrange2 · 01/05/2025 08:33

Have a look at what else is on the market.

With the aim of pulling out but don't until you are absolutely sure.

Original poster

kirinm · 01/05/2025 08:38

KingMungBean · 01/05/2025 08:33

If you’re the same poster I think you are with the vendors living in the probate property, for the love of god start viewing other houses.

I am. And we are. Seeing somewhere tonight.

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Sunnyside4 · 01/05/2025 08:53

Even if you're not ready to walk away, keep your options open and as you are doing view anything else that could be a possibility.

Original poster

kirinm · 01/05/2025 11:14

Spoke to the EA and it is obvious nobody is doing anything. I’ve given them until the end of tomorrow to make substantive progress or we walk away. I’ve also told them we are looking at other properties. I think for our own sanity we probably do need to walk away even if it means we are back to square one.

It is so fucking depressing.

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Itchyblister · 01/05/2025 11:16

kirinm · 01/05/2025 08:30

We’ve sold. We completed in Feb.

I don’t love any house anymore.

Well then a no brainer

stop wasting time on this one and talking about it on mumsnet!

Feelingstrange2 · 01/05/2025 11:20

It's hard when you've invested time, and money and emotion on something.

At least it wasn't in a period of fast increasing prices.

Good luck on your viewing today. Hopefully once you see there are vendors out there that want to sell you'll feel in a better place even if you aren't offering on theirs.

Original poster

kirinm · 01/05/2025 11:28

Itchyblister · 01/05/2025 11:16

Well then a no brainer

stop wasting time on this one and talking about it on mumsnet!

Show quote history

I’ll talk about whatever I want thanks!

OP posts:

Original poster

kirinm · 01/05/2025 11:30

Feelingstrange2 · 01/05/2025 11:20

It's hard when you've invested time, and money and emotion on something.

At least it wasn't in a period of fast increasing prices.

Good luck on your viewing today. Hopefully once you see there are vendors out there that want to sell you'll feel in a better place even if you aren't offering on theirs.

Unfortunately it is (fast increasing prices). That was primarily one of the reasons we hung on this long. We knew almost immediately we’d been lied to. I didn’t ever stop looking. The market has just been so slow in terms of houses coming on - but they sell very quickly.

We just have to accept that we are now priced out of the area.

OP posts:

Itchyblister · 01/05/2025 11:32

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Feelingstrange2 · 01/05/2025 11:32

kirinm · 01/05/2025 11:30

Unfortunately it is (fast increasing prices). That was primarily one of the reasons we hung on this long. We knew almost immediately we’d been lied to. I didn’t ever stop looking. The market has just been so slow in terms of houses coming on - but they sell very quickly.

We just have to accept that we are now priced out of the area.

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Oh really!

Sorry I was assuming the recently reported slight fall in April would be applicable.

Itchyblister · 01/05/2025 11:32

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Itchyblister · 01/05/2025 11:36

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Jennalong · 01/05/2025 11:38

We viewed a house liked it ( was a cash buyer ) make an offer 15% under ( this was ten years ago ) and it was refused . As it was a refurb didn't feel we could pay more so left offer on the table .
A few months later had a call to ask if still interested , we were , so they accepted .
The vendor who was in care then passed away and it took just under 6 months for everything to go through .

Original poster

kirinm · 01/05/2025 11:51

Feelingstrange2 · 01/05/2025 11:32

Oh really!

Sorry I was assuming the recently reported slight fall in April would be applicable.

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Sadly not. The area has had a few write ups in the Times lately which has definitely not helped. We are still a ‘cheaper’ part of London so lots of people from more expensive areas (with more money) are coming in. We unfortunately can’t win any bidding wars.

I do think this house is a tricky sell. Its condition is very poor and there’s only one standard lender who will lend because of its configuration. I guess it’ll become more sellable once they’ve got probate (although still in a chain). And you’ve got to want to do the work. We wouldn’t have considered it if it wasn’t for the fact DP is a trade and has easy access to other trades.

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KievLoverTwo · 01/05/2025 12:04

kirinm · 01/05/2025 11:14

Spoke to the EA and it is obvious nobody is doing anything. I’ve given them until the end of tomorrow to make substantive progress or we walk away. I’ve also told them we are looking at other properties. I think for our own sanity we probably do need to walk away even if it means we are back to square one.

It is so fucking depressing.

With kindness, because I can see you have had a heckin' tough time of it and are at the end of your tether, and like you, I am completely and utterly ambivalent about every single house I view and don't care about any of them:

I’ve given them until the end of tomorrow to make substantive progress or we walk away.

This is DEEPLY unrealistic, because:

Throughout all of April, conveyencers were scrabbling to get through the sales they failed to get through in March with people insisting on completing before stamp duty went up - some of them will be being sued for not meeting a 31/03 deadline or being threatened with it. April was 'pull your socks up' month for those they couldn't get March completitions through. If you weren't on their 'must exchange by 31/03 or we pull out' list, you're nowhere near the top of their priority list.

For the last two weeks our local EAs have had a completely skeleton crew where they are all off for weeks either side of bank holidays, I imagine the same will apply with conveyencers.

There's another bank holiday on Monday - I don't expect anyone in the profession to actually pull their finger out and get serious work done until maybe 12th May when, hopefully, people will have finished taking their holidays.

I completely understand where you're at mentally, but for the sake of your sanity, maybe step back a bit before you pull out of this purchase, especially since you've implied you'll be priced out the market.

Original poster

kirinm · 01/05/2025 12:31

KievLoverTwo · 01/05/2025 12:04

With kindness, because I can see you have had a heckin' tough time of it and are at the end of your tether, and like you, I am completely and utterly ambivalent about every single house I view and don't care about any of them:

I’ve given them until the end of tomorrow to make substantive progress or we walk away.

This is DEEPLY unrealistic, because:

Throughout all of April, conveyencers were scrabbling to get through the sales they failed to get through in March with people insisting on completing before stamp duty went up - some of them will be being sued for not meeting a 31/03 deadline or being threatened with it. April was 'pull your socks up' month for those they couldn't get March completitions through. If you weren't on their 'must exchange by 31/03 or we pull out' list, you're nowhere near the top of their priority list.

For the last two weeks our local EAs have had a completely skeleton crew where they are all off for weeks either side of bank holidays, I imagine the same will apply with conveyencers.

There's another bank holiday on Monday - I don't expect anyone in the profession to actually pull their finger out and get serious work done until maybe 12th May when, hopefully, people will have finished taking their holidays.

I completely understand where you're at mentally, but for the sake of your sanity, maybe step back a bit before you pull out of this purchase, especially since you've implied you'll be priced out the market.

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I’ve very much been ‘proceeding’ with this mindset - no so much their workload as I’m also a solicitor who knows what deadlines and busy means but what it doesn’t mean you can get away with.

But my DP is just so fed up of the lying and not having calls returned or emails responded to. 2 weeks ago the EA was told by the sellers conveyancer that he’d send the draft contract that day and…hasn’t. The only reason we were told about probate was because I asked.

Getting a draft contract out and providing an update on whether they’ve even applied for probate shouldn’t be the hard part of the process. Waiting for them to get probate and finding out if they’ll actually go into rented as we’ve been ‘promised’ is where I expected the problems.

I mainly blame the EA for not being honest and continuing to say things they think we want to hear when all I want to hear is the truth so I know what is happening.

The reviews of the conveyancers being used by the sellers conveyancer (on the EA’s recommendations) suggest they’re absolutely awful which doesn’t fill me with confidence.

we are also in an awful rental with no working windows - something we are letting via the same bloody estate agent who claimed not to know none of the windows opened until we told them. This I suspect is one of the major contributing factors to how miserable the whole experience is. We sold our nice flat, are paying 4x our mortgage to live in a shit rental and the EA we are using is now selling the rental for the LL so we have to be out in 3 months.

ARRRRRRRGH.

OP posts:

KievLoverTwo · 01/05/2025 12:38

kirinm · 01/05/2025 12:31

I’ve very much been ‘proceeding’ with this mindset - no so much their workload as I’m also a solicitor who knows what deadlines and busy means but what it doesn’t mean you can get away with.

But my DP is just so fed up of the lying and not having calls returned or emails responded to. 2 weeks ago the EA was told by the sellers conveyancer that he’d send the draft contract that day and…hasn’t. The only reason we were told about probate was because I asked.

Getting a draft contract out and providing an update on whether they’ve even applied for probate shouldn’t be the hard part of the process. Waiting for them to get probate and finding out if they’ll actually go into rented as we’ve been ‘promised’ is where I expected the problems.

I mainly blame the EA for not being honest and continuing to say things they think we want to hear when all I want to hear is the truth so I know what is happening.

The reviews of the conveyancers being used by the sellers conveyancer (on the EA’s recommendations) suggest they’re absolutely awful which doesn’t fill me with confidence.

we are also in an awful rental with no working windows - something we are letting via the same bloody estate agent who claimed not to know none of the windows opened until we told them. This I suspect is one of the major contributing factors to how miserable the whole experience is. We sold our nice flat, are paying 4x our mortgage to live in a shit rental and the EA we are using is now selling the rental for the LL so we have to be out in 3 months.

ARRRRRRRGH.

Show quote history

I get it. Our situation is not dissimilar. But, if you've spent a lot of time on this forum, you should also know that these lies and delays with no explantions are pretty common. Totally undesirable, infuriating, and not someone anyone should have to put up with, I understand. But - I read similar tales of frustration on here on a weekly basis.

Sounds like you and I have similar expectations of the professionals, and perhaps our expectations are unrealistic, because they just don't really work like that? I have to force myself to try and take a chill pill on a regular basis too.

Are the windows painted shut? Can you force them open with a mallet or a crowbar or something? I'd be going stir crazy with that - it's 25 degrees in my house today with bi folds and all the windows open.

sending ice packed hug

Original poster

kirinm · 01/05/2025 12:44

KievLoverTwo · 01/05/2025 12:38

I get it. Our situation is not dissimilar. But, if you've spent a lot of time on this forum, you should also know that these lies and delays with no explantions are pretty common. Totally undesirable, infuriating, and not someone anyone should have to put up with, I understand. But - I read similar tales of frustration on here on a weekly basis.

Sounds like you and I have similar expectations of the professionals, and perhaps our expectations are unrealistic, because they just don't really work like that? I have to force myself to try and take a chill pill on a regular basis too.

Are the windows painted shut? Can you force them open with a mallet or a crowbar or something? I'd be going stir crazy with that - it's 25 degrees in my house today with bi folds and all the windows open.

sending ice packed hug

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No as the LL unhelpfully keeps saying ‘they’ve just come to the end of their life’. As if that’s an acceptable answer. The locking mechanism has failed - I assume that is because of their age - but it is fixable. Possibly just not fixable during our tenancy period 🙄.

thanks for being kind! Hope whatever situation you’re in improves quickly.

OP posts:

KievLoverTwo · 01/05/2025 12:47

kirinm · 01/05/2025 12:44

No as the LL unhelpfully keeps saying ‘they’ve just come to the end of their life’. As if that’s an acceptable answer. The locking mechanism has failed - I assume that is because of their age - but it is fixable. Possibly just not fixable during our tenancy period 🙄.

thanks for being kind! Hope whatever situation you’re in improves quickly.

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The window handle locking mechanism?

HMMM.

One snapped off in my hand a few weeks after we moved in and within 2 days my LL turned up with 3 that he'd just bought from a hardwear store and replaced all the ones of the same model in case the other two went.

Thanks. We have a VERY promising viewing booked for Tuesday :)

(they may want you out in 3 months but in order to actually gain possession, they have to get a court order, which can take 6-8 mths - but I am sure you are aware of this)