Is there a new thread for “Anyone putting their home on the market in early 2025”?

[IWasBornIn1989]

The other thread is full 😏

I ended up getting 5 quotes, not a relocation, only a few miles but a big 4 bed house. We’ve gone with a 2K quote after having 3 around the same, one at 3ish and one at almost 4K, none of these included packing which I had very much hoped for but just couldn’t justify.

Oops, not sure why it posted twice!

Completion day tomorrow, feeling nervous!

We didn’t get a date last week for exchange and completion our buyers bit is all done it’s our onward purchase they didn’t answer the second lot of questions of the back of enquiries adequately enough so our solicitor had to go back to them. They are sooo slow will have to chase them today via the EAs were buying through. Spent the weekend packing everything non essential reduced our clothes down to bare minimum as we only have weekends. Have a full week of work today and feel exhausted I hate moving but neither of us is off until we get a date so have to utilise every bit of spare time around the kids and the dog 🥴

I’m a bit the same as you @Vie8126 - today was supposed to be moving day, I gave authority to exchange at my solicitor’s request last Tuesday - but buyers’ buyer’s solicitor was still stalling on enquiries, despite it being their client that had today as their deadline. Everyone else is ready to go.

My buyers’ solicitor has said she can’t possibly see what else they can ask now, everything is answered and has asked for a completion date by today, which could still be this week.

So I’ve now pretty much packed ‘just in case’. It’s so bloody stressful!

@ScoobyDoesnt we have packed pretty much everything I’m sick of looking at boxes and it feels so chaotic still we didn’t think we had much stuff but turned out we did! Our solicitors have the further answers from our purchase property and said they would be reviewed today so hopefully we can get some dates! Fingers crossed you get an answer today on if completion this week is going ahead!!

I'm with you there, so sick of boxes now!

No news yet. My solcitor can't get hold of my buyer's solictor at present, she says she's been trying all morning. I'd be happy even with just exchanging this week as at the moment I'm acutely aware it could still all go tits up.

August is the worst month to sell, right?

@ScoobyDoesnt did you get any news?

Turns out our buyers aren’t ready as their searches aren’t back 😩 so waiting game now. Their solicitors told ours they were back 4th August but nope they aren’t.

Solicitor has raised yet another enquiry - something my buyer’s solicitor can’t even answer as it relates to the management company (buyer’s house is on a new build estate) and whatever it is isn’t covered in the management pack. So it’s now got to be raised with the management company's solicitor apparently.

I think this will now be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and the whole chain will collapse - my vendor has said exchange by end of this week and complete by next or he’s out. I don’t know if that’s just an idle threat, but equally he’d already moved out as he’s gone into rented so is now paying mortgage, rent and bills on 2 houses. He says he’s danced to everyone’s tune and adhered to all their original deadlines, and says he can give up his tenancy for a small fee and move back in or put his (my) house up for rent for a few months instead.

The only hope we have is that the enquiry is so petty the buyer can just say to her solicitor to get on with it and she’ll sign a waiver or anything they want to say she accepts the ‘risk’. I don’t even know if this is possible.

I can’t believe one person can hold an entire chain to ransom like this - it’s taken a toll on my health as I’ve felt so ill since Sunday which I think is a combination of stress, horrible head cold and cough, lack of sleep and absolutely no appetite.

@ScoobyDoesnt we have been in a similar position to you. Buyers solicitor has taken ages and ages asking query after query after query. All of which we deal with and answer quickly and then another one comes. This has been going on since May and our buyer refuses to book a survey until all queries have been answered. Just when you think we are at a point when its all over, they ask something else and continue to hold the whole chain to ransom. Its infuriating!!

Our vendor also made the threats to pull out, and last week carried that through and pulled out of the sale leaving us with no-where to go. Not a speck of empathy from our buyers or their solicitors whose merry dance has lead to us losing our forward purchase.

Tomorrow they are having yet another zoom meeting to discuss all the answers to the latest round of queries. We have told them enough is enough. Either commit to buying or we will pull out ourselves. We can't cope with it anymore. It has driven me insane and the stress has been horrendous.

If they do decide they will now book a survey and get on with it, we have told them we won't book viewings on an onward purchase until the survey has been done. We don't want to lose yet another forward purchase because they then decide to take another 10 weeks asking questions from the survey or getting millions of quotes for this, that and the other. If they still want to buy, they will need to wait for us!! But part of me wonders whether it is worth it.

Its shit isn't it? You would think that when you buy a house you would just want to move it along as quickly as possible and get in there and try not to act like a twat during the process.

We too are waiting on one party in the chain to respond to basic enquiries. Have given a 2 week deadline or we are out. So frustrating.

@andweallloveclover and @IWasBornIn1989 thank you for the solidarity!

I just cannot believe the audacity of this solicitor, yes she’s doing her job but equally their sale was agreed early march and apparently all docs were sent to her in May. Completion deadline (her own client’s!) was clear from the outset - when I had my onward purchase offer accepted in May my vendor was happy to push on as I was - and both our solicitors have met that deadline in less than 3 months.

If I lose my purchase I will pull out - I could potentially move out and stay with family for a bit but then have to house hunt again, and also have to pay a £7k early redemption fee on my mortgage (which I don’t have to pay with a simultaneous sale/purchase). Plus storage fees and stress of staying with other people with DD and 2 DDogs.

I also won’t put mine back on the market again straightaway - I can’t deal with the stress of the viewings again. So the estate agent loses too as no sale no fee.

Grrrr….hosuebuying should not be this hard!

@ScoobyDoesnt our buyers solicitor has been infuriating. Absolutely no urgency whatsoever, even when we were practically begging for her to get on with things or the chain would collapse, she still didn't. She has been very demanding and everything has had to be her way. Then she comes back with another silly pointless enquiry that then takes another zoom call with our buyers to discuss. Its been painful. We also found out a couple of weeks ago that she hadn't even applied for the searches either despite having said ages ago that she had. This was the straw that broke the camels back for our sellers. They were just not willing to wait any longer.

We have said we are NOT moving into rented, which was suggested. We have 2 dogs, would have to pay for storage but most importantly we have an amazing fixed rate deal on our mortgage that we are porting to the new house so we don't lose it. We would also have to pay early redemption fees. So we have said no way.

If we pull out, we have also decided not to go back on the market straight away. We need a break from the stress of selling. I don't feel ready to going back to conducting viewings and starting the process over again.

It just pisses me off that we have jumped through hoops to keep this sale alive and we are the ones who have lost our house!

OMG @andweallloveclover your story is literally almost identical to mine!

Even down to the cheap current fixed rate I’m porting too. And 2 dogs!

I’m moving location to downsize and knock a chunk off my mortgage.

Also, my poor DD left her job last week to start a new job in our new location as well in 2 weeks time. She can’t go back to her old one as they've backfilled it already and she can’t do a 3 hour round trip daily (she does drive but is a young new driver) for the new job - especially if the move now doesn’t happen. So I’m feeling even more terrible for her.

@ScoobyDoesnt oh no, your poor DD. That's awful. Its really awful when there are more people to consider than yourselves. I really hope it all manages to work out for you. But its so bloody frustrating when you are not the ones who have done anything wrong, yet you are the ones who are losing out. Its all a bit unfair.

Thank you. I just feel so awful for her, but she was in that zone where she had to give notice as we had to assume all was ok and then got her new job - and now this.

The whole conveyancing system is fundamentally flawed.

I've probably spent about £1,400 to get this far - searches, survey, mortgage fee - which will be lost, although I'm hoping there's not a huge solicitors bill as thank god it was no sale/purchase no fee basis. So they get no money, and nor does the estate agent either.

@ScoobyDoesnt yep, we are out of pocket about the same amount. Our mortgage offer expires at the end of November so that is something else we will have to do all over again as there is no way we will complete on anything now before that expires. Especially now we have lost our forward purchase and are starting again. So we will have to pay out on that again, as well as searches and survey on a new place.

Its honestly despicable that we have lost all this and have paid out that money for no reason and through no fault of our own. Even more annoying is that our buyers, and their solicitors, don't seem to give a stuff about us. Not once have they gone out of their way to try and accommodate us even though we have practically walked over hot coals for them!!

I was so angry last week when our forward purchase fell through that I wanted to pull out just so they can't buy our house!!! I am glad I slept on it and didn't make a decision based on emotions. We decided to keep going, for now, and have tried to stay calm and look at the end game. We want to move.

I share your troubles guys - my chain was on the brink of falling apart around 3 weeks ago as the FTB at the bottom had applied for the wrong mortgage (WTF comes to mind) - this was rectified and we are now waiting for a DOV for a leasehold flat - bearing in mind I sold my house on the 25th February - I have had nearly six months of this 'shite'. I am expecting my Vendor to pull out this week - I am really hoping she may be a bit more patient as the market in her area has gone very slow - and could end up on the market for months. However can equally understand her frustration as the house she is selling is empty - so equally a FTB could rock up. So my mind set is to reset the house (boxes everywhere at the moment) for viewings as I will need to get it back on the market at the beginning of September as this is a family size house which I am down sizing from.

No real concrete update apart from the outstanding query 'should' be easy to resolve fairly quickly as my solicitor had finally got hold of my buyers solicitor, and rang to update me.

And she said I was to just ring her if I wanted to rant, and that made me cry, then she told me stop otherwise she'd cry too!

@ScoobyDoesnt oh well that seems really promising!! I am so pleased for you that it will hopefully be sorted quickly. Your solicitor sounds lovely. Fingers crossed for you x

Our buyers solicitors have now raised a 5th lot of enquiries some of which we’ve already answered 🫠 but their searches are back although yet to be reviewed. This has to be the most painful part! Answers to enquiries on our onward purchase have been answered and we will be getting the pack to review the end of this week.

So the ‘easy’ query is there’s a deed of covenant required which wasn’t part of the management pack and the estate management company don’t have it (buyers house is on a new build estate, they bought it new 3-4 years ago).

So it’s been requested from the management company’s solicitor. The thing with this is we have no idea how quickly they’ll respond. Could be a day, a week, a month. It’s a large international law firm.

The most irritating thing is this should have been noticed weeks ago by my buyer’s buyer’s solicitor and requested then. Not at the 11th hour.

My buyer’s solicitor has to provide the Deed within 21 days of completion - but she can’t agree dates to exchange and complete without knowing for certain when this document will arrive.

I honestly now don’t know which way this will go. It’s my vendor that could pull the plug on this now as he won’t wait (although quite frankly that’s not going to sell his house any quicker). I’ll wait if necessary if it means I move!

The other date issue is both buyers below have expiring mortgage offers in September.

I am now resigning myself to this all not happening, being £s down and having a poor DD without a job.

@ScoobyDoesnt oh my god how frustrating for you!! I agree with you, why the hell wasn't this picked up ages ago?? These kind of things should not be coming to light this late on and someone definitely hasn't done their job properly. I absolutely despair of these solicitors, I really do.

It just feels massively unfair doesn't it when you have done everything right, yet you are the one that is going to lose out? The whole system and conveyancing procedure sucks!!

It is all up in the air for you now while you wait for this document. I wonder if there is anything that can speed them up? If the whole sale hangs on this one document? Surely there must be a way to get it quickly. Its awful having to rely on someone else.

So frustrating. Me and my vendor have moved heaven and earth to meet their original (now passed) deadline, and it's still not sorted because the solicitor is either incompetent or doesn't give a shit.

I'm waiting now for my solicitor to get more info about how hard they're chasing and also importantly, I've asked her to find out if this is it now docs wise - some reassurance that this solicitor won't then find yet another query to raise.

We are just in the hands of waiting for this other law firm to produce the document.