The all new buyers/sellers waiting room (9) the one where we start to wonder if we'll move by Christmas..

[NeverGoingToMove]

Huge apologies if I have missed this thread, I have searched high and low but don't think another was started after number 8 ended in May.

After a seriously stressful encounter with building control, I think we are almost ready to exchange. After going on the market last July, I'm hoping we'll move before our year anniversary!

How is everyone else doing?

@ErlingHaalandsManBun I genuinely don’t understand them, they aren’t a first time buyers are they? It seems very odd to be that rigid, it’s so normal to do all of this first else they’ve wasted money on searches etc?so bizarre. Hopefully they get one booked in ASAP and things get moving for you.

my husband said we should know the results of negotiations (if any) tomorrow (or we hope!) so hopefully we can then get an exchange date sorted if it’s all ok. I still honestly don’t see it happening as our solicitor can’t get a response from our buyers solicitor at all so I don’t understand how they can even exchange.

@unicornpower I know, we don't get it either. Everyone we have spoken to (our solicitor/our agents/sellers agents etc) says its unusual not to book surveys early and normally its practice to get them out the way while waiting for searches to come back etc. Their solicitor wants them done at the end. I suspect its because they will pick any little thing that comes up on survey and use it as a means to try and renegotiate on the price. At such a late stage they have us over a barrell and it will be difficuly for us to say no. Definitely think this is the tactic she is going for. They are not first time buyers no. But have shown us no real commitment to buy so far. I have no confidence in them at all.

Yours does sounds promising but I know it will be difficult for you to believe and trust that its actually going to happen. Especially when you can't even get hold of solicitors. Its crazy. You wonder how it will all come together but I really hope it does for you.

So we're all ready to exchange (have been since 1st July, gaaaah!) once we can agree a completion date, as apparently the one we've been in agreement about since March is no longer acceptable.

Estate agents are pushing everyone to talk to solicitors, solicitors are saying the estate agents are responsible for negotiating up and down the chain. So it's become overwhelmingly slow. You'd never guess they were due commission for getting this over the line.

Can anyone here shed some experienced light? Should we be speaking to the EA re completion dates or solicitors? Or both?! So confusing when two professionals who do this for a living are sending us back and forth like a pinball and we don't know any better than what we're told!

@ErlingHaalandsManBun weve had a reply(!) from our buyers solicitor saying they are waiting to hear from their related sale….. didn’t answer literally any other questions we asked at all. They are so beyond useless I could scream. I’m tempted to call them myself and tell them to get their act together. I’m honestly so cross with utterly useless solicitors!

@notanarchaeologist I’m not experienced in the slightest but we are currently having the same row 😂 IME I think estate agents get an overall overview of the chain and push where necessary but solicitors are the ones who discuss specific dates to their counterpart below or above. It’s a ridiculous system and I’m ready to throw the towel in tbh

@unicornpower It is an absolutely ridiculous system!

Our moving company has just made the decision easier though as their availability matches others in the chain so we're just giving into the inevitable. Anything to end the limbo at this point really!

Oh my god yes, we have been like this too. My DH said yesterday he is tempted to call our buyers solicitors himself because they literally are so useless they don't reply properly to questions and emails. They will answer one thing and leave other stuff unanswered. The solicitors are going back and forth emailing one another and it makes me so mad when I think just pick up the phone and sodding talk to one another!!! Honestly, everything they have been trying to communicate to one another for the past 4 weeks could have been sorted if they had just bloody spoken to one another on the phone. I feel your pain!!!

We don't feel they would speak to us if we called them though, I don't think its the done thing to contact your buyers solicitor directly and we would be frowned upon. At this stage I am not sure I care.

@ErlingHaalandsManBun our solicitor is tearing their hair out with them as they’ve asked three times now if all queries are satisfied (our buyer has said so but need it from them) and they just ignore them and they said they have outstanding questions on their related sale….? Answer them then! Why are you sitting on them? I honestly don’t know what to because they aren’t actually communicating above or below them so how are we ever going to exchange??

@unicornpower its so damn frustrating isn't it? The fact that their solicitor is so slow and uncommunicative and doesn't answer questions properly boils our brains. She sits waiting for ours to offer solutions while he waits for her to say what she wants. And she will literally not respond to anything for days and days. I honestly really dislike this woman and I have never met her but she is single handedly holding up our sale. Our agents and our solicitors are equally as frustrated with her and don't understand why she is being the way she is. I feel the same as you, none of this bodes well for when we are actually trying to exchange and complete. How are we supposed to do that when she won't communicate or answer questions? We can already see it now, she will be sat waiting for our solicitor to suggest dates rather than put some forward herself and then when he does she will ignore him. 🙄I am honestly reaching a point where I am not sure I even want to move anymore 😩

@ErlingHaalandsManBun i really feel for you, it’s a hopeless and impossible situation when you can’t even get the basic info out of someone who is paid to do it.

we had news that the re negotiation power down the chain is sorted however so that’s at least one hurdle jumped. Probably a million more to go! I’ve sent an email to our solicitors officially asking for exchange next Thursday 24th. Now we wait!

@ErlingHaalandsManBun @unicornpower also feeling this pain.

I have a working draft review I'm planning to post on Google the moment we complete. It's making me feel a lot better, in spite it being a very small action in the grand scheme. Been tempted to post it more than once but I'd hate to make things worse, which knowing my luck would be the result!!

@notanarchaeologist good idea! You can report them to the law society too if you want to (I looked today!) I can’t wait to give our estate agent a shocking review once weve got rid of her.

she sent a really passive aggressive email stating that we are not the only file she has etc etc so I have sent a massive one back basically calling her out on her BS. We’ve got nothing g to lose at this point as if this falls through we will be sacking her anyway! She underestimates how much time I have to be petty here.

It is honestly crazy how long these processes are taking! Perhaps they should move to a system like in Scotland... they seem to have it right. Plus has anyone else seen the BBC panorama on bad estate agents... seems like they are not helping the proble!

@Littlebeausheepish might need to wait till I'm seething slightly less till I watch any documentaries about buying and selling houses 😂

We've given the authority to exchange first thing this morning, not for the first time. Have zero faith it'll even be this week.

@Littlebeausheepish yes the contrast is striking. We are selling in England and buying in Scotland. We have filled in a few forms and exchanged a few emails with our Scottish solicitor and our purchase is ready to go. Mortgage sorted ✅
We’re 2 months in here and still no survey booked! That’s with just us and a FTB!
Thankfully there’s no rush for our onward purchase. But if stuff doesn’t start happening soon 😳

@notanarchaeologist baffles me that you give authority and then it just doesn’t happen……

Ugh there is a lot of frustrating solicitors on this thread! Hope you all get moving soon.
We're chain free and buying a probate property. Mortgage valuation was surprisingly thorough and they've made it a condition of mortgage that we have a damp and timber report due to damp readings and some dry rot in the living room. They're keeping back 5k of our mortgage...
So I've booked the report. However, I'll want to have a survey too and am not sure whether to book it now or to wait for the damp and timber report, in case it says something truly awful that puts us off! I really hope not- I'm in the limerence phase with the house, I keep imagining us there!

I queried why we've had to give it multiple times and have basically been told to send a daily email first thing giving authority for that day. So maybe it's only valid until the end of the working day? No idea. They didn't get a response from everyone in the chain today, so it didn't happen.

However on the off chance that's helpful info for someone else I thought I'd share! You can also set up a scheduled recurring daily email, so DH has done that 😂 7am tomorrow, granting authority, then repeating daily until we say otherwise!

@notanarchaeologist what’s even worse is you set an exchange date and then the chain doesn’t respond? Like what’s the actual point! What’s the point in setting an exchange date?

Ugh just had a call that our sellers have had to pull out of their onward purchase due to a bad survey. I get it (we had to do the same on a previous purchase!) but god it’s like a punch in the chest. It took three months for them to find this one. I just get the feeling this isn’t going to happen and I just want to know! And I’m not being the least bit rational because it’s making me doubt the whole thing and I’m trying not to call the whole thing off because I’ve had enough. I just want some fucking certainty about anything! DEEP BREATH.

@unicornpower I feel like we have a completion date but I still have no idea when we are exchanging and our solicitor says we are still on track despite it being less than 2 weeks away now. I think they will just process it and let us know we've exchanged!

@HappyCrochetHooker argh that is such a pain! This whole process is so stressful. Sending good vibes to you. Why is it always on a Friday too!

@OtiMama I think you have to give authority on the morning of exchange, that’s what my solicitor told me anyway, no one can exchange if one person hasn’t given authority (even if you’ve said you’re ready prior!) so I would double check that?

@HappyCrochetHooker oh no I’m so sorry! That really does suck, even though you understand why, it doesn’t make it any better for you. I hope they find something quickly and you’re not hanging on too long.

i don’t think we’ll be exchanging next week, the renegotiation further down the chain needs a revised mortgage so I’m hoping it’s an quick easy fix and they get that next week so we can talk dates properly, we’ve floated a completion date of 13th August which our buyer is happy with so just need the rest of the chain to agree. I just hate putting my trust in other people. But. Our buyers solicitor finally responded so I’ll take that as a small win!

@unicornpower that's fine, we are all around so presume she will let me know next week. Spoke to her earlier and she said we were still on track for completion.

I'm surprised by all this talk of giving authority to exchange, our solicitor just went ahead and let us know after the fact!

Joining, we’re 7 weeks in

Selling a 1930s house and our buyer is spooked by the level 2 survey. Not much on that wasn’t visible on viewing, such as repointing needed on parts of side of house and chimney stack, potential new roof at some point and a couple of assumptions by surveyor that are incorrect. They want to reduce £15k which we just can’t do as we’ll lose our onward move.

I really wish we had the Scottish system in England. The house is actually in great condition compared to others in this area, we’ve had no issues with damp or leaks which we half expected to when we bought it.

Need to speak to estate agent today but hoping we don’t lose our buyer as we’ll lose our onward move and be back to square one