Offer accepted, nothing happened for 2 months

[CushionHugger]

Accepted offer from FTB but nothing has happened for 2 months. No surveys etc. They say it's the mortgage broker slowing things.

Anyone been in similar? Would you pull out and remarket?

Get your estate agent to chase, it's their job. If they confirm nothing has happened then pull out, you should have had rounds of solicitors queries etc by now. Survey shouldn't take that long the market is dead.

Thank you. Never sold a place before so don't know how long it should take.

We have asked the agent several times, they have us one response from the buyer which was 'we still want it but the broker closed for Christmas' which doesn't really explain why literally nothing has happened. No surveys either.

Shall I talk to other agents first? It was only when we gave notice that this one started doing any work. I don't think they're that bothered about selling it really.

We got lots of leaflets from other agents saying they can sell it...

Put your complaint in writing

Tell the EA you need to see movement on the sale or you’ll remarket with someone else ( assuming you’re not tied in with them )

Thanks. No, not tied in. They've had the property since late June.

Thats to your benefit then
Just get the complaint in writing
Make it formal
It may not be their fault but that’s irrelevant
Two months and nothing happening is ridiculous

Id give them to the end of the week
you should be getting
ie Buyers queries from conveyancers
setting dates for surveys etc

Give them a date you want to complete by
16 weeks from accepting an offer is normal these days ( although not much is selling so could be less but I’d want to be seen to be fare )

EA literally cannot do anything except make random annoying phone calls which often result in misinformation. They are no part of it now except to book in survey when the buyer is ready.

You need your Conveyance Solicitor to follow things up, its LITERALLY what you pay them for, its their job.

Agree it is the conveyancers job. But if the EA is threatened with losing the job they'll push the buyers to push their solicitors.

It’s the buyers that need to force this through. It’s the buyers that could lose the sale.

Theres also nothing stopping OP contacting both the EA and her conveyancers, which is what I’d be doing. By phone and in writing

That sounds very frustrating. Two months with nothing happening is far too long.

Have they ordered a private survey yet or got their solicitor engaged as yet?

If none of that has happened, I’d be a bit concerned they’re not ready or another issue in the background.

In that situation I’d probably be tempted to let the agent line up other interest again, just so you’re not stuck in limbo...

I'd ask for confirmation that a mortgage is in place and a surveyor has been appointed by the end of the week or you will re-market the property.
I'd use the next few days to get quotes from other EA's on commission and check out their listings [for quality pics etc] before you make a decision.

If the buyers are waiting on their mortgage offer and have not instructed a conveyancer then who is the conveyancer meant to chase?

You need to instruct your EA to put house back on the market immediately.

Is there a chain above you? Nobody should be happy with zero progress over 2 months. FTB probably don't have a clue.

Thanks, they have a solicitor but no searches have started.

We have asked our solicitor a couple of times and they confirmed nothing had happened but latest reply said it’s an unreasonable wait.

There’s no chain, we didn’t know this was slow until I read the memo terms again and it said surveys booked within 7 days. Which was 7 weeks ago.

I checked and there’s nothing same price and comparison in the area, they got a good deal because we thought a FTB would be easy. We do really need the money though.

A FTB may be a bit ignorant about some of the protocol but you'd think their solicitor would guide them. Are they dragging their feet for a reason?

I once had an offer on a house from an FTB couple but it turned out they thought they could just reserve the house until they had enough savings - like it was Feb and they said they'd like to proceed in June! No, mate, come back in June and if it's still on the market we'll talk then.

Threaten them with dropping their offer if they don't start survey within the week or remarket - you might even get more for it now but it is time wasted.

Have they had a mortgage accepted in principle.
ie an amount agreed in principle the mortgage company will lend them

Sorry not surveys, searches booked. Got terms confused.

I sort of thought that they were delaying to see the budget, but that’s been and long gone.

When we were FTB as soon as our offer was accepted we appointed a solicitor. The offer had been made subject to survey. Our mortgage broker advised us not to commit money to a survey until we had a mortgage offer confirmed. Unfortunately the lender picked up that DP’s middle name was spelt differently on his two forms of ID. He had to apply to the DVLA to get his driver’s licence amended and of course, that took forever. Our vendors were threatening to pull out. The issue with the ID meant the mortgage offer was delayed and so the survey took place much later in the conveyancing then normal. Our solicitor was carrying on though - all the searches and enquiries were well on the way and reviewed by the time the ID debacle was sorted out. Decent EA’s and solicitors should be chasing and pushing this along and making sure the lines of communication are clear.

Put it back on the market
I’ve bought and sold many times
if they’ve not got a survey booked after a week they are not serious buyers.
Search is something the solicitor does as soon as they are instructed by the vendors about the house they want ti buy.

These are not serious buyers. I had this once and I had the estate agents and my solicitor chasing. Excuse after excuse. 8 weeks later they pulled out. I was gutted but looking back not surprised.

That’s not good. Seven weeks with no searches or survey.

If the sales memo said surveys within 7 days and that hasn’t happened, it does suggest they’re not ready.

First-time buyers can sometimes underestimate how much there is to do, especially around mortgages.

If you need the money and there’s still nothing moving, I’d be seriously thinking about setting a clear deadline with them (for example survey booked and searches started by X date), and if not the agent start re-marketing. You don’t have to pull out immediately.

Has your agent suggested putting any pressure on them yet? - they should be advising you really. There are also other routes to the market if time is of the essence.

The agent doesn’t suggest anything, they only respond when we chase them. It’s been this way since late June. We gave them notice because they got about 5 viewings when it went on the market and then silence for weeks. They didn’t give feedback on anything. We were all set to change, emailed to say giving notice, and then almost overnight they somehow got 3 serious buyers viewing. One rival agent came over to talk to us as he was working down the street and he said our agents should have been giving us weekly updates at the least. All the communication is us to them. It’s like they don’t care about selling it at all.

Whats a good deadline from now?

Have the buyers got a mortgage in principle? If not they shouldn't have been able to offer...

I wouldn’t leave it open ended. I’d set something like 7 days for a mortgage survey/valuation to be booked. That’s long enough for the buyer to get things done, given how patient you've already been.

If they can’t meet that, it’s a sign they’re not in a position to proceed, (something in the background) and you’ll be better off putting it back on the market.

If you like, you can DM me and I can be a bit more specific.

It as a while back but when we had our offer accepted I remember our conveyancer was then asking us for money for the searches very soon, maybe the next week?
So 7 weeks seems like they aren’t even progressing with the sale. Call another agent and put it back on the market, I’d ring your buyers agent and say they have til end of the week to start the searches.

Thanks, they said the broker confirmed 50pc deposit and that was good enough. Now I’m kicking myself for not asking for the mortgage in principle.