Chain complete conveyancing support thread

[BakedPotatoBeansCheeseColeslaw]

My chain completed on Monday. I’ve booked my survey, instructed my solicitor and applied for my mortgage. Now begins the anxious wait to see if we will actually get to complete.

My friend once likened moving house to the first trimester - don’t talk about it to many people until you’re sure it’s happening.

Anyone else in the same boat? We are hoping for an August completion as chain short, and onward chain was already a way through the process before falling through and us joining 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Thanks @GoldTie and @BakedPotatoBeansCheeseColeslaw for the encouragement. I know my buyer is downsizing so money isn’t a factor in the new negotiations. I have offered another 3K off and said that is it. The waiting is miserable.

Well done 👏

I find it such a bizarre strategy. A couple of people said we should ask for £3k off after our survey flagged some things that need sorting but we decided not to. It’s a 100 year old house so things like asbestos in the roof should hardly have been a surprise and the damp in the front room by the bay window was obvious from the viewing. We wanted the house, we’re on a time pressure to move, and we decided that all it would do was create bad feeling and risk the purchase.

@Sadteacherthat sounds like a fair offer if they haven’t got much to back up their request. You’re right, the wait is miserable! I’ve just done the negotiation with my buyers after their survey, they threw the kitchen sink at their list of things they wanted a discount on. Some of it was reasonable and I was expecting, some of it really wasn’t.

Fortunately one of their major points was really easily refuted by me just taking a photo. They started at £18k request and we agreed on £10k. Just holding my breath until exchange now so I can move on with packing etc.

Had to find another thousand, but the move is back on. 🤞

Well I’m absolutely heartbroken this morning! We had a call at 5 o’clock yesterday to say our sellers are pulling out. No reason given, just it’s all too stressful (the stressful but if already done, we were talking about dates!), I have no idea what we’re going to do now. Break the chain and keep our buyer? Stay here for a bit even though it’s too small with a baby and we will have to go through the hell of viewings with a newborn in tow? 😭😭😭

Oh OP that’s awful, what a shitty thing to do at the 11th hour! something is clearly going on though as I can’t imagine why someone would pull out at this stage if they were already in rented, surely they have a really big need to complete??

The same happened to us last year, sellers pulled out after 9 weeks of conveyancing due to finding the process stressful, and I felt sick with disappointment.

I literally can’t stop crying, I’m sure being pregnant doesn’t help 😭😭😭

Oh OP, it’s just awful and all consuming when it happens, and even worse if you have a baby due. Really feel for you, it’s terrible that people can get so far along the process and then just decide not to continue for ambiguous reasons. Sounds like you did everything you could to keep the purchase on track, and you've just been horribly let down at the last minute :(

So sorry @BakedPotatoBeansCheeseColeslaw
Have a good cry, you’re allowed. The most important thing is your health and your pregnancy right now. It will all work out in the end, it’s just bricks. Family first x

Oh hell - when I last sold/bought during covid and newly widowed I nearly went insane. Three sales fell through and three purchases.

I am so sorry this has happened, but this is exactly how the house sale system in UK works - it is designed to cause the maximum stress I think.

I can only say that I got there in the end ...... and wish you all the luck in the world.

Oh no that’s such awful news….im so sorry @BakedPotatoBeansCheeseColeslaw

So sorry BakedPotatoBeansCheeseColeslaw that’s devastating for you. The whole process needs reform. Please look after yourself and baby.

Right, DH and I have finally stopped crying enough to formulate a plan.

There is a house we offered on before chain free which has unexpectedly come back to market. We low balled before and got rejected but it has since has the price reduced (to what we offered lol).

There is another chain free house we are seeing this evening on the same road which is over budget but potentially stunning/worth it.

Trying to summon the enthusiasm for house viewings is hard - we saw one Wednesday evening off market as the agent felt bad for us but my heart wasn’t in it, I was still grieving.

The current plan is to see this house and either offer on it, or reoffer on the one that has come back. We have paid for a premium conveyancing firm and my solicitor says she can turn a genuine chain free purchase around in 4-6 weeks for us considering our buyer is ready to exchange.

If we can keep our buyer and move on one of these houses then the amount we will have lost will be reduced and we could potentially still be in before baby. My parents are emphatic that if there is a whisper of losing the buyer then we should stay with them and let the sale complete.

I really CBA but we go again 😩👊

@BakedPotatoBeansCheeseColeslaw I am sorry this has happened to you. It has happened to me twice, the latest being in the house sale we have just been through, and it is honestly so heartbreaking.

I am glad you have a plan in place.

Have your buyers been told of the recent developments and have said they are willing to wait? If they are, then you have this at least. Our buyers wanted our house and were willing to wait for us to find something else which was a huge relief. Going through the process of keeping the house tidy for viewings, and trying to find another buyer, honestly made me feel sick.

We ended up buying a house that is clearly much better than the original one. Now we are in (finally) we look back and now actually feel glad that it fell through or we wouldn't have moved into the one we now have.

So please try and stay positive.

It doesn't feel like it now, but this may well have been a blessing in disguise and you will actually offer on something that you love more.

I am a bit of a believer in 'what is meant to be, will be' and I look at the houses we lost and feel no regret as the ones we ended up with were better. I don't think we were ever supposed to live in them.

Good luck. I hope it all works out for you, your buyer will wait, and that one of the ones you view tonight end up being the home for you. ❤

It has happened to me and you will transfer your affections to another house - especially one that you obviously like as you offered on it before.

I now know that the house I finished up with has advantages over the ones I lost.

You have to play the long game here ......

@BakedPotatoBeansCheeseColeslawIm so sorry to hear what has happened. If it’s any consolation, our solicitor managed to get our chain free purchase through in just under four weeks from the day we first viewed the house to the day we moved. And that was despite a major issue with Land Registry which he and the vendor’s solicitor were able to sort out. I hope you’re able to go ahead with one of the houses you’re due to see. We were disappointed whe we had to pull out of the previous house we were buying in April and couldn’t find anything else thst we both liked. We were about to go ahead with a real compromise but then were persuaded to view the house Weve now moved to, which was way above our price range, but the agent thought they woukd be open to a silly offer from us as we were buying with cash from the sale of our old house, and the accepted a huge reduction. If we had gone ahead with the previous house we would never have got this one. Sometimes things do Halley for a reason.

Thank you for words of encouragement - great to hear it was a quick turn around for you @Growlybear83 that gives me some hope!

@ErlingHaalandsManBun the buyer doesn’t know yet - my solicitor says she reckons it is better to tell her once there is concrete information to tell rather than tell her that something has is happened and we don’t know what the plan is. We’re going update her the middle of next week regardless as otherwise it’s not fair on her as she is expecting to exchange but I’m hoping we’ll be able to tell her that we have a new onward purchase and it will only be a few weeks and she will hang on because it would definitely take longer to find something else!

@BakedPotatoBeansCheeseColeslaw

I think if you can get an offer accepted, either on this new one, or the one you offered on before, then that will hopefully go in your favour.

If you can push for a quick turnaround then it is in the buyers interest to wait really. Like you say, they will then have to go through the process themselves of finding something else, finding time for viewings and then start the conveyancing process all over again, which will take way longer, and cost them more money.

Have everything crossed for you that this works out in your favour.

I wouldn't go through this godforsaken process again if you paid me. It caused us no end of stress, worry, grief and sleepless nights.

But I promise, once you get to the end. it will all feel like a distant memory.

Keep us posted.

Fingers crossed you like them tonight!

@BakedPotatoBeansCheeseColeslaw that all sounds really positive!

fingers crossed one of them fits the bill and you can get everything back on track!

We have just made an offer on the house we got rejected for back in June. £10k more than we wanted but we need this house. Now is the anxious wait to see if they accept 🙏🙏🙏

I’m so nervous!!

Congratulations!!

our own sale closed on the wire this week after dragging on for two months. It was impossible to know what was the hold up. Everything was sorted and all queries fulfilled. It was a very, very short chain below us. We decided to break it and go into rental, and it was a good thing we did because our vendors are still not telling us anything about a completion date after being extremely dramatic about their need to move as soon as possible.

I am feeling quite ambivalent about their attitude. I know that they are not pleased because we reduced our offer in sight of the survey findings, but at least now we are in the rental property. All our stuff is in storage, and none of the next steps are dependent on us completing, so this feels a little bit less pressured.

People are so selfish and frustrating!!

How does it feel going into rented? I’ve been considering it but currently don’t need to and I’m worried - worried we won’t find anything we like, worried we’ll waste a load of money on rent, worried our deposit money will be worth less if house prices go up (not that there are any signs of that at the moment)

Our offer has been accepted! We are allowing ourselves a day of tentative excitement and then trying not to get our hopes up too much because I don’t trust it not to all go wrong again