Living life in Limbo: Awaiting exchange......

[faraday]

Argh.

We had our offer accepted on July 7th. We are cashed up, non-chained and renting. This has given us no advantage whatsoever! Our sellers promptly got us involved in a 4 person chain, in which we happen to know via coincidence has 'a problem' between number 1 and 2 (we're 4).

We have signed the contract, a week ago today. Our buyers have said they want exchange on Sept 24th, They're on a 2 week holiday and are apparently awaiting a FENSA (new double glazing) certificate. Our solicitor doesn't know if they've signed the contract or not but realistically exchange won't take place til they're home from hols next w/e AND that certificate has hit their doormat.

Trouble is, in my mind's eye, I've already moved! We've been living out of boxes since June 1st as this renter was always intended as being the 6 month school catchment guarantee. I 'm not getting stuck in with the things I normally do hobby wise as it's all packed up in the boxes and I don't want to spread out any more than we already have, AND I keep eyeing the bookshelves and wondering if I DARE start packing them up again yet? We're casually researched all the stuff we 'need' and want to do to the 'new' house- but the whole shebang could so easily go tits up on us over the next couple of weeks! Don't think I can stand this wait any more especially as I know how bitterly disappointed we'll be if it DOES fall over! I hasten to add, the house isn't absolutely amazing, must-have: it's a bog standard 4 bedroom estate house of which type this estate abounds BUT they're coming up at the rate of one every 3 weeks and get snapped up on Day One at or above asking price!

We're in a similar boat, waiting to exchange on the 11th. 3 person chain as our buyers are ftb and our sellers are moving to an empty house. We'll end up paying more if it falls through (and there have been a few 'scares'). There's no point in stressing though as you say house is bog standard and it's completely out of our control!

I'm packing nothing until exchange!

I have to remind myself that it IS no longer in our hands, it's up to our sellers. Who seem to be in no hurry whilst overlooking the fact that if WE pull out, THEIR purchase may collapse too! They're also re-buying in God's Own Catchment where prices are certainly not falling...!

But it also strikes me that today we are allegedly 23 days away from MOVING but we don't even know if exchange will happen!

Worse still, a tiny, vindictive part deep within me is saying 'Walk away'.

Thing is, our solicitor is doing the barest minimum. We happen to know about 'the problem' between 1 and 2 in the chain from our sellers' vendor's EA! Cos I cold called him 4 weeks ago looking at another property cos we had every reason to believe the sale we'd signed up to wasn't going to proceed as we'd heard NOTHING in 5 weeks following price agreement! And the EA recognised our name from a document he'd sighted which our vendors had shown him to prove they'd had an offer on THEIR house as they went to offer on another house HE had on HIS books, iyswim. The EA told us about the 'issue'- AND told us our solicitor was also acting for no. 2 in the chain as well as us (no 4), and also knew of the issue (something about a survey of house no 1).

Anyway, our sellers have swanned off on a holiday til NEXT weekend, leaving the FENSA certificate outstanding and us still not finding out IF they've actually signed the contract yet! Our solicitor COULD ask theirs but that'd require some effort on his part. So what may well happen is the vendors post the cert to their solicitor on Mon 7th, gets to their sol on the 8th, a copy sent to our sol then or even the 9th, arrives on our solicitor's desk on Sept 9th or 10th. I really would like to know whether this purchase is proceeding more than 13 days before Completion!

must be frustrating and I don't know the answer...I did have a friend once who was in a chain and nothing was moving - he got all the people involved (not the solictors) together in the pub one night and basically said, 'ok what is the problem?' Turned out there were no major issues. They all agreed to go back and tell their respective solicitors to pull their finger out and volia chanin moved....

If you can bear it, have the balls etc, you could threaten your sellers with pulling out if things don't move - but only if you are prepared to risk losing the place.....

Can't the solicitor get the fensa certificate off the internet themselves?

I feel your pain our sellers went to Greece for two weeks, having decided right at the start that they may pull out of their house. Brilliant!

We have decided if it falls through we are only going to look at houses with no chain.

The main prob we have at the minute is that our buyers are making ridiculous demands. I'm just saying no and they haven't pulled out yet. Luckily prices have gone up round here since we have agreed so it's probably just hot air. Unless they actually want to buy a house in the worst area locally for the same price that is!

There's no harm in threatening to pull out though.

You can check the fensa registration yourself online, the certificate is probably a formality, but their solicitor probably needs the final nod from the vendors before sending the contract to yours even if already signed.

How can I check the certificate myself? I'm looking at the website right now but I can't see where I could do it! I know our solicitor tapped away on his computer and was able to tell us there wasn't a certificate registered yet.

I just wish our solicitor would actually find out whether the intention is to exchange all on the same day or not- in which case WHAT'S holding up our sellers?

Faraday, you just put the property postcode in where it says "reorder the Certificate". It then shows up the property details and date it was registered.

It is soooo stressful isn't it. I feel your pain.

More sympathy. We finally exchanged last Friday, having accepted an offer on our house back in April

A very long, stressful story. I too feel your pain, though its the other way around (we've had to let endless houses go, both potential purchases and rentals).

Hope the next few weeks find you safely ensconced in new home!

Argh!! Yes, I am NOT blaming the vendors as we don't know WHO exactly is holding things up! I think if anyone hasn't been pulling their weight, it's the solicitor who only answers our queries when we get -well, a bit aggressive! I emailed him today asking whether he knew if we were all exchanging on the same day but I still await an answer...