Own Home Scheme Pros and Cons

londonIrish_5

Hey guys

need some advice please. the co-op has told me that final mortgage was issued on Monday but I still haven't received it in the post. i've been speaking to my solicitor and he did receive but neither me or P4P have. does this sound right? or have the co-op messed somerthing up here?

thanks!!

ladybird3

Ama I used Optima legal for my conveyancing, despite what other people have said about them I can only report good things!
As far as im concerned they have been extremley efficient throughout the process and I have never had any problems trying to get through to speak to anyone etc
Shortly after I'd instructed Optima I had to pay an initial fee of £250 which was then taken into account when I had to pay the final bill

If anyone here is in the London area can you recommend a good plumber? I need to get the boiler replaced in my new place and the quote I got from Pimlico plumbers seemed a little steep-would be good to get a local recommendation!

Weekend_warrior

Hi All,
I'm looking for some advise and I am sorry if I have posted in the wrong area of the site.
I am having a real hard time with my Mortgage provider Bank of Scotland.
The story is back in 2004 I was forced to give up work to care for my Wife, I was getting my mortgage intrest payed by the D.S.S. but I had a shortfall between the D.S.S. payments and the amount of my mortgage so I agreed to pay £100 per month which I found a real struggle anyway my wife died in May 2009 and as I was on my own the D.S.S. payments have changed so I got a fresh letter from Bank of Scotland saying I had a shortfall of £20 per month.
I phoned the bank to query this amount as up to this point I was paying £100, the bank said in May there was no need to set up a standing order for £20 per month as the would take the £20 of the £2734.87 I had accumilated to my account as a result of my £100 per month payments.
I asked why they had let me run this amount up when I was struggling to pay the £100 per month and they should have informed me that £100 per month was to much, I got the usual waffle, I then asked for the overpayment to be returned and they said no as the D.S.S. could ask for their money back at any time, I stressed that the £100 per month was my personal money and not D.S.S. money but they wouldn't move their position.
I contacted the D.S.S. who said that even if major fraud was proven against me the D.S.S. would reclaim the mortgage intrest payments from me and not the bank.(they also said the banks statement was rubbish)
I wrote a letter to the bank back in May asking for them to reconsider their position and told them of my finding with the D.S.S., I also asked them if they are going to continue to hold my overpayment as a sort of deposit/retainer does this mean that everyone who is having their mortgage intrest payed by the D.S.S. must lodge the same deposit/retainer?
I to date have been given a real runaround from not receiving the original letter even though I have the proof of delivery, I phoned in June for a update as I had heard nothing and was told no letter had been received I was given a number to fax a copy to, I left it a week and phone and was again told the fax wasn't received and no record of my last call was logged on my account, I was again asked to fax my original letter to a secure collections number which I did.
At the beginning of August I received a letter saying they have appointed a senior member of their team to look into the issues I have raised and would be back in contact no later than 4 weeks.
On 8th Sept I received another letter from the bank saying they need another 4 weeks.
Where do I go from here?
Am I right or wrong to demand the overpayment back?
Why are they dragging their heels?
Any thoughts would be appreciated.

W.W.

ladybird3

wrong thread im afraid weekend warrior!

This forum is for people using the ownhome scheme, it's tied to the co-op bank so unlikely anyone here could advise you on rbs mortgages
Perhaps try searching again and im sure you'll find a more appropriate forum

stresshead70

sideslipmike

We had a similar problem, as a few weeks ago our EA called us to say that another EA had found someone who had put in an higher offer than us. Which seemed so unfair because we had already spent money on the survey and stuff. Anyway we didn't know whether the offer would be accepted because it was believed by everyone at the time that we would be able to exchange a week or 2 later, so we just carried on regardless and hoped for the best. We are ready to exchange now and although our solicitor seems to be struggling to get the vendors to exchange (this is because they are demanding a deposit before exchange), we've actually not had any mention of the other buyers since, so perhaps there offer was turned down. So don't get me wrong, it was a nerve wracking time (and still is) but its probably best to just explain to the EA that there is nothing else you can do at this stage, then cross your fingers and hope for the best.

sideslipmike

Cheers Streeshead

Yeah we have tried explaining that to him and the fact we have paid out for surveys/solicitor fees already and signed the final mortgage agreement we have done as much as we can. i`m very relaxed about the whole thing as i know now its just a waiting game, however he thinks i`m not taking it seriously enough and is just causing grief for everyone i believe, oh well as they "say if it happens it was meant to be" i want it to happen but thats up to the sellers to be patient and the EA to back off.

shall keep people posted and hopefully help others on the way

cheers guys

Ama

ladybird3 wrote: »

Ama I used Optima legal for my conveyancing, despite what other people have said about them I can only report good things!
As far as im concerned they have been extremley efficient throughout the process and I have never had any problems trying to get through to speak to anyone etc
Shortly after I'd instructed Optima I had to pay an initial fee of £250 which was then taken into account when I had to pay the final bill

If anyone here is in the London area can you recommend a good plumber? I need to get the boiler replaced in my new place and the quote I got from Pimlico plumbers seemed a little steep-would be good to get a local recommendation!

Thanks Ladybird. How much was your overall costs?

mary4kids

sideslipmike wrote: »

Hey guys found myself in a sticky situation with annoying EA

Firstly our offer has been accepted by the selling company and are mortgage is in place and P4P loan secured as most you guys know, however it has been advertised between 2 EA`s, and yesterday morning our EA informed us that the other EA has a potential buyer and if we can not get an exchange date sorted soon from P4P that the company may pull out as they are not happy with this scheme???:eek: now im sure he`s using scare tactics as most EA`s do and is just wanting to get his commision for next months pay packet!!:mad: We have rang P4P and they are currently dealing with applicants whose mortgages where approved on the 18th August. We were not approved until the 26th Aug and they said it could still take a few weeks??

Anyone be able to give me some advice on how i should approach the matter and tell that greedy EA to back off im ringing and annoying people but i can not do anything else??

Cheers guys

Hello
Our EA told us the vendors pulling out too if we dont exchange by 1st of september as they were going holiday. Then after 1st of september he told us they will be going on holiday on 4t of september and dont know what will happen after that. Our p4p offer and coop mortgage was all set up though. The problem was our solicitor being too slow:mad: So I found vendors phone number from bt and called them. She told us the vendors of their vendors was going on holiday and their mortgage offer was running out that week but she said she wont be pulling out. She was actually very nice and we had a bit of laugh talking about our solicitors. The next thing I know our solicitor called us saying their solicitor and our solicitor set a date to complete on 9th of october.
So my advice would be call the vendors themself and explain. Good luck as I know how nerve wrecking those things can be.

ladybird3

Ama wrote: »

Thanks Ladybird. How much was your overall costs?

With Optima it all came to about £1100 alltogether, I know Optima do charge slightly more than other solicitors however it wasnt a massive difference and I felt it was worth it
Have you instructed anyone yet?!

tek-monkey

I'm paying £865 with a local solicitor, on a house price of £132,500 if that helps.