Chain teetering.. is it beyond hope?

charliee_3

Hi all, me again.. despite us expecting to have exchanged contracts on our FTB house early last week we are still waiting..

basically the vendor was pushing us for exchange last friday (12th) but we were unable to exchange by then as our solicitor (fair do's) had made a mistake. She had been on holiday and the girl who was dealing with it forgot to do the Land registry forms for purchasing the freehold, but to their credit they posted the form to me first class and were straight onto the freeholders to get their bit done and we were all done and dusted by Monday afternoon... since then it has been nothing but hassle. The vendors solcitors seem to be absolutley USELESS (they are the EA's recommended ones). They havent been returning any calls to our solictor and all she has been able to do is leave messages on voicemail that arent returned. The Estate agent has had a bit more luck as they have another office of the solicitors dealing with further up the chain so they are pushing from both ends. The solicitor just keeps saying that it will be done this afternoon, but then she is too busy so it is tomorrow then the next day...

now suddenly, over a week since they were threatening to take the big shed (that was part of our offer) if we didnt exchange, they have realised that the searches are out of date!! aaagh.. shouldnt they have checked this before???. Our solicitor said that they need to purchase an indemnity insurance, however the EA (who has spoken to the solicitor) says that RBS may not accept an indemnity and require new searches.:eek:. The vendors are not responding with any urgency (IMO).. admittedly the husband had an accident and was in hospital over weekend but Mrs vendor just told the EA she couldnt deal with it as she was at work...

so in essence how bad is this?
1) has anyone had a similar experience with RBS and did they accept an indemnity
2) if new searches are required how long will this take as the agreed completion date is supposed to be 3rd July
3) is there anything we can do or threaten to get this moving as my OH is due to have an OP on 23rd July and we wanted that time between completion and moving in (16th) and his op to paint, put down carpets, etc - i did think of threatening to pull out, but the solictor agreed that they wouldnt really beleive us as we would stand to loose money now..
it was all going so smoothly now this.. is this normal?? is this why buying a house is so stressful??:mad:

thanks for your help... grrrrr

Giraffeseeker

I'm pretty sure it is up to your solicitor to ensure the searches are up to date.

The HIP only requires searches are done when the house goes on the market, it does not require the vendor to keep renewing them. In essence they do not actually go "out of date" - it is just a requirement of your mortgage company that they are less than 6 months old (3 months for some banks).

The vendor has done their bit in getting them done to start with and I assume the HIP was supplied to your solicitor some time ago, so it should really have been noticed then by your solicitor.

The local search in the HIP for the house I am buying was deemed out of date by my bank, and therefore my solicitor ordered a new one, which I paid for, as it is a requirement for my mortgage.

Your vendors may agree to pay the costs of the search, but in law they do not have to supply you with this up-to-date search, so you may need to pay the cost of this (or get your solicitor to do so as they really should have noticed this before).

charliee_3

thanks for the reply.. sorry, i wasnt clear.. the searches that are out of date are on the house that our vendors are buying, so its up the chain from us... nothing to do with our purchase directly, but obviosuly it is going to affect us if the chain is held up... just wondering how long these searches take to get as time is of the essence for us coz of OH operation..

Giraffeseeker

Sorry, didn't realise that's what you were saying. Then the above applies to your vendor, it is their problem and their solicitor who has missed this.

Mine took about 3 weeks, I don't think councils are too busy at the moment. I vaguely remember from a previous purchase that there is an option for the solicitor to go down and do the search themselves, which speeds it up, not entirely sure though, maybe someone will come along who knows.

I see now why you are threatening to pull out. This may set you back quite a bit.

charliee_3

well.. still no positive news..RBS wont accept the indemnity and need new searches... I called the EA today and threatened to pull out, basically told them that its a buyers market and i dont think vendors are taking it seriously in that they are not returning out calls and being unhelpful with our request to go and view to measure up. I said that if we pulled out with the market the was and being in a position to proceed immediately,s we could probably make up the money we'd lose if we got a good offer accepted on a different house...maybe....
... they said that it was in the hands of the solicitor, i pointed out the the solicitor have proven themselves to be !!!!!! (i actually swore.. i was so wound up) so that is no comfort and the vendors are being just hopeless, they dont seem to be proactive AT ALL.. if I were in their position i'd be giving the solicitors a whole heap of whoopass.. i said i didnt think it was unreasonable for the solicitors to get in contact with the council to find out
a) what their turnaround was on seaches currently
b) we are sorry we made a mistake but pretty please could you do it quicker or the chain will fall apart

i said i wanted something concrete tonight as i need to let the removal men know if we need to change the date and more important if it is going to drag on i need to let the landlady know we need an extra month (we had an overlap for decorating etc, but it may be eaten into with all this mess-up and OH op date is looming)
grrr.. its just so frustrating...