Draft Contract - how long

sarahgeorg

Hi there - now I really should know better as I actually work for an estate agent but that is in the centre of London - where we can have an exchange and compeltion all tied up in 48 hours!!! Everything seems to happen a lot quicker here than in the sticks where I live!

Long story short we are buying a new house - there are only 3 of us in the chain - all the work on our house is nearly done and we are about ready to exchange. However my solicitors still has not received the draft contract from the solicitors to the vendor of the house we are buying and it has been over 2 weeks since we agreed it........my question is am I being impatient or is it pretty normal to need to wait a while for this to be sent???

I think I am getting nervous because we had to go to sealed bids to get the house and it really is our dream forever home.....plus my buyers are living with their two babies in cramped rented and are desperate to get things moving....

Solicitors/agents are chasing but have heard nothing yet...

G_M

it has been over 2 weeks since we agreed it...

agreed what? the draft contract? So you have received it??

If it's a new build the builders will probobly exchange when the build is complete.

However if you are worried, call the builders and ask for timescales and call your solicitor and ask what the delay is.

CLAPTON

my experience of london is that it can easily take several months to exchange and complete

milliebear00001

It can take a while, but in my exprience, this is often because the solicitor is waiting for paperwork and /or instruction from their client. Are you sure your seller has done all they need to do so that their solicitor can get the contract out to yours? My lat seller had deliberately not filled in their paperwork so as to delay the contract being sent out (they wanted to minimise their costs until they were sure the sale would go ahead).

sarahgeorg

G_M wrote: »

agreed what? the draft contract? So you have received it??

If it's a new build the builders will probobly exchange when the build is complete.

However if you are worried, call the builders and ask for timescales and call your solicitor and ask what the delay is.

By agreed it - I mean agreed the price. And no its not a new build.

I just wondered if I am being unnecessarily impatient or if 2 weeks to receive the draft contract is normal.

Jowo_2

In the past, during the sale of my property, my solicitor continually pestered the buyers solicitor for the return of the contract which was repeatedly ignored. Finally, the buyers solicitor said they would not return it until the buyers mortgage offer was completed. Is a mortgage offer the dependency here or is that sorted?

sarahgeorg

Our mortgage offer is sorted. We actually had to provide this as proof to the vendor that we could proceed before he would even accept our offer! We ended up in a 'best bids' situation and that was one of the conditions.

I have since been told he has been abroad - back today - I am pestering the agents to get an answer. It just makes me nervous as we have already shelled out £1k for the survey, plus our solicitor has already done all the searches on the house so if he pulled out we would have to pay for these. Not to mention the fact that we would have to rent!!!

timmyt

sarahgeorg wrote: »

Hi there - now I really should know better as I actually work for an estate agent none know the legal process, as lawyers do not know what agents do but that is in the centre of London - where we can have an exchange and compeltion all tied up in 48 hours!!! yes, that is why london lawyers raise so many questions because they screw up all the time and by the sound of it rushing like that Everything seems to happen a lot quicker here than in the sticks where I live!

Long story short we are buying a new house - there are only 3 of us in the chain - all the work on our house is nearly done and we are about ready to exchange. However my solicitors still has not received the draft contract from the solicitors to the vendor of the house we are buying and it has been over 2 weeks since we agreed it........my question is am I being impatient or is it pretty normal to need to wait a while for this to be sent??? normal sometimes, especially as so many estate agents fail to get an agreed date as a condition of recommending the offer's accetance to their client

I think I am getting nervous excatly, we can hear the panic in your writing because we had to go to sealed bids to get the house and it really is our dream forever home.....plus my buyers are living with their two babies in cramped rented and are desperate to get things moving....

Solicitors/agents are chasing but have heard nothing yet...

get your agent on the case, as only they can call the seller personally