Offer accepted, but vendor has 'disappeared'!!!

snow_suzi

Hiya!!,

I am a first-time buyer and I have finally got my offer accepted by the vendor about 3 weeks ago.

Within this 3 weeks I have appointed my solicitor, met with the Bank, survey report received and have also received formal mortgage offer 2 days ago. The estate agent and solicitor were well informed with my progress.

The vendor solicitor said they will send us the draft contract asap at the begining of the 3 weeks. Nothing heard since and my solicitor has reminded him twice and tried to find out what is delying them... Still nothing heard from their side... I am very worried now as they just seem to have disappeared.

Can anyone please advise on what might be happening or am I over reacting??

Should I have done all my parts before the vendor side have actioned?

Thank you!!!!
S

PasturesNew

Some people are like that. What sort of people were they/why were they selling? Is it close by, have you driven past and seen if the lights are on evenings/weekends? What is the EA saying?

e.g. maybe they're now trying to find something to buy; e.g. maybe they've gone on holiday;

sonastin

From the vendors side, once they've accepted your offer, they need to appoint a solicitor. They'll then receive a pack of forms from their solicitor for them to fill in which he'll probably need before he can send out the contracts to your solicitor. If they didn't have anything in place before you offered and they aren't particularly organised, it is very easy to see how 3 weeks have slipped by without you hearing anything so it isn't necessarily anything to worry about just yet but it is a sign that you might have to be patient and/or push them all the way.

Do you know what the vendors plans are? Have they got anywhere to move to in place? They could have spent the last 3 weeks looking for their next home rather than progressing the sale of their current one. This could be something to worry about because if they haven't got anywhere to go and they don't find anywhere, they might just decide to stay put and pull out of the sale instead.

Best thing to do is speak to the EA - get them to chase things because after all that is their job.

Good luck.

snow_suzi

Thanks PasturesNew and sonastin,
There is no chain on either side... The vendor has moved out but his sister-in-law is living in there. I have not been round that area recently so am not sure whether she is still living in there.

The vendor is selling becasue he has moved to another area, and clearly he was not is a rush to sell.

Perhaps I should call the EA next week to find out. I have not done so yet as I thought the EA is not part of this anymore after offer has been acccepted?

What is the normal time scale for the whole buying process??

Thanks!
S

RX-78

Its very stressful isn't it! We went through the same process 6 months ago and we were amazed how anyone actually buy/sell properties!

Just to put your mind at rest it took a 3 chain move (I was the piggy);
3 weeks before the solicitors exchanged their pre-contracts
another 3 weeks to have all the questions answered
2 weeks before all solicitors agreed to exchange contract (the bottom of the chain had problem confirming release of funds)
2 days between exchange and completion.......

And our solicitor was excellent, and so was the seller's EA. But despite her chasing the other parties and at one point even me writing letters to other solicitors to move things along, it felt stagnent. In fact, I ended up calling the seller's sol who said somthing about the client's cofidentiality and I said "you dont have to speak with me. Just listen to what I say and sort out the bank". Keep in touch with the solicitors and EA (on both sides) - they dont get paid till its done so they are your friends!

paddedjohn

beware,if his sister in law is a tennant then it may be a problem getting her out on completion

G_M

snow_suzi wrote: »

The estate agent and solicitor were well informed with my progress.

Perhaps I should call the EA next week to find out. I have not done so yet as I thought the EA is not part of this anymore after offer has been acccepted?

Which?
But yes, if your solicitor is getting no response from their solicitor, then ask the EA.

LandyAndy

snow_suzi wrote: »

Perhaps I should call the EA next week to find out. I have not done so yet as I thought the EA is not part of this anymore after offer has been acccepted?

Absolutely wrong.

This is where the EAs earn their money. If the sale doesn't go through they don't get paid. This is the first moment when the EA will be on your side.;)

RX-78

LandyAndy wrote: »

Absolutely wrong.

This is where the EAs earn their money. If the sale doesn't go through they don't get paid. This is the first moment when the EA will be on your side.;)

Very much so! My seller's EA was excellent - she made sure I had all the neccesary proof to purchase and asked if she could see our mortgae offer in principle etc (I know I have no legal requirement to show this), constantly kept in touch. When I complained the seller's sol is delaying the process she got onto them straight away and pushed thins along.

Very different from my useless EA who was rubbish. If it wasn't for my sol and the seller EA, we would have never nought this house!

dizziblonde

LandyAndy wrote: »

Absolutely wrong.

This is where the EAs earn their money. If the sale doesn't go through they don't get paid. This is the first moment when the EA will be on your side.;)

Yeah - our vendor's EA has been excellent in terms of chasing up solicitors on both sides and keeping everyone updated in terms of progress. As long as you're aware that their priority is to SELL the property and keep that in mind - you can get them helping progress things along quite nicely (and it's so much easier when they're pushing sluggish solicitors along as well as you)!

At the end of the day, they want their commission, which they're only going to get by selling the house, you want the house bought - you're generally working towards a mutually desirable goal!

snow_suzi

Thank you all for your responses!
It is very stressful process indeed........
I will ring the EA tomorrow and let him do this job.