Sold sign removed from property before sale completed

5879klw

hi,

We are first time buyers and not too sure on how things should work in an ideal world, however:

we are 10 weeks into the 4-8 week period it would take to sign for house we are buying. everything is done apart from finalising the searches, this is due to sellers solicitors not answering phones or emails for a month. so after a lot of discussion with our solicitors it is moving along now eventually. apparently the Estate Agents had dramas contacting their solicitors too.

but now a friend who lives near to the property has informed us that the Sold sign which has been there since offer acceptance has been removed completely. We havent signed any papers yet so we are assuming that the sign would stay up until we moved in. is this right?

I dont really want to phone our solicitors and ask a really pointless question, as for all i know it could be normal for this to happen.

any help is appreciated.

K

tyllwyd

It is unusual, normally EAs are very keen for boards to stay up as long as possible.

But don't panic too soon - it might have blown down, somebody might have decided to nick it, it might be a misunderstanding and the wrong board got taken down, the vendors might have decided they were fed up of looking at it - I wouldn't bother asking the solicitor, why not phone the EA directly and ask?

firstaspect

I usually find that the Sold sign is still there after I move in. Speak to the EA selling the house rather than the solicitor if you're concerned.

5879klw

Ok, I thought it might be unusual as reading the forum it appeared people tended to have problems getting rid of the sign. I tend to speak to the solicitor as their PA is a family friend and seems to have endless patience with our sometimes daft first time buyer questions.

Will speak with Estate Agents later on, or maybe tomorrow just in case like you said there is a plausible reason.

Thanks for advice

K

G_M

Why do you care? The sign is really just free advertising for the agent.

Or are you worried the vendor has put the property back on the market? Get a friend to ring and ask for a viewing and see what happens!
Or are you worried the vendor has decided not to sell? Just keep pushing your solicitor along. There's no reason the vendor would not tell you if this happened.

5879klw

hi G_M,

yeah we were more worried that they were planning on pulling out or something, there is no for sale sign up in its place though, so it just seems quite strange. Will find out from estate agents, we were meant to sign for it 2 weeks ago and it seems to be one thing after another at the minute, from crappy uncommunicative solicitors to sold sign disappearing after we asked the Estate Agent to get the sellers to give their solicitor a kick up the !!!!.

K

kingstreet

Who gave you the estimate of 4-8 weeks?

My friendly solicitor, I've known her for years, says this to all the clients I introduce (and to me on my purchases) at least three times every transaction;-

"do not ask me about dates or start thinking about moving until I have all the paperwork in place - mortgage offer, contract, answers to enquiries, searches EVERYTHING, as without them, I can't begin to speculate..."

She would rather avoid giving a speculative timescale when she knows full well many things are down to other people and she has no control.

On the sign issue, I'd have a gander at the local stream or round the back of the neighbours' houses. It's been windy lately and it's probably been a pain in the neck for someone.

5879klw

it was the solicitors, i do kind of wish no time frame had been given due to it going over the stated timeframe. they have been really good in keeping us informed and letting us know that they have tried ringing/emailing sellers solicitors to no avail. so i understand where the hold up came from, but yes good point about the wind etc. The main drama about timing is that I am due to go and work abroad for a short while very soon so would like to have everything sorted before that happens, the longer it takes the closer that day comes.

K

lilab_2

I took the sold sign down from outside my house because I felt I had done the advertising for the estate agent and think that they just look untidy.

kingstreet

5879klw wrote: »

it was the solicitors, i do kind of wish no time frame had been given due to it going over the stated timeframe. they have been really good in keeping us informed and letting us know that they have tried ringing/emailing sellers solicitors to no avail. so i understand where the hold up came from, but yes good point about the wind etc. The main drama about timing is that I am due to go and work abroad for a short while very soon so would like to have everything sorted before that happens, the longer it takes the closer that day comes.

K

Aye. Being the ultra-pessimist we Mortgage Brokers normally are, I respond to the "how long?" question with "three to four months, and it's a bonus if it's less."

Hope you get it sorted before you head off.