How long?

Boz86

Myself & my boyfriend have recently bought our 1st house. :j
Our offer was accepted on the 24th June 2011, and a few days later we paid our solicitor £250 to start the searches thinking we were getting ahead. Anyway, 2 weeks have now passed since & not hearing anything more from our solicitors I sent them an email the other day just making sure everything was running smoothly. His reply was;

"Hi
I am still waiting for contract documents from sellers including a plan to enable me to carry out the local search."



I am unsure as to whether I should be chasing someone at this point to get things moving?
There are no chains either side, and the house is vacant.


If anyone can advise us that'd be great!

RLH33

My first stop would be the estate agents, get them to see what the delay is and get back to you asap.

Make them work for their money:D

Boz86

Ok thanks I will do that. Just seems weird they were pushing us like crazy to get a solicitor organised & they haven't even made much of an effort to sort themselves out.

It;s been 4 weeks on Friday since the offer was accepted, so I will give them a call then.

FireWyrm

No, call them today. I have the EA, the Vendor, my solicitor and my FA all on speed dial. It's a slow day when one or other doesnt hear from me. My solicitor gets a call at least once a week, the EA generally every few days and I've spoken to the vendor once. The EA should be chasing everyone both sides of the equation to keep the sale moving, but if you dont trust them to do it, go kick him up the backside and remind him that he's not going to get his commission while your solicitor is sitting idle twiddling his thumbs waiting for something to happen. Not everyone is working for you, true, but you should be riding your solicitor at least weekly to find out what is happening and keeping him moving.

theartfullodger

Boz86 wrote: »

Myself & my boyfriend have recently bought our 1st house.

Err.. no, you haven't: It ain't bought until, IMHO, you've the keys in your hand, money paid, old owner gone with all his stuff & you standing inside smiling...

You've got many steps to go, prepare for a wait...

I have the EA, the Vendor, my solicitor and my FA all on speed dial. It's a slow day when one or other doesnt hear from me. My solicitor gets a call at least once a week, the EA generally every few days and I've spoken to the vendor once.

I'm sure none of them think that you've been too much of a pain and are thus dragging their feet on purpose..

I'd 'umbly suggest going to see people, all friendly and calm, seeing what YOU can do to move things on... you know, just like if it were a job....

Hope it works out & you're very happy in your 1st 'ome..

FireWyrm

theartfullodger wrote: »

I'm sure none of them think that you've been too much of a pain and are thus dragging their feet on purpose..

They dont get a chance to drag their feet . Seriously though, the EA and I are working very closely to get this all through the legals as quickly as possible. I've had two calls from the EA and one email and that's just today. The solicitor can be a bit hard to get hold of mind but one call from either of us gets him moving again. The vendor's solicitor is affilliated with the EA in some way so he has every right to ring them up and kick some proverbials. I just ring him to get the chain started....:D

If we exchange at the end of next week it'll be a miracle considering this is my 3rd attempt at buying a house now (1 x horrible survey, 1 x vendor did a runner 4 days before exchange and this one)

KateLiana27

Exactly the position we were in for the first few weeks after we had our sale agreed as first time buyers. In retrospect, things would have moved a lot quicker if we had been calling up our solicitor and the EA weekly - we were being too careful not to be thought of as a nuisance. Now we don't care.

Call the EA and ask them to chase WHY the draft contract hasn't been sent yet, and when will it be sent. Sometimes things get lost in the post, languish in someone's in or out tray, forgotten about... list is endless and someone needs to be chasing it up.

Boz86

Thanks all for your advice.

I will be phoning the EA today unless I get a reply from my Solicitors this morning advising me that they have started the searches and received the paperwork.

:-)

Boz86

Ok, so my solicitor still has not received the paperwork to enable him to start the searches. :mad:

I have now phoned the EA, who has called me back to inform me that the property we are purchasing is not a registered property, therefore that is why it has taken so long to get these papers.

My question now would be does anyone know how long the searches will take once started? Cheers

Craig_Grant

Hi Boz, this sounds very similar to something that is happening in the chain we are involved in. Where are you buying this property?

timmyt

FireWyrm wrote: »

No, call them today. I have the EA, the Vendor, my solicitor and my FA all on speed dial. It's a slow day when one or other doesnt hear from me. My solicitor gets a call at least once a week, the EA generally every few days and I've spoken to the vendor once. The EA should be chasing everyone both sides of the equation to keep the sale moving, but if you dont trust them to do it, go kick him up the backside and remind him that he's not going to get his commission while your solicitor is sitting idle twiddling his thumbs waiting for something to happen. Not everyone is working for you, true, but you should be riding your solicitor at least weekly to find out what is happening and keeping him moving.

The agent brokers the deal if it is going slow. The conveyancer handles the legals. Don't get them confused. Call your lawyer toomuch asking them to perform agents role and expect a bill for extra time.