Well, Here goes - a stress and hassle free purchase.......

Sugared-frog

Well it doesn't look as though we will be in by Christmas:(.

We have seen the solicitor and signed various documents in preparation however we have the stumbling block of insurance. Turns out that we don't seem to be able to get new policies to insure us due to the words "cavity tie" and "movement" and we think that we won't be able to get the current insurer to carry on insuring as it is probably a block insurance as the current owner is a bank.

This seems to be the only remaining stumbling block to going forward and exchanging (I feel as if I'm hitting my head on a brick wall).

Has anyone else had better news.... (I thought with it being a house purchase with no chain this was going to be a much quicker process).

Jesswithwings

Sugared-frog wrote: »

Well it doesn't look as though we will be in by Christmas:(.

We have seen the solicitor and signed various documents in preparation however we have the stumbling block of insurance. Turns out that we don't seem to be able to get new policies to insure us due to the words "cavity tie" and "movement" and we think that we won't be able to get the current insurer to carry on insuring as it is probably a block insurance as the current owner is a bank.

This seems to be the only remaining stumbling block to going forward and exchanging (I feel as if I'm hitting my head on a brick wall).

Has anyone else had better news.... (I thought with it being a house purchase with no chain this was going to be a much quicker process).

Ugh, how frustrating!!! They say moving house is the most stressful thing after bereavement and divorce and I believe them!

We are 7 weeks into this malarky now. We have signed contracts and are currently waiting for our buyer's mortgage offer. From reading this thread, I gather that can take a while!! They had their valuation done 4 or 5 weeks ago and for some reason they got the buyer's name wrong on all the details so they've had to go back and re do it (or so I gather). They (solicitor and EA) think it will be through this week sometime. Ideally we'd like to exchange before christmas, but I think that might be a long shot! I'm frustrated but only because we've got to this point before and then they buyer pulled out! it seems like we've been stuck here forever! Still, fingers crossed!

klolav

Sorry to hear that you guys....definately the most stressful thing ever!!
Sugaredfrog-yet another thing to hold you guys up-how frustrating! (and yet something you'd think would be straight forward)
Jesswithwings- our buyers offer took for ever, but I don;t believe that there weren't any issues as we were constantly told, so you mat get lucky. Are you hoping to exchange before xmas but complete after? Good luck.
We are still aiming to exchange this/next week but buyers will not complete until mid jan. Its very much all their way.
I have asked to sign tomorrow ready for exchange and both sides agree that it will be done before xmas. It needs to be or else we will lose our second rental house......due to it all taking so long!
So as soon as we exchange we have got to sign on our rental, which we think will be next week, so might well be moving all next week with 2 toddlers right before xmas!!!! But we won't then complete until Jan. If we don't sign and wait until completion we will also lose the money on rental. So very much living in hope as I have done all along. If I can at least exchange its pressure off!

Sugared-frog

Actually I can understand how people can get to the point of pulling out.... I love this house and want it (despite its potential problems that have been emerging - all seemed so simple when the estate agent said "looks like the cavity ties will need some attention"), but the process does get you down. But if we can't get insurance some how we won't be able to go ahead ... something has to give. Our survey thought it was structurally sound excepting the cavity wall ties ...

Our offer came through with mistakes on it too - you think people who are drawing up official documents would know how to check them.

norbet

Sugared-frog wrote: »

Well it doesn't look as though we will be in by Christmas:(.

We have seen the solicitor and signed various documents in preparation however we have the stumbling block of insurance. Turns out that we don't seem to be able to get new policies to insure us due to the words "cavity tie" and "movement" and we think that we won't be able to get the current insurer to carry on insuring as it is probably a block insurance as the current owner is a bank.

This seems to be the only remaining stumbling block to going forward and exchanging (I feel as if I'm hitting my head on a brick wall).

Has anyone else had better news.... (I thought with it being a house purchase with no chain this was going to be a much quicker process).

Hi SF, just noticed your posts and it sounds like you've had a similar experience what we encountered, although we pulled out of the purchase when we considered the matter of insurance.

Our purchase went something like this:

- offer accepted
- valuation and survey done(full buildings, was only a bit more than the homebuyers report and place was in need of many repairs)
- valuation came back with comments noting signs of structural movement – recommended structural engineers report
- rest of survey came back with comments such as “appears to have suffered subsidence” and “cannot ascertain if non-progressive without further investigation”
- at this point we were ready to walk but the agent suggested the vendors would pay for the structural report (to be done on our behalf).
- we agreed, but clearly stated this was not a commitment to purchase.
- structural report done, said movement was not due to subsidence, but “thermal expansion” – we actually met the engineer onsite and he explained it was due to differences in building materials, that it wasn’t subsidence and that had the place been decorated in the last 10 years or so the cracks (internal) would probably have gone un-noticed.
- engineers report went back to our lender who agreed to the mortgage offer with no conditions (I understand in your case you had a £5k retention?)
- we then thought about insurance and what about when we come to sell the property?
- asked the lender who would also be our insurer (at least at the onset) about buildings insurance and they said we’d need to send copies of the reports to their underwriters
- this concerned us and we decided to pull out from the sale. The property, although in a nice area, needed much work (we only got 10k off the asking) and we were worried about being limited in terms of insurance and our position come the day we come to sell on.
- we’ve yet to hear back from the insurance underwriters (this was 4 weeks ago)


We’re now back to square one, having paid out on arrangement fees and surveys, but it sounds like we dodged a bullet to some degree as you’re now finding the insurance a hurdle? I take what others have said about subsidence not being a concern in certain areas (where it’s accepted and the postcode is more important) but we as nervous FTB’s thought it was a risk we were unwilling to take.
I do hope it all pans out alright for you though & wish you good luck!
N:

Sugared-frog

Well still not much further. However we have found out from the EA that our solicitor (who I'm sure should be the person telling us this), has found out that the Bank will insure us. Yet to find out the details but the implication is that it can go ahead. So the EA are feeling fairly positive. And they have even managed to find out the answer to when the property was last occupied (a question we have asked the solicitor and the EA previously and not had a proper answer) - perhaps they are realising that someone needs to pass on information to us. However we are always surprised every time we talk to the EA how much they know ... such as the fact we have a retention on the mortgage - we certainly hadn't told them, so presume our solicitor did.

Norbert - thanks for your information - if we get this property and hopefully our survey is correct, we think we will arrange for our property to be monitored for subsistence for a couple of years to find out if there is a problem and then deal with it if needs be or if there isn't a problem then get the all clear to seek other insurance other than the lenders one.

As it is now a month or two since we last saw the property, and it is unoccupied, I presume that we should view the property again immediately prior to exchange. (And it might get me enthusiastic again ... I think I've been preparing myself for loosing the property and can't bring myself to start hoping again just in case).


So what about anyone else in the pursuit of completion? Has anyone got some good news?

klolav

Hi SF- long time no speak.....mainly had no major update either.
We were told that we would definately be exchanging before xmas, complete first 2 weeks jan. This was happening, so we thought, signed all docu's this end, sol telling us that yes we will exchange before xmas- each day that passed gave us less hope. Anyway Thur before xmas got the call to say sellers would not be exchanging until first 2 weeks jan, complete end jan.
Part of me wanted to walk away at his stage, but we have hung on in there (19 long weeks now). My sol told their sol we are insisting that we exchange first week back after xmas, they said their clients are going in to sign monday. So 2nd week of Jan then......watch this space. Waiting for news now as to a last query.
Bear in mind their solicitors would not raise any queries until their mortgage offer had arrived. So when everything was in place, they sent a list of 16 questions and queries, and they have kept coming!!!
hopefully we will both have some good news soon!

Sugared-frog

Well I'm feeling a little more positive today - we are going to go in and try to start sorting out insurance tomorrow at the bank and arranged with the EA to go and visit and maybe even measure up the windows too. Just not sure what sort of insurance figures we will be charged because of their valuer mentioning subsistence - we know it is a low risk area in terms of insurance (B1 or A2 - can't remember which).

Good luck with yours .. hopefully not long to wait (but then we both thought that at the beginning of December!)

klolav

How did it go sugared frog? Did you sort the insurance?

Aim for us was to exchange first 2 weeks Jan........tues wed thur fri left! please please please
Answered their last query yesterday so waiting to see if that was sufficient or if they will raise yet another question on the back of that. Other than that I think everything is ready to go.... have to wait and see!

Sugared-frog

Thanks for asking ... no in the way that this has never gone easily ................. spent ages in the bank ... being honest about it all. Even the lady dealing with us felt sorry for us as her computer wouldn't process the claim and had to ring for additional help. End result the insurance company now want a survey (won't accept the previous ones). So spent yesterday organising that and it will be done on Wednesday, with hopefully getting the report by the end of the week.

Who knows then.... depending on what this report says ... I'm worried since we seem to hit brick wall after brick wall (especially ones with a crack in it:rotfl:). If it comes back with the worst case scenario do we finally walk away:( or do we go into negotiation on price.

What sort of queries do they keep raising? Do they seem sensible but just annoying as they drip feed them or are they daft? Good luck then - could be an important week for both of us!