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

ash28

Here is ours:

28th June put house on the market had 6 or 7 viewings and 2 second viewings before we went on holiday for 4 weeks on the 26th July -

Woke up in California on 27th July to an offer - we rejected it - told the EA what we wanted for the house and suggested we split the difference - everyone happy.

Landed home on 24th August to the solicitors pack waiting for us - buyers full structural survey was done the Friday before we landed - had instructed the EA to instruct a solicitor for us. Saw a house we liked over the Bank Holiday weekend - put in a offer and was accepted.

Tues after Bank Holiday handed completed forms to solicitor - buyers survey no issues other than normal onging maintenance and electrics not meeting current regs and gas servicing query - buyer thought we should pay for both - we said if you want them done you pay for them - we're happy to let people in. However relented and said we would have a gas safe check done for them - so did that and there were no problems - the electrical survey was never done.

Everything moving along - into September now - our solicitor tells us that no queries have been received from buyers solicitor - spoke to the EA who chivvied everyone up.searches done etc - contracts arrive to sign for purchase - end of September contract for sale arrives and attached to the back are the buyers solicitors queries - one of them asking us to have an electrical survey done - said no. Contract signed and given to the solicitor.

Into October by now and all ready to exchange on the 7th - find out buyers have a gifted deposit no one knew about - mortgage offer put on hold until money laundering procedures and letter to the underwriters saying that the money is a gift and gifter will have no financial interest in the house.

All sorted yesterday and ready for exchange this morning - solicitor rang to say just waiting for our sellers solicitor (was with a client) to confirm exchange- it happened at 4pm.

Removals confirmed at 4:05pm! Completing on the 21st October.

The last week or so has been a bit of a pain - but other than that not too bad at all.

klolav

ash28 wrote: »

Here is ours:

28th June put house on the market had 6 or 7 viewings and 2 second viewings before we went on holiday for 4 weeks on the 26th July -

Woke up in California on 27th July to an offer - we rejected it - told the EA what we wanted for the house and suggested we split the difference - everyone happy.

Landed home on 24th August to the solicitors pack waiting for us - buyers full structural survey was done the Friday before we landed - had instructed the EA to instruct a solicitor for us. Saw a house we liked over the Bank Holiday weekend - put in a offer and was accepted.

Tues after Bank Holiday handed completed forms to solicitor - buyers survey no issues other than normal onging maintenance and electrics not meeting current regs and gas servicing query - buyer thought we should pay for both - we said if you want them done you pay for them - we're happy to let people in. However relented and said we would have a gas safe check done for them - so did that and there were no problems - the electrical survey was never done.

Everything moving along - into September now - our solicitor tells us that no queries have been received from buyers solicitor - spoke to the EA who chivvied everyone up.searches done etc - contracts arrive to sign for purchase - end of September contract for sale arrives and attached to the back are the buyers solicitors queries - one of them asking us to have an electrical survey done - said no. Contract signed and given to the solicitor.

Into October by now and all ready to exchange on the 7th - find out buyers have a gifted deposit no one knew about - mortgage offer put on hold until money laundering procedures and letter to the underwriters saying that the money is a gift and gifter will have no financial interest in the house.

All sorted yesterday and ready for exchange this morning - solicitor rang to say just waiting for our sellers solicitor (was with a client) to confirm exchange- it happened at 4pm.

Removals confirmed at 4:05pm! Completing on the 21st October.

The last week or so has been a bit of a pain - but other than that not too bad at all.

Hi Ash,
you've done well to stand firm re the electrics etc. I think I may have caved!
It's so nice when you have exchanged, the stress lifts a bit doesn't it!


I have spoken to EA today to again chase buyers solicitors.....they have said searches are in, be bk next wk, contracts are in ready to sign and just waiting for mortgage offer to come through (should be any day!!)
So apparently we are getting ready to tie everything up. I find the whole thing very stressful and can't wait to exchange.
We are still hoping to complete by end of the month, so getting tighter all the time!!

Good luck with the move!!:)

ash28

klolav wrote: »

Hi Ash,
you've done well to stand firm re the electrics etc. I think I may have caved!
It's so nice when you have exchanged, the stress lifts a bit doesn't it!


I have spoken to EA today to again chase buyers solicitors.....they have said searches are in, be bk next wk, contracts are in ready to sign and just waiting for mortgage offer to come through (should be any day!!)
So apparently we are getting ready to tie everything up. I find the whole thing very stressful and can't wait to exchange.
We are still hoping to complete by end of the month, so getting tighter all the time!!

Good luck with the move!!:)

To be honest I didn't realise how stressed I was until yesterday afternoon when the exchange went through - all in all (with hindsight) it's not been too bad.

Our buyers and their buyers (FTBs) got their mortgages sorted pretty quickly, well we thought our buyers had! We did for a time think that their offer would be pulled - but it wasn't.

Our buyer's solicitors dragged their heels a bit or rather seemed to take ages to do anything.

I do hope all goes well for you and that you do get to exchange shortly - our estate agents were pretty good to be honest and despite the bad reputations they seem to have, ours have been diamonds.

You've still got 2 weeks to the end of the month - it took us about 10 days from being ready to exchang to actually exchange because of the our buyers gifted deposit - still they'll know the next time.

Mummytobe

Im still waiting for the solicitors details to be put on to the Northern rock database...seem to be waiting for ages! Heard today out of the blue that northern rock have requested proof of deposit which they havent asked for before. do i need to worry about this and according to the broker they were just waiting for the solicitors detailed before the mortgage offer was to be produced.

Pupnik

Ours has been going on since the start of June and is still not done. Last weekend we had the contract in the post- fantastic! We thought it was ready to go... but hang on, last time I spoke to the solicitors they were still waiting in information from the freeholder. I phoned them up and she said they are still waiting on that information, but they want us to sign the contract and send the deposit anyway- does this sound weird to anyone else? What if the freeholder never responds? Our mortgage offer expires at the start of December so if they don't get whatever answers they want then it could cause a problem, and I'd rather the deposit stay in our accounts rather than the solicitor's!

klolav

Pupnik wrote: »

Ours has been going on since the start of June and is still not done. Last weekend we had the contract in the post- fantastic! We thought it was ready to go... but hang on, last time I spoke to the solicitors they were still waiting in information from the freeholder. I phoned them up and she said they are still waiting on that information, but they want us to sign the contract and send the deposit anyway- does this sound weird to anyone else? What if the freeholder never responds? Our mortgage offer expires at the start of December so if they don't get whatever answers they want then it could cause a problem, and I'd rather the deposit stay in our accounts rather than the solicitor's!

Hi, since June is a long time, I feel for you!!
I'd be happy to get contracts sorting, and usually this is just before exchange I think. But like you said surely they can't exchange until the info is back. If it's a simple matter they are waiting on and its imminent, maybe your solicitor is just getting everything ready to go, so as soon as this final bit is sorted they can get exchanged for you.
Would they exchange without it??
Good Luck

Pupnik

klolav wrote: »

Hi, since June is a long time, I feel for you!!
I'd be happy to get contracts sorting, and usually this is just before exchange I think. But like you said surely they can't exchange until the info is back. If it's a simple matter they are waiting on and its imminent, maybe your solicitor is just getting everything ready to go, so as soon as this final bit is sorted they can get exchanged for you.
Would they exchange without it??
Good Luck

I don't really mind signing the contract, it is handing over the deposit before everything is in place that bothers me. I hope they don't exchange without what they are waiting for, as one of the things they need is the freeholder's written permission for the property to change hands- but they've been asking for that for months so there is no saying how much longer it will go on. I'm anxious that they will exchange on the sly and that the sale will fall through because of these things and we will lose our deposit. There's no chain so I was really expecting it all to be done in 3 months Just keeps dragging on and on... the November rent is due soon, I did not expect to be paying for November's rent when our offer was accepted, and since we will need to give our notice we will be paying rent for December too- each month's rent is worth 2 months of mortgage repayments which just makes me fume :mad:

I'm also confused because the letter for the solicitor asks for 10% deposit but our deposit is not 10% it is around 45%, just seems like they have printed off some generic letter and stuck our names on the top but it makes it very confusing, I'm not sure if they want it all or just 10% for now. The amounts of times I've had to call them just to get them to clarify what they are saying! Still, better than some of the stuff from the seller's solicitors which is full of spelling errors! Argh, I'm just frustrated, can you tell?

Soundgirlrocks

Hi all just thought I would update you all mines gone a bit wrong the sellers need to get a deed of rectification as the lease plans aren't right, but the good news is they have agreed to rent us the flat whilst all the legal issues are resolved! Thursday was so stressful when all this was happening, I've got to move out of my rented place on the 22nd and I was convinced I was going to be homeless!

klolav

Pupnik wrote: »

I don't really mind signing the contract, it is handing over the deposit before everything is in place that bothers me. I hope they don't exchange without what they are waiting for, as one of the things they need is the freeholder's written permission for the property to change hands- but they've been asking for that for months so there is no saying how much longer it will go on. I'm anxious that they will exchange on the sly and that the sale will fall through because of these things and we will lose our deposit. There's no chain so I was really expecting it all to be done in 3 months Just keeps dragging on and on... the November rent is due soon, I did not expect to be paying for November's rent when our offer was accepted, and since we will need to give our notice we will be paying rent for December too- each month's rent is worth 2 months of mortgage repayments which just makes me fume :mad:

I'm also confused because the letter for the solicitor asks for 10% deposit but our deposit is not 10% it is around 45%, just seems like they have printed off some generic letter and stuck our names on the top but it makes it very confusing, I'm not sure if they want it all or just 10% for now. The amounts of times I've had to call them just to get them to clarify what they are saying! Still, better than some of the stuff from the seller's solicitors which is full of spelling errors! Argh, I'm just frustrated, can you tell?

In short very frustrating, very annoying and very confusing!!
I can't work out what they are doing either. I think the exchange 10% amount is generic in order to exchange, but not sure if it should be 45% written on it for your case??
Looks like you have no choice but to ring your solicitors for clarification again!
If it's any consolation I don't understand most of the letters that I receive from my sols, and need help to clarify. Why they can't write in plain and simple English, I don't know.
I hope you can actually get hold of and speak to your solicitor tomorrow and get a full explaination from them. Good luck and keep us posted!

klolav

Soundgirlrocks wrote: »

Hi all just thought I would update you all mines gone a bit wrong the sellers need to get a deed of rectification as the lease plans aren't right, but the good news is they have agreed to rent us the flat whilst all the legal issues are resolved! Thursday was so stressful when all this was happening, I've got to move out of my rented place on the 22nd and I was convinced I was going to be homeless!

That's a bit of luck for you! It will be nice knowing by the time you complete you will be already settled in your new home!
Very stresful for you no doubt, but you won't be homeless, so silver lining!!
Just for the record, I know people have said you should never give notice before exchange, but it is so hard to know what to do. You didn't want to be paying rent and mortgage so completely understand your decision.
Good luck with the move next week