Chain on brink of collapse :(

scorpio_princess

This is a long story, so i'll try to cut it as short as I can!

November 06 - parents sold their house
Dec 06 - their buyers sell their house to a FTB
Jan 07 - my parents find new property, with no onward chain

So, 4 in the chain.

Things have been moving very slowly, which at first my parents thought was because their solicitor is worse than useless (the incompentance has been astounding, including sending them a contract that related to an entirely different sale!) Until about half an hour ago, my parents thought everything was nearly ready to go - just waiting on LA searches for their new place. They were told by their buyer (who is extremely keen to move, to the point of pressuring my mum for a date, even though she hasn't been given one by the solicitor) that everything below them is in place, so everyone is waiting on my parents.

Fast forward to the estate agent (sold my parents place and their buyers' place too) calling my dad and saying that the chain is looking very shakey because suddenly the FTBs solicitor has pulled something out of thin air at the very last minute - apparently, nothing can go ahead until the FTBs solicitor has some kind of indemnity insurance against a chancel tax for the upkeep of a nearby church! On top of this, they also want building regulation guarantees for an 18 year old loft conversion.

I cannot understand why this has all suddenly come to light now - is this just an example of a solicitor being picky because he's afraid of being sued? My parents are at the end of their tether - my mum is not well, and this is going to tip her over the edge.

What do you guys think? Is the chain likely to collapse because of this? Apparently the FTBs are on the verge of pulling out because of it. But surely that wouldn't be in anyone's interests? Everyone has paid out for surveys, solicitors etc, so if one pulls out, everyone loses.

I'm so worried about my parents - I just wish it could have been simple, but alas it was not to be.

drowningnotwaving_2

This is very strange cos this "indemnity insurance" appears in every single sale I know about nowadays - it has certainly happened to us and to our buyers both on this sale and our previous sale, and on two friends sales.

Is the cost £150 by any chance?!

We were asked to pay it for some land query that dated back 60 years - we told the solicitor to get stuffed and the sale proceeded with no problem.

The building regs are a bit trickier - we needed to produce building regs for an extension that was done on our property by the previous owner. Luckily we found them in the loft!

I think the council should hold building regs so could get hold of them through there. Or FTBs will have to agree to buy without them.

Neither of these issues should result in a chain collapse - I suspect it's inexperienced FTBs being wound up by their solicitor unfortunately.

Hope it gets sorted.

Doozergirl

Both issues require a form of indemnity insurance. Chancel Repair Liability insurance costs just under £60 and an indemnity policy (which is worse than useless and copmpletely pointless after 18 years) will depend on the value of the house being sold, but will be a couple of hundred pounds (ish)

It's not the sort of thing that should collapse a chain unless the vendro refuses to pay a couple of hundred quid for policies or the FTBs get a complete bee in their bonnet, in which case someone needs to sit them down and explain the building regs thing.

It really frustrates me that even solicitors don't seem know that there is no issue with building regs after 18 years. If the surveyor is happy with the structure of house and extension, then that is entirely adequate. Did anybody bother asking where the building regs and PP are for the original house, no doubt they don't exist either but no-one's bothered about that! :wall:

tarajayne

I understand its stressful but some solicitors seem to come up wth allsorts. We moved in October and our buyers solicitor wanted planning permission paperwork from the 1960's. We spent the whole weekend in a panic but our excellent solicitor took care of it, basically saying there was no paperwork. Just a great way of their solicitor making more money from them by sending letters. As for the church insurance, we paid it, £60, its if you live close to a church but it is optional, only involved us saying yes over the phone to the solicitor. Did not seem worth the risk of getting a bill and if our parish council is anything to go by, well ! So no hold up just a quick phone call to your solicitor and 1 letter hopefully, good luck ?

scorpio_princess

Thanks for your replies guys

My parents have spoken to their buyers, and they don't seem that worried about it. They seem to think it's just a case of their buyers trying to get some money knocked off the price of the house. I don't know if this is relevant, but one of the FTBs parents is stumping up a large deposit, so my guess is they are being awkward by 'flexing their property-buying muscles'* The main reason they're buying the house is because it has a loft conversion (they're artists or something and need some kind of studio) and my parents buyers say the FTBs are as desperate to move in there as they are to move into my parent's house!
With a bit of luck this will all blow over and the chain will complete in a week or two.

* I say this because my sister has also been having a bit of a nightmare with her buyer - a FTB. To cut a long story short, her buyer gave her an ultimatum earlier this week - exchange and complete on Friday (today) or she'll pull out. My sisters vendor cannot complete until next Friday, so the upshot is my sister is now homeless and having to sleep on various sofas at friends/relatives houses just because her buyer was so selfish and impatient that she couldn't wait one more week! As it turns out, its going to be 2 more weeks before she'll be in her new house because her vendor's vendor is on holiday next Friday. This could all have been avoided if her buyer hadn't applied such bullyboy tactics (well, I say 'her buyer' - we're sure its her buyers dad that's causing the problems - he's is stumping up a HUGE deposit and has been calling all the shots).

I'm soooo glad I'm renting right now - I just couldn't be doing with all this personally!