Who gets the final say in the chain?

Doozergirl

You need to know how long the chain is

And you need to know exactly what the people at the top are waiting for. tbh, I'd ask both my solicitor and the estate agent to find out and then check the stories for the chinese whispers that Richard Webster refers to!

Don't settle for wishy washy answers, it's not good enough. You are entitled to know what is going on and you don't have to make threats to find out

Richard_Webster

Yes, doozergirl is right. Private individuals may say things that are inaccurate without realising it and estate agents ought to know better. Trouble is that sometimes the reason is to do with some quite technical legal detail that it is difficult for the agents to understand and the solicitors further down the chain simply haven't got the time to check it all out.

Good example of chinese whispers I once heard was a message that the person at the top of a chain wanted a certain date - say 30th March and we got told this say in mid February. We got to about 21st March and made the phone calls to do the exchange only to be told that the seller at the top had agreed 30th March provided she had 3 weeks notice!. We never knew of the qualification because some estate agent only heard the date and not the qualification!

Nevertheless it is worth asking your solicitor if he can find out what the problem is because if he is told he might understand what is involved.

As a conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful but I accept no liability except to fee-paying clients

helping_hubby

Thank you, I have just called my solicitor but they are in a meeting at the moment. Hopefully she will call me back before the end of the day.

Should they really be able to tell me exactly what's going on? The estate agent always talks like this 'thing' is confidential. And my solicitor is always vague when I've asked how other people are getting on in the chain.

Richard_Webster

It's more a question of the time it takes to find out all the details.

The reality is that a lot of solicitors simply haven't got the time to do this kind of investigation so frankly it is easier to give you a vague response. If they do do it there will unfortunately be a time lag while they find out because they would have to do that along with everything else.

Occasionally things can be very confidential but usually it is something like:

1. the people at the top going into rented and they want to make sure that they have secured a rented property and they can move it by the date in question - or
2 they are going abroad and they need to know that the international removers can collect their stuff before the date - or
3 the seller is elderly and needs family to help him/her move and they have to arrange time off work

As a conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful but I accept no liability except to fee-paying clients

Milky_Mocha

Hello OP. I can relate to your feelings of inassertiveness, making a phonecall and then after you hang up the phone you think, "what was that all about?" leaving you even more frustrated. What I then decided to do was to request updates via email. Its very effective. When people know something is in black and white they are more inclined to double check the facts. You also have something to refer back to. When I started doing this things moved pretty fast and we have finally exchanged.

Good luck to you.

helping_hubby

Oh I am even more confused now

Solicitor called back...she can't tell me how many are in the chain. She says they only know about the people either side.

But she's saying that our vendors aren't ready! And that they are waiting on some planning documents. Our vendors definitely aren't at the top of the chain.

I'm so confused. So now I have 2 people in the chain slowing things down, and who knows...possibly more?!

Melissa177

Ask why her vendors aren't ready. Request that the people on either side of you in the chain tell you how people are in their chain. Make your solicitor work for you!

Mrs_Optimist

I can sympathise with the OP. We are STILL waiting to exchange nearly 3 months after accepting an offer from a FTB and having our offer accepted by our Vendor who has now gone into a nursing home. We have been waiting to exchange for the past month and our FTB is causing the delay. It took nearly two months to get the survey sorted and now 4 weeks later the mortgage offer STILL hasn't been sent out (although I know the Survey was ok because the Surveyor told me!). He is using Kensington Mortgage Co (has anyone heard of them?) As far as we are aware that is all that his sol is waiting for befre we can exchange. We were supposed to be exchanging Monday just gone and completing this Friday but that has gone out of the window now. It is very difficult to do I know, but the one constant piece of advice that I have been given is this

"Don't worry about things that are out of your control, it will take as long as it takes!"

It is small comfort now but in a few months when you are ensconced in your new home you will look back in wonderment at why you got so stressed!

PS Doozergirl, how right you were when I posted orginally in January asking how long the whole process would take with a chain as short of mine - I thought you were joking when you said 6 weeks minimum - what could possible take THAT long? I thought to myself - now I realise that you were spot-on!

helping_hubby

Thanks Mrs Optimist.

I now have an update...

There are 3 people in our chain! 3! Well at least there's less to go wrong

I think my solicitor is confused and its not my vendor, but my vendors vendor, ie the person at the top thats waiting on the planning docs.

What are planning docs and why do they need them? I assume this is for their buyers?

I feel better for being more informed, even if we're no closer to exchanging Thanks everyone for the advice.

Mrs_Arkwright

helping_hubby wrote: »

There are 3 people in our chain! 3! Well at least there's less to go wrong

Don't bank on it - there are only the three of us in our chain and we still haven't exchanged, five months on.