Who gets the final say in the chain?

Ivenofinmoney

I was nearly convinced the OP was in my chain, we have been agreed on 30th March since god knows when.

I was told way back on Friday 2nd that we would be in a position to exchange contracts on the following Monday, yet we seem to have stagnated for the past 2 weeks, and suddenly yesterday the top of the chain said they couldn't move until the 2nd and the bottom of the chain said they had to be out of their flat by 23rd.

It seems to me things would go a whole lot easier if people actually talked to each other, someone's solicitor has not been returning calls today, so another day where we haven't exchanged contracts, and no-one really knows why or when we might ?

RufusFrog_2

helping_hubby wrote: »

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

If a house has been altered in any way the buyer's solicitor will insist on seeing 'planning permission' if applicable and 'building regulations approval' for the work. If they are missing the solicitor will ask the vendor to take out an indemnity insurance policy (the new magic panacea for all defects in a property title) for the buyers.

Which seems straightforward. But. We are asked to take out an indemnity policy for an extension for which there was planning permission but no building regs. Without even asking the obvious question: was the extension actually built? (It was not.)

We were also asked for building regs for our downstairs loo. I did some research - building regs in their current form started in 1985, we bought the house in 1996. We had no idea if the loo pre-dated 1985 or not. We replied "the downstairs toilet was present when we bought the house in 1996. We have no reason to believe the house has been altered." Surprisingly, this satisfied the buyer's solicitor.

Delays are caused if the buyer's solicitor and the vendors or their solicitor disagree about whether a document is necessary, for instance if in the above case the buyer's solicitor had come back to us we would have probably been quite stubborn: what evidence do the buyers have that the loo does not predate 1985? These kind of wrangles can go on for weeks and make the whole thing unbelievably stressful.

I really, really hope that it all gets sorted out for you. Remember these days 7 days is a typical gap between exchange and completion - and it can be done in less so keep the faith! And keep pushing your solicitor and EA to communicate, communicate, communicate.

Richard_Webster

If a house has been altered in any way the buyer's solicitor will insist on seeing 'planning permission' if applicable and 'building regulations approval' for the work. If they are missing the solicitor will ask the vendor to take out an indemnity insurance policy (the new magic panacea for all defects in a property title) for the buyers.

Which seems straightforward. But. We are asked to take out an indemnity policy for an extension for which there was planning permission but no building regs. Without even asking the obvious question: was the extension actually built? (It was not.)

We were also asked for building regs for our downstairs loo. I did some research - building regs in their current form started in 1985, we bought the house in 1996. We had no idea if the loo pre-dated 1985 or not. We replied "the downstairs toilet was present when we bought the house in 1996. We have no reason to believe the house has been altered." Surprisingly, this satisfied the buyer's solicitor.

Delays are caused if the buyer's solicitor and the vendors or their solicitor disagree about whether a document is necessary, for instance if in the above case the buyer's solicitor had come back to us we would have probably been quite stubborn: what evidence do the buyers have that the loo does not predate 1985? These kind of wrangles can go on for weeks and make the whole thing unbelievably stressful.

It is off at the side on this thread but Rufus Frog's point is interesting. Sometimes the buyer's solicitor is being silly asking for things that aren't necessary. I have had seller clients paying out up to £100 to get copies of planning permissions that I was pretty sure had nothing to do with the property being sold!

People prefer to pay the money rather than waste weeks arguing over this kind of thing. It does make me cross though when some solicitors are so thick headed - e.g. when buying a flat wanting to see a 10 year old consent to remove 20% from a preserved willow tree in the communal garden. How seeing that could make the slightest difference to anyone I can't imagine. In that case I did get away with not providing it!

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

benood

I don't suppose you could get the contact details for everyone in the chain and communicate directly - but stay calm when talking to everyone.

I heard a story once (urban myth?) of a long chain where the people at the top did this and gradually spoke to eveyone down the chain until they reached the bottom it transpired the FTB's were short £2k as a result everything was being held up. Top gave bottom the money and everything went through the next day.

scorpio_princess

RufusFrog wrote: »

If a house has been altered in any way the buyer's solicitor will insist on seeing 'planning permission' if applicable and 'building regulations approval' for the work. If they are missing the solicitor will ask the vendor to take out an indemnity insurance policy (the new magic panacea for all defects in a property title) for the buyers.

Which seems straightforward. But. We are asked to take out an indemnity policy for an extension for which there was planning permission but no building regs. Without even asking the obvious question: was the extension actually built? (It was not.)

We were also asked for building regs for our downstairs loo. I did some research - building regs in their current form started in 1985, we bought the house in 1996. We had no idea if the loo pre-dated 1985 or not. We replied "the downstairs toilet was present when we bought the house in 1996. We have no reason to believe the house has been altered." Surprisingly, this satisfied the buyer's solicitor.

Delays are caused if the buyer's solicitor and the vendors or their solicitor disagree about whether a document is necessary, for instance if in the above case the buyer's solicitor had come back to us we would have probably been quite stubborn: what evidence do the buyers have that the loo does not predate 1985? These kind of wrangles can go on for weeks and make the whole thing unbelievably stressful.

I really, really hope that it all gets sorted out for you. Remember these days 7 days is a typical gap between exchange and completion - and it can be done in less so keep the faith! And keep pushing your solicitor and EA to communicate, communicate, communicate.

Funnily enough this is exactly what is happening in my parents' chain at the moment - their buyer's buyer is being extremely difficult by insisting on retrospective planning permission and building regs for a loft conversion built 18 years ago - a good few years before my parents' buyers moved in (interestingly enough, there were no issues with this when they bought the place). The upshot is, they have dumped these buyers and are re-marketing the property, but because they are desperate to move into my parent's house, they're taking out a bridging loan to avoid holding up the chain any longer. With a bit of luck they'll exchange within the next couple of weeks (well, that's if their solicitor gets a rocket up his backside any time soon - he sounds as if he's half asleep most of the time, which is very reassuring!)

It at times like these i'm glad I rent

JennyW_2

Mrs_Arkwright wrote: »

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

same situ as us. We moved last year. Only 3 in the chain but it still took 5 long months :mad:

helping_hubby

Thank you everyone. The planning documents make a little more sense now.

We have actually been in direct contact with our vendors before, to re-visit the property for measurements and they've called us to offer white goods etc...Do you think it's worth us phoning them to see what they know? As it must be their solicitor requesting these planning docs from the person at the top of chain?

seven-day-weekend

If there is any extension on their home, for which Planning Permission was granted, they will need copies of the original Planning Consent notice for their buyers.

Maybe this is what they are waiting for and the Local Authority who provides them usually has to reply within ten working days.

So hopefully it shouldn't be too long now.

Doozergirl

Mrs_Optimist wrote: »

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!

I'm genuinely very sorry for being right!

Doozergirl

helping_hubby wrote: »

Thank you everyone. The planning documents make a little more sense now.

We have actually been in direct contact with our vendors before, to re-visit the property for measurements and they've called us to offer white goods etc...Do you think it's worth us phoning them to see what they know? As it must be their solicitor requesting these planning docs from the person at the top of chain?

If it's just the house they're buying then they will know what they're waiting for, so I don't see why you shouldn't.

I'll remind you not to make any agreements on dates without the solicitors approval because they are the ones actually doing the work . If your vendor doesn't know exactly what is left to do on the conveyancing side of their purchase, then tell them I said to call their solicitor and get a list! :rotfl: