Buying House - Little news Who should I be asking questions

UKSBD

What is the standard practice for who I should be speaking to regarding buying a house?

Offer accepted on 14th November - they want quick completion (14/12/12).

My Solicitor engaged on 15th.

Received basic letter from their solicitor on 16th.

Spoke to my solicitor on 19th who says he will wait for draft contract before starting searches.

Not heard a single thing from anyone since.

Should I be speaking to my solicitor, the estate agent or just leaving things to run there course?

caeler

Speak to everybody.

Call your solicitor to find out if they have received draft contracts. Call the estate agent and ask when draft contracts are being sent out.

Make sure everybody is on board with a quick completion.

Moonandmoon

I agree with caeler. Do contact all parties.

I spoke to our solicitor as a first port of call and then spoke to the estate agent (you're paying them, so use them). Got more answers from Estate Agents.

kingstreet

Moonandmoon wrote: »

I agree with caeler. Do contact all parties.

I spoke to our solicitor as a first port of call and then spoke to the estate agent (you're paying them, so use them). Got more answers from Estate Agents.

Presumably the OP is the purchaser, not the vendor, so will not be paying the agent.

This is how it all fits together;-

Offer agreed
Solicitors instructed
Sales memorandum issued by agent
Purchaser applies for mortgage
Vendor's solicitor prepares and issues draft contract
Vendor completes seller's enquiry forms and returns to solicitor
Valuation/survey carried out
Purchaser pays solicitor for searches
Searches requested
Renegotiation of price due to survey findings - if required
Mortgage offer issued
Purchaser's solicitor receives seller's enquiry forms and raises any enquiries
Searches returned
Responses to enquiries
Purchaser visits solicitor to go through paperwork, hand over ID and deposit
Completion date agreed between all parties
Contracts exchanged
Completion takes place.

Anything the purchaser wishes to know about his/her side should be requested of his/her solicitor. Anything the purchaser wishes to know about the vendor's side should be addressed to the agent.

Obviously, mortgage issues have to be resolved with the lender/broker concerned.

MelaBella

kingstreet wrote: »

Presumably the OP is the purchaser, not the vendor, so will not be paying the agent.

This is how it all fits together;-

Renegotiation of price due to survey findings - if required
Mortgage offer issued

.

I have the following query, the price re-negotiation process may take long, and the mortgage offer sometimes issued fast (before seller and vendor agrees on price), is this normal? I mean lender can issue a Mortage offer based on X price and then once the price re-negootiated lender can ammend and re-issue the new offer based on re-negotiated price. any opinions?

kingstreet

You renegotiate, then inform the lender of any change in purchase price and mortgage amount.

A new offer is then issued.

MelaBella

kingstreet wrote: »

You renegotiate, then inform the lender of any change in purchase price and mortgage amount.

A new offer is then issued.

Many thanks:beer:. So its ok if one offer is issued and then once the price is regotiated i will notify lender about the changes and ask for a new offer? or is it more advantegous to ask the lender to hold off issuing an offer and send it once the price is agreed? the reason i didint want to do that is that I feel if I have an mortage offer the vendor can feel more confident, at the moment they seem to be worried that i wont be given a mortgage offer? im being puzzled

UKSBD

Thanks Kingstreet (and yes, the OP is the purchaser)

I wasn't so much asking about the order of how things happen, but more for knowing who to contact when they aren't happening.

For instance, we have been waiting for the draft contact from the vendors solicitor, should we be contacting our solicitor to find out what is happening or the estate agent? (or as caeler suggested, both)

Also is it acceptable to contact their solicitor direct or is that a big no, no?

As it happens, I contacted the agent and my solicitor this morning and received a reply back from my solicitor a couple of hours later saying the draft contract arrived this morning.

Yorkie1

I see that your solicitor has now received the contract but, to answer your question anyway. No, you should not contact the seller's solicitor as they are not allowed to speak to you, professionally.

Has the seller also filled in the property information form and the fixtures / fittings form? Has your solicitor received the details of all the searches back? Have you had a report from your solicitor on the results of the searches?

I must say that 4 weeks from offer to completion is incredibly ambitious...

UKSBD

thanks,

I don't know exactly what my solicitor has received, he emailed me this afternoon saying they received contract and documentation this morning and will let me know early next week.

He hasn't done searches yet as was waiting for the draft contract 1st

It was vendors who wanted the quick completion, but then took a fortnight getting the contract out.

Although they said aim to complete by 14th (4 weeks) they initially said 4 - 8 weeks.

It's an empty property with no chain, I would think they said 4 weeks just to make sure I was genuine, I dare say it will be closer to 8

kingstreet

MelaBella wrote: »

Many thanks:beer:. So its ok if one offer is issued and then once the price is regotiated i will notify lender about the changes and ask for a new offer? or is it more advantegous to ask the lender to hold off issuing an offer and send it once the price is agreed? the reason i didint want to do that is that I feel if I have an mortage offer the vendor can feel more confident, at the moment they seem to be worried that i wont be given a mortgage offer? im being puzzled

Don't try to stop the mortgage process. That can often have unintended consequences. Things can often get lost that way. Let the case progress and an offer be issued. If you then need it altered, call the lender, give them the details, they press a button and a new offer is issued.