help needed

bbbunny

I am hoping that I am posting this in the right place.

My hubby and I are first time buyers. In March we found the property we wanted and had an offer accepted on it. The nominal date for completion was 27th April and we are still not in.

The people that we are buying from are divorced. He moved out long ago and she is renting somewhere. The problem is that they still have a teenage daughter living in the property.

I spoke to the estate agent today as I had recieved another letter from my solicitor saying that they had not received the paperwork from the sellers solicitor. The estate agent said that the seller had been into the estate agents on Thursday to ask for help filling out the stuff for her solicitor they had helped her and she said that she would post it asap but they still havent recieved it.

The estate agent said that she believes that they are trying to delay the sale as the daughter is having problems trying to find alternative accomodation.

Our solicitor wont do the searches until they receive this paperwork and they said that they will take up to 2 weeks to do.

I am just getting really frustrated. First we were told things would be done by the end of April, then we were told it would be the middle of May and now they are saying it could be June.

Has anyone got any advice. we love this house and dont want to pull out but we feel we are being messed around.

lynzpower

I cant see whatr is so diffivcult about finding the daughter somewhere to live, she has 2 parents she could sleep on their sofas, or finding private rented is simply easy peasy. go to letting agent, ask , sign contract move. cant the estate agent find her a rented property to move into? Maybe theres some emotional atachment, bboth divorced parents, left the marital home daughter clinging on to something thats in the past etc, but to be fair this isnt your problem.

Find out from your EA what form this is that they had trouble with, its important-= it could be something that ha time repercussions or may not. It might be worth thinking about putting a time limit onto how long you expect this to drg on for. youve had a completion target thats been missed by 2 weeks- adn they stil have forms to fill out. Which sol set this completion target?

First we were told things would be done by the end of April, then we were told it would be the middle of May and now they are saying it could be June.

your soicitor needs to have thier ducks in a row and make sure every bit of paperwork is completed, returned and in the right place. If it IS at this stage, play hardball saying if you dont complete by ( say) 1st June you are pulling out. but yu have to mean it.

bbbunny

Thanks for your reply. Just spoke with estate agents and made it clear that we were not happy with situation and that we may consider pulling out. Up until that point they were not very helpfull but as soon as I said it they pulled up their socks a bit.

What is strange is that they were under the impression it was the seller that was having problems finding a place to rent not her daughter. I told them that she had spoke to us and said that she had already moved and that when we went around to measure up for a few things the other day all the owners belongings had gone from her bedrrom including the bed and the only room with stuff in it was her daughters. EA was a bit shocked and said that she would get it clarified. They did confirm that they had given seller info about rental properties in the area so I cannot understand what is takig so long.

I am really frustrated at the moment and hope that this is resolved asap as we when we had a week to go to the original date we ordered furniture and things which had 4 weeks delivery time on them. we thought we would be okay but now it looks like we are going to have to store them and as we are living with my mum thats a bit of a problem.

Richard_Webster

Did you ask your solr about porgress at an earlier point? Typically he should have had the draft contract papers a couple of weeks after the transaction started.

If nothing was sent out in that kind of timescale then it was the time to start pushing as it lookas if the seller has been faffing around for six or eight weeks. Probably the EAs helped her fill in the Sellers Property Information and Fixtures & Fittings Forms which her solr would have wanted in order to send out papers to your solr. She should have had them back to her solr within days of the "deal" being done.

You can now quite reasonably say that if she doesn't buck her ideas up and get on with it you will pull out.


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.

Doozergirl

It's quite possible that with this being a divorce that your vendor is being purposely difficult. She may just not want to sell or is playing political games with her husband.

It certainly not the behaviour of the average vendor to not have even returned basic forms after six weeks. Things do not bode well for you moving any time soon. At least your solicitor has been prudent enough to not allow you to spend out on searches until your vendor shows some sign of commitment.

You should never threaten to pull out unles you mean it. You need to make specific demands, not just make random threats. That said, I'd be looking for somewhere else by this point; my feeling is that you are being used.

bbbunny

Thanks for your help everybody. I thought that I would give you a bit of an update. Well basically the seller has contacted the EA who in turn contacted us to say that they have found a place to rent. We also received a letter from our solicitor this weekend to say that they have received the paperwork now and have started the searches. Things are looking a bit brighter now but we still cannot pin anybody down to give us a date. I have managed to find someone at the EA that actually does what they say they will do so if I have any problems I just speak to them and I know that it will be sorted.

Doozergirl

bbbunny wrote: »

I have managed to find someone at the EA that actually does what they say they will do so if I have any problems I just speak to them and I know that it will be sorted.

Half the battle won!

Glad to hear there's been some movement.

bbbunny

Right just when we think that we are getting somewhere we are put back about three paces. Nothing has gone smooth with this at all. Firstly we called the people who are supposed to be doing the home insurance and they have no record of us so we have to start again with that.

But most worringly our seller has gone awol and nobody has been able to contact her for about two weeks. The estate agent called me today and said that they have been trying and trying to call her and can get no answer. There is paperwork outstanding from our solicitor that she needs to deal with and they cannot get hold of her to get her to complete it.

This woman has made no secret of the fact that she is desperate to sell so I find it hard to think that she may be backing out as she has already found alternative accomodation and has moved out so I am trying to convince myself that she has gone on holiday or something but I am still freaking out a little bit.

bbbunny

please someone help

Melissa177

What about the ex husband? Does he still own the property? Can he be contacted?

Perhaps the daughter might be able to help? She must have her mother's number.

Ask the EA how they have tried to contact her. Are they using her mobile? Landline? Do they have more than one number for her?

I really feel for you!

bbbunny

Okay another update. Still no contact from the seller. She left a message with someone at the EA saying for us to call her about coming round to measure up for curtains etc. We tried the number and no answer it just keeps saying that the call cannot be answered at this time please try again later. That was about two weeks ago and we have tried texting, calling at different times and from different numbers and still no success.

My contact at the EA has been really good and has called almost everyday to update us even if its just a case of saying there is no news. She managed to get me the husbands email which I sent a message to straight away. I ticked the box so that I would get notification when the email was opened and so far it hasnt and that was four days ago. The EA call her solicitors everyday and they havent heard from her either. We posted a note through the door (the house is now unoccupied) and waited for a phonecall but that was a week ago and still nothing.

The EA keeps saying hold on a bit longer and the solictor says the same but surely there is a cut off point with this. We have no contact details for the daughter so going through her isnt an option.

My plan is to go a drive up there this weekend and knock on the door and put another note through the letterbox. I might also knock on a few of the neighbours doors to ask if they have seen them.
The EA has several numbers for her but none that actually work.


The most frustrating thing is that the EA says that all that is left to do is answer two points on these forms and then everything can be done ready to sign. My hubby is getting very annoyed now and I am hoping that he doesnt come face to face with either of the sellers lol.

There are so many different scenarios going through my mind as to why they have not been in contact with anybody its driving me crazy. At the very start of the deal she dissapeared for a couple of weeks and then reappeared as if nothing had happend and I cannot believe she has done it again.