Etiquette on Contacting Seller Directly

chrispardo

I'm a FTB after some quick advice as regards house-buying etiquette. I'm closing in on exchange, and now at the point of waiting for (36) additional enquiries from my solicitor to be answered by theirs.

The seller's solicitor is, to my mind, extremely slow. I asked the EA to prompt them into action yesterday, was told they'd call me back and let me know, but have heard nothing. I've called them twice today and been told the person who I've been dealing with would call me back; again, nothing. This isn't the first time they've failed to get back to me.

The property was being let, but the tenants have now vacated. I would have thought that both the seller and EA would be keen to push things along ASAP.

I've never met the seller, and all my correspondance and contact has been through the EA. I'm pretty sure this means they're trying to stay out of the whole process as much as possible? Do you think it would be okay to contact the seller directly (by post; I only have an address) at this late stage in an effort to move things along? Or would this be considered rude?

I'm frustrated with the lack of response from the EA, and out of ideas of how else to kick their solicitor into action.

ValHaller

Ultimately. while an offended seller might bleat about etiquette, or the agent might berate you for lack of etiquette, it is not really something to get hung up on.

It depends on how long these queries have been hanging as to whehter it is unreasonable - sometimes, 33 could be answered immediately but the last 3 take an age to sort out, so no real point in answering in dribs and drabs.

I would suggest you think about how patient you are prepared to be and at what point you decide that you would walk from this. On the whole it is best to keep going at this through the agent rather than direct unless you reach a real impasse. One tactic I would consider before a direct letter is to ask for a further viewing with the vendor present

chrispardo

I had way more information in there originally, but I cut it down because I really do ramble on.

It's been 3 weeks since the enquiries were sent out, but the key one is needing documentation for a garage that I recently found out was leasehold. Seller's solicitor has had this since at least Friday, and told my solicitor on Monday that they'd have it in the next 24 hours. 2 days later, and nothing.

That's why I've been so keen to get someone to push them to get a move on, but I have no idea if the EA has done so as they won't get back to me. Rapidly approaching the end of my tether.

m0bov

i found it hugely helpful to exchange email and mobile numbers when i was buying. Helps reduce stress for bith parties.

ValHaller

chrispardo wrote: »

It's been 3 weeks since the enquiries were sent out, but the key one is needing documentation for a garage that I recently found out was leasehold. Seller's solicitor has had this since at least Friday, and told my solicitor on Monday that they'd have it in the next 24 hours. 2 days later, and nothing.

That's why I've been so keen to get someone to push them to get a move on, but I have no idea if the EA has done so as they won't get back to me. Rapidly approaching the end of my tether.

If you are near the end of your tether at this point, you might not last the course.... You should wait at least until Friday for the garage details. I suspect that the solicitors may have been working on the premise that the garage was part of the main property and now they have a rethink.

Dukesy

When we sold our old house, we exchanged numbers with the buyer and we were in regular contact with each other. Made the whole process very easy.

When we bought our current house, we weren't in contact with the vendors until things got desperate. As our buyer wanted to be in quickly, and offered full asking price on the basis that we would be out asap, we sold and moved in with my parents whilst our purchase went through. Things went SO slowly (vendors solicitors were appalling, our and their solicitors seemed to wind up in some kind of procrastination match and it was a complex purchase to begin with), that vendors EA rang up and told us that the house would be going back on the market if we didn't hurry up! We were desperate to be in as we were basically homeless and I was 9 months pregnant, we were pushing our solicitor as hard as we could.

Eventually I found vendors phone numbers on the internet and we got it all sorted out. I think we would have lost the place had I not.
Sometimes you just have to forget about etiquette and do what feels right.

Fire_Fox

I would contact the seller and express your concern over the lack of contact from both agent and solicitor at such a key stage, ask him to put a rocket up them because time is of the essence. However don't do this unless you are sure you have a realistic idea of how long the process takes, how long has it been from offer to date?

chrispardo

The offer was accepted on February 4th, so it's been over 11 weeks to this point. There's no chain; the property was being rented out and I'm a FTB. It took their solicitor 5 1/2 weeks from the offering being accepted to get a draft contract to my solicitor.

It was 3 weeks ago yesterday since my solicitor sent me a copy of the additional enquiries along with documentation she'd already been given. These had already flagged up the leasehold garage to my solicitor before she forwarded copies on to me.

Because there were tenants in the property, I always knew this would take at least 10 weeks and we wouldn't be able to exchange before April 17th. However I felt like this would be ample time to get everything like this done and ready?

I hope that we're very close, and all parties are keen to get this done ASAP now there's no rental income from the property, which makes it all the more frustrating that their solicitor seems to be dragging their feet. Because I don't trust the EA to do what they say, the seller is possibly sitting there now cursing me and my solicitor for holding things up!

hazyjo

If they're waiting on info re a leasehold garage, chances are they'll have to go through managing agents or the like. They very rarely rush! And, to boot, usually charge for anything resembling an 'information pack'.

Good luck! Try not to get too stressed with it all - it'll take as long as it takes. Just keep on top of it, and make sure you know exactly what's outstanding,and keep chasing

Jx

chrispardo

Thanks for the advice! The seller's solicitor has said they have all the documentation, and told my solicitor they'd pass it across on Monday. My solicitor has seen/heard nothing since. The estate agent told me on Tuesday they'd chase this and get back to me, but likewise I've heard nothing since!

It's possible they've realised they need more details, but in that case they should just tell me that's what the hold up is.