FTB Advice please.

is1983

Hi, I'm just after a bit of advice

My wife and I put an offer in on a property at the end of February.

The chain is relatively small with only one onward purchase by our vendors. Our house purchase has been in a position where we are ready to exchange for the past 2 weeks. We have been getting regular updates from the after sales of the EA about the progress of our vendors purchase and its all been going pretty smooth....until one of the searches throws up something which requires the approval of their mortgage lender.

Due to work commitments I really need to find out a date for completion.

I'm aware that the completion date won't be set until exchange but its frustrating both my wife and me that we can't get anything sorted until we know.

How long would it usually take the mortgage lender to make a decision?

They are not willing to find alternative accommodation to facilitate the sale of their house. Although I have been in contact with the quite frequently and they are really keen about moving

I know it's probably not a big deal, but it is so frustrating just getting told by the EA and solicitors that nothing is back yet and to check back in a few days.

af2909_2

is1983 wrote: »

Hi, I'm just after a bit of advice

My wife and I put an offer in on a property at the end of February.

The chain is relatively small with only one onward purchase by our vendors. Our house purchase has been in a position where we are ready to exchange for the past 2 weeks. We have been getting regular updates from the after sales of the EA about the progress of our vendors purchase and its all been going pretty smooth....until one of the searches throws up something which requires the approval of their mortgage lender.

Due to work commitments I really need to find out a date for completion.

I'm aware that the completion date won't be set until exchange but its frustrating both my wife and me that we can't get anything sorted until we know.

How long would it usually take the mortgage lender to make a decision?

They are not willing to find alternative accommodation to facilitate the sale of their house. Although I have been in contact with the quite frequently and they are really keen about moving

I know it's probably not a big deal, but it is so frustrating just getting told by the EA and solicitors that nothing is back yet and to check back in a few days.

Speak to your solicitor - in my experience ours was really good at finding out things and chasing them up

is1983

I've tried my solicitor, they have been chasing the vendors solicitor for a host of things, IMHO I don't think the vendors solicitor is the fastest and I've even had the EA chasing them.

I just hope the decision by their mortgage provider comes back ok because if they are not willing to move into alternative accommodation and their purchase falls through. It'll leave me in a difficult position due to work.

Racml34

Depends on the lender re timescales. Ours had an issue with retention reports which held up exchange but they received new reports the next day and had responded and issued a new mortgage offer 3 days later. I suppose it also depends on what the issue is

Lavendyr

is1983 wrote: »

We have been getting regular updates from the after sales of the EA about the progress of our vendors purchase and its all been going pretty smooth....until one of the searches throws up something which requires the approval of their mortgage lender.

Sounds painfully familiar.

OH and I had an offer accepted on a house at the start of April last year. We were ready to exchange by half-way through May. We eventually exchanged at the beginning of August. This was because the sellers' sellers had an issue with lack of building regs over some work done on the house they were buying (which was the top of the chain) and we had to wait until the council granted a completion certificate and the mortgage lender was happy to lend.

It is a rubbish situation but it is very difficult to do much about besides keep chasing/making sure your solicitor is chasing your vendor's solicitor. Ultimately you can threaten to pull out but that threat is only worth anything if you are willing to follow through on it. In our case we weren't so we just waited and chased. The hold-up for us was the council, not the lender, and once the completion certificate came through everything was very quick (literally - certificate came through on a Tuesday, lender's formal mortgage offer was obtained same day, we exchanged the next day).

Ultimately the question "how long will the mortgage company take to decide?" is dependent on what the issue is and how easily it can be resolved. It could take days, weeks or months.

In your position, I would ask your solicitor to find out from the vendors what the issue is exactly and what they are doing to resolve it. I would ask your solicitor to inform the vendors' solicitor of your work commitments and the timescales you are working to and push them to get this resolved ASAP. Unless you are genuinely willing to pull out if things don't move within your timeframe, it's difficult to do much more than this.

Hope things get resolved for you soon.