Solicitor HELL!! EXCHANGED AT LAST!!!!! WOOHOO!!!!

krispy444

As has been said previously the documentation would have had to have been faxed as that is the quickest way of getting it to the lender. Lenders do not give us email addresses to correspond by so it either has to go by fax, DX or post. Even if it is faxed then there will be a period of time before the letter and documents get scanned onto their system before the lender even starts to deal with it. To be honest if its an issue with subsidence then I would think it would have to be referred to the under writer before any decision will be made. Therefore until the underwriter has made a decision the mortgage funds definitely will not be released. Unfortunately you are in the hands of lenders and they are a law unto themselves and will take as long as they want. I must admit if you as a vendor had declared the subsidence at the beginning of the transaction then the buyers solicitors should have told the lender as soon as he received the mortgage offer

Windsorcastle

Dan-Dan wrote: »

hey Windsor , i havent got the solictior issues you have , but i HAVE got the uncertainty issues as our buyers buyer had thier mortage valuation yesterday , and apparently nothing left to do , in the whole chain , but it`s all deathly quiet..... , so same for us all w/e , as for you , so at least your sharing it with someone

Thanks Dan-Dan, I wouldn't wish the stress and strain on anyone else, but it is thoughtful of others to let me know I'm not alone in this. It is the not knowing what is going on that really worries me. My EA emailed me at 6pm to say she has left several messages for both my buyer and his solicitor today and has had no response - the buyer is usually really good at responding to the EA so now I have all kinds of paranoid worries running through my mind!!

I hope you manage to have a good weekend despite the uncertainty, and here's hoping for better news for both of us next week...

Windsorcastle

DRP wrote: »

I've been waiting all week to hear about our own valuation and the answers to some queries for our solicitors ... zilch.

I think the holiday season is particularly bad - some of the 'stakeholders' will give fair notice they won't be around and others you just don't hear from for weeks.

Thanks DRP. I know lots of others are in the same boat. It's hard to keep things in perspective when it's such a personal thing and there is so much at stake, emotionally and financially. Good luck with hearing back about your valuation after the weekend, hopefully...

Windsorcastle

krispy444 wrote: »

I must admit if you as a vendor had declared the subsidence at the beginning of the transaction then the buyers solicitors should have told the lender as soon as he received the mortgage offer

Thanks Krispy. I did declare the subsidence on the Property Information Form which was with the buyer's solicitor 3 weeks before their survey, and it was a further 3 weeks after that before they had their mortgage offer. So yes, it was definitely the buyer's solicitor at fault for not telling the lender until last week.

I understand what you say about how the lender might process the situation - I take it you are a conveyancing solicitor? Do you know whether the lender is likely just to withdraw the mortgage offer or what normally happens in this scenario? The buyer has insurance in place (which also happens to be with his lender, as that just happened to be my insurance company)

phoebe1989seb

Sorry to read that you're still waiting WC - fingers crossed that you get good news on Monday You too Dan

Windsorcastle

phoebe1989seb wrote: »

Sorry to read that you're still waiting WC - fingers crossed that you get good news on Monday You too Dan

Thankyou Phoebe! It's really nice to have kind thoughts from other folks on here, after a stressful and tearful week. Nothing I can do now till Monday so just need to try not to let it overshadow another weekend...:)

Thrugelmir

Windsorcastle wrote: »

The solicitor apparently 'forgot' to tell the lender this until last week, and he has said he faxed (why??) the lender last Thursday to inform them of the subsidence and request drawdown of funds for this Friday.

The buyers solicitor is working for the lender. So will send a final "report" at the same time as requesting drawdown of funds. The lender will review this and make a decision accordingly. If subsidence was not noted on the original survey then would raise concerns.

Windsorcastle

Thrugelmir wrote: »

The buyers solicitor is working for the lender. So will send a final "report" at the same time as requesting drawdown of funds. The lender will review this and make a decision accordingly. If subsidence was not noted on the original survey then would raise concerns.

Thanks Thrugelmir. It's this part of the process I am confused about. The surveyor didn't ask me any questions about the house, but she did say to me while she was there, "Everything's fine structurally", and I was surprised that a surveyor would even say that to a vendor. So I can only assume her report didn't raise any concerns, or I would have heard about it before now. Shouldn't that be a good sign though, rather than raising concerns? As in - the remedial repairs were done and there is no apparent structural damage?

I'm confused as to how the lender would proceed once they get the report on title you refer to - would they refer it back to the surveyor or to a mortgage underwriter and what would they then be looking at? Any idea?

Windsorcastle

UPDATE: So near and yet so far!

The lender finally came back on Friday morning and agreed they were happy to proceed. I was ready to cheer and scream with delight. But then had a msg to say that the buyer's solicitor was now requesting 1 piece of paperwork from 25 years ago - having not mentioned this at all in the last 2 weeks of waiting.

I rang my solicitor practically crying, and then in desperation rang the buyer's solicitors and insisted on speaking to a senior partner. Despite what a lot of MSE posters say, he DID speak to me, was extremely patient and diplomatic and said that he would speak to the solicitor in question immediately, although he couldn't update me due to conflict of interest.

After a few more long hours, I had 2 mesages from the EA to say that the buyer had confirmed we were definitely exchanging by end of the day; and then reiterated this just before 5pm and at 5.30pm. I sat clutching the phone and - nothing. And still nothing today despite me chasing all parties again, feeling ready to give up and cry. I just can't fathom why this is turning ot to be a nightmare and why I keep having my hopes raised and then dashed. Have just been feeling tearful all day, and cannot get answers from anyone. My buyer is going abroad on Wednesday for 2 weeks, so if we haven't exchanged by end of today, I just can't see it happening... Am so unhappy right now

Doozergirl

Unfortunately, you don't drive this thing and neither does your buyer. Clearly, your buyer is still intending to buy so it isn't worth winding yourself up like this.

I'd be breathing a massive sigh of relief about the subsidence issue; it's a huge hurdle to have passed.

You haven't said what this 25 year old piece of paper is, but I'd advise either finding it or your solicitor explaining why it isn't needed.

It sounds like you're very close to exchange now - your buyer does not need to be in the country to exchange contracts. It's not easy, but you must try to be calm and understand that you've moved forward, you're close to the end and that you are not doing yourself any favours by over thinking everything - quite the opposite!