Buying: slow process...should I be worried?

urbanmyth

Hi all - I've been lurking here for a while and found this forum really helpful, thank you. Now I have a bit of a dilemma and need some advice!

Our offer on a house was accepted over three weeks ago. We acted fast and the valuation and homebuyers survey was carried out two weeks ago. We now have a mortgage offer in place, hurrah! BUT...our conveyancer yesterday informed us that he has not yet received any documentation/communication from the sellers side. I called the EA and was promised a call back but nothing. Tried again later in the day but he wasn't available, sent an email 24 hours later and still no response.

Should we be getting nervous or is three weeks + a reasonable timescale to arrange a draft contract? They are not in a chain.

The EA has been pretty useless so far so I don't know if the hold up is with the vendor, their solicitor or the EA. We're thinking of dropping a note through the door if we haven't heard anything by tomorrow. Would this be considered irrational? Should we wait longer? How long?

Thank you all for your advice. Please help me calm my nerves!:(

maas

Personally I wouldnt really worry unless the vendor had indicated they were after a fast sale and then it all went quiet.

I put an offer on a house in July and took 2 months for the Vendor to even appoint a solicitor! So after 2 months of assuming things were progressing, we've only just got the ball rolling now.

What I'm beginning to learn with this process is that whilst I always respond instantly to all tasks/requests for information etc other people just dont move at the same pace.
Solicitors dont drop everything when your documents arrive, the surveyor who claimed he could do the survey in 24 hours, took 3 weeks and I had to chase him 3 times, even after receiving his payment straight away.

Lets just hope your vendor isnt using Abode Solicitors (see threads below!)

Gra76

I wouldn't worry too much, our recent sale and purchase took 8 weeks from accepting the offer to completion and I'm assured that was pretty quick. I'm sure I read somewhere on here that the average is closer to 12 weeks...things didn't really start to shift much till the back end of that period.

DigForVictory

Not at all. The only house sales that move really fast are the ones in story books or "set up for TV shows".

Um, unless you're buying at auction.

So relax. Have a brew. As when things Do start to move (not unlike having a baby) they move disconcertingly quickly. And (again not unlike having a baby) if Things Go Wrong, you'll be wishing for a crash team, anaesthesia and folks with sharp knives.

Enjoy this calm while it lasts.

urbanmyth

Thank you! Nerves are shot because we really want the house. I guess I will need to learn to breath deeply through this whole process.

shamac

Currently 12 weeks and waiting....no chain:mad:

Newly_retired

21 weeks and waiting.

pops5588

As you can see from my sig. our purchase took nearly exactly 3 months, there were only two of us in the chain. I wouldn't worry too much at the 3 week mark I didn't start tearing my hair out until the 7 week point!! I know it's hard but try and take a few deep breaths and be calm. It's great that you have found a property you love so much, it will be worth it in the end.

coldcazzie

Our purchase with a chain of 2 took about 3 months, and our vendors ended up breaking the chain because we were putting so much pressure on to move (living in a damp moldy house that was giving me killer asthma attacks) asap. Our solicitors very calmly said "oh, 6-8 weeks". *ahem*Icallbs*

Slightly_Squiffy

I would personally be calling the estate agent and talking to their in-house lawyer just to check the vendor has appointed a solicitor.

We went 3 months into our purchase without the vendor's solicitors even releasing the relevant information for the council checks, so after 3 months we didn't even have draft contracts. We ended up pulling out as, had we moved as fast as a no-chain purchase 'should', we wouldn't have known about some fairly unsavoury events that occurred in the building and we would have felt like we were living in a ghetto.

Sometimes it's nice to have some extra time!

witchy1066

shamac wrote: »

Currently 12 weeks and waiting....no chain:mad:

we are into week 9, just us and vender
waiting for a cavity wall insolation inspector to write a report , been told we have to give them 8 weeks before we can put in a complaint , this could be a long one but in my opinion the house is worth the wait.

look on the positive side,

every month waiting is another months savings for refurbishments and new furniture :T