Waiting and waiting to exchange

FTB129

I’ve been waiting to exchange for the past 4 weeks and all that i have heard is ‘your vendor still has ongoing queries with onward purchase’ Is this normal, 4 weeks? (Sorry new to this, so don’t have a clue)My solicitor doesn’t seem to have any real urgency in chasing and finding out updates for me. Help anyone, what can i do.....or do i just have to be patient.

anselld

Not particularly unusual. Solicitors don't like doing unnecessary work when they are unable to make progress. You would probably be better chasing the vendor or the vendors agent directly if you want updates.

tBagpuss_2

It's not particualrly unusual. Once contracts are exchanges then everyone is bound in to the contract and timescales, so if anyone in the chain is waiting to get replies back on enquiries etc they are going to be unwilling to exchange until they get those, as they will not be able to renegotiate price or anything else once exchange has taken place.

You can ask your solicitor to chase and try to put presssure on to et some idea of the timescales but your vendor is probably already doing that with their conveyancer; if their conveyancer is slow or their seller is slow then that will hold the whole chain up. And of course

ognum

when buying houses it's important to sustain momentum so I would be pressing the EA and my solicitor to find out what the issues are and how they can be resolved.

my experience is that the key thing to do is to find out the means of communication your solicitor likes, email,text, phone or letter and keep pushing.

FTB129

Still nothing has happened since my last post last week - oh except a text from my EA saying 'still the same ongoing queries with your vendors onward purchase'

These OG queries have been going on for ages now, surly someone should be doing something???

People are advising me to threaten to pull out to get everyone moving - but personally i don't want to do this - what do people think?

Do i have any hope of completing by xmas......?

Is there nothing else I can do except wait? has anyone had a similar issue?

Thanks x

eagerftb

Go and see the EA in person. I am also waiting for documentation to reach my solicitors from Vendor. It's frustrating especially when it's completely chain free sale/purchase.

DRP

Don't threaten to pull out.

Have a honest discussion and tell the ea that your mortgage offer is expiring in x weeks. ie give them a fairly generous, but definite timetable to get things sorted.

From experience, when the ea sees his cash slipping away he may be very motivated to help...

Also, as an aside, I don't see why you should accept important information to be communicated by SMS message from your ea. He needs to show a bit of professionalism. Either phone you to discuss things or email.

ValHaller

FTB129 wrote: »

People are advising me to threaten to pull out to get everyone moving - but personally i don't want to do this - what do people think?

Making threats in the house buying process is about the worst schoolboy error you can make. Never threaten what you will not carry out, because you lose credibility if a deadline passes and you are still there. You do need to be clear with everyone what deadlines you are under and the potential consequences.

But if you lay down a deadline for no other reason than you think something should happen at that time, you are making yourself a hostage to your own threats. Don't get me wrong, sometimes you will need to lay down a deadline if you are fed up. But only lay down a deadline you will stick to.

FTB129

Thank you for the advise....Much appricated.

Its all taking a lot longer then expected, when we put our offer in we was told she was ready to move into the new house and just waiting for a seller (!!!!) 3 months later i think we were told a little white lie!!

Very frustrating.
I hate just sitting and waiting and wish I could be doing something.

Vachequirit

I know the feeling. I have been waiting four months for a solicitor to complete a cash purchase. Back in early August, in the summer holidays, when I started, I was told three or four weeks.

Now I am being faced with signing a new tenancy agreement for six months, costing me thousands of pounds, or staying in a hotel until completion, costing me thousands of pounds.

I detest time wasting solicitors with a passion.

Prothet_of_Doom

When I pushed, hard, (because 3 of us were living at my parents in a single room, and it had been months), the Vendor pulled out saying that they decided we were putting them under too much pressure.

I was asking them to honour a verbal statement made by them, which said they'd move into temporary accomodation if they couldn't find the right house to move to.