Solicitors haven't received offer, complete in 3 days??!?!?!?!?!?!?

holidayhippo

Hope someone can calm me a little.

We're meant to complete by the 6th January.

Due to a complicated situation the seller is family, solicitor didn't inform us that the seller needed his own solicitor until today. (Fair enough I don't have a problem with this, but she's only just told us AND him today, and it seams its only because WE PHONE HER!)

She also stated that she hadn't gotten the offer from the bank.

But thinking about it, we haven't either! We applied in branch, went to the underwriters our Mortgage advisor phoned with a few more questions within an hour phoned back and said we had the green light.

Should I be concerned?

The only thing we've had is a solicitors estimated bill 3 weeks ago (made sure that got sent out swiftly!!) but she's done !!!!!! all since. Is it her job to chase up the offer with the bank?

What do we do? Is it okay?

ACG

I dont think you will be completing in 3 days...
A lot of lenders require the solicitor to request the funds a week in advance, some say 48 hours but if the solicitor does not have the offer how can they request the funds? What if there is something on the offer that requires additional checks?

You need to get the offer issued to the solicitor.
You then need to check the solicitor has actually done the work, im not sure they can do all of the work without an offer - but i could be wrong.

Goldiegirl

The solicitor doesn't chase up the offer - that is your job, or if you are using a broker, the brokers job.

Looks like, for some reason, the lender has overlooked issuing the offer.

Best to phone them in the morning, to see what's happening. Hopefully just an oversight on behalf of the lender

holidayhippo

Euuuughh, nightmare.

Thanks for the help. Will be chasing it up first thing.

Out of interest, who sets the completion date the bank or the solicitors?

I'm just really annoyed that we've had to ring her and only now she's brought everything to our attention.

Surely after a week or two of waiting for it she would have brought it to our attention? Like chase us for it or something?

Really annoyed that after 4 weeks we've got didly squat

lee111s

Why would the solicitor exchange without a mortgage offer?

Din85

holidayhippo wrote: »

Out of interest, who sets the completion date the bank or the solicitors?

It is mutually agreed between the buyer and seller, through the solicitors.

Thrugelmir

holidayhippo wrote: »

but she's done !!!!!! all since.

Until a copy of the mortgage offer is received there's nothing to be done.

Thrugelmir

Din85 wrote: »

It is mutually agreed between the buyer and seller, through the solicitors.

As my previous post. Little point in agreeing anything until the transaction is able to proceed. Completion is agreed when contracts are exchanged.

Solicitors cannot represent both parties to a transaction as it creates conflict of interest in the event of any dispute.

holidayhippo

unfortunately the completion date for this wasn't chosen by us, or the seller. She's only just spoken to the seller today.

As for the the mortgage offer, I was unaware the we were the ones that had to get the mortgage offer from the bank and take it to the solicitors. Unfortunately I assumed that they sorted it between themselves.

Thrugelmir

holidayhippo wrote: »

As for the the mortgage offer, I was unaware the we were the ones that had to get the mortgage offer from the bank and take it to the solicitors. Unfortunately I assumed that they sorted it between themselves.

Solicitor will receive a copy when it is issued. However you need to obtain it in the first place!

When did you make the mortgage application?

kingstreet

These are the steps in the homebuying process. You need to establish exactly what has been done and what remains outstanding.

Offer agreed
Solicitors instructed
Sales memorandum issued by agent
Purchaser applies for mortgage
Vendor's solicitor prepares and issues draft contract
Vendor completes seller's enquiry forms and returns to solicitor
Valuation/survey carried out
Purchaser pays solicitor for searches
Searches requested
Renegotiation of price due to survey findings - if required
Mortgage offer issued
Purchaser's solicitor receives seller's enquiry forms and raises any enquiries
Searches returned
Responses to enquiries
Purchaser visits solicitor to go through paperwork, hand over ID and deposit
Completion date agreed between all parties
Contracts exchanged
Completion takes place.

If this is a sale with no agent, you needed to do the agent's work in setting up the sale/purchase. That means a solicitor for both parties (where there is a mortgage involved, both parties have to be legally represented) and a letter should have been circulated at the outset among the two parties and their solicitors, confirming the details of the transaction, in lieu of the agent's Sales Memorandum.

If there's no agent and no mortgage broker, both seller and buyer need to be more proactive. Expecting solicitors to advise on stuff outside their remit (like telling you the vendor needs a solicitor) is likely to end badly.