Buyer solicitor seems so slow....

misssaver12

I accepted an offer on my property after having several offers and opted for the buyer who assured me they wanted to complete ASAP and were FTB.

I had tenants in the house who have left and now I am being hit with bills for the house, mortgage, insurance, council tax etc.

I have signed my contract and got the paperwork done within days of the offer being accepted and the solicitors I am using are efficient with keeping me informed. We are purchasing another property so doing the paperwork for that as well.. We asked for the sale to complete before the purchase so we can have a break in between, avoiding any transfer money issues.

First the buyers went to view the house again...over a week later
and informed the friend I got to be there ( we live away from house) they had not even done the paperwork. We ensured their valuator could get in ASAP to do valuation by taking time off work.
Solicitor called to chase 3 days ago and asked for buyers solicitor to call back... Called 2 days later to chase up, to be told that mortgage just in and searches not yet ordered ( our searches on the property were ordered over a week ago and I thought that was dragging). So therefore not had any enquiries to answer. Emailed my EA to chase up...I would like a completion date so I can then organise a
completion date on the purchase property.The EA for that property has been in contact to let me know what's going on and I send an email to keep them informed so our sellers are not left in the same place I am where I have no idea how long they will drag it out for.

Is there anything I can do, if I put the house back on the Market it
would sell as I am in a 'hot spot'. I have chased the EA to contact the Buyers It's going to be over £ 1,000 cost per month for me to have an empty house plus paying for my own place currently and I am annoyed that the buyer seems to not be in the hurry to move as they have suggested.

TBagpuss

You can ask your solicitor to chase them and can give a deadline for when you will remarket the property, but - it's very common for buyers to want to view more than once, (no reason why you had to be there, you could have instructed your agents to accompany them)

It's not unusual to wait for the mortgage offer before applying for searches, many people want to see their valuation / survey before incurring the costs of the searches.

Have you spoken with your solicitor to clarify whether they consider that the buyer is being unusually slow? they will have a better idea than you of what is normal, and if they agree that the buyer is being unusually slow you can decide whether you want to pull out, but of course you have no guarantees that the next buyer will be faster.

dominoman

If they have genuinely good reason for the delay they should tell you.

Arranging another viewing after offer would ring alarm bells for me. They may be unsure and still looking at other properties - while keeping yours as a back up option.

Give them a deadline and then re-market.

MrRee_2

They are FTB's - probably scared stiff, not knowing what to do and when to do it ... their Solicitor may not be the very best ... cut them some slack is my advice.

Putting the property back on the market and starting again, even with the hot market, is going to take a month to get where you are now ...... so, I suspect the time really isn't the issue for you?

Maybe you think you can get a higher price and are struggling with your morals about grabbing a higher price? Am I close?

Kazza_Monkey

MrRee wrote: »

They are FTB's - probably scared stiff, not knowing what to do and when to do it ... their Solicitor may not be the very best ... cut them some slack is my advice.

Putting the property back on the market and starting again, even with the hot market, is going to take a month to get where you are now ...... so, I suspect the time really isn't the issue for you?

Maybe you think you can get a higher price and are struggling with your morals about grabbing a higher price? Am I close?

This is true of FTB's. Hence it took 5 months to complete on our last property:eek: Another thing you will find with FTB's is they panic when they see any relatively minor defect on a home buyers report and try to knock money off even with the property being valued at the same price as they have offered. We are currently living with Family and the house we are buying (just exchanged wednesday)we are completing 5 weeks 6 days from offer accepted. This is purely because it is our 3rd purchase and we know the nature of the beast. Good Luck

Paulaviki

I don't think you can tar all FTB's with the same brush! Some might cautious and slow but that could just be the persons nature anyway. We are FTB and certainly aren't panicking about minor things or trying to get money off.

The bank could have taken ages to agree the mortgage and get the valuation done, the solicitors could be taking ages doing searches, it may not be the buyers fault at all and even if they were chasing people that doesn't necessarily mean anything gets done faster!

Kazza_Monkey

Paulaviki wrote: »

I don't think you can tar all FTB's with the same brush! Some might cautious and slow but that could just be the persons nature anyway. We are FTB and certainly aren't panicking about minor things or trying to get money off.

The bank could have taken ages to agree the mortgage and get the valuation done, the solicitors could be taking ages doing searches, it may not be the buyers fault at all and even if they were chasing people that doesn't necessarily mean anything gets done faster!

Sorry that was my rather bitter comment there as on both the sales that we have done we had FTB's and our experiences mirrored one another. I guess we were just unlucky. And from a personal point of view we were never difficult FTB's either. Good Luck with your purchase

Paulaviki

Kazza_Monkey wrote: »

Sorry that was my rather bitter comment there as on both the sales that we have done we had FTB's and our experiences mirrored one another. I guess we were just unlucky. And from a personal point of view we were never difficult FTB's either. Good Luck with your purchase

That's fair enough!

Thank you anyway, no chain in our purchase so we are hoping to have dates for exchange and an idea of completion date soon!

Halle71

We've just had a slight slow down with our FTBs and the EA said it is probably because of the new mortgage legislations coming in at the end of the month and already practiced by a lot of lenders. Basically borrower's finances now have to be gone through with a fine tooth comb - friends have been asked how much the spend on clothes and toiletaries each month - and they need to be 'stress tested' - could they afford mortgage payments if interest rates rise to 7%?
Decisions are simply taking longer.

misssaver12

MrRee wrote: »

Putting the property back on the market and starting again, even with the hot market, is going to take a month to get where you are now ...... so, I suspect the time really isn't the issue for you?

Maybe you think you can get a higher price and are struggling with your morals about grabbing a higher price? Am I close?

No where near close, the house sold at stamp duty as I expected, so would not expect to get over regardless of if I remarketed it ( it fetch what the EA expected although one EA wanted to list it for 20 grand less so people could ' fight over it' which I rejected. I had 5
offers all at stamp duty. I just would like it sold so I can then deal with the purchase- What frustrates me is the cost and stress of having an empty house and as we are buying we have the sellers asking for completion dates ( one provision for them was to complete on my property ASAP as well) so it feels like it's coming from all sides. Made worst by the fact that my solicitor and the vendors solicitor are so efficient (all searches completed and contracts signed ready to be exchanged)
I spoke to both my solicitor and the EA who contact the buyer. they want to move in ASAP as well. They are very keen to complete and were unaware of the reasons for the delays Seems it's the solicitors their side who are slow and my EA said they have been of late encounting lots of slow solicitors.You maybe right about the slowing down with the mortgage applications.
I appreciate the comments, I worry until things are all sorted...I have no patience!