Getting worried that vendors may be changing their mind

anna42hmr

Hi all

hopefully I am being paranoid, this is my first property purchase but it seems to be stalling/going slow. Just wondering if people think i am just being uneccessarily worried or if I need to start chasing things more frequently and if so who. (I don't want the EA/Sols to consider me a nuisance).

I viewed a leasehold flat on 29 September, and was the flat I wanted and ideal for me, placed an offer in on 30 September which was accepted the same day. (For the asking price as feel reasonable for the property/area etc and didn't want to mess around). From what the EA had stated I was only the 2nd person to view the flat as not long on the market. Have received confirmation of offer being accepted from EA in post along with details of vendor and their sols.

It should be said that the vendors are not living in the property and was empty of furniture etc when we viewed it and EA advised no chain (so with me being FTB and them no chain should only be reliant on us).

So after the offer was accepted went through rest of the mortgage application with the bank and got a decision in principle. They arranged for valuers to go out so I paid for that and property was valued on 2 October. Valuation came out fine etc and mortgage offer was completed (received in poor by me on 13 October, but bank had already confirmed all ok verbally on around 8 October, I understand a copy has been sent to my sols who are doing mine and the banks legal work).

In the meantime the searches were arranged via my sols and paid for directly by me and completed and submitted to the sols by 8 October.

I am aware as its a leasehold property then leasehold info needs to be obtained etc, so when I emailed my sols last week to see if there had been any further updates as yet, who have advised me that they've been chasing the vendors sols but as yet nothing received. Last week when they chased again their sols then admitted to mine that they were still waiting for "formal instruction" from the vendor (what ever that means). My sols stated that they are chasing the vendors sols and would also be contacting the EA as well (I also have sent an email to the EA, but she was not in thursday/friday)

I am just really concerned that this will delay things further, especially if no contracts started, leasehold info has not even been requested yet a month in, ). I also cannot understand why they would not have instructed their sols as yet (unless they are having second thoughts about selling the flat) as my understanding from the EA was that they too wanted to get it completed asap.

Loopy28

It could be a number of things, the solicitor of the other party might not be very quick at chasing things up or the vendors might just not have got around to completing forms that they need.

I have just sold my house and am in the process of completing all the paperwork the solicitors have sent me and some of the paperwork they have asked for is taking me a while to get together. I know if the buyers were to chase things up they would be told they haven't had anything through from us and may worry but it is simply that getting everything together is taking us a while.

Our other issue is that we do have a chain and on the property we are hoping to buy, that vendor still needs to find a property and it is causing delays. Although if yours is chain free then I doubt that is it.

Hopefully you get news soon and I would get the EA on the case when they are back as they will not want to lose their commission so will definitely get things moving or get an answer for you.

hells_bells

sent your private message.

enthusiasticsaver

We have just been through the process of selling a leasehold flat and I would say that on the first instruction we were confronted with about 30 pages of forms to fill out to do with the property and lease, fixtures and fittings so the vendor may have needed to spend time filling all that out. That would have the formal instruction with it to sign. Also the solicitors will need to get a leasehold management pack from property management company which can take time and will cost vendors. We paid more to our management company than our solicitor!!

enthusiasticsaver

The flat we were selling was empty but even with no chain and the buyers having a cash buyer the whole process took 10 weeks to get from accepted offer to exchange and completion.

phoebe1989seb

DS recently sold his first (share of freehold) flat and although the buyers were FTB with a large deposit it took almost five months from accepting offer to completion :eek:

Having gone SSTC within less than a week, the delay that followed was not expected. Partly it was down to the buyer getting a mortgage through RBS International and also just down to the solicitors wanting to do everything *belt & braces* - better that way though!

Hoploz

I would not be worried that all paperwork has been sent on, however I would be worried if they have not given the solicitor formal instructions as yet. Speak to the agent tomorrow as he will be able to put a little pressure on them so you'll know one way or the other

Old_Git

I bought last year as a cash buyer .The sale took 7 weeks from offer accepted to completion .Any other purchase I have had took 10 weeks .I think first time buyers dont realise how long it can take

anna42hmr

Thanks for the replies everyone I appreciate the help. from the EA's out of office email I think she's not in until after 11 so will try contacting her later today.

cloo

We are just doing the leasehold forms for our flat and it is time consuming! It took us a week to find the time to go through them and now I have a loooong list of questions for our solicitor, so yes, they can take some time and effort to complete.

Errata

Last week when they chased again their sols then admitted to mine that they were still waiting for "formal instruction" from the vendor

Ask your solicitor why they are fannying about with a law firm that hasn't been instructed to sell the property.