Is SIX months and still no completion date-is this too long ?

spiritus

We had an offer accepted on an apartment in May. We are cash buyers and were led to believe that everything would be sorted within 2-3 months.


Unfortunately, the owner had to go through a probate procedure which has led to a six month delay with still no sign of completion anywhere on the horizon.


My solicitors (who pride themselves on communication via "regular updates") only give me an update when I send them a chaser email requesting a progress report and even then I seem to get the same response i.e. we are waiting for some answers from the vendor's solicitor. There appears to be no obligation to be transparent in their dealings and so I do not know how often they are chasing the vendor's solicitor....is it every week or every two months !!


I am equally (if not more) annoyed with the vendor's estate agent. Although in fairness, they have given me more information on the progress of the sale than my own solicitor they have a habit of failing to meet their own communication deadlines.


For example, I was told in September that they were extremely confident that the probate had now been sorted and that exchange of contract would be later that month.


I chased again in October and was told completion would be "very soon".


I chased again in November and was told that I would hear something by the end of week ending 7th November at the very latest.........I heard nothing and still haven't.


After six months of patiently waiting I can honestly say I am no closer to knowing when completion might be, whether it will be this month, this year or even in the next few months.


Is this lack of clarity par for the course ? Or is there anything I should be doing or asking to push this along ?

maninthestreet

Have you exchanged contracts yet?

Richard_Webster

Did the estate agents tell you why there was nobody living in the house?

If they did, did you tell your solicitors it was a probate case?

If so, did they warn you it could take ages and you should ask quite specifically at the beginning whether a grant of probate had been obtained? If no grant of probate, then to walk away then.

Unfortunately it is a common problem that when someone dies family get all keen and put the house on the market long before probate has been obtained, without even realising that this could seriously wind up potential buyers.

spiritus

Richard_Webster wrote: »

Did the estate agents tell you why there was nobody living in the house?

If they did, did you tell your solicitors it was a probate case?

If so, did they warn you it could take ages and you should ask quite specifically at the beginning whether a grant of probate had been obtained? If no grant of probate, then to walk away then.

Unfortunately it is a common problem that when someone dies family get all keen and put the house on the market long before probate has been obtained, without even realising that this could seriously wind up potential buyers.

Contracts have not been exchanged-no idea which month this will be even !


There is a tenant in the apartment currently and I am purchasing the property as a tenanted property.


I was not told that a probate was required at the beginning. I only found out later and not from my solicitor but from the estate agent.


I don't ever recall my solicitor mentioning the word probate to me ! Whenever I contact them for an update I either get no reply or they tell me they are still waiting for some outstanding questions to be answered by the vendor's solicitor.


I have asked my solicitor if they could let me know what those outstanding questions are but they have side-stepped my questions.


The estate agent is giving me rather ambiguous answers and only over the phone. They are increasingly leading me to believe that everything will be concluded soon but I have a suspicion that they might be stalling.


I have emailed them today for an update and to answer three specific questions along the lines of


i) what stage of the process are we at
ii) how long will it take to resolve the issues holding up the sale
iii) can I do anything to facilitate the completion i.e. chase up my own solicitor etc


I have instructed them to only answer me via email in future instead of vague telephone conversations.


I have the address of the vendor but I am presuming it is bad form to contact them directly ?

caley

As soon as i would of found out that it was going through probate i would of pulled out. my wife lost her parents in january and that had to go to probate it took 3 months then she put the house on the market. she had an offer 16 weeks ago and we are still waiting for the buyer to get a mortgage so we decided to pull out

Thrugelmir

Threaten to pull out from the transaction. Give a date by which contracts must be exchanged.

getmore4less

They don't need probate* to exchange or to complete

It is not that easy and your solicitor will probably not recomend it.

Probate means a named executor in the will and that is the legal right to deal with the property, if this is realy letters of administration then that will be different.


if there are other issue delaying they can get a special grant to just sell the house while the rest is getting sorted.

tadgh_99

I can sympathise with your situation. We were looking a couple of years ago and my found a place that she fell in love with. The vendors hadn't found a place at the time, so we were prepared to wait.

The estate agents were about as much use as a chocolate teapot and my wife took things into her own hands and communicated with the vendors directly. 10 months later we moved in.

Concerning the probate. I had to go through this process in 2011. I was told by the solicitor that it should take 6 months. 4 months later it was settled. It all really depends on how complicated the estate is.

What I would say is that if the vendors have elected to have the house valued by HMRC (for probate reasons) themselves then probate is unlikely to be settled within 6 months (according to my solicitor at the time). Personally, I had two independent valuations done and submitted those to HMRC which were accepted. I know this sped up the probate no end.

It depends on how much you want the house. If you are prepared to I would take Thrugelmirs advice and threaten to pull out. But if you want the house badly enough, talk to the vendors and try to ascertain what the hold up is. If they have put the house on the market before probate is settled, that's rather naughty and annoying.

Just my 2 pennies worth

tadgh_99

I have the address of the vendor but I am presuming it is bad form to contact them directly ?

Why?

It's not like you're going behind the estate agents back is it?

You want to know what's going on, they aren't telling you. Contact the vendors directly. Then tell the estate agents what you've done afterwards. They're still going to get their fee - you'll just be doing their job for them.

xylophone

It doesn't always take ages - many years ago, my offer on an empty property had been accepted when the owner ( whose affairs were being handled by an Attorney through the Court of Protection) died suddenly after a fall in her care home.

I had made my offer in early January and I was in residence by early April - my solicitor had asked whether I wanted to pull out but as I was in no particular hurry, I agreed to proceed.

I have to say that he was astonished by how quickly and easily matters were arranged.

spiritus

So my options are

1. Pull out of the transaction
2. Threaten to pull out of the transaction
3. Contact the vendor directly (bypassing the estate agent for information)

1 & 2 would be what I would normally do but the agreed price is very competitive and well below market value for similar sized apartments in the area. I know someone else who lives on the same estate and only live a few mins away myself so I know the area very well.


Options 1 & 2 might be more advantageous for the vendor as they could then relist the property and look to get a higher price. Nothing to stop them doing that anyway except perhaps a tenuous obligation to complete an agreed transaction (??)


So that leaves me with option 3 and the possibility I may find out from the horse's mouth what is holding the transaction up.


If I am being played by the vendor and their agent then so be it but I would just prefer to know where I stand. After six months I perhaps naively believed I should be in a position where I know exactly which part of the process we are at and approximately how long we are away from completion. As it stands I couldn't really tell you if completion might be next month or in Springtime 2015 !!!


My solicitor doesn't volunteer information to me-I have to request it and even then the response does not include specifics.


Are there any questions I should be asking of my solicitor in my position that I should feel entitled to have answered after six months or is it conceivable that this could drag on for longer ?