Seller threatening to put property back on the Market

l.duffman

Hi,

Hoping someone can give me some advice. Me and my wife put an offer in for a property back in November 2014.

We were advised by our solicitors(countrywide) that it would take between 8-12 weeks, they even said maybe before Christmas but not to expect it. Which we didn't as obviously everyone slows down around that time.

So now we're coming up to mid April and our mortgage offer runs out on the 10th May. Between November to January we filled out all the relevant paperwork, answered all their questions. Haven't received any other paperwork since that time either.

Since January we have been waiting on the deeds of variation to be signed(we're buying a maisonette) from the management company of the property. Which I have been chasing them up for weeks, every time I have phoned or e-mailed I have gotten some excuse to why it still hasn't been done. Or they're still awaiting satisfactory answers.

A week ago I had enough of the lack of correspondence from countrywide and made a complaint, to they're credit this is the fastest they've been with a response. Apparently they are within receipt of the deeds of variation and only have a few more things they have to get done. But they said they could possibly do that while writing up the exchange of contracts. But this was only after writing a long email.

Yesterday my wife gets a call from the sellers estate agents, saying that they're threatening to back out and put the property back on the market, if the exchange of contracts isn't completed by next week. To make matters worse, they have said the house prices have increased since then. So they kind of have a financial incentive to back out and put it back on the market. Especially considering it has taken this long. The lady that spoke to my wife was rude to her, basically saying that it's our fault. Even though We've the ones been doing the chasing. I phoned the estate agents not two weeks ago, to find out what it taking so long due to frustration.

Thing is this is stressing my wife out, as we fount out she was pregnant in January. So she is worried that this is gonna all fall through an d we're gonna have no where to live come the birth of our child.

I have to phone countrywide tomorrow morning, to tell them what's going on and hopefully they can finally get it sorted.

If anyone could give me any advice I would appreciate it very much.

Sorry if I don't make too much sense.

Shahni

Ugh yeah I'm not surprised you complained. Plus the estate agent is hardly helping. I know the sellers must be frustrated its taking so long but being rude to your poor wife isn't going to help the situation!

Did your solicitors say what "few more things" they have to do - surely they should have had plenty of time to do them while waiting for the Deed of Variation?

I'd phone them and ask to speak to the person who handled your complaint (not one of the call centre people) and have them explain exactly what is outstanding and when these things will be done. Make sure they are aware that the seller is threatening to pull out imminently. Write down when they say things will be done and phone them on that day to ask if it is done.

Sometimes more complicated files (e.g. those with Deeds of Variation etc) will keep getting moved to the bottom of the pile because the solicitor doesn't want to deal with it, its easier to focus on the nice simple ones instead. Since the seller is threatening to pull out I'd generally be pain in the bum (politely of course) until its just easier for them to work on your file and get it over with.

Its possible the seller is bluffing of course. If they pull out they will have to start from square one with a new buyer so if time is of the essence its probably in their interests to exchange with you. But I can understand the threat after all this time.

agrinnall

Good luck with it, but from everything I see on here the fault is yours in a very real sense for choosing Countrywide to act for you - I'm not sure that I've ever seen anything good said about them. Did your estate agent recommend them?

Elfbert

HSBC insisted on using Countrywide when I bought my flat - back when you had to use one of their 'approved' panel. I used my own Sols, but everything had to be looked over by Countrywide.

I offered on the flat in Jan, finally moved in at the end of July, because Countrywide were so slow, and so terrible. They faxed my documents to my seller, they faxed my documents to completely random clients, they lied, they didn't know what they were doing, they asked for the same info repeatedly, and you could never speak to anyone who would actually help.

HSBC gave me a full refund even before I'd completed, it was so bad. I wish I had something more positive to tell you.

Mickygg

I've heard a lot of bad things bout countrywide on mse. I too would be putting house back on market if offer was 5 months and still no exchange date on the cards.

I would personally look into what the issues would be if you tried to move solicitors. Apart from cost this would show the buyers you are serious and don't want to lose the house, but yes will of course cost you more money.

xHannahx

Dad used countrywide, they kept making excuses blaming other parties for not answering their requests. Dad contacted the other parties required and it all of them said countrywide hadn't been in contact yet despite countrywide continuing to insist they had.

jimbog

l.duffman wrote: »

Hi,

Hoping someone can give me some advice. Me and my wife put an offer in for a property back in November 2014.

We were advised by our solicitors(countrywide) that it would take between 8-12 weeks, they even said maybe before Christmas but not to expect it. Which we didn't as obviously everyone slows down around that time.

So now we're coming up to mid April and our mortgage offer runs out on the 10th May. Between November to January we filled out all the relevant paperwork, answered all their questions. Haven't received any other paperwork since that time either.

Since January we have been waiting on the deeds of variation to be signed(we're buying a maisonette) from the management company of the property. Which I have been chasing them up for weeks, every time I have phoned or e-mailed I have gotten some excuse to why it still hasn't been done. Or they're still awaiting satisfactory answers.

A week ago I had enough of the lack of correspondence from countrywide and made a complaint, to they're credit this is the fastest they've been with a response. Apparently they are within receipt of the deeds of variation and only have a few more things they have to get done. But they said they could possibly do that while writing up the exchange of contracts. But this was only after writing a long email.

Yesterday my wife gets a call from the sellers estate agents, saying that they're threatening to back out and put the property back on the market, if the exchange of contracts isn't completed by next week. To make matters worse, they have said the house prices have increased since then. So they kind of have a financial incentive to back out and put it back on the market. Especially considering it has taken this long. The lady that spoke to my wife was rude to her, basically saying that it's our fault. Even though We've the ones been doing the chasing. I phoned the estate agents not two weeks ago, to find out what it taking so long due to frustration.

Thing is this is stressing my wife out, as we fount out she was pregnant in January. So she is worried that this is gonna all fall through an d we're gonna have no where to live come the birth of our child.

I have to phone countrywide tomorrow morning, to tell them what's going on and hopefully they can finally get it sorted.

If anyone could give me any advice I would appreciate it very much.

Sorry if I don't make too much sense.

I think that if you were to put (most of) this post into a letter and popped it through the vendor's door it might help

Hoploz

I agree, it sounds to me as if it is your solicitor who is slowing this down and when I see it is Countrywide I am not surprised as I have heard problems before.

I was wondering who you were actually chasing ... Is it just your solicitor, or have you been on to the management company, or asked your vendor to do so directly? That might have helped. If you have any grounds to suspect your solicitor is not moving fast enough it's always a good idea to find out exactly what piece of paper they are waiting for, and chase it up yourself, whether it's something from the council, from a management company, from any other third party. Just about the only person you can't chase directly is your seller or buyer's solicitor. With this you have to ask the buyer or seller to chase their solicitor, and in doing so it is then clear to them it is not you who is holding things up.

eddddy

l.duffman wrote: »

...
Since January we have been waiting on the deeds of variation to be signed(we're buying a maisonette) from the management company of the property.
...

That's the seller's fault, not yours.

It sounds like the seller needs their management company to sign a deed.

The seller and/or the seller's solicitor should be chasing that, not you.

Many Management Companies won't even talk to prospective buyers, because they have no business relationship with them.

When you say they fob you off, could they actually be saying "We're not taking any notice of you, because you're not our leaseholder. We'll sign the deed if and when our leaseholder asks us to"?

Maybe you need to have a stern word with the EA - and tell them to tell their client to get things moving.

rosie383

I was thinking the same as eddddy. Surely the fault is with the vendor's side. Not yours. But I would be wary of peeing them off. Depending where you are, it could well be in their interests to put the house back on the market. In a very fast-moving market they could well be seeing pound signs if they drop you and re-market. If our vendor did the same, they would be looking at a difference of £30-40k in the few months since we offered. So I wouldn't do anything to tempt them to do just that. It's risky. I would however, make it very clear, but in a nice way, that you are not deliberately holding anything up.