When to be concerned about lack of progress?

Loopy28

My house went sale agreed a month ago.

A fortnight ago I had an offer accepted on a house to purchase. At that point I contacted my solicitor who advised that a draft contract had been sent to the buyers solicitor but they had not yet heard back.
1 week ago I was advised by the EA that the people we are buying off had found an empty property and the chain was now complete.

I haven't heard anything since.

My EA told me 2 weeks ago that I could expect a survey any day from my buyer and that he had spoken to the buyers solicitor and they had been instructed. However, I have not had any contact yet about this survey or heard anything from my solicitor.

Should I be chasing things now? Or am I being too hasty? Everything fell through with my buyers last time and I lost a lot of money so really don't want the same to happen again.

AdrianC

The chain's been complete for one week, and you're getting worried? Chill!

Your solicitor's doing all of his stuff, right? Searches etc? That takes time. So long as you've got memoranda of sales for both your sale and your purchase, that's about as much as you can expect at this stage.

Jhoney_2

It sounds like the buyer has become stuck with getting their mortgage and they/ EA is fobbing you off to give them/him time to get it sorted before spending any money.

2 weeks is a long time to not have a survey done imo. I would be onto them or keep marketing as for sale.

PS. You need to minimise your spending too!

Loopy28

Thanks for your replies. I am concerned too about 2 weeks and no survey as the EA spoke to the broker 2 weeks ago who said the survey could be expected again day. I think I will chase this as I am not going to have a survey done on the property I want to buy until this happens, FTB are buying my house.

AdrianC

"I won't get a survey booked until the survey's happened on my place"

...and this is how delays get started...

Loopy28

I know where you are coming from but we did this last time, lost our buyers and several hundred pounds on a survey as we lost the house we were buying. All because we trusted that our buyers were serious even though they hadn't yet had their survey.

I am not going to jump in this time and lose money again. We are porting our mortgage and last time went from mortgage app to offer in under a week so us being cautious on this occasion will not delay things significantly.

kinger101

Wouldn't not incurring any expenditure until a completed chain has formed be the sensible approach?

Jhoney_2

AdrianC wrote: »

"I won't get a survey booked until the survey's happened on my place"

...and this is how delays get started...

The delay has already started, so this is a sensible approach and justifiable based on the behaviour at the beginning of the chain.

Otherwise everyone else in the chain is building a house on sand...

AdrianC

And if everybody waits for their neighbour(s) in the chain?

Thrugelmir

Jhoney wrote: »

The delay has already started, so this is a sensible approach and justifiable based on the behaviour at the beginning of the chain.

Otherwise everyone else in the chain is building a house on sand...

Then people wonder why their vendors aren't moving quicker. A degree of trust is required.

Jhoney_2

AdrianC wrote: »

And if everybody waits for their neighbour(s) in the chain?

This isn't about everybody though, it's about OP dashing off to get things done on a purchase when they have no idea if your their sale is going ahead and buyer is happy with the condition of the property in order to continue to do so.

Then, one can proceed on trust Thrugelmir. Trust in this business transaction needs to be underpinned by actions of intent at the appropriate times and in a timely fashion.