5 weeks - no survey or communication from buyer solicitor. What next?

Lilym_2

I accepted an offer on my property on 8th July. Solicitors details were exchanged the following day.
I have been chasing my EA regarding the survey and apparently the buyer is getting his mortgage from Halifax. Apparently the go ahead has been given to proceed to valuation survey but we have not yet heard anything from a surveyor to arrange access. (My EA got this info from they buyers broker - London and Country).

My solicitor has sent the draft contract to the buyers solicitor and has not received any confirmation of receipt or further communication from them despite chasing by email and phone. She is chasing again today.

I had an offer on a property we want to buy accepted on 22 July. Since then we have had our mortgage through Natwest go through underwriting, valuation survey done and await the formal offer next week.

I have booked an independent structural survey to take place on 26 August though can cancel without penalty up to 48 hours before.

I am really worried about lack of commitment from my buyer. Why is his mortgage taking so long to arrange and why no communication from his solicitor?

What should my next move be? I don't want to spend money on my survey until... When? When I know his mortgage is agreed? A later date?

I don't want to lose the house we are buying but even more pressing is the flat we are selling will be vacant from mid sept as my tenant will move out then so will start costing me money.

I'd be really grateful for any advice in what I should be doing to move this along? Do I need to place deadlines on it?

Thanks in advance.

Wassa123

We're in the same boat but on the other side.

Offer was accepted 22nd June, we've only had the title information from their solicitor, nothing else .

good_advice

Welcome to the movers club ;0)
Now the WAITING begins..... You might be in by Christmas. You can start the decluttering and packing....

Moving is not to be rushed. You can ask for updates and be told my new faverote words = dealing with issues. Waiting for a responce and we are working on your case.

pinkteapot

You're paying your EA to sort this out for you. Phone them and ask them to phone your buyer and get an update today, and ring you back with it. Put some pressure on the EA to do their job.

Don't place a deadline unless you actually will pull out after that date - no point placing empty threats.

binerds81

I'd definitely chase it up with the EA and tell them you are worried, but don't think it's lack of commitment - if you read the forum on mortgages you'll see the struggles and long timescales that people are taking to get mortgages and are completely frustrated as well!!
Just ask them to give you an update of exactly where in the process the buyer - if I remember rightly Halifax are using a surveyors who are taking weeks to book in valuations!!

kingstreet

A buyer will typically ask his solicitor to wait unti his mortgage offer is issued before asking for searches. That explains the lack of solicitor contact.

The mortgage. I've no idea what's taking so long. Halifax instructs surveyor on application, so it would be very severe delay on the part of Colleys, LBG's in-house survey firm, for an access call to take so long.

teffers

good_advice wrote: »

Welcome to the movers club ;0)
Now the WAITING begins..... You might be in by Christmas. You can start the decluttering and packing....

Moving is not to be rushed. You can ask for updates and be told my new faverote words = dealing with issues. Waiting for a responce and we are working on your case.

I've just been told/fobbed off with near enough this exact phrase.

I'm the buyer and asked for the searches to be held (as Kingstreet mentions) until my mortgage was in place - which is was on the 5th of this month. Asked the solicitor to move forward, sent them an enquiry a week ago asking for a status update (early days I know) and just got a call from the assistant to the secretary of the solicitor, saying they were 'dealing with it'.

I've emailed the solicitor direct but I don't hold out much hope of a meaningful reply.

csgohan4

teffers wrote: »

I've just been told/fobbed off with near enough this exact phrase.

I'm the buyer and asked for the searches to be held (as Kingstreet mentions) until my mortgage was in place - which is was on the 5th of this month. Asked the solicitor to move forward, sent them an enquiry a week ago asking for a status update (early days I know) and just got a call from the assistant to the secretary of the solicitor, saying they were 'dealing with it'.

I've emailed the solicitor direct but I don't hold out much hope of a meaningful reply.

hope you didn't use the EA's solictiors or you will be waiting next year for a response.

For the OP, give the Buyer a push and mention that within x time frame no survey from the lender or mortgage offer you are putting the house back on the market. That should move things along quicker.

neilio

I have a buyer, and throughout the conveyancing, he has applied the brakes to his mortgage application twice because of queries in the searches he wants resolved first. He always stops at the point of instructing a surveyor. The most recent occurrence happened when the survey was already booked and he cancelled it on the same day, because he wasn’t happy with one of my responses to his queries and wanted it resolved first. I have bent over backwards to respond to queries and acquiesce to his requests, in many occasions incurring additional costs of my own, but he still fails to get on with his mortgage application and valuation survey.

It seems like he doesn’t want to incur the cost of the survey until he is happy everything else is in place to exchange contracts. Whilst I can understand to an extent, is it normal? When I was purchasing the flat, the first thing I did was get the mortgage valuation done in parallel to the conveyancing - which sounds like other posters on this thread would do/have done. My mortgage approval was one of the first things I obtained. It concerns me that he is doing it at the very end. This is the first property I have bought and am now selling, so I don’t know if this is normal.

ThePants999

You have a different question and should create a thread for it, rather than resurrect a thread that's over a year old.