Thinking of pulling out-so fed up

heytink

Hi all,

Having a bit of a bad time with a flat we are currently trying to purchase. We have everything sorted our end but seller still hasn't got hold of leasehold pack (our offer was accepted 15th June!) and as there are tenants currently in the flat we would like to know when they were served their section 21 notice (and when it expires) so we know if this is going to take months and months. (We know we need vacant possession before exchange of contracts)

So far we've got no where, I have a very unconcerned solicitor who seems happy to just wait and not do much chasing or apply much pressure on the sellers solicitor. (His favourite phrase is 'yeah not much you can do..' I know I'm bound to get a lot of solicitor-defending replies but believe me, we've got a duffer, but too far into the process to walk away from him without substantial costs incurred)

So what I want to know now, as Im reaching the end of my tether, is who do I need to lay down the law to?

I'm not sure whether to ring the EA and tell them we are getting very fed up and will consider pulling out of the purchase if things don't progress.

My thinking is, as we are getting nowhere with our solicitor doing any chasing, to cut the middle man and go straight to EA so that they can relay this message directly to the seller.

I feel the seller has purposely delayed his conveyancing process as there are still tenants in the flat (and also not served notice to his tenants straight away after offer accepted, but rather waited til the last minute to see if we're serious or not) in order to keep getting rent up until the last moment.

Sorry to rant, just want to bash my head against a brick wall I'm so sick of everything at the mo

Any advice?

Surrey_EA

Yes, go straight to the EA, who is really the middle man rather than your solicitor. Typically EAs don't get paid unless a sale goes through, this is not always the case where solicitors are concerned.

JimmyTheWig

Only you can decide whether it is worth it for you to pull out or stick with it.
A big part of that decision will be what you will do if you pull out. Is there somewhere similar that you could buy for a similar price?

The only thing I will say is don't threaten to pull out if you're not serious about it. If they call your bluff and you don't then they know they've got you over a barrell.

jacko74

To be fair it's possibly not the sellers fault, you'll probably find it's down to the management company being lazy/awkward/intransigent/inefficient (or a combination of all)

You need to ask yourself if you really want to own a property where you are then going to have to deal with these people.

fairy_lights

Some of it might be down to a lazy management company but that's no reason for the vendors not to tell you the status of their tenants. I would tell the estate agent that you can't proceed with the purchase unless you get some assurance that the tenants have been served notice, and are told when this will end.

heytink

Thanks all, I agree the delay in the leasehold pack is more than likely due to the management company, but cant help feel we wouldn't be here now had the seller acted promptly 3 months ago.

I will give the estate agents another ring then, hopefully they can shed a bit more light on the status of the tenants.

Out,_Vile_Jelly

Have a look at the EA's website and pick a couple of likely properties and say you'd like to book a viewing; this should sharpen their focus.

How long are you prepared to wait for this flat? You have to mentally prepare for several months of delay if there is a full court process to evict the tenants- the EA will tell you it's all going to be fine, but you have to factor in all possibilities with this kind of sale.

Wassa123

We were in roughly the same situation.

Turns out the seller just admitted the weren't really interested in selling it and the EA's are now trying to show us around other properties.

DandelionPatrol

heytink wrote: »

I feel the seller has purposely delayed his conveyancing process as there are still tenants in the flat (and also not served notice to his tenants straight away after offer accepted, but rather waited til the last minute to see if we're serious or not) in order to keep getting rent up until the last moment.

In your situation, I would be making the same assumptions.

What I would do would be to keep my cool and tell the solicitor to do no more than forward correspondence until instructed otherwise. I would then mentally write off everything spent so far, redo my budget and start looking again with a new solicitor in tow. I would not bother with informing anyone, I would let them hang until the present vendor starts doing ultimatums.

If you are still not sorted with another property at that point, you can proceed and if you are sorted, you just need to pass your new address to your current solicitor and instruct him to cease work.

alchemist.1

mgtr wrote: »

from here http://moversandstorers.co.uk/2015/09/19/notice-for-moving-why-its-a-lie-to-give-a-simple-straight-forward-answer/

The situation in 2015 has become noticably worse due to one major change that is having a huge effect. Many many conveyancing solicitors are choosing not to work a full week any more. We’ve noticed that they are not upfront with their clients about this. Many only work 2 or 3 days a week now and as a result by default this means they will not let you move on the other days.
Ask your conveyancer or solicitor about this before instructing them. If you already know that a Wednesday would suit you then you need a solicitor that works on a Wednesday. Sounds obvious but nobody presumes their solicitor doesn’t just work a 5 day week, it’s caught a lot of people out this year.
And can you imagine the pain if your solicitor only works Mon, Tue and Fri, and your buyers perhaps only works Mon, Wed and Fri. You’ll be lucky if you manage to move within 6 months!

---

might this be part of the problem?

What a load of rubbish.

pinkshoes

Just WRITE directly to the EA with the questions you want answering, and a time frame you want them answering by.

1. On what date were the tenants issued an S21? Was their deposit protected i.e. Is the S21 valid!! When does the S21 expire?

2. What steps have been taken to obtain leasehold info.

Make the questions nice and clear so even an EA can understand...