Oh my goodness - help? At wits end

daelaan

...argh. Here's where I'm at: decided to sell to a cash for property company (who have done nothing but mess us around), and buy from some woman who had already purchased a place and needed to sell her old home in a hurry.

everything got rolling on about July 17th, and we ensured all the paperwork from our side of the table was completed and returned within a few days.

then the problems started.

first we were told we'd have to wait about three weeks for a survey on behalf of the company buying our house (as it turned out, it was quicker than that). then they nearly screwed everything up by telling the estate agent representing the woman we were buying from (who we'd assured we would be selling our house quickly) that our house sale could take "up to 8 weeks" (they swore blind they'd told us that - in reality, they'd actually said 4 weeks, 6 at the absolute max. nice of them, eh)?

second, nothing but problems from the woman we were buying from. Considering we were being rung up every other day from her estate agents being all pushy, nobody seemed to want to admit the fact that, without even the basic SPIF forms (or anything else sent to us for that matter), our solicitor couldn't actually DO very much.

indeed, we had the surreal scenario of their estate agents ringing us up four days before the 15th of august wondering if it would still be possible to move on that date, despite the fact no paperwork had actually turned up. all the while, making it sound like *we* were somehow holding things up. go figure.

Eventually paperwork started coming through in bits and pieces - for what its worth, we got the final piece of paper through YESTERDAY.

how stupid is that?

for the past month or so, we've been assured by the solicitor that the only thing holding everything up was the woman we're buying from, with the continual, whining insistence from her estate agents that she "wants out asap", but with everyone (for some insane reason) simultaneously acknowledging her sending vital paperwork through in drips and drabs but not actually ever stopping to think (and admit) "wow, thats REALLY stupid! its obviously not YOUR fault so we'll stop moaning at you to hurry up like it is."

as far as the company buying our place goes, it was "racing ahead" and not a problem and our solictor last spoke to them "week before last".

okay, cool.

now?

we get a call from the solicitors secretary / assistant person yesterday saying the final paperwork has FINALLY arrived - and then

1) starts bleating at me that "you know, the person you're buying from reeeeeaaaally wants to move in a hurry".

uh, yes? and? it looks like we're back to stupidityville here, because now my OWN SOLICTORS ASSISTANT is standing in her office, holding one of (tons) of bits of paper that should have been sent through weeks and weeks ago, yet is ignoring that fact in favour of whinging at me like I've somehow held everything up.

whats the betting their estate agent heard we finally just got the paperwork then got stroppy with my solicitor like, the same hour?

2) turns round and says "well, the big problem is YOUR buyer".

Me: "........."

"yes, they sent us some queries and we replied to them, haven't heard from them since 10th August. bit of a worry".

Me: "......." (while waiting for her to suggest she might take the amazing step of, you know, phoning them up).

her: "Well, bye!"

"......"

we rang the buying company, of course the woman dealing "wasn't available" and we were promised a callback that never came.

Suggestions? All of these people are likely going to be sworn at today, every hour, on the hour at this rate.

mind boggling.

Debt_Free_Chick

Let me try and understand this ....

The solicitor acting for the person you're buying from sent something to your buyer (company) on 10th August. This solicitor claims that replies to this something are outstanding.

You can't verify this, yet, as you need to speak to your buyer.

Swearing at anyone really isn't going to achieve very much - it will actually put people off dealing with you and then you can be certain that no progress will be made.

Just call your buyer at 9.00am and ask them what the position is. If no reference is made to the outstanding paperwork (which the seller's solicitor claims is outstanding) then calmly and politely ask her outright.

I think you're at a slight disadvantage having sold to this property company, in as much as you don't have an EA who would have done much of the "linking of the different parts of the chain". So you'll need to do that job yourself.

Frustrating though it is, you'll need all your persuasive powers to make sure everyone does their bit.

Good luck

daelaan

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Let me try and understand this ....

The solicitor acting for the person you're buying from sent something to your buyer (company) on 10th August. This solicitor claims that replies to this something are outstanding.

No, its the company buying from us who were last heard from on the 10th August - they sent our solicitor some queries on that date, to which he replied the same day and he hasn't heard back from them since.

However, at the start of this week we were told they were last heard from "week before last" - it only came out in the wash that that the *real* last time they were heard from was the 10th of august (which is a bit more than a "week or so ago"!

The woman we're buying from *has* kept in touch with our solicitor via their estate agents, but only to continually complain that she wants "a quick move" while completely neglecting to send any of the paperwork through needed to do so. total shambles, sadly, on all sides.

silvercar

I don't understand why the estate aagent you are buying through was not chasing your seller. If you made them aware that you were missing paperwork to get moving all the purchase, they should have been nagging the seller not you. Did they understand this?

A lot of solicitors are reluctant to "waste" your money applying for searches until they have some paperwork from the seller's solicitor. This is designed to protect your money as they know that until paperwork comes through, the seller hasn't incured any costs and could easily walk away. This then gives the appearance that the buyer is holding things up.

silvercar

To add, the company you are selling to is likely to be geared up to complete a purchase in a matter of days. If they are a genuine quick-sale company, they have the legal side packaged up and funds ready, they can move so quickly that it is often not worth them doing any work until you say the chain is ready to exchange.

daelaan

silvercar wrote: »

I don't understand why the estate aagent you are buying through was not chasing your seller. If you made them aware that you were missing paperwork to get moving all the purchase, they should have been nagging the seller not you. Did they understand this?

A lot of solicitors are reluctant to "waste" your money applying for searches until they have some paperwork from the seller's solicitor. This is designed to protect your money as they know that until paperwork comes through, the seller hasn't incured any costs and could easily walk away. This then gives the appearance that the buyer is holding things up.

Well, the estate representing the seller is a bit odd, to be honest. when the initial batch of paperwork that should have ended up with our solicitor was sent out - and we don't know whether this was done by their estate agent or their solicitor, because both blamed the other - :rolleyes: - they managed to send it to some solicitor company that we'd never heard of, much less had representing us.

then the endless weeks of "its on the way / she sent it yesterday / it'll be there soon honest" began.

we rang up her estate agent every few days asking where this stuff was, and they'd simultaneously say something along the lines of "we don't know what they're playing at, sorry about this" while saying in the next breath something incredibly silly like "...but you will be able to move in the next week or two, right"?

the last we heard from her estate agents (before we started ringing everyone up again) was on Monday, they claimed the "final" set of paperwork was on the way, and had all been sent in one bundle.

As it turns out, it turned up at our solicitors in two separate piles, one on Tuesday (I think), the final sheet, yesterday.

When we rang her estate agent back, we got the rather bizarre reply that

"yeah, she'd left some of this paperwork in the house she's moved out of, and had to come back and get it, then send it on. She did say that "she wished they'd told her they'd need this".

At this point, I have no idea who the "they" is the seller we're trying to buy from speaks of, but I'm going to assume she means her solicitor and not us, because that would be too surreal for words.

daelaan

Okay, problem time.

We *finally* got all the paperwork through that was needed from the woman we're buying from (spif stuff, fixtures / fittings etc) and only got to look at it with the solicitor *yesterday*.

Today we got a *really* snotty phonecall from the sellers estate agents demanding to know when the "money was coming from our buyers". I did point out that we only got to look at the paperwork that had finally arrived yesterday after waiting for it for weeks, but (as usual) they didn't want to know and started getting hard and heavy in a general, roundabout "hurry up now please" fashion.

Last Friday, we were told by the woman who works for the company buying our house that we were in the buying queue sent to them by their solicitor, and if we weren't on their purchase list next week, we would be guaranteed to be on it the week after.

well, this week has come and gone - we rang them up yesterday and got fobbed off (the usual "ring them up four or five times and be promised callbacks until you randomly get hold of the person you're after" nonsense). The guy now in charge of it said their solicitor would send him the list on friday.

friday is now here, and I talked to the guy at 1 o clock - oh, sorry, nothing in yet. i'll ring you back.

yeah right.

3 o clock....then 4.....then 5.....goes by, with about six more phone calls, only to be alternately told "he's very busy" and "he'll call you back".

5:30 comes, and of course they're now closed.

so in a nutshell, the situation is:

the people we're buying from's estate agent will now be hammering us with phonecalls getting vaguely aggressive wanting to know where the money is.

the company we're selling to are a disastrous mess, don't know (or don't admit to knowing) anything thats going on, fob us off with endless excuses and never.....ever......phone us back. despite being "guaranteed"(!) that the money would be available next week, theres still nothing anywhere to confirm this is anything other than yet another brush off.

Ideas? We really can't afford to annoy the buyers, but that has to be balanced with the fact that they're just telling us any old rubbish to get us off the phone and never call us back.

daelaan

...subtle bump?

I have to ring our buyers tomorrow and any hints on how to approach them with regards pointing out how slow and complicated their fob-offery is making things (without managing to p*** them off at the same time) would be greatly appreciated

clutton_2

i would tell them that if they do not produce whatever is needed by Wednesday that you have another offer for your property from A Quick Sale (another fast buy reputable company) who can act within the week.

silvercar

You are buying from a cash for property company, that doesn't actually seem to have the cash available for at least another couple of weeks!

The time they are taking, you could almost have put your house on the market at a slightly below market value and been significantly better off. I'm assuming that this company are paying 20%(?) below market value?

I would be inclined to take clutton's advice one step further and find another company that really do act quickly.