Deliberately stalling?

Salvazan

Note this is in England.
I want to buy a flat as soon as possible. My offer on a leashold flat was accepted about 4 and a half months ago in February. Following that, below is the seqence of events that my solicitor has carried out so far.

11 feb Starter Pack Sent to Buyer
11 feb Case Created
23 feb Client ID Verification Received
23 feb Starter Pack Received from Buyer
01 mar Contract Requested from Seller's Solicitor
07 apr Contract Received from Seller's Solicitor
07 apr Searches Instructed
12 apr Contract Approved
12 apr Contract Sent to Buyer for Signature
12 apr Mortgage Offer Received
12 apr Transfer, Requisitions on Title to Seller's Solicitor
04 may Signed Contract Received from Buyer
04 may Searches Received

About 2 and a half months ago (11 April) my solicitor requested the following documents from the sellers solicitor:
1. the Building Regulation Consent for the development of the property.
2. the NHBC or other similar warranty.
3. Consent to the sale in accordance with clause 8.2 of the Fourth Schedule of the Lease.

... but they have not been received

Is it suspicious that its taking so long? My fear is that the seller is instructing his solicitor NOT to provide the documents in order to delay the sale to me for as long as possible. Maybe they are having second thoughts on selling. Maybe they anticipate prices will rise and they will get higher offers soon, or a buyer has already made a higher offer for some future date.

If so, they wouldn't want me to know this because if I did know I would cancel. They would want to keep me as a 'plan B' safety measure in case their other plans don't work out. The seller is being represented by an estate agent who are of course telling me they aren't aware that it's being deliberately delayed.

I want to buy a flat as soon as possible. I have so far spent 4 1/2 months waiting for this sale, plus solicitor fee and valuation fee.
How do I know if I'm wasting my time with this flat? How long should I wait before canceling and making an offer on a different flat?

Thrugelmir

Did you receive your mortgage offer on the 12th April?

marksoton

So keep looking and maybe offer on somewhere else?

And make the EA of the previous property fully aware you're looking elsewhere.

BJV

It could be that they are trying to find copies it could be all of the above. I spent 9 months buying my last house. ( which w woo I got and we love it & is our forever home ). Our buyer was being forced to sell but did not let anyone know. Since moving in an speaking to the neighbors we have found out that he had delayed two other buyers before us which had in the end had to pull out.

During the nine months we lived in a caravan, rented house, storage for furniture. It was a nightmare. But during that time we never stopped looking and honestly if the right house can come up within budget we would of loved to tell the vendor where he could go and out this house.

I would start looking, keep an open mind and check with your bank about the mortgage offer. The only reason I ask is that ours had to be extended several times and it is a lot easier to extend an offer than have to re-apply again.

Ref the paperwork strangely when we sold out house we delayed sending the paper work back ( ok just for two weeks ) because we had lost it and had to reapply. We did not want to pull out it was just we genuinely think we had already packed it away.

Speak to the estate agents as well. Ok they are not soliciotrs and they do not have any real legal sway but they will want the sale to go through and can keep hounding the vendor. Simple reason they do not earn anything unless they do.

I know that it is very easy for me to say this as it is not my flat not my life but honestly after 9 months of trying to buy a house and deadline, after deadline. exchange date after exchange date moving changing I can say stay strong and if you honestly want this flat above all else make it happen. Call everyone constantly. I did each and every day I called the EA and solicitors. even if I did not get through ( which i am sure they did not purpose ) without fail I hounded them.

Salvazan

I received the mortgage offer in February at the same time my offer on the property was accepted. The original deadline of my mortage offer has expired so I got it extended to November.