Help to Buy Redemption

Archer_1000

Hello All.
Apologies if I'm jumping into conversations to which this comment isn't relevant, but I'm new to posting on forums.
I have a letter from Target which states that they are Authorised and regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority, and they actually state this when you call them up, prior to selections.
I also have a question: does anyone know why the process takes so long? (I'm not selling up, I'll be paying about 80% of my loan & adding the remainder to my existing mortgage.) Do they purposely drag their heels in order to collect as much interest as possible? If the process takes too long, I'll be complaining to my local MP, writing to 'Rip-off Britain, or whatever it takes to make the process easier for anyone who comes after me...I'm expecting it to be difficult!

ekioussis

Does anyone know who the legal firm Target uses is? They refuse to give us a redemption statement without legal approval of our RICS survey as it was lower than the purchase price. We are trying to pay it off so we can let out flat asap and they are taking forever! They claim there is no way to contact legal directly, and no way to rush them, they can take as long as they want. Ridiculous. We have fulfilled every requirement they ask but it seems that legal can wave a magic wand and make us wait forever, very frustrating as we cannot let out the flat and get on with our lives until HTB is paid off! 

dhokes

ekioussis said:

Does anyone know who the legal firm Target uses is? They refuse to give us a redemption statement without legal approval of our RICS survey as it was lower than the purchase price. We are trying to pay it off so we can let out flat asap and they are taking forever! They claim there is no way to contact legal directly, and no way to rush them, they can take as long as they want. Ridiculous. We have fulfilled every requirement they ask but it seems that legal can wave a magic wand and make us wait forever, very frustrating as we cannot let out the flat and get on with our lives until HTB is paid off! 

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/homes-england/about/complaints-procedure#how-to-make-a-complaint-about-help-to-buy

Effusive

Good evening, all.

My sincerest apologies if I have hijacked anything, however this thread seems to best place to ask this question as I am a first-time seller and can see quite a few of you have already been down this road.

Long story short - the house was put on the market December last year and, naively, what with me being a first-time seller I obviously had a RICs valuation done instantly at £200 and then paid Target their £200 respectively. Needless to say the sale fell through. It has, since, fallen through a further four times.

Obviously with the RICs valuations only lasting 3 months I believe, I chased up my solicitor yesterday on our fifth 'sale' and she reminded me of what I already knew - that I need to get another one (RICs valuation) done.

We accepted this latest offer 27/08/2021 and on Friday 17/09/2021 the buyers' surveyor showed up to obtain them a mortgage valuation.

When I spoke to the solicitor yesterday she mentioned contracts had been sent out shortly after the valuation - however she has since been trying to chase up Greenbelt as they are simply not responding. A quick perusal on Trustpilot and their 84% plethora of 1-star reviews tells me we are not alone.

So to conclude - in others' expert opinion - would it be in my best interest to get another RICs valuation ASAP and wave goodbye to another £400 or hold fire until Greenbelt have responded and/or contracts have been exchanged?

Regards,

Chris

kingstreet

ekioussis said:

Does anyone know who the legal firm Target uses is? They refuse to give us a redemption statement without legal approval of our RICS survey as it was lower than the purchase price. We are trying to pay it off so we can let out flat asap and they are taking forever! They claim there is no way to contact legal directly, and no way to rush them, they can take as long as they want. Ridiculous. We have fulfilled every requirement they ask but it seems that legal can wave a magic wand and make us wait forever, very frustrating as we cannot let out the flat and get on with our lives until HTB is paid off! 

I have heard that where there is a loss, the matter is referred to the HCA/Homes England for approval.

NellB_2

My son's flat has not sold at a loss but it is still taking three months and counting. We have gone to MPs , Financial Ombudsman, citizens advice, Parliamentary Ombudsman and it looks like his sale is going to fall through. Bought the flat in 2018 for 120000 sold it to a cash buyer for 143000. Filed redemption on July 14 and still waiting. 

mbp123

ekioussis said:

Does anyone know who the legal firm Target uses is? They refuse to give us a redemption statement without legal approval of our RICS survey as it was lower than the purchase price. We are trying to pay it off so we can let out flat asap and they are taking forever! They claim there is no way to contact legal directly, and no way to rush them, they can take as long as they want. Ridiculous. We have fulfilled every requirement they ask but it seems that legal can wave a magic wand and make us wait forever, very frustrating as we cannot let out the flat and get on with our lives until HTB is paid off! 

Hi - have you heard back at all? I'm in a similar situation

mbp123

I accepted an offer on my flat at the beginning of June, proceeded to get a RICS survey completed & submitted it all to Target in the second half of June. I still haven't received a redemption statement. I've been chasing hard since the beginning of September with no luck and now my buyer is close to pulling out of the sale, which will result in me losing a big chunk of money and repeating the process all over again. I've chased them constantly, complained to both target and homes england, had my MP send an email to them, tried to reach them on social media, etc, etc. My case has been referred to the Homes England legal team because the drop in market valuation of my flat is larger than 10% and this is apparently what is causing the delays.

All of the comments here are pretty negative - has anybody received a redemption statement after months of chasing? I'm convinced I will never hear back from them - I get the same response for every chaser "there's no update and we can't give you timescales". I honestly don't understand how an organisation is allowed to continue operating like this.

mbp123

jblake1234 said:

I would like to say I am having trouble at the moment. My solicitor is ready to exchange contracts and hadn’t heard from Target. I emailed Target at the start of March with the RICS survey and supporting documents, along with the admin fee of £200. I phoned them today to ask what was going on. They said they had replied to my email - which they had not- I checked my junk as well saying that I needed an actual signature over an electronic one. So I quickly did this and phoned them back to check they had received this. They then are requesting additional documents such as a memorandum of sale and a redemption statement from my mortgage company. I wish I knew all of this sooner as I’m now conscious that the 3 months expiry is not far off. I’m hoping I can get this all completed in time. Please make sure you chase them! 

Did you eventually here back from them? I'm in the same position & trying to figure out how long I'm going to need to wait for

ccbrowning

The whole redemption process was fast here and we had no real issues.

The only issue, imho, was the RICS valuation was rubbish and too high. We have been trying to sell our house for that amount and aren’t even getting any offers.