Problems with sale

daisyboyd24

Argh - literally losing the plot over our house sale.

We accepted a low offer on our house as the people buying wanted a 6 week completion, or as quick as possible, as we did.

Four weeks in, they requested a survey on the house. Not a problem, but why leave it 2 weeks after they had their mortgage offer! The company they booked couldn't come for 2 weeks so already this was at the 6 week point.

Last Monday we were advised they had everything they needed and everything was on track for exchange this Wednesday. This Monday, we got a call from our solicitor saying they are now requesting a copy of the planing permission for our house. The house is 13 years old, was built as part of a new estate and built by a developer not us. We don't have this and have been told it's expensive to get and takes weeks.

On top of this they want to see that the road has been adopted. Our solicitor has confirmed that it has yet they won't accept this and has said we have to apply for a certificate at our cost and again, will take weeks.

We feel like they are messing us around and stalling for some reason. Our estate agent is not helping at all and just keeps saying 'if they want the information we should pay for it and get it'

We are at the stage of pulling out of the sale and going with and different agent.

Does anyone know anything about either of these issues? I've spoken to someone at the Land registry and they can't understand why we are being asked to supply planning permission after all this time!

Any advise would be appreciated :-)

Surrey_EA

I would suggest that it is more likely that their solicitor is asking these questions, rather than the buyer themselves, as the solicitor will almost certainly be acting on behalf of the lender.

I would also say that these enquiries strike me as quite standard, and I would be very surprised if they were not raised by a buyer's solicitor.

Asking to see a copy of the original planning consent - probably to check if all the conditions stipulated by the planning permission have been complied with. Unlikely that anything is likely to be a problem now 13 years has passed, but I'm afraid conveyancing is basically one long paper trail these days.

Asking for confirmation the road has been adopted - If the road has not been adopted then whoever owns the property may be liable for the upkeep and maintenance, and therefore the solicitor needs to make sure their clients are not going to be landed with an unexpected bill.

6 weeks was always an incredibly optimistic timeframe, most sales take 12 weeks.

ProDave

Search your local councils on line planning portal, you may find the planning application and any conditions attached to it is there for you to see. It all depends when they started using an on line system.

Davesnave

daisyboyd24 wrote: »

We are at the stage of pulling out of the sale and going with and different agent.

Can you do this? Many contracts will tie you in longer than 8 weeks. Why is it the agent's fault?

Surrey_EA

Going from your post on the waiting to exchange thread, the searches have only just been received by your buyer's solicitor. It is likely that these enquiries have been raised after looking at information contained within the search results.

Seems to me like a pretty standard sale process to me, and I think the best thing to do is stick with it, as these are questions that are highly likely to be raised by any buyer.