Major delays - advice sought!

Paul_S_1986

My wife and I are attempting to buy our first property and have faced delay after delay. I will try to be brief by bullet pointing the main points/problems.

1. 15th September 2016: Mortgage offer in principle arranged/agreed.

2. October/November 2016: Offer accepted on a house on 28th October 2016. Tenants in situ until 10th March so plenty of time to get things going/continue to save. Mortgage offer confirmed/solicitors appointed early November.

3. 24th December 2016 - first major issue: Letter received from mortgage company withdrawing the mortgage offer as it had expired. Valuation had not been done due to the property owner being in Thailand and 'having the only set of keys' according to the Estate Agents. Remember, there are tenants living in the property...

4. January 2017: Mortgage offer reinstated, valuation complete. Issue raised by our solicitors regarding a tiny strip of land crossing the front of the driveway from next door as shown on plans. Vendors solicitors should sort this.

5. 10th March 2017: Tenants' departure date. They are still in the property. It transpires that nothing had been done by anyone to resolve the land registry issue. Deed of Easement sought to resolve this. Tenants will be served notice to leave once outstanding issues are resolved.

6. April 2017: Mortgage offer withdrawn for second time due to continued delays re. land registry issue and obtaining a Deed of Easement. Finally told that the property next door belongs to owner's estranged son (they haven't spoken for 7 years). He now needs to be tracked down and arrange the Deed of Easement with his father.

7. 15th May 2017: Informed that owner's son has been contacted and negotiating Deed of Easement. Told that the owner is now in hospital and not contactable for the time being.

8. June 2017: Estate Agents cannot contact owner and do not know whether he is in or out of hospital. Through my own research (Facebook) I find out that he is still in hospital but recovering and still wants to sell. Our solicitors claim to be getting no response from owner's solicitors and so we have a stalemate.

This is only a summary and there have been many other displays of incompetence/lack of communication, mainly from the Estate Agents.

It is currently 36 weeks since our offer was accepted and 17 weeks since the tenants should have vacated. We now have no mortgage offer in place as we have no sight of when we may be in a position to exchange, have 'missed the boat' in terms of finding a similarly (modest) suitable property within our budget (we went a fraction over to afford this one in October) and almost entirely run out of energy with the process. All of this with no chain.

Is there anything that anyone could suggest to help us? Is it appropriate to make an official complaint at this stage? Contact the Ombudsman? How much longer should we realistically give it? I have been regularly contacting the Estate Agents and solicitors for updates as they almost never contact us with any news/information or even to let us know that they are still on the case.

Thanks for listening!

tealady

Unfortunately there is nothing you can do until contracts are exchanged. Personally I would pull out and keep saving for a bigger deposit. If the tenants are stil there it could take months to get them out as they do not have to leave even when given notice, they can just sit tight and wait for the landlord to take them to court to getbthem evicted (and they could trash the place).

lush_walrus

The estate agent isn't paid by you, nor works for you. They chase the chain for the benefit of their client the vendor. They will try to help the chain again for the benefit of your vendor. So any action you think is due against them is not yours to take. For all you know the vendor has instructed them to slow the process down.

With regards to the legal issues around land ownership that is your solicitor and your vendor solicitor to get through. I suggest you start to chase your solicitor and move it forward via them.

A tenanted house, an unwell and potentially abroad vendor, an an estranged son is a complex mix. It will take far far longer than a normal sale to go through the process of moving all of that along. You will need to either be very proactive or very patient. If you are neither it may be worth rethinking this purchase.

eddddy

Paul_S_1986 wrote: »

This is only a summary and there have been many other displays of incompetence/lack of communication, mainly from the Estate Agents.

Paul_S_1986 wrote: »

Is there anything that anyone could suggest to help us? Is it appropriate to make an official complaint at this stage? Contact the Ombudsman? How much longer should we realistically give it? I have been regularly contacting the Estate Agents and solicitors for updates as they almost never contact us with any news/information or even to let us know that they are still on the case.

Why do you think any of this is the EA's or solicitor's fault?

It's far more likely to be the seller (and/or his estranged son) who's not moving things forward.

The EA just passes messages and tries to chase people along - they have no real power to slow things down, or speed things up.

And people often say "it's my solicitor's fault", when it isn't really.

From your post, my guess is that the seller just isn't sufficiently motivated to sell (in spite of what they say to you).

Davesnave

Although professionals may have been inefficient, it is you who chose to start the purchase process with a tenanted house; something others would have been wary of.

The vendor also seems to lack committment to the sale.

Whatever legal difficulties there are, the agent isn't responsible for sorting those out. While a good one might be able to push solicitors to move more quickly, it's not part of their remit.

Diverting your energies towards a complaint will not get you this house, or any other. It will just mean that you have something else occupying your minds for some months.

You'd be on a hiding to nothing in my opinion, just as you have been with this property.

Lauralou79

Wow you are very patient. I'd have given up on it by now. I've just completed a purchase in under 3 months and that felt like hard work. To be honest it does sound like a lot of the delays are down to the sellers. All you can do keep chasing your solicitors but it doesn't sound like it's going to move any time soon

eddddy

Lauralou79 wrote: »

All you can do keep chasing your solicitors but it doesn't sound like it's going to move any time soon

That's not really the best use of the OP's time and effort.

It's the seller that needs to be chased - with questions about when they will sort out the Deed of Easement, get the tenants evicted etc.

If the seller doesn't give credible answers, the OP has to start assuming that the seller isn't committed to making the sale happen - and start to look for other properties.

Paul_S_1986

tealady wrote: »

Personally I would pull out and keep saving for a bigger deposit.

To match somewhere to the current property (3 bedrooms, driveway, same area) we would need in the region of an extra £30,000-£40,000 due to the rapidly increasing prices here and the good price that was accepted first of all (£165,000).

Out of the question.

davidmcn

Paul_S_1986 wrote: »

I have been regularly contacting the Estate Agents and solicitors for updates as they almost never contact us with any news/information or even to let us know that they are still on the case.

Hardly surprising, as they are (presumably) on a fixed fee which has long been exhausted, and will be reluctant to invest more time into a transaction which might never happen. Nothing you've said suggests that they're to blame for the delays.

Paul_S_1986

lush_walrus wrote: »

A tenanted house, an unwell and potentially abroad vendor, an an estranged son is a complex mix. It will take far far longer than a normal sale to go through the process of moving all of that along. You will need to either be very proactive or very patient. If you are neither it may be worth rethinking this purchase.

You sum it up very well. However, the allusion of us being impatient and not proactive is very unfair. We are now 36 weeks on from the offer being accepted and, in one day recently, I found out more information about the seller's whereabouts (hospital) and intention than anyone else had in the process for a month.

bouicca21

The house is underpriced? What makes you think the seller isn't looking for more money from someone else?

Realistically the seller is causing problems and clearly isn't committed to the sale. Look elsewhere. That gives you a fallback position if, as most posters here believe, it all falls through, as well as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the seller.