We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.

This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

1101210131015101710182067

Comments

  • @FTB_Help I would have avoided them but the solicitor they recommended was actually one we were going to use anyway based on a personal recommendation
    @Natbag it is just frustrating isn't it? I reckon it is all going to be ok, all they need to do is occasionally update me and I'd be happy
  • Natbag
    Natbag Posts: 1,563 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    @Natbag it is just frustrating isn't it? I reckon it is all going to be ok, all they need to do is occasionally update me and I'd be happy
    Exactly! That's all I ask, but it seems that solicitors don't care to waste time on reassurances without any actual paperwork to give to you.
    Property buying/selling timeline - currently into week 21
    04/12/20: Both properties listed for sale
    11/01/21: Offers accepted on both sales & on our joint purchase
    25/01/21: Identity checks completed, solicitors instructed
    27/01/21: Purchase survey & valuation complete, mortgage offer received 
    05/02/21: Reduction agreed on partner's sale (under-valuation) & on purchase. Mortgage offer amended
    08/02/21: Buyers pack returned to solicitor - sellers packs already returned
    26/02/21: Partner's sale contract signed
    10/03/21: Purchase searches all back
    16/03/21: My sale contract signed
    28/03/21: Purchase enquiries satisfied, Title Report & contracts issued, contracts signed & returned
    11/05/21: Still waiting on final enquiry in the adjoining chain to be resolved. Consent to break the chain granted, instruction to move to exchange given.
    17/05/21: All parties agreed to June 3rd for completion
    27/05/21: Exchanged on my sale only
    28/05/21: ALL EXCHANGED!
    03/06/21: Completion
  • Sad day, after over a year searching and finding "The One", we have just pulled out of the purchase :(
    Searches showed a mine shaft in the back garden (untreated), and with us wanting to extend that way we made the decision it wasn't worth the risk.  That and the potential risk to any future sales.
    Gutted is not the word.
    Oh gosh why don't the sellers and estate agents just list this stuff in the first place on the advert! Yes it will take longer to sell but at the end of the day it is there and will be discovered by buyers at some stage!
  • GoingOn30
    GoingOn30 Posts: 231 Forumite
    Sixth Anniversary 100 Posts Name Dropper
    Good afternoon all, looks like I am ready to get back on this waiting to exchange ride again! 
    It's our first time selling and we are also wanting to onward purchase, I feel no less nervous than when we were first time buying 4 years ago!
    I'm feeling frustrated after a false start with our solicitors, me instructing them to proceed with conveyancing for our sale last Wednesday and then hearing nothing for a week, only for them to say "oh, did we not email you paper to complete last week?" when I rang them yesterday....
    So anyway, our timeline so far is below. We are racing to complete within the stamp duty holiday (as is the rest of the world it seems), our solicitors have generously offered that we may pay an "urgency premium" of £400 + VAT should we want them to hurry along the parts of the process that are within their control, anyone got any thoughts on this?

    Selling
    12th March - offer accepted 
    18th - Buyers mortgage app submitted
    22nd March - memorandum of sale issued
    31st March - Buyers survey took place,
    31st March - ID check at solicitors, conveyancing questionnaires completed 
    Buying
    29th March - offer accepted
    31st March - Memorandum of sale issued
    31st March - our build survey booked for 19th April
    31st March - Meeting with our mortgage broker, full application to go in 1st April 

  • ohdarn
    ohdarn Posts: 200 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    It's been a while but if anyone can remember my last post, our lender, TSB has decided they no longer need the valuation paperwork sending to them by the conveyancer. 
    Because they wouldn't let anyone see the valuation paperwork.
    And it didn't exist anyway.
    Good news was that our buyer has finally had their mortgage approved.
    Helpful hint for prospective buyers, if you wait five months before applying for your mortgage, it might result in your vendor losing their mind.
    Apparently our buyer wants to complete on Friday the 9th April.
    Everyone seems cool with that. Except no one is sure when we'll exchange contracts. We just get a shrug and a 'probably sometime soon'.
    We ask if they want the deposit money or the funds required to complete and get a similar response.
    Our conveyancer seems to be taking the laid back approach to the house buying process.
    Which is reassuring.
    Personally I don't think they've looked at a calendar to see if there's two bank holidays coming up.
  • Natbag
    Natbag Posts: 1,563 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    GoingOn30 said:
     We are racing to complete within the stamp duty holiday (as is the rest of the world it seems), our solicitors have generously offered that we may pay an "urgency premium" of £400 + VAT should we want them to hurry along the parts of the process that are within their control, anyone got any thoughts on this?
    Hi, welcome! If you stand to save more than £400 in stamp duty, I would absolutely bite their hand off. As you can see from some timelines on here, everything is taking months and months, especially if searches in your area are slow to come back. I think things are getting worse as so many more people have joined the process since the extension was announced, and with Covid, homeworking, demand and many conveyancers yet to take delayed annual leave I think it will get worse before it gets better. I think to complete before the end of June you'd have to be seriously lucky.
    Property buying/selling timeline - currently into week 21
    04/12/20: Both properties listed for sale
    11/01/21: Offers accepted on both sales & on our joint purchase
    25/01/21: Identity checks completed, solicitors instructed
    27/01/21: Purchase survey & valuation complete, mortgage offer received 
    05/02/21: Reduction agreed on partner's sale (under-valuation) & on purchase. Mortgage offer amended
    08/02/21: Buyers pack returned to solicitor - sellers packs already returned
    26/02/21: Partner's sale contract signed
    10/03/21: Purchase searches all back
    16/03/21: My sale contract signed
    28/03/21: Purchase enquiries satisfied, Title Report & contracts issued, contracts signed & returned
    11/05/21: Still waiting on final enquiry in the adjoining chain to be resolved. Consent to break the chain granted, instruction to move to exchange given.
    17/05/21: All parties agreed to June 3rd for completion
    27/05/21: Exchanged on my sale only
    28/05/21: ALL EXCHANGED!
    03/06/21: Completion
  • ohdarn
    ohdarn Posts: 200 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    GoingOn30 said:
    Good afternoon all, looks like I am ready to get back on this waiting to exchange ride again! 
    It's our first time selling and we are also wanting to onward purchase, I feel no less nervous than when we were first time buying 4 years ago!
    I'm feeling frustrated after a false start with our solicitors, me instructing them to proceed with conveyancing for our sale last Wednesday and then hearing nothing for a week, only for them to say "oh, did we not email you paper to complete last week?" when I rang them yesterday....
    So anyway, our timeline so far is below. We are racing to complete within the stamp duty holiday (as is the rest of the world it seems), our solicitors have generously offered that we may pay an "urgency premium" of £400 + VAT should we want them to hurry along the parts of the process that are within their control, anyone got any thoughts on this?

    Selling
    12th March - offer accepted 
    18th - Buyers mortgage app submitted
    22nd March - memorandum of sale issued
    31st March - Buyers survey took place,
    31st March - ID check at solicitors, conveyancing questionnaires completed 
    Buying
    29th March - offer accepted
    31st March - Memorandum of sale issued
    31st March - our build survey booked for 19th April
    31st March - Meeting with our mortgage broker, full application to go in 1st April 

    'For the low low price of £400 (plus VAT), we'll do the job you're paying us to do.
    But properly.'
  • jonners666
    jonners666 Posts: 98 Forumite
    10 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper
    Everyone (except apparently the top of the chain) called solicitors to give authority to exchange this morning.

    Still nothing, because no one has heard from the solicitors at the top. Exactly the same as what happened yesterday!
  • GoingOn30 said:
    Good afternoon all, looks like I am ready to get back on this waiting to exchange ride again! 
    It's our first time selling and we are also wanting to onward purchase, I feel no less nervous than when we were first time buying 4 years ago!
    I'm feeling frustrated after a false start with our solicitors, me instructing them to proceed with conveyancing for our sale last Wednesday and then hearing nothing for a week, only for them to say "oh, did we not email you paper to complete last week?" when I rang them yesterday....
    So anyway, our timeline so far is below. We are racing to complete within the stamp duty holiday (as is the rest of the world it seems), our solicitors have generously offered that we may pay an "urgency premium" of £400 + VAT should we want them to hurry along the parts of the process that are within their control, anyone got any thoughts on this?

    Selling
    12th March - offer accepted 
    18th - Buyers mortgage app submitted
    22nd March - memorandum of sale issued
    31st March - Buyers survey took place,
    31st March - ID check at solicitors, conveyancing questionnaires completed 
    Buying
    29th March - offer accepted
    31st March - Memorandum of sale issued
    31st March - our build survey booked for 19th April
    31st March - Meeting with our mortgage broker, full application to go in 1st April 

    Oh what a faff! We had a false start too  and I'm only buying as a FTB. Our offer was made start of oct last year, we intrusive our solictor at that point, the surveyor was fully booked for a month, the lender did a virtual valuation before the survey came back, our mortgage wasn't approved for 6 weeks until the end of November due to covid etc, then mid December I assumed all our searches were back etc but it turns out that our solicitor hadn't even received the contract pack from the sellers!! They actually withheld it untill their own mortgage was approved, due to one of them being furloughed, so our solicitor didn't received the contract pack untill the week of xmas. They were started on 4th Jan and came back mid Feb.
    Its been so slow!
    With the £400 urgency fee they suggested, I cannot beleive they have even suggested that, they should treat everyone equally and in order. So basically the people who have paid that now are getting special treatment over everyone else's. Is it too late to change your solicitor?! I would definitely look into changing!
  • Natbag
    Natbag Posts: 1,563 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    @jonners666 & @ohdarn - hope you both get some news and progress soon. It's soul-sapping isn't it?!
    Property buying/selling timeline - currently into week 21
    04/12/20: Both properties listed for sale
    11/01/21: Offers accepted on both sales & on our joint purchase
    25/01/21: Identity checks completed, solicitors instructed
    27/01/21: Purchase survey & valuation complete, mortgage offer received 
    05/02/21: Reduction agreed on partner's sale (under-valuation) & on purchase. Mortgage offer amended
    08/02/21: Buyers pack returned to solicitor - sellers packs already returned
    26/02/21: Partner's sale contract signed
    10/03/21: Purchase searches all back
    16/03/21: My sale contract signed
    28/03/21: Purchase enquiries satisfied, Title Report & contracts issued, contracts signed & returned
    11/05/21: Still waiting on final enquiry in the adjoining chain to be resolved. Consent to break the chain granted, instruction to move to exchange given.
    17/05/21: All parties agreed to June 3rd for completion
    27/05/21: Exchanged on my sale only
    28/05/21: ALL EXCHANGED!
    03/06/21: Completion
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 351.7K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.4K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 454K Spending & Discounts
  • 244.7K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 600.2K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 177.3K Life & Family
  • 258.4K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.2K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.