The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

bigkenny1975

hippocrates1 said:

Sent strongly worded emails today as nothing has happened for a month. Let’s pray there is an update soon. 

Same here, I hate being in the dark and feeling out of control.

amandacat

hippocrates1 said:

Sent strongly worded emails today as nothing has happened for a month. Let’s pray there is an update soon. 

I'd be annoyed as well, a month after your searches are back and not a word is shocking. I recently sold and everything was done bar the searches, as soon as they were back, there were no further queries off the back of them and we had exchange dates confirmed within a week of the searches being back. I know solicitors are busy but you'd think they'd want to get the quick wins off their caseloads.  Even if there is queries off the back of the searches, they could at least tell you that. 
My current purchase is going equally slow though, I have also emailed my solicitor today to get some sort of update as I have not heard anything for 3 weeks. 

hippocrates1

amandacat said:

hippocrates1 said:

Sent strongly worded emails today as nothing has happened for a month. Let’s pray there is an update soon. 

I'd be annoyed as well, a month after your searches are back and not a word is shocking. I recently sold and everything was done bar the searches, as soon as they were back, there were no further queries off the back of them and we had exchange dates confirmed within a week of the searches being back. I know solicitors are busy but you'd think they'd want to get the quick wins off their caseloads.  Even if there is queries off the back of the searches, they could at least tell you that. 
My current purchase is going equally slow though, I have also emailed my solicitor today to get some sort of update as I have not heard anything for 3 weeks. 

I think I’ll end up getting them to drop the enquiries 

hopeitwill

Hi all,

First time writing in this thread. We have been in the process of buying a house for almost 13 weeks now. We're first time buyers.

Everything in place apart from the enquiries. Mortgage offer in hand, searches are done, only 2 enquiries about searches. The initial enquiries were raised a month ago, and then some answers came back 2 weeks after (but not all). Now after 2 more weeks, still no answers from the vendor's solicitor.

When would you put an ultimatum in? We were told by the estate agents that there were no chain, that the seller was moving in with his partner but we went to see the house after three months, just to see it from outside and nothing seems to have been removed from the house.

Does it really take weeks to answer a few generic questions about the house you live in?

Natbag

@hopeitwill - welcome! I'm into my 13th week too, from our offer being accepted. In short, yes. If you read through some recent replies in here, you'll see a common trend (lots of waiting, and a big lack of communication). It's so frustrating. It really depends on what the enquiry is, some take longer to settle than others, especially if they are waiting on a third party to action something. Definitely ask for an update, from both your solicitor and the estate agent, but in my experience, you won't hear back until there's actually something solid to tell you.

hopeitwill

@Natbag, thank you Natbag. I am not completely sure if they're expecting an answer from a third party, they raised a few enquiries about certifications, so maybe? The EA has asked for an update 10 days ago which went ignored by the vendor's solicitor. Our solicitor is pretty responsive so we're very glad with her but the vendor's solicitor takes ages to do anything. If they can at least tell us that they're waiting an answer from a third party, then our patience wouldn't wear off so quickly.

mistrihelen

We had tentatively set a completion date of Thurs 15th, with the idea to exchange today/tomorrow. I've been told it's not happening today as our vendor still needs to sign something that didn't come in the post this weekend. Argh! So I'm relying on it coming today, then she's going to hand-deliver it back to the solicitor (so why not hand pick it up). I don't think exchange will happen tomorrow now either. Which is okay, we still have Thursday and that gives us a week until completion... but I don't really trust or like the whole process!

Jamierez

Like everyone else, we're stuck in a slow process with sellers who don't seem to be in a hurry. They are divorcing and moving into rented but have been slow to respond to the estate agent and the solicitors at every step. Our timeline has been:

• We accepted  an offer on our house in 10/09/2020.
• We had an offer accepted on a property in 09/11/2020 (this was our 2nd property as the first fell though very quickly).
• Mortgage application done and dusted early December 2020
• Searches started early January completed mid-January.
• Informed sellers are going to buy properties - 15/02/2021
• Our buyer went ape as did we and 2 weeks later, sellers changed their minds.
• Contracts for the property we are buying still haven't been sent to us (delays on the sellers end). My solicitor has promised she has everything now from the seller and the contract is being sent this week.
• Sellers still haven't found a rental despite desperate to keep us from pulling out "It is very important for their relationship both together and with others that they get this deal done !"

We are now coming up for 5 months since we had our offer accepted and 7 months since sold our property. There is a scarcity of the size of property we are buying in our area so we feel we have limited options as the market is not moving. So stuck in this limbo desperately trying to hang on to our buyer. He has been good and we will drop our price to keep him if needed. Scratching our heads as to what to do next. We even spoke with the EA to see if we could incentivise our seller but he said they didn't need incentivising! 

Tiglet2

Jamierez said:

Like everyone else, we're stuck in a slow process with sellers who don't seem to be in a hurry. They are divorcing and moving into rented but have been slow to respond to the estate agent and the solicitors at every step. Our timeline has been:

• We accepted  an offer on our house in 10/09/2020.
• We had an offer accepted on a property in 09/11/2020 (this was our 2nd property as the first fell though very quickly).
• Mortgage application done and dusted early December 2020
• Searches started early January completed mid-January.
• Informed sellers are going to buy properties - 15/02/2021
• Our buyer went ape as did we and 2 weeks later, sellers changed their minds.
• Contracts for the property we are buying still haven't been sent to us (delays on the sellers end). My solicitor has promised she has everything now from the seller and the contract is being sent this week.
• Sellers still haven't found a rental despite desperate to keep us from pulling out "It is very important for their relationship both together and with others that they get this deal done !"

We are now coming up for 5 months since we had our offer accepted and 7 months since sold our property. There is a scarcity of the size of property we are buying in our area so we feel we have limited options as the market is not moving. So stuck in this limbo desperately trying to hang on to our buyer. He has been good and we will drop our price to keep him if needed. Scratching our heads as to what to do next. We even spoke with the EA to see if we could incentivise our seller but he said they didn't need incentivising! 

I don't want to worry you but buying from a divorcing couple is not usually a good idea.  Do you think one half of the couple doesn't really want to sell?  Are they also going through matrimonial solicitors for the Consent Order as to the split of proceeds?  Are they amicable?  Hope that they are both keen to move on and into rented to accommodate you, but it is not always clear whether or not they are being honest with you.

Natbag

Tiglet2 said:

I don't want to worry you but buying from a divorcing couple is not usually a good idea.  

It's not always difficult. My last purchase was from a couple who'd split and were selling, and there were no issues, it was done in 6 weeks. This time I'm the one who has split from an ex and is selling, and that's not causing any issues either - there's only a slight delay on my ex's purchase which is in turn holding up my purchase, but the issue is down to an outstanding enquiry and is unrelated and pretty much as you would expect in any chain.