The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

Jamierez

Contacted the Estate Agent by email to say we want to exchange asap and completed by the end of the month or else we are looking elsewhere. Not heard back as yet but he was the one encouraging a deadline to get his client moving. One way or the other we will know our next steps.

Wren14

So after emailing back and forth with the EA this morning and her copying my solicitor in to her response, my solicitor called me.
It was all nonsense! They had not mentioned a new electrical report, they had just requested an updated mining report.
My solicitor seemed very confused at to what the EA was saying and has told me to just communicate with her directly and leave the EA out of it!
On the plus side she told me that my purchase is ready to go! 

mistrihelen

Still haven't exchanged... it's supposed to have been every day this week so far. Our solicitor has only just told us our lender needs 7 working days between exchange and completion but the other parties don't want to wait that long, so now we have to wait until tomorrow to find out if the bank can expedite it. If they had just agreed to complete two days later, we could've exchanged already. If the bank says no, they'll need to wait anyway. 

It's so stressful!

Phoenixrise

Here's my timeline. I'm a first time buyer with no chain. 

Offer was accepted at the end of January, mortgage, survey and survey were all back at the beginning of March

Enquiries were also raised at the beginning of March, 5 weeks ago now. So far none of the enquiries have been answered. 

Solicitor had been chasing for answers, but nothing has been forthcoming. I’ve emailed the EA twice over the last fortnight to see if they can get hold of the seller and to find out what’s going. So far not a single reply. 

Waiting for the enquiries is slowly driving me insane, especially knowing beyond chasing there’s nothing I can do at the moment!

BountyBlink

Phoenixrise said:

Here's my timeline. I'm a first time buyer with no chain. 

Offer was accepted at the end of January, mortgage, survey and survey were all back at the beginning of March

Enquiries were also raised at the beginning of March, 5 weeks ago now. So far none of the enquiries have been answered. 

Solicitor had been chasing for answers, but nothing has been forthcoming. I’ve emailed the EA twice over the last fortnight to see if they can get hold of the seller and to find out what’s going. So far not a single reply. 

Waiting for the enquiries is slowly driving me insane, especially knowing beyond chasing there’s nothing I can do at the moment!

It sounds like your vendor may be stalling. Have they found a property yet? Or were they selling chain free? Many years ago I was in a similar situation and found out my vendor although offered chain free was trying to tie in a purchase last minute. Hugely frustrating because you pay out thousands on legals and survey to find out you don’t actually have a complete chain. Hopefully you can get some really answers - keep on at the agent you are buying through. Call them, he persistent twice a week, and ask them what is the hold up? 

Natbag

Still heard nothing from my solicitor, and I don't expect to today either. Because that's how it is. Still no progress on getting this last enquiry settled on my ex's purchase (to free up money from the sale of our property for me to buy mine). I received my title deeds and signed the contracts on my purchase two weeks ago now, and nothing at all has changed since then. I'm getting so stressed now. This could go on for days, weeks, months, who flipping knows. Noone will reply, noone will tell me anything. 
I really want to email my solicitor and say that the total lack of communication and repeatedly ignoring my emails and questions isn't acceptable, and I expect a full update and timescales today. Is this a good idea? I don't hold any of the cards, I could threaten to pull out but we all know I'm not going to do that. How should I word it without coming across all housezilla?!

naomibm

Natbag said:

Still heard nothing from my solicitor, and I don't expect to today either. Because that's how it is. Still no progress on getting this last enquiry settled on my ex's purchase (to free up money from the sale of our property for me to buy mine). I received my title deeds and signed the contracts on my purchase two weeks ago now, and nothing at all has changed since then. I'm getting so stressed now. This could go on for days, weeks, months, who flipping knows. Noone will reply, noone will tell me anything. 
I really want to email my solicitor and say that the total lack of communication and repeatedly ignoring my emails and questions isn't acceptable, and I expect a full update and timescales today. Is this a good idea? I don't hold any of the cards, I could threaten to pull out but we all know I'm not going to do that. How should I word it without coming across all housezilla?!

is your solictor head of the firm?? if not, i would contact them.  take a personal stance, "we are in a very difficult position with 6 kids in a small house in lockdown. im finding it very stressful.  is there anything i can do to speed up the process? please contact me today...". almost killing them with kindness and putting a person behind the emails!

Natbag

naomibm said:

Natbag said:

Still heard nothing from my solicitor, and I don't expect to today either. Because that's how it is. Still no progress on getting this last enquiry settled on my ex's purchase (to free up money from the sale of our property for me to buy mine). I received my title deeds and signed the contracts on my purchase two weeks ago now, and nothing at all has changed since then. I'm getting so stressed now. This could go on for days, weeks, months, who flipping knows. Noone will reply, noone will tell me anything. 
I really want to email my solicitor and say that the total lack of communication and repeatedly ignoring my emails and questions isn't acceptable, and I expect a full update and timescales today. Is this a good idea? I don't hold any of the cards, I could threaten to pull out but we all know I'm not going to do that. How should I word it without coming across all housezilla?!

is your solictor head of the firm?? if not, i would contact them.  take a personal stance, "we are in a very difficult position with 6 kids in a small house in lockdown. im finding it very stressful.  is there anything i can do to speed up the process? please contact me today...". almost killing them with kindness and putting a person behind the emails!

She's a partner, so as good as? The outstanding enquiry is on my ex's purchase, and she's already told me she can't tell me anything. I appreciate that, but I'm still part of the chain like anyone else and I think to ask for timescales and updates isn't unacceptable. My ex won't push things, and I can't (or at least my efforts are ignored), so we are stuck.

Phoenixrise

BountyBlink said:

It sounds like your vendor may be stalling. Have they found a property yet? Or were they selling chain free? Many years ago I was in a similar situation and found out my vendor although offered chain free was trying to tie in a purchase last minute. Hugely frustrating because you pay out thousands on legals and survey to find out you don’t actually have a complete chain. Hopefully you can get some really answers - keep on at the agent you are buying through. Call them, he persistent twice a week, and ask them what is the hold up? 

Finally heard from the EA, just one enquiry outstanding apparently, so looking slightly more hopeful. 

The flat was sold as chain free and all forms have confirmed it’s not subject to an onwards purchase, but it appears this may not actually be case!

Now just waiting to hear back from the EA, as to what is actually going on and if it is subject to an onwards purchase whether he’s willing to break the chain

The joys of house buying!

Natbag

@Phoenixrise - why can't people just be transparent?! Hope they might break the chain for you.
We are one enquiry away from exchanging (not us but another person in the chain), and have been for 2 weeks now. Sigh. Saying that, I still need an update on my boyfriend's buyers, we assume they are ready too as they were close a fortnight ago but it hasn't been confirmed. We can only assume their solicitor is about as useful as ours - chocolate teapot springs to mind.