The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

laurey0301

ChickenSandwichK said:

This 10 month saga seems never ending... finally the seller got in touch with their solicitor today and we've been told exchange can happen tomorrow but completion will not happen until next week - so my solicitor has to return the funds to the lender and re-request! Absolutely bonkers seeing as there is no onward chain and the property is vacant!! 

Sounds like an absolute nightmare you are going through I’m so sorry. Hopefully the lender can release the funds quickly again. I’m in the exact same position but am going to pay the interest on the funds until late next week. The seller isn’t my favourite person right now!

flyingv

laurey0301 said:

The seller has come back, she cant complete tomorrow as 'doesn't have time' to drop off the keys. REALLY!!!!

Oh my god, that's awful.  Why do some people have to make things so difficult!?  It's almost like she doesn't want to sell.  Hope you manage to agree a date very soon

ChickenSandwichK

laurey0301 said:

ChickenSandwichK said:

This 10 month saga seems never ending... finally the seller got in touch with their solicitor today and we've been told exchange can happen tomorrow but completion will not happen until next week - so my solicitor has to return the funds to the lender and re-request! Absolutely bonkers seeing as there is no onward chain and the property is vacant!! 

Sounds like an absolute nightmare you are going through I’m so sorry. Hopefully the lender can release the funds quickly again. I’m in the exact same position but am going to pay the interest on the funds until late next week. The seller isn’t my favourite person right now!

So sorry to hear it’s happening to you as well!! Makes you feel like they don’t even want to sell

laurey0301

Hope everyone gets some good news today x

Louise.H

hippocrates1 said:

So I’ve had the keys a few days and I’m feeling overwhelmed. It’s literally disgusting. How could the sellers leave it in such a state. The garden looks like a HMO garden. Spent four hours building an ottoman bed today and that’s with all the cleaning honestly my back is in tatters.

Anyone got an deep cleaning tips? As much as I clean I don’t think it will ever be clean. 

Oh no, both my houses have been like that. I would be so embarrassed to leave a house that way. White vinegar left on things for a few houses has worked for me when it comes to bathrooms and surfaces. One house my mum brought was so awful and overwhelming she just paid for a professional cleaner to come in and sort it out. I'm glad my new house is empty so shouldn't change condition. 

Good luck to everyone hoping to get news before the weekend.  

CLJ2986

@hippocrates1 that sounds awful, I'm so sorry! That's one of my worries, although we've seen it twice and the house was pristine both times so fingers crossed it'll be OK. I hate cleaning with a passion lol you'll get there! 

Good luck everyone completing today, I'm hoping to exchange 🤞

goodwithsaving

9 weeks in today and my buyer has pulled out (not to do with SDLT)
I am beyond gutted. Relocating is stressful enough

Rach273

Tentatively joining this thread, feels like progress is slowly being made. A little more complicated as we are selling two houses to buy one, and one of those was shared ownership, but here's the timeline so far;

• Property A (my house, 75% shared ownership) listed for sale with great timing on 09/03/2020.
• Straight into COVID-19 lockdown on 16th March, viewings suspended.
• 01/06/2020 viewings are allowed to recommence.
• 15/06/2020 accept offer for £1.5k under asking price, chain free buyer in rented.
• Get to September and still don't have draft queries from buyers solicitors, progression is very slow, and after lots of backwards and forwards with the agent, I go direct to the housing association. They have to be careful with what they tell me due to GDPR, but reading between the lines the buyer is in the process of divorce and still owns a share in another property. The housing association are unable to approve the application until this second property is sold. I pull out and sack the agent for not doing their due diligence.
• 15/09/2020 property is relisted with agent number two.
• 22/09/2020 COVID restrictions begin again, but this time we are still allowed to do viewings.
• 02/10/2020 I break my leg badly and have to move into Property B so my partner can care for me, this also means that we do not put his house on the market that week as planned. 
• 14/10/2020 offer accepted £2.5k under asking price.
• 06/01/2021 third national COVID lockdown
• 08/02/2021 exchanged contracts
• 12/02/2021 finally complete on Property A, enlist a lot of help from friends with moving as I'm still on crutches at this point. Put most of my furniture into storage. Decide we need a breather from the stress of property sales, but of course property prices then seem to sky rocket and all the houses we were interested in that have sat on the market for the last 6 months are snapped up.

• Property B (partners house, freehold) listed for sale on 22/03/2021.
• 15/04/2021 Two offers on the table, we went with investment buyers at £2.5k below asking as they were more flexible on timeframes, and not in a rush to be completed before the extended stamp duty deadline. The husband is a gas engineer by trade, and actually serviced our boiler last year so we let them have access for a morning with a builder and electrician to give the property a thorough once over in lieu of a survey.
• 22/04/21 Draft contracts sent.

• 05/05/2021 our offer is accepted for property C, with vendors moving to rented before emigrating later in the year. 
• 12/05/2021 Agreement in principle secured and full mortgage application submitted.
• 14/05/2021 Mortgage broker in contact to say Halifax have been unable to contact our vendor to arrange a valuation - first sign of trouble...
• 17/05/2021 Vendors pull out, as unable to find a rental. Estate agent keen to 'talk them round' so we leave offer on the table, explaining that we weren't expecting to meet the stamp duty deadline anyway, vendors agree to proceed the same day.
• 19/05/2021 Mortgage valuation
• 20/05/2021 Full Mortgage offer
• 28/05/2021 Vendors pull out of sale again. Back to square one, fortunately just the valuation fee down.

• 04/06/2021 after some negotiation on price, offer accepted on our second choice property, property D. Vendor has lived there 20 years, but now needs to care for her elderly father so is intending to move into his home, so a chain of two houses as before, but a bit more money on the mortgage than we would have liked.
• 06/06/2021 amended mortgage application submitted.
• 09/06/2021 Searched submitted - Local Authority advise 70 working day timeframe due to the increased demand in our area. Not sure if Halifax will accept an indemnity.
• 11/06/2021 mortgage offer issued with desktop valuation.
• 17/06/2021 Draft contracts received.
• 18/06/2021 Some to and fro as vendor trying to charge £1,000 for a bog standard garden shed in the fixtures and fittings forms. Politely told that we were not paying any extra, will wait and see if the shed is still there when we complete - I have a feeling it might disintegrate if she tries to move it!
• 29/06/2021 Had Level 2 survey done, as some concerns about the roof, but actually property is in pretty good nick, just some modernisation required as expected.
• Today 02/07/2021 received report on the property from our solicitors, only real area of concern is an old deed of 1937 granted before the house build was completed, giving mutual rights over part of the end garden which would allow both us and the neighbour to build a garage in our garden with a drive through the neighbours garden to a side street. The neighbours have since built a garage off their front drive, so our solicitor has requested the vendor formally ends this right and updates the land registry before we exchange.

Well done for making it this far, it's been quite the saga, I'm just hoping that we can complete before our buyers lose the will to live. We are also getting married in early September, so I can see us moving house in the same week at this rate.

Reddington85

I'm waiting for the call today to exchange (fingers crossed) with a proposed date of next Friday for the move.

It's a somewhat nervous day!

Tiddleshalifax

Reddington85 said:

I'm waiting for the call today to exchange (fingers crossed) with a proposed date of next Friday for the move.

It's a somewhat nervous day!

Will keep everything crossed for you 😍