The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

birdmadgirl8

mat1964 said:

Despite being told the acceptance of their offer has been withdrawn, my GF's solicitor has suddenly reappeared and asked the question below.  (A long time ago, way before my GF bought the place, a garage was built and then removed and a downstairs cloakroom was added.  No issues were raised on this when she bought the house - but it would be useful to know what she needs to do in case it delays a future sale, so any advice appreciated):

"The lender's solicitors replied today and they have concerns in relation to the building regulations consents, building regulations completion certificates for the ground floor cloakroom and garage erected at the property, along with Planning Permission as we note permitted development rights have been removed.  Please provide all enquiries raised in this regard and how you propose to deal with the lack of required planning and building regulation consents."

This will depend on timing a bit, but sounds as though the work was done a long time ago. Indemnity should cover it though and that's what I'd be offering if I were you. If work was done more than 10 years ago then you really don't need to worry, but some solicitors will raise it whatever the timeframe. If you mention willingness to buy indemnity from the outset it should reassure potential buyers. 

Rach273

Rach273 said:

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.

Congratulations to everyone who has exchanged/completed over the past month. It feels like slow progress here, but progress none the less;

• 23/07/2021 Report on title received along with draft contracts to sign.
• 26/07/2021 signed draft contracts and forms returned to solicitors office, the local authority searches not due back until 21st September so solicitor approaching lender to see if they will accept an indemnity.
• 06/08/2021 Chased solicitors for an update - they sent letter to the lender on 4th August and were waiting for an update themselves
• 11/08/21 Solicitor emails to say lender has not received letter so they have emailed and we should have a decision tomorrow.

So fingers crossed our lender will accept the local searches indemnity and we can stat discussing dates. I'd love to complete before our wedding mid September.

WorriedKirkels

@Rach273 - what a nightmare! I hope you get positive news on your searches soon as all the stress you have had to endure must be overwhelming x

mooncake89

We have just exchanged! Will complete next Friday. So about 3 months after our offer on a chain-free house (and us being chain-free buyers). Someone else from the firm was able to do it for us, thankfully, despite our actual solicitor being away.

I don't feel as though our journey (well, once we'd actually found a house after 8 months of searching!) has been half as stressful as many people's on here, but it was anxiety-provoking nevertheless (mainly due to hardly ever knowing what was going on and receiving no updates!). So sending well wishes and a huge good luck to everyone still waiting. It does strike me that the whole house buying process over here is mad. Surely there's got to be a slightly less stressful way?!

Octothorpe

Have exchanged!!

Complete Wednesday!

Finally - after some complaint escalation the vendor's solicitors have finally done their job and exchanged.

Good luck everyone else still waiting.

WorriedKirkels

Octothorpe said:

Have exchanged!!

Complete Wednesday!

Finally - after some complaint escalation the vendor's solicitors have finally done their job and exchanged.

Good luck everyone else still waiting.

Fantastic news - congratulations! 😁 

WorriedKirkels

mooncake89 said:

We have just exchanged! Will complete next Friday. So about 3 months after our offer on a chain-free house (and us being chain-free buyers). Someone else from the firm was able to do it for us, thankfully, despite our actual solicitor being away.

I don't feel as though our journey (well, once we'd actually found a house after 8 months of searching!) has been half as stressful as many people's on here, but it was anxiety-provoking nevertheless (mainly due to hardly ever knowing what was going on and receiving no updates!). So sending well wishes and a huge good luck to everyone still waiting. It does strike me that the whole house buying process over here is mad. Surely there's got to be a slightly less stressful way?!

Really pleased for you - congratulations 🥳 x

Boredfatman

What a stressful day.

We were told yesterday that everyone was 100% ready to exchange today. So of course, no sleep last night, bag of nerves all day today, only to find out that the top of the chain are missing a completion certificate!!!

Now I’m told that we should still be able to exchange tomorrow with completion next Friday but I have little faith in anything I’m told now. 

I honestly think that once we have moved I’m going to be ill with depression. This process slowly breaks you and there is nothing you can do about it when you are the bottom of the chain, other than pull out but that will leave us homeless within 4 weeks.

I am going to try not to chase tomorrow and just let everyone do their thing whilst I sit in the corner and rock back and forth…

goodwithsaving

Stick with it @Boredfatman. Once moved, I expect you will feel relieved and sleep very well..

I was sent contracts (not TR1s yet) to sign today. That's a good sign, right? I still have my buyer doing an (unrequired) mining report and need to find a guarantee for them too. I'm rather hoping my solicitor wouldn't have sent it if she didn't think it would be okay. It's far from my first time buying and selling but in all honestly, I have forgotten about the signing part a bit.

TheScone

Congratulations to all who are exchanging and I hope things start to move for those waiting!

We got our mortgage offer today so that feels like a massive step in the right direction. Tomorrow will be 3 weeks since our offer was accepted, so things seem to be plodding along well! 

Now the dreaded wait for searches…