The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

E_D_FTB

@Octothorpe - exciting! So nice to see someone completing this week!

Cookie211

Otb21 said:

We have found this forum incredibly useful and insightful dealing with issues we had not dealt with before so posting our (very longwinded!) story so anyone else in a similar position may find useful. 

Here's our story so far... 

November 2020 - Accepted offer from buyer on our house
November 2020 - Found house to buy, completed the chain as seller was chain free
December 2020 - April 2021 - lots of legal issues with land and boundaries uncovered during conveyancing process
April 2021 - Pulled out of purchase, sold house and moved. 

During the attempted purchase of this house we encountered a very difficult seller who would not even communicate with his own estate agents. It got to the point that the branch manager had to hand deliver a written letter to the property to try and establish what was going on. The land issues mentioned above were one thing, but we looked at it like a problem that could be solved and agreed we would still buy the property if the land issues were legally rectified first. During these months other smaller (but significant issues in our eyes) came to light. For example, the documents provided for the boiler were actually for another house (so nothing to do with the boiler we were actually buying...). The seller accused us of fussing when we politely asked if he could send his solicitor any docs for the boiler in the house we were actually buying. We paid for a full structural survey but the surveyor couldn't even get into the two outbuildings or the roof, even though they had called previously to discuss access requirements. After many, many weeks of attempting to establish what was going on we made the difficult decision to give it until a certain date and if we hadn't been updated at that point, then we would pull out. We ended up pulling out, it sold again within days but by the looks of it, it still hasn't gone through for the new buyers. 

We then moved away from the South East, expecting a much less intense though equally buoyant market due to Covid and stamp duty hols, etc. We started looking in our area and houses were being listed on Rightmove and sold within 20 minutes by people who knew the streets and the houses and did not want to 'waste time' viewing the property. Madness! 

We eventually found a property that ticked most (but not all) of our boxes. An intense (or so we are led to believe) bidding war commenced over the course of a few days to a week. We eventually confirmed that we had secured the property and we were thrilled. 

In June 2020 we once again started the mortgage application process, instructed new solicitors and began the process again. Everything was going fine until the in-person valuation came back nearly 110k less than the agreed purchase price. This instantly derailed the purchase and though we think that 110k less is probably not completely accurate, we do agree that the original purchase price was way over estimated by the estate agents. We revised our offer, giving it one last chance, and the seller agreed this would work for them. In the meantime, the house they were purchasing fell through, so it has taken close to a month for the chain to be complete again but we are hoping that we can finally move forward with this purchase now. 

We keep hearing estate agents and others tell us how good our position is (chain free, nothing to sell, etc) but the market is absolutely crazy at the moment. 

Best of luck with everyone's continued transactions 

Wow I thought I had a rough time but reading what u have been through and how long u have been on this horrible journey I really hope u get to exchange soon 🤞🤞🤞

mooncake89

Can I ask, for those of you who have exchanged or in terms of previous property purchases... how long after exchange has it typically taken for you to have sent over to your solicitor the remaining balance for the property?

We exchanged a week ago and are due to complete this Friday and have wanted to pay our money in as soon as possible (40% of the house's value, minus the exchange deposit), but we're still waiting on the financial statement from our solicitor (they were on annual and then sick leave, so somebody else exchanged for us but then we didn't hear from anyone about what was to happen next). Can't help but be increasingly anxious that if there is a problem with the transfer of this huge amount of money from the bank we have an increasingly tiny window of time to sort it out! 

WorriedKirkels

mooncake89 said:

Can I ask, for those of you who have exchanged or in terms of previous property purchases... how long after exchange has it typically taken for you to have sent over to your solicitor the remaining balance for the property?

We exchanged a week ago and are due to complete this Friday and have wanted to pay our money in as soon as possible (40% of the house's value, minus the exchange deposit), but we're still waiting on the financial statement from our solicitor (they were on annual and then sick leave, so somebody else exchanged for us but then we didn't hear from anyone about what was to happen next). Can't help but be increasingly anxious that if there is a problem with the transfer of this huge amount of money from the bank we have an increasingly tiny window of time to sort it out! 

I think you should be pushing it as if I was in your shoes I would be worried too x

nebula18

We should have been exchanging and completing today, all packed and van hired and then on Monday was told today wouldn't happen as the solicitor at the top of the chain was on holiday. Said solicitor was back at work yesterday and we haven't had any kind of response yet about setting a new date as soon as possible. I'm tempted to threaten to pull out and collapse the chain out of spite since I'm so furious. Maybe that will kick the solicitor up the bum to have the decency to respond. 

E_D_FTB

@nebula18 that's so rubbish, I'm so sorry. Solicitors being on holiday and there being no one else picking up their work seems to be a common theme for delays on here. You think they'd have a solution where all the cases that solicitor is managing don't just stall out whenever they're on holiday! And surely they should have known they would be on leave when the dates were proposed?!

mooncake89

WorriedKirkels said:

mooncake89 said:

Can I ask, for those of you who have exchanged or in terms of previous property purchases... how long after exchange has it typically taken for you to have sent over to your solicitor the remaining balance for the property?

We exchanged a week ago and are due to complete this Friday and have wanted to pay our money in as soon as possible (40% of the house's value, minus the exchange deposit), but we're still waiting on the financial statement from our solicitor (they were on annual and then sick leave, so somebody else exchanged for us but then we didn't hear from anyone about what was to happen next). Can't help but be increasingly anxious that if there is a problem with the transfer of this huge amount of money from the bank we have an increasingly tiny window of time to sort it out! 

I think you should be pushing it as if I was in your shoes I would be worried too x

Thankfully our solicitor is now back and I've been told after chasing that he is working on the financial statement and we should receive it soon. I had thought that once we'd reached exchange we could relax a bit but until the money issue is all sorted the anxiety is still ongoing

nebula18

E_D_FTB said:

@nebula18 that's so rubbish, I'm so sorry. Solicitors being on holiday and there being no one else picking up their work seems to be a common theme for delays on here. You think they'd have a solution where all the cases that solicitor is managing don't just stall out whenever they're on holiday! And surely they should have known they would be on leave when the dates were proposed?!

Thank you. I have no idea why there was such a lack of communication about the holiday, surely we should have found this out when we proposed the 18th 2 weeks ago, not 2 days before!

E_D_FTB

nebula18 said:

E_D_FTB said:

@nebula18 that's so rubbish, I'm so sorry. Solicitors being on holiday and there being no one else picking up their work seems to be a common theme for delays on here. You think they'd have a solution where all the cases that solicitor is managing don't just stall out whenever they're on holiday! And surely they should have known they would be on leave when the dates were proposed?!

Thank you. I have no idea why there was such a lack of communication about the holiday, surely we should have found this out when we proposed the 18th 2 weeks ago, not 2 days before!

Exactly! Unless solicitors only take holiday at the very last minute, they should check their calendar whenever exchange/completion dates are proposed so this sort of thing doesn't happen.

[Deleted User]

Our deposit comes straight out of the sale of the existing house so is paid on completion
all fun and games