The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

rose_T

I may actually get my house before Xmas 🎄🙌

we were due to settle on the 23rd July 3 days before settlement we found out that an old standard security registered to the title. This was just paperwork as the mortgage was paid of in 94-5 but never discharged. 

So we delayed until the venders solicitor finally received confirmation of discharge last week. I thought a week 2 max and everything would be done and dusted. 

I emailed my solicitor ( new one, as my original has had to take early maternity) so I find it harder to communicate, anyway he replied back saying other side is now talking of securing a settlement date and my solicitor has suggested mid December! Baring in mind I told him the previous week my mortgage offer expires on the 9th December! 

I replied back saying this again on Tuesday but I haven’t heard back from him. Thinking of phoning him tomorrow to see what he says just so I can contact my broker to see if he can get an extension. 

I would of thought they would have had all the paperwork in place from the first time and all that was needed was the later of discharge and happy days! Don’t know why he needs around another 3-4 weeks. 

Hoping Halifax agrees to an extension cause I can’t be bothered with the hassle of getting all the paperwork ready for another application. But I have noticed when I do a mortgage comparison that they are now offering lower rates since I applied in may. 

Moneybear

My solicitor firm are still offline due to the security incident. I've emailed the estate agent to let them and the vendor know. I can move to a new firm if needed but I am only waiting for them to reply to enquiries my solicitor sent weeks ago. Hoping I have some good news soon. 

Hebblethwaite

LizaVCook said:

Have you replied saying there isn’t a conservatory and that if she/he’s referring to the rear porch,then surely it’s within permitted development? It seems that sometimes solicitors raise enquiries that we don’t need raising (and quite often don’t raise the enquiries that we really do want looking into!)

I most certainly have! I even measured it on Google Maps satellite images to check it was less than 3m2. My solicitor is not very communicative though, and I never know if things are moving forward or not. For example, she mentioned today that there's still been no evidence of the grant of probate for my vendor's husband's estate. Well, the grant was issued 10 days ago and the online copy became available to download 2 days ago. I've forwarded my copy to my solicitor. However, rather than saying, "Great, this is what we needed" or, "Thanks for trying you legal-illiterate, but I actually need a certified copy from the vendor's solicitors", I just get something like an, "Okay, thanks" that may have related to the grant, or to the clarification about the porch, or maybe to both.

I don't even know what the outstanding query regarding the "conservatory" is - so maybe it's not about planning permission at all.

Still, she didn't scoff at the idea of completion in early December, so hopefully it could happen.

Hebblethwaite

@rose_T, my original mortgage offer was from TSB but was due to expire on December 1st, so I submitted an application with Halifax to try and avoid any sudden delays from my end. The rate is a little better and it's given me the opportunity to put down a bigger deposit (40% rather than 35%) as I've been able to save quite a bit more money since my offer was accepted in May. I've also shortened the term to 25 years rather than the original 30 years my broker went for (why, I know not, as the repayments over 25 years are very affordable for me). It's definitely made good financial sense for me to put a new application in and my offer came back within 24 hours. I was a pretty straightforward case (good LTV, only borrowing about half my maximum, long record with Halifax, nothing weird about the house) but if they have already made you an offer and your circumstances haven't changed, I would think you would get a pretty speedy response as well. It might be worth getting an application in now if you think it's likely that you'll complete after your current offer expires. I'm certainly glad that I did.

paulj2021

Frustrating! Been waiting a month for solicitor to sort out an issue relating to a covenant on the house which no one knew about, with others in the chain getting impatient and the buyers solicitor talking about indemnity insurance and all sorts of messages backwards and forwards - Finally found out that the covenant was 150+ years old and it was for the epic matter of.. making sure the garden fence was not more than 6ft high!  (It isn’t) You’d think that common sense would kick in and we could avoid such time wasting, but anyhow, onward and upward!

groovychick69

OMG reading the last few pages has really depressed me!!
I'm in the process of splitting with my husband - everything amicable at the moment - (still very early days) but we are living in the same house. I have found and had an offer accepted on a house - husband is keeping the house and buying me out so no chain my end - my seller wasn't able to look until they had sold so they are now desperately looking but their EA doubts they will find anything this side of xmas and EA has already said they wont break the chain.
am i right in thinking from reading this and the lengths of time mentioned from other peoples experiences that i'm likely to still be in my "married home" in April!!! 
i've only bought 1 house previously and there was no chain!

stillwaiting1

groovychick69 said:

OMG reading the last few pages has really depressed me!!
I'm in the process of splitting with my husband - everything amicable at the moment - (still very early days) but we are living in the same house. I have found and had an offer accepted on a house - husband is keeping the house and buying me out so no chain my end - my seller wasn't able to look until they had sold so they are now desperately looking but their EA doubts they will find anything this side of xmas and EA has already said they wont break the chain.
am i right in thinking from reading this and the lengths of time mentioned from other peoples experiences that i'm likely to still be in my "married home" in April!!! 
i've only bought 1 house previously and there was no chain!

My purchase is chain free, the vendors don't even live in the property and we got our offer accepted in June. Its the solicitors on both sides of the purchase that are taking their times, constantly need nudging to do anything and don't tell us anything until the last minute but with us being first time buyers we don't know any of the process so just have to sit and wait.

LizaVCook

Hebblethwaite said:

 I just get something like an, "Okay, thanks" that may have related to the grant, or to the clarification about the porch, or maybe to both.

This is absolutely what my solicitor does too. Maybe it’s the first thing they learn at conveyancing school- to send the shortest most infuriatingly ambiguous emails possible!

LizaVCook

So, continuing with the culvert saga- we’ve asked the vendors to get it surveyed and provide evidence it’s in good condition. The law states the culvert is the land owner’s responsibility so I think they should be putting our mind at ease. Plus they’ve built an extension pretty close up to it. Well the response we have (from the EA) is “it’s just a manhole cover in the garden, the vendor says you can go and look at it.”!! Err no, it’s a 6m deep pipe and is 1.2m wide (according to NW drainage maps). 

Our solicitor agrees with us, that the vendors should get it surveyed,  but I just know that they are going to refuse to and would rather lose the sale. I’m so fed up. We have serviced our boiler, got our elecs  surveyed, fixed our back fence, dropped our house price by £5k etc to keep our buyers happy (we still lost 3 buyers anyway though) yet our vendors have refused to bend either way, plus we have offered well-over the asking price (because I love the house and we went to best and final offer) and then we discovered they’re even taking all the curtain poles! Lol. So now am thinking that the least they could do is put our mind at rest about this blooming great big pipe under the garden (that we knew nothing of when we offered on the property)!! 

Rant. 

haiderali12

Hi everyone i'm due to complete tomorrow but my solictor still has not sent me a statement for remaining balance i have to transfer her. 
I have never been this nervous all my life, i just hope everything goes
smoothly and my solictor can send across the final statement.