The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

TXC

No41edwardianhouse said:

TXC said:

Due to complete in just over a week with no sign of an exchshge date yet and two bank hols in the middle of that! Starting to panic now - seller is asking me to push my solicitors but I'm not sure what for, surely as my bit is done and money is handed over, contract signed and desired date communicated its up to the solicitors higher up the chain now (I'm bottom) 

When you say exchange date? Is this something that is normally set? We’ve never had a formal exchange date set in the four times we’ve done this. This time we’ve tentatively said we’d try for exchange on Wednesday but it doesn’t seem to be set in stone?! 

I've no idea tbh! I'm ftb and very green behind the ears! I always thought solicitors would give you the heads up that they were going to exchange but I'd be more than happy to just receive a phone call that it's done, it's the not knowing and the fact I know there's a 5 day lead time to get the bank funds and I'm not hearing anything that is panicking me

No41edwardianhouse

TXC said:

No41edwardianhouse said:

TXC said:

Due to complete in just over a week with no sign of an exchshge date yet and two bank hols in the middle of that! Starting to panic now - seller is asking me to push my solicitors but I'm not sure what for, surely as my bit is done and money is handed over, contract signed and desired date communicated its up to the solicitors higher up the chain now (I'm bottom) 

When you say exchange date? Is this something that is normally set? We’ve never had a formal exchange date set in the four times we’ve done this. This time we’ve tentatively said we’d try for exchange on Wednesday but it doesn’t seem to be set in stone?! 

I've no idea tbh! I'm ftb and very green behind the ears! I always thought solicitors would give you the heads up that they were going to exchange but I'd be more than happy to just receive a phone call that it's done, it's the not knowing and the fact I know there's a 5 day lead time to get the bank funds and I'm not hearing anything that is panicking me

Yup. Limbo land here too. I’d also not mind having a phone call to say it’s done. Trying to remember what happened when we did this 6 years ago last. 

Slithery

TXC said:

No41edwardianhouse said:

TXC said:

Due to complete in just over a week with no sign of an exchshge date yet and two bank hols in the middle of that! Starting to panic now - seller is asking me to push my solicitors but I'm not sure what for, surely as my bit is done and money is handed over, contract signed and desired date communicated its up to the solicitors higher up the chain now (I'm bottom) 

When you say exchange date? Is this something that is normally set? We’ve never had a formal exchange date set in the four times we’ve done this. This time we’ve tentatively said we’d try for exchange on Wednesday but it doesn’t seem to be set in stone?! 

I've no idea tbh! I'm ftb and very green behind the ears! I always thought solicitors would give you the heads up that they were going to exchange but I'd be more than happy to just receive a phone call that it's done, it's the not knowing and the fact I know there's a 5 day lead time to get the bank funds and I'm not hearing anything that is panicking me

The solicitors have to ring you on the day to confirm that you're OK to exchange.

[Deleted User]

No41edwardianhouse said:

TXC said:

No41edwardianhouse said:

TXC said:

Due to complete in just over a week with no sign of an exchshge date yet and two bank hols in the middle of that! Starting to panic now - seller is asking me to push my solicitors but I'm not sure what for, surely as my bit is done and money is handed over, contract signed and desired date communicated its up to the solicitors higher up the chain now (I'm bottom) 

When you say exchange date? Is this something that is normally set? We’ve never had a formal exchange date set in the four times we’ve done this. This time we’ve tentatively said we’d try for exchange on Wednesday but it doesn’t seem to be set in stone?! 

I've no idea tbh! I'm ftb and very green behind the ears! I always thought solicitors would give you the heads up that they were going to exchange but I'd be more than happy to just receive a phone call that it's done, it's the not knowing and the fact I know there's a 5 day lead time to get the bank funds and I'm not hearing anything that is panicking me

Yup. Limbo land here too. I’d also not mind having a phone call to say it’s done. Trying to remember what happened when we did this 6 years ago last. 

@No41edwardianhouse we always had a first date that we aimed for as an exchange day but it always seems to get pushed back by a day/two/three from previous experience.

What I did this time that really seemed to help was once it was confirmed by our solicitors that exchange was imminent that week from the first day they were looking to attempt exchange I emailed each morning first thing copying my husband in stating that we gave our permission in writing for exchange to be attempted that day. We continued that over a few days (we'd let our solicitors know in advance we would do this) so we didn't miss any phone calls requesting permission or have crossed wires. It worked brilliantly as ironically we were in the vets with our dog when exchange actually happened and of all the times - we would have missed the call! Instead we came out to an answerphone message that we had exchanged contracts.

Desperatehousemove

Hi, just joining and hoping it'll be our turn next!

We're in a fairly small chain, only 3 parties which ends in a cash buyer. Everything has been done, searches, mortgages, enquiries answered. All parties have agreed that the 29th of April would be the best date for us to move. I emailled our solicitors yesterday to ask if this would be ok for their workload, currently awaiting an answer!

TXC

According to solicitors we are looking to exchange tomorrow with a completion date of 21st! funds have been requested from lender so wish me luck!!

Mkk298

So at 7 weeks post offer acceptance we are plodding along very slowly but yesterday we received a copy of the draft contract pack and all documents filled in by the sellers. We were also supposed to receive a copy of the enquiries sent (the cover letter said they were enclosed) but it wasn’t there! I’ve emailed my solicitors so I’ll hopefully get a reply soon. I’m hoping to complete in the 27th May which leaves 6 weeks for the enquiries.. might be a bit optimistic but it’s an arbitrary date really, just so I can use the bank holidays to get a week off using less annual leave🤣 Hopefully I’ll get there eventually. 

Chloe27895

Hi, just joining this thread. We are FTB, mortgage offer received, survey done, searches back. Now we're just waiting for the conveyancer to check the last few enquiries he has received replies for yesterday and to release the funds from my lifetime ISA for the deposit. The vendor and estate agent want to complete "early next week" and we'd love to, but our conveyancer says he won't be looking at anything until next week as I assume he is busy...

Currently very frustrated as I sent my form to withdraw the lifetime ISA 3 weeks ago and he was going to do the same with his form but he didn't, saying that you can only hold it for 90 days, but there was never been any concern of us not exchanging in 90 days from then as there is no chain. I've mentioned it twice since in our emails and not got any straight answer back on if he'd sent it or not, now it turns out he still hasn't sent it. Apparently it can take 10 working days + to withdraw that ISA so that's next week's goal out the window and the week after looks unlikely also that will take us past our next month's rent and mean we're paying out a whole extra month's rent on our current flat, very frustrating

TXC

Chloe27895 said:

Hi, just joining this thread. We are FTB, mortgage offer received, survey done, searches back. Now we're just waiting for the conveyancer to check the last few enquiries he has received replies for yesterday and to release the funds from my lifetime ISA for the deposit. The vendor and estate agent want to complete "early next week" and we'd love to, but our conveyancer says he won't be looking at anything until next week as I assume he is busy...

Currently very frustrated as I sent my form to withdraw the lifetime ISA 3 weeks ago and he was going to do the same with his form but he didn't, saying that you can only hold it for 90 days, but there was never been any concern of us not exchanging in 90 days from then as there is no chain. I've mentioned it twice since in our emails and not got any straight answer back on if he'd sent it or not, now it turns out he still hasn't sent it. Apparently it can take 10 working days + to withdraw that ISA so that's next week's goal out the window and the week after looks unlikely also that will take us past our next month's rent and mean we're paying out a whole extra month's rent on our current flat, very frustrating

Really feel for you, trying to co ordinate so many moving parts to come together is utterly impossible isn't it! The system needs a good shake up. What I've learnt is things will go as fast as they will go. I know its easier said than done but try not to hold on to any calendar dates or youll just stress yourself out more. The next months rent is really frustrating but the old adage "do you want it done quick or right" really applies! Once you're in you won't even remember that anymore.

hanate

FTB, I reserved a new build back in January and going through the Help To Buy process. A lot of time was lost waiting on mortgage valuation, enquiries and with the Help to Buy processes

I'm currently very stressed out since the developer can pull out and re-list the property at anytime after the end of April (t&cs of reservation agreement). I just hope I can exchange before then (not looking likely 😔). Curiously, the developers did chase to see if we could exchange before the end of the financial year. But, they backed off when they knew we couldn't. They haven't chased since then

Getting Authority to Exchange from HTB seems to be the sticking point at the moment. Unfortunately, each time they request an amendment to form 1, it has to be resubmitted which isn't ideal as they take three working days to process it

Current timeline:
- Property Reservation - 25/01/22
- Help to Buy PIF - 01/02/22
- Help to Buy ATP - 04/02/22
- Mortgage Application - 07/02/22
- Searches Applied - 07/02/22
- Enquiries Raised - 09/02/22
- Searches Returned - 17/02/22 
- Mortgage Valuation - 18/02/22
- Redo Help to Buy PIF (Developer's fault) - 23/02/22
- Mortgage Offer - 28/02/22
- Help to Buy ATP (2) - 01/03/22
- Solicitor Contacts HTB for Portal Access - 01/03/22
- Selected some optional extras (couldn't put off longer, house was very near first fix) - 06/03/22 
- Solicitor gains access to HTB portal - 23/03/22
- Redo Help to Buy PIF (Partially my fault, didn't know the mortgage amount meant after fees) - 23/03/22
- Enquiries Satisfied - 23/03/22
- Help to Buy ATP (3) - 29/03/22
- Solicitor submits Form 1 to Help to Buy - 30/03/22
- Solicitor's report, contract, searches, enquiries, etc - 30/03/22
- Help to Buy requests amendments to Form 1 - 04/04/22
- Contract and TP1 returned to solicitor - 05/04/22
- Solicitor re-submits form1 with amendments - 08/04/22
- Help to Buy requests one more amendment - 13/04/22