The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

hpsauce86

t1redmonkey said:

hpsauce86 said:

t1redmonkey said:

babyblade41 said:

t1redmonkey said:

Maybe I'm being impatient but I had an offer accepted 2 weeks ago, seller hasn't found a place to move into yet, and said they aren't willing to proceed with my purchase until they do find a place.  Should I be worried?  Not really sure how long to give it before looking for a different property, since obviously there's a danger I wait months for them to find something, then they don't and just cancel the whole thing.

Keep looking at other properties whilst the offer is on the table , they don't sound a very committed seller

Apparently the seller has had one buyer pull out a few months ago because they got tired of waiting (the seller herself told me this), so hoping it isn't the same again, but need to be prepared for that possibility I guess.  I'm just going to be really annoyed if she does that with me since I'm paying for a level 3 survey which is taking place next week so that's money down the drain if that happens.

Don’t get the survey done until she’s in a position to proceed and has found a house and had her offer accepted. So many people on here have paid for that and lost that money, as well as solicitors money. Find a solicitor but tell them to action no work until the sale can progress. 

Good suggestion actually...I have half done that already, but only with my solicitor (I told them not to commence any searches til I had confirmation the seller had found a place).  But I guess it makes sense to pause the survey as well.  Thanks will think about that and give them a call in the morning perhaps to ask to delay it.

Have a scroll back through this thread. It’s happened to so many people. Until the chain is complete you should pay a penny out. Keep chasing and keeping looking at other houses. I think you might be outside the timeline for home buyers insurance but you can get that which will cover any costs you pay for if the house doesn’t go through. But my advice would absolutely be don’t pay for anything yet unless you have money to burn. 😊

NicolaFranks

Down to the final stages……solicitor told us Friday that we are unlikely to exchange / complete by 24th (next Tuesday) when our mortgage offer runs out!  Today our mortgage broker told us HSBC do not tend to extend mortgages and we would have to do a new application.  The rate we have from November is 1.4% and the rate now is 2.something which means circa £180 extra per month 

solicitor had told us that the “final documents” we being sent out to us to arrive tomorrow (our buyer has had there’s not sure if they have further up the chain) 

is it feasible to exchange / complete by next Tuesday or should be just pull out now ?

riotlady

Hello joining in if that’s ok as we are now waiting to exchange (although our solicitor just told me quite snottily “solicitors don’t talk about exchange, just completion”)

We’re first time buyers and I’m honestly getting stressed out by the whole process now. Originally were told by the vendors that they couldn’t move until end of July so had planned for that date, then out of the blue on a Friday afternoon I got an email saying they wanted to complete on the 16th May

I didn’t think we’d manage it that quick, (just over a week including the weekend) especially with LISA funds needing to be withdrawn, so I suggested the 23rd. I’ve been running around trying to make that happen for them, but they haven’t confirmed the date yet as they can’t find a rental, so no idea what’s happening now. And it turns out the solicitors won’t submit the LISA request without a firm completion date anyway, so I don’t know why I bothered! 

Lucky we are in rented and have no chain so I’m just going to have to wait it out until the sellers decide what they’re doing. 

Durban

mpa91 said:

Durban said:

We were told by our estate agent on listing our leasehold flat to apply for and pay for the Management Pack asap as they can be very slow.

As soon as we received an offer , I ordered and paid for the Management Pack.  It still took weeks to arrive even though I was told 7 - 10 working days.  I had to continuously chase it up.

Unfortunately , if you have only today paid for the Management Pack 6 weeks after receiving an offer , you have a good while to go yet.  Leasehold buying and selling does normally take longer and as well as the usual enquires there will be more on a leasehold property

Thanks @Durban. There were different fees that we could pay depending on the length of time it will take for the pack to be provided. We chose the middle option (5 working days) so fingers crossed we get it in that timeframe. 

Would I be wrong in raising a complaint with our solicitor, given that the request is only going in 5+ weeks after we accepted our buyers offer? 

To be honest , I can’t see what raising a complaint would really achieve. It won’t make it go any quicker unfortunately. 

Hopefully other enquires will be raised from searches etc whilst waiting for the management pack. 

I did say to my solicitor that if the management company were slow in their responses to let me know and I would chase them up myself. This actually worked well. 

Good luck. 

Durban

My solicitor has told me today that he thinks that the only thing they are now waiting for is for the buyer to receive, sign and send back the contract with deposit and then we can discuss completion date and exchange 

Last week on Monday I was told by the sales progression team that the buyers solicitors were reviewing the file to do their report to send to buyer 

Last Wednesday I was told by my solicitor that the buyers solicitors were in the process of sending out the report to buyer 

Friday buyer still not received report and not sure if she has now. 

Hopefully coming to an end 

secla

around 9-10 week from offer accepted and out solicitor still hasn't received draft contracts
Contacted estate agent last week and vendor is elderly and apparently struggling with some of the paperwork so they went and helped her out and got it all to the solicitor. Hopefully things will start moving along a bit quicker in the next few weeks

hpsauce86

NicolaFranks said:

Down to the final stages……solicitor told us Friday that we are unlikely to exchange / complete by 24th (next Tuesday) when our mortgage offer runs out!  Today our mortgage broker told us HSBC do not tend to extend mortgages and we would have to do a new application.  The rate we have from November is 1.4% and the rate now is 2.something which means circa £180 extra per month 

solicitor had told us that the “final documents” we being sent out to us to arrive tomorrow (our buyer has had there’s not sure if they have further up the chain) 

is it feasible to exchange / complete by next Tuesday or should be just pull out now ?

You might manage it. I don’t see why you’d pull out after waiting since November! Can you afford the extra £180 a month on the mortgage? 

Keep sticking with it and see if you can get it across the line by the 24th, let your solicitor know your concerns one more time, as well as the estate agent. I’m sure they will do their best to meet the date you need, if not then back out (and waste the costs you’ve already spent), or speak to your broker and get a new mortgage at a slightly higher rate (still a very decent rate!) 

good luck! 

natasha22

hpsauce86 said:

natasha22 said:

stormpassing said:

natasha22 said:

Tentively stepping over as ftb without a chain

We offered on 14th of March, increased our offer on 15th after some negotiation which was accepted

Solicitors instructed on 18th March 

Mortgage offer back on 25th March 

We got our Draft contract on 24th March but are waiting for responses to some questions/ bits they forgot to fill in completely 

Our solicitor is waiting on responses to searches and enquiries but I've no idea which ones. 

Our survey is taking place today which I'm nervous about

It felt like everything was zooming along the first few weeks but has slowed a lot now

Hi @natasha22, how are you getting on.

My timeline seems similar to yours. I’m also a FTB, learning as I go.

I viewed the house in the 16th March. Offer accepted 17th March. Mortgage applied for 18th March.

Solicitor instructed 17th March and initial pack from them filled in and returned over the next 2 weeks.

Survey was 8th April, house downvalued by 5k. Seller accepts new price and mortgage offer 20th April. Meanwhile searches started on the 19th April.

Contact with solicitor last week. 1 search outstanding. No other paperwork received from sol. I have no idea whether any enquiries have been raised. I know they are in receipt of the draught contract.

Will call again next week to see if search is back. Other than that I have no clue if I should be doing anything else yet.

I’ve read this thread from start to finish. So helpful and informative. Good luck to everyone waiting to exchange.

Urg its a slog!
We had our survey back and there was nothing too horrendous (although still lots to do!)
Weve had some checks completed by a son of a friend so theres been some frustrating hold ups because although we are still paying, it feels harder to chase!

Frustratingly it turns out that responses that we have been chasing for 6 weeks + have simply been sat with our solicitors it seems. Part of this has been boundary related issues which it turns out our solicitor could have told us all along as she has the map but hasnt given it to us!
The seller (who works for the firm thats her solicitor) has missed several bits of the sellers pack that needs chasing again. ITs frustrating as if they had of given us these earlier (god knows how long our solicitor has had them!) then we could have probably had the amendments back by now

Weve asked to exchange next week, but looks unlikely. Due to needing to follow the calendar of our rental house, if we dont give notice next week then we will have to move late july.

Feels to risky to give our notice without exchanging though...

Yours sounds exactly like mine! We have to give notice by 27th of may though to move end of June. We’ve been told our vendors house will definitely be ready end of may. So annoying! I just want to exchange so we are locked in and we can start planning stuff. The waiting is painful. 

I think our vendor is delaying to time with school holidays personally, but I hope they let us know by the 27th so we can be in for June. 

Keep us updated with the move, is it worth speaking to the letting agent to tell them the situation? We have told ours as they tried to make us sign another 12 months, but we’ve been on a rolling tenancy for 6 years, so we told them what the situation was and to be honest as we’ve lived here a while they’ve said they might be able to give us a bit of leeway because they’ll need to fix it up a bit before they let it out again. Plus they’ll want to get it rented quickly as it’s being remediated and will be covered in scaffolding, and they are dark flats as it is.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you, all you can do is tell people your situation and make sure all people are aware. Doesn’t help when there’s so many bank holidays, not that I am complaining! 😊

We are hopefully exchanging today. Feels odd that after two years of house hunting something concrete is happening.
My partner has been very laid back and optimistic about the whole thing, and I've been more cautious. Every time we've spoken about moving I've always added in a "hopefully" caveat. Will be nice to feel more certain. 

hpsauce86

natasha22 said:

hpsauce86 said:

natasha22 said:

stormpassing said:

natasha22 said:

Tentively stepping over as ftb without a chain

We offered on 14th of March, increased our offer on 15th after some negotiation which was accepted

Solicitors instructed on 18th March 

Mortgage offer back on 25th March 

We got our Draft contract on 24th March but are waiting for responses to some questions/ bits they forgot to fill in completely 

Our solicitor is waiting on responses to searches and enquiries but I've no idea which ones. 

Our survey is taking place today which I'm nervous about

It felt like everything was zooming along the first few weeks but has slowed a lot now

Hi @natasha22, how are you getting on.

My timeline seems similar to yours. I’m also a FTB, learning as I go.

I viewed the house in the 16th March. Offer accepted 17th March. Mortgage applied for 18th March.

Solicitor instructed 17th March and initial pack from them filled in and returned over the next 2 weeks.

Survey was 8th April, house downvalued by 5k. Seller accepts new price and mortgage offer 20th April. Meanwhile searches started on the 19th April.

Contact with solicitor last week. 1 search outstanding. No other paperwork received from sol. I have no idea whether any enquiries have been raised. I know they are in receipt of the draught contract.

Will call again next week to see if search is back. Other than that I have no clue if I should be doing anything else yet.

I’ve read this thread from start to finish. So helpful and informative. Good luck to everyone waiting to exchange.

Urg its a slog!
We had our survey back and there was nothing too horrendous (although still lots to do!)
Weve had some checks completed by a son of a friend so theres been some frustrating hold ups because although we are still paying, it feels harder to chase!

Frustratingly it turns out that responses that we have been chasing for 6 weeks + have simply been sat with our solicitors it seems. Part of this has been boundary related issues which it turns out our solicitor could have told us all along as she has the map but hasnt given it to us!
The seller (who works for the firm thats her solicitor) has missed several bits of the sellers pack that needs chasing again. ITs frustrating as if they had of given us these earlier (god knows how long our solicitor has had them!) then we could have probably had the amendments back by now

Weve asked to exchange next week, but looks unlikely. Due to needing to follow the calendar of our rental house, if we dont give notice next week then we will have to move late july.

Feels to risky to give our notice without exchanging though...

Yours sounds exactly like mine! We have to give notice by 27th of may though to move end of June. We’ve been told our vendors house will definitely be ready end of may. So annoying! I just want to exchange so we are locked in and we can start planning stuff. The waiting is painful. 

I think our vendor is delaying to time with school holidays personally, but I hope they let us know by the 27th so we can be in for June. 

Keep us updated with the move, is it worth speaking to the letting agent to tell them the situation? We have told ours as they tried to make us sign another 12 months, but we’ve been on a rolling tenancy for 6 years, so we told them what the situation was and to be honest as we’ve lived here a while they’ve said they might be able to give us a bit of leeway because they’ll need to fix it up a bit before they let it out again. Plus they’ll want to get it rented quickly as it’s being remediated and will be covered in scaffolding, and they are dark flats as it is.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you, all you can do is tell people your situation and make sure all people are aware. Doesn’t help when there’s so many bank holidays, not that I am complaining! 😊

We are hopefully exchanging today. Feels odd that after two years of house hunting something concrete is happening.
My partner has been very laid back and optimistic about the whole thing, and I've been more cautious. Every time we've spoken about moving I've always added in a "hopefully" caveat. Will be nice to feel more certain. 

Yay! Congrats! It’s exciting! We aren’t there yet but I’m staying positive for next week. 

Your partner sounds like me, my partner is the cautious one. We’ve been looking for 3 years now, it’s a hard slog isn’t it! 

Let us know how it goes today, once you’ve exchanged you can start getting excited and planning your new home, hope it’s perfect for you both and you make many happy memories ☺️

livdawsonn

Mkk298 said:

Emailed our solicitor who just said we’re waiting on responses to enquiries and they’ve already chased once. They were sent 3 weeks ago so I’m hoping we won’t be waiting too much longer. 

Exactly the same as me.. sent on the 25th solicitors have chased few times and I have asked EA as well but had nothing back. Quite concerned because these were the first enquiries and after reading them they’re all basic yes/no answers so really don’t get what the hold up is. Maybe dragging heels but not sure why? Hopefully you get to exchange soon