The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

RM_2013

EndlessStruggle said:

My sale is still going ahead even though I've pulled out of purchase.

I spoke to the EA I am selling with and she sort of apologised as in our last conversation she had sort of implied it was my solicitor that was being problematic.

My solicitor showed them the receipts after I guess having a similar conversation.

7 times she has sent this same thing over and they've told the EA they haven't got it so the EA had to have a frank discussion with the buyer about where the delays were. 

It seems they have given their solicitors a kick up the b too. Hoping we can be done before Christmas.

Really hope you can complete your sale soon.  We had a similar situation with buyers solicitor asking for thing several times

ironlady2022

1616six said:

Congrats!

We are literally waiting to exchange any day, I’m trying to hold off on some things we want to buy to not tempt fate but with BF this week there are some great offers! We sold our ride on mower as the new place has a much more conventional size garden - there’s a cordless electric one I’ve been planning to buy for £239.99 and it’s £92 now.. don’t know whether to risk it!

Order it, cos I'm sure you can get refund if not

1616six

ironlady2022 said:

1616six said:

Congrats!

We are literally waiting to exchange any day, I’m trying to hold off on some things we want to buy to not tempt fate but with BF this week there are some great offers! We sold our ride on mower as the new place has a much more conventional size garden - there’s a cordless electric one I’ve been planning to buy for £239.99 and it’s £92 now.. don’t know whether to risk it!

Order it, cos I'm sure you can get refund if not

I’ve done it, I’ve told myself to stop being so pessimistic about it all 😂

1616six

Just had an email from our solicitor to confirm she’s happy with everything and we are ready to go, she’s contacted the vendors solicitor to confirm and said she’ll come back to me once they have to get authority to exchange.

Bloody hope they’re on the ball too, they know we wanted to exchange by the end of the month. 

HWBY

Spoke to our solicitor yesterday, things are nearly ready to go. There's an issue that the vendor hasn't provided a certified power of attorney (she's selling for her mum), and there was an extension built in 1999 despite there being a convenant that there can be no changes to the outside of the property. The house was built in 1972 and from what I can see the developer doesn't exist anymore... our solicitor doesn't seem worried, but wants the seller to buy indemnity insurance.

Our own survey came back fine - nothing atypical of a 50 year old house. Our sellers seem eager to be done with it, so fingers crossed we can exchange next week. I feel so nervous just sat here waiting!

matthew91822

I am now waiting to exchange on my sale property after accepting their offer back in March. Expected any day now but I still refresh my emails 400 times a day!
Once the sale property completes I can get my full mortgage offer (complicated financials!) then exchange with the house I am buying. I'm currently renting.

hdh74

I know how you feel Matthew - our completion day is supposed to be Monday, we have a deadline for exchange this afternoon. Not a peep so far. Refresh. Wait. Pace. Refresh.

sophieo16

After our offer was accepted on the 16th September, our solicitor finally received the draft contracts from the seller's solicitor today. One of the reasons the EA offered as a delay for the paperwork was that it was a 'deceased estate', which is not the case at all. The seller's solicitor informed ours that the elderly lady is very much alive and in care. I'm very glad I don't have first-hand contact with the sellers to be able to put my foot in it with that one. 

We have also drafted an email to the EA asking for negotiation on purchase price due to the results of the Damp and Timber Survey that was recommended we carry out. We have asked to hear back no later than the 30th to avoid delays. 

@hdh74 I will keep my fingers crossed for your exchange! 

julicorn

julicorn said:

RM_2013 said:

julicorn said:

Urgh this is just annoying now. 

There are three parties, FTB, our buyer, and us. 
When I spoke to our estate agent yesterday, she said it was the FTB's solicitors who were holding things up (accompanied by one of those 'online conveyancers are so terrible' rants that EAs like to do). I checked in again this morning - turns out the 'terrible' online conveyancers were actually ready to exchange yesterday, but it's our buyer's solicitor who's gone on holiday, left the case in the hands of a locum, and they reviewed it yesterday and decided he needed proof of funds for the deposit. 

Our buyer put his offer in in February, how on earth do they not have sufficient proof of funds? Absolutely ridiculous. I put my foot down and said we either exchange today or we have to re-negotiate the completion date. I know our buyer's mortgage offer runs out, but honestly at this point I've lost my patience. We'd agreed to 6 weeks between exchange and completion, now it's less than 4 weeks left. 

Annoying. Did you manage to exchange today? 

Nope. Sounds like the source of funds issue got resolved, but now the solicitor at the bottom of the chain didn't have anyone 'senior enough' to deal with the file, and can't guarantee they'll be able to exchange tomorrow either. I'm really annoyed - will see what we feel like doing in the morning. 

Now this has been (and continues to be) a wild ride. 

Deposit proof of funds came through quickly on Tuesday, so we were all hoping to exchange, and... more crickets. At that point, I only heard that the solicitors at the bottom of the chain basically needed someone senior to start the process, and that more senior person was busy with other exchanges. They couldn't guarantee we'd exchange on Wednesday either. 

So yesterday evening I messaged our estate agent and said that if we don't exchange by the end of the week, we won't break the chain & move out before Christmas. It's simply not enough time to arrange everything and find somewhere to stay for the holidays. 
She sent that message around, and that seems to have sparked at least some action!

So I just got a call from the estate agent, and this is where it gets properly wild:

Apparently my message caused the solicitors at the bottom to finally want to start the exchange process. But in reviewing the file, this elusive 'more senior' person decided to raise a couple more enquiries... Regarding the management pack, so they were questions to the management company looking after our buyer's flat! Bear in mind, the management pack was issued back in MAY. 
Buyer calls his mortgage advisor, trying to discuss an extension (his offer expires end of December). No dice. He can't afford the new rate. He calls the estate agent back, they start talking about how their only hope is that our purchase will progress quickly enough to tie everything in together... 
In that moment, the management company replies! They usually take weeks to respond, but this time they just answered straight away. Responses get passed on to the solicitors at the bottom of the chain, they review straight away, are happy and sign off the file. 

So apparently tomorrow is the day that they'll finally initiate exchange. I'll believe it when I see it, but woah there, that was quite the phone call. I'll keep you all posted on whether we'll actually exchange tomorrow!


On our purchase, everything continues to tick along for now. We've gotten responses to the first round of enquiries back, a few more have been raised but our solicitor thinks we're "getting there". The tenants are moving out Wednesday next week, and we've got another viewing booked for the Saturday to take measurements, but really mainly to make sure they've actually gone. Still crossing our fingers that we can complete on this one on the same day as our sale. 

julicorn

hdh74 said:

I know how you feel Matthew - our completion day is supposed to be Monday, we have a deadline for exchange this afternoon. Not a peep so far. Refresh. Wait. Pace. Refresh.

Any news yet, did you manage to exchange? Wishing you all the best.