The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

A__L

1616six said:

A__L said:

1616six said:

A__L said:

Has anyone else struggles to find a witness to sign the deed?

We got one of our neighbours to do it, I’ve had the village shopkeeper witness things in the past, work colleagues etc - should be fairly simple to find someone?

We've asked neighbours so far but struggling to find someone to actually do it. We'll have to pop round a friends to get this done. Tried the people in the shop downstairs and they didn't want to either. 

How strange! Did your neighbours decline then?! Never known someone to say no! They’re not singing themselves up to anything!

We got a friend round to sign in the end and dropped it off to the solicitors as they haven't been in the office. We are meant to be getting the keys this week!

A__L

folkestonelisa said:

Someone please reassure me that buying and selling a house is not only stressful, but there are long waits when nothing happens. Our buyers had their survey end of December and the searches applied for the first week of Jan. should I know anything by now? Should I have heard anything about the survey? I have realised that not only am I impatient I’m a bit of a control freak and the not knowing is doing my head in as well as making me overthink everything. God knows how I’m going to be waiting for stuff on my house purchase that’s about a month behind my sale.

They would have got the survey results back before they submitted the searches surely. That's what we did. Our searches took a few days to come back. Have you chased?

SprostonGreenHead

So we are all set (pretty much) for exchange on Fri.

Paid our completion statement monies to solicitor, and returned all signed docs. Insurance in place to start on exchange day. My solicitor is waiting on confirmation from my lender and "HM Land Registry checks" (not sure what these are as we already had reports on title etc).

Completion date is agreed for 3rd Feb but seller solicitor still hasn't fully indicated they're ready to exchange on Fri. I suspect seller is trying to secure removals before 3rd of Feb before she will sign.

Still looks like it will all happen but I'm on edge until it does, and there's a chance it might fall into next week, which would be annoying because we need a hotel night before completion due to being 5hrs drive away. Have a booking on free cancellation but would need to cancel on Mon if exchange hasn't happened just in case completion slips and we're on the hook for a hotel stay we don't need / have to change.

SecondStar

Offer got accepted on Monday!! The ball is rolling!

Ex is buying me out of our house, my aim is to complete & be moved in to my new home by June.

23/1 - offer accepted
24/1 - ID & proof of address sent to estate agent
25/1 - solicitor instructed for transfer of deeds/equity & conveyancing on purchase
25/1 - meeting with mortgage advisor to confirm docs needed for full application

SecondStar

SecondStar said:

Offer got accepted on Monday!! The ball is rolling!

Ex is buying me out of our house, my aim is to complete & be moved in to my new home by June.

23/1 - offer accepted
24/1 - ID & proof of address sent to estate agent
25/1 - solicitor instructed for transfer of deeds/equity & conveyancing on purchase
25/1 - meeting with mortgage advisor to confirm docs needed for full application

26/1 - submitted all docs for mortgage application

SprostonGreenHead

Was meant to be exchanging tomorrow based on completion 3rd Feb but seller solicitor has not confirmed they are ready, and hasn't responded for a week. Now having to consider (again!) whether we need to ask for an offer extension.

Really wish people could just say what is delaying them rather than going no-contact.

SprostonGreenHead

So our sellers solicitor is ready, but "HMLR checks" which were meant to take a few days at most, are still not back after a full working week, so now it's "hopefully Monday". Completion is next Fri, so another weekend on edge, sadly.

Charlwftb

Hello! Just wanted to ask a question about exchange/completion timelines. 

We had our offer accepted end of September and since then everything has been going through fine, although the seller has really been dragging her feet over some enquiries.

We have an online 'dashboard' for our solicitors and this is what they say is left to do;

Resolve 2 enquiries (waiting on certificates regarding cladding/fire safety etc). 
send them the deposit money
receive the report on title
exchange
complete

My question is - is it realistic to ask to work towards a 20 February completion date??

There has been no talk of dates yet, so should I ask for one or is still too early. The end of our current rental agreement comes up at the end of February and I really don't want to have to look for a new one!

Thanks for any help!

Charlwftb

@folkestonelisa I was the same! I could be wrong but I don't think they buyers have to share the survey with you. So they could well have had it back already. 
Our searches also took a full month so I wouldn't worry that these aren't back yet. I also looked up average wait times for local authority searches when I was anxiously waiting for ours and some places can take a really long time;

How long do local searches take when buying a house in 2023? 

The government target for returning local searches is a maximum of 10 working days.

But in reality, timescales on searches can vary significantly, from 48 hours to ten weeks! Mitigating factors can include whether the results are sent via email, online or by post; seasonal demand levels and local authority staffing levels.

Recent turnaround times reported by Property Searches Direct in January 2023 revealed the following worst offenders, where councils were taking more than 40 days to return searches:

• Cannock Chase District Council (55 days)
• Durham County Council (50 days)
• East Staffordhsire Borough Council (55 days)
• Epping Forest District Council (55 days)
• Gloucester City Council (177 days)
• Great Yarmouth Borough Council (45 days)
• Lichfield District Council (55 days)
• London Borough of Camden (40 days)
• Newcastle under Lyme Borough Council (55 days)
• Newcastle upon Tyne City Council (40 days)
• Oxford City Council (62 days)
• Salford City Council (45 days)
• South Kesteven District Council (50 days)
• South Staffordshire District Council (55 days)
• St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council (73 days)
• Stafford Borough Council (55 days)
• Staffordshire Moorlands District Council (55 days)
• Stoke on Trent City Council (55 days)
• Tamworth Borough Council (55 days)

Hope that helps!

babyblade41

Charlwftb said:

@folkestonelisa I was the same! I could be wrong but I don't think they buyers have to share the survey with you. So they could well have had it back already. 
Our searches also took a full month so I wouldn't worry that these aren't back yet. I also looked up average wait times for local authority searches when I was anxiously waiting for ours and some places can take a really long time;

How long do local searches take when buying a house in 2023? 

The government target for returning local searches is a maximum of 10 working days.

But in reality, timescales on searches can vary significantly, from 48 hours to ten weeks! Mitigating factors can include whether the results are sent via email, online or by post; seasonal demand levels and local authority staffing levels.

Recent turnaround times reported by Property Searches Direct in January 2023 revealed the following worst offenders, where councils were taking more than 40 days to return searches:

• Cannock Chase District Council (55 days)
• Durham County Council (50 days)
• East Staffordhsire Borough Council (55 days)
• Epping Forest District Council (55 days)
• Gloucester City Council (177 days)
• Great Yarmouth Borough Council (45 days)
• Lichfield District Council (55 days)
• London Borough of Camden (40 days)
• Newcastle under Lyme Borough Council (55 days)
• Newcastle upon Tyne City Council (40 days)
• Oxford City Council (62 days)
• Salford City Council (45 days)
• South Kesteven District Council (50 days)
• South Staffordshire District Council (55 days)
• St Helens Metropolitan Borough Council (73 days)
• Stafford Borough Council (55 days)
• Staffordshire Moorlands District Council (55 days)
• Stoke on Trent City Council (55 days)
• Tamworth Borough Council (55 days)

Hope that helps!

I would probably take those figures with a pinch of salt . I'm in Oxford & my searches took  one week & I must say in the past few years I think the most I waited was 2 weeks max