The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

bigstevex

bigstevex wrote: »

So, we're now going to lose our buyer if we don't exchange next week, long story.


We need an extra 10 days or so for a land registry issue. So we're taking the biggest gamble ever to save our chain...


Split the sell and buy as 2 seperate transactions with 30 days between exchange/completion so we have enough to solve the land registry stuff.

Been a long time coming however our gamble paid off. So our timeline looks roughly like this...


June 22nd House on Market
June 25 - House sold (First time buyers).
Spent all of July trying to find somewhere.
July 30th offer accepted on house (Chain complete seller moving to rented).
July 31st Mortgage applied for before rate increase.
Mid August mortgage offer
Mid September went on holiday expecting to exchange on return.
8th Oct return from holiday to find our solicitor quit and nothing had been done with purchase. Buyers getting annoyed...
10th Oct new solicitor within same company appointed who finds a land registry issue.
2 Weeks late our buyers want to pull out.
24th Oct, we split the buy and sell and exchange contratcs on the sale so they don't pull out. Completion set for 21/11
A very tense and stressful november passes by and I gain 4lb in eating myself stress free.
Mid november land registry issue resolved and indemnity insurance in place for minor issue with resolution.
20th November Exchanged
21st November Completed..... And Relax :beer:

jp066

Thought I’d post our timeline now we’ve completed. Reading this thread/forum has been a valuable source of information throughout, however I did find myself reading too much into things as well which caused uneccessary stress on myself!

Our purchase was as FTB buying a chain free property that was vacant and with us using a LISA for our deposit. Our timeline was as follows:

15/08 - meeting with broker to discuss requirements
20/08 - broker provided us with a report on our options and a realistic maximum we could borrow
25/08 - viewed property
29/08 - viewed property second time
30/08 - offer put in and declined - upped our offer
31/08 - upped offer declined, offered a counter-offer from sellers
01/09 - we accept counter-offer
04/09 - broker submits details to Halifax for AIP, AIP for full amount received
05/09 - full mortgage application submitted, extra documents requested
05/09 - solicitors instructed
06/09 - buyers questionnaire and certified IDs submitted to solicitors. Paid search fees
07/09 - extra documents submitted to Halifax and fee taken for valuation
14/09 - valuation undertaken - valued at our purchase price
14/09 - mortgage offer received from Halifax immediately after valuation
17/09 - assigned our conveyancing executive for our purchase
18/09 - update from solicitors letting us know they are awaiting draft contract from sellers solicitors
02/10 - draft contract received, F&F forms sent to us and searches conducted
05/11 - search results back and enquiries raised
05/11 - contract, mortgage deed and title deed received, signed and returned. Declarations sent to Skipton requesting our Lifetime ISA deposit money
07/11 - signed documents received by solicitors. Declarations received by Skipton
12/11 - digitally signed documents for Skipton to release deposit money
14/11 - Skipton release deposit money
15/11 - solicitors confirm receiving deposit
15/11 - most enquiries answered satisfactorily, a couple require extra clarification and more detailed answers
15/11 - solicitors ask for proof to evidence where their fees will be coming from
15/11 - sellers signed their contact
19/11 - sellers solicitors answer outstanding enquiries and send to our solicitors
23/11 - enquiry replies given to us - reveal we need a restrictive covenant indemnity policy. Sellers already have one and paid for its top-up on our behalf
23/11 - solicitors say they need to check with Halifax that the house value is not affected because the drainage reports reveals the surface water is not connected to the sewers - pretty normal for newer houses as they most likely have a soakaway - but solicitors insist. EA search reveals flooding risk is negligible.
26/11 - Halifax reply saying themselves and their valuers are not qualified to comment and basically not sure why the solicitor brought it to their attention as it is not an issue as revealed in the EA search
26/11 - completion date agreed for 30th. Fees paid, draft completion statement received, mortgage advance requested from Halifax
29/11 - exchanged
30/11 - completed

It took longer than we expected, however we did manage to exchange and complete very quickly. We used a solicitors firm that was sourced from a panel that our brokers use, so they were not local to us. The legal fees were cheap but I think next time I’d prefer a local company I can take documents/seek advice in person as the solicitors we used just would not reply to emails or phone calls from anyone which was a bit of a nightmare.

FTB_1992

Hi,

I am a FTB due to complete on my house purchase on Friday 14th December (wahoo!). I have a LISA with Skipton and my solicitor has sent the forms off to them to release the funds, Skipton have confirmed they received them on Thursday. When I rang up to speak to Skipton, they said they are working towards the completion date of 14th dec as we said on the form which means they will send the form for me to sign earlier that week with the aim to release the funds on the 14th. Is this something people have had happen before.. I presumed they would release the funds before the 14th so I'm getting nervous if they are delayed slightly.. we won't be able to complete on the 14th ? Why cant they just release the funds now so it's safe?

Thanks! Any advice would be great.

jp066

Ours was the same, they were going to release our funds 2 days before our completion but I needed them for exchange, so just spoke to them on the online chat thing and they did it within a few days.

Iwanttoflyaway

What is going on everyone seems to be having a hard time at the moment. I hope it all changes soon for everyone.

So we were supposed to exchange Friday gone it didn't happen. The buyer solicitor works part time and didn't pass the work on to anyone else. We were supposed to exchange today to complete Friday but have just found the buyer hasn't even signed her contract and is supposedly dropping it off to the solicitor today !!!

I'm frustrated beyond words. The incompetence of everything. I'm not sure if I supposed to cancel my movers etc. Everything is booked for Frida

woollisox

Iwanttoflyaway wrote: »

What is going on everyone seems to be having a hard time at the moment. I hope it all changes soon for everyone.

So we were supposed to exchange Friday gone it didn't happen. The buyer solicitor works part time and didn't pass the work on to anyone else. We were supposed to exchange today to complete Friday but have just found the buyer hasn't even signed her contract and is supposedly dropping it off to the solicitor today !!!

I'm frustrated beyond words. The incompetence of everything. I'm not sure if I supposed to cancel my movers etc. Everything is booked for Frida

Honestly can’t imagine how rubbish that must be. It’s such a long winded process that any delay at the end must be so frustrating!

I emailed my sols on Friday with a quick question - just whether this was the initial paperwork we were waiting for from vendors sols and had no response yet. Just want to know where we are in the process and have a rough timeline as I need to book time off work! This is driving me mad!

Finchy2018

we have now put an offer in on a different property, we haven't withdrawn our current offer just yet, I will email my solicitor tomorrow and make sure she knows not to exchange without our say so, as we will pull out if our new offer is accepted.

201717

Hello,
We had an offer accepted on a property on 5th November, mortgage DIP by the 7th and solicitor instructed at the same time. (Mortgage offer has since been received). The solicitor seems to be really slow though and I wonder if the best course of action is lots of pestering or just leave them to it?

I have asked several times for an update and just get back one liners with very little info and not even any punctuation or full stops. The most recent email just said 'I have contacted the search company myself as we don’t have a EDA for the local just yet'. Does anyone know what this means? Having read similar posts there seems to be a trend for conveyancing to take ages. (FYI, we are not selling a house and are building a new build).

bopsybunny

Sunday 04/11 We had our offer accepted
Monday 05/11 Spoke to broker
Tuesday 06/11 Mortgage application with HSBC. Proof of income and proof of deposit provided
Thursday 08/11 Mortgage valuation
Tuesday 13/11 Mortgage offer! Booked HomeBuyers Report survey
Wednesday 14/11 Survey carried out
Thursday 15/11 Documents received from solicitor
Friday 16/11 Survey report received
Wednesday 21/11 Solicitor received signed documents and did ID checks
Thursday 22/11 Draft contract with solicitor, fixtures and fittings list received
Monday 26/11 Received mining and environment search reports
Tuesday 27/11 Received water and L.A. search reports
Saturday 01/12 Queries on fixtures list answered
Monday 03/12 Appointment with solicitor. Signed deeds and contracts ready for exchange/completion. Closed my HTB ISA.

Vendor asked for completion on Fri 14th December. We're prepared for that, but apparently the solicitor for their purchase is moving slowly, so doesn't look as likely anymore. The following week 17/18/19th might be okay. Luckily we're flexible. Nothing confirmed yet..

Only things left for us to do now is:
Set up buildings insurance (quotes ready for when we have an exchange date!),
Get life insurance (quotes ready),
OH to close his HTB ISA,
and pay the solicitor our deposit and their fees.

I'm so ready for this to happen! If it does it'll be the best Christmas present ever.

chunkytfg

21/10 - AIP
7/11 - Offer accepted on House/ Landlord notified that our plans have changed and asking to be let off the lease(he agreed providing someone can be found)
20/11 - Mortgage application submitted
26/11 - House valuation survey completed
27/11 - Mortgage approved!
28/11 - Solicitor requesting Proof of deposit by way of bank statements.
4/12 - Solicitor sent more info including Fixtures and fittings form and Property info form.
- First round of enquiries letter also sent to sellers solicitor
- Informed searches have been done and awaiting responses plus do we want any of a selection of further searches done.

Getting there and annoyingly it seems to be happening a bit quicker than I wanted it to! We are finding ourselves sitting on stuff for extra amounts of time before responding to try and slow it all down. We really don't want to complete before End of feb/early march