The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

mooma29

Feel like I’m playing some kind of contract exchange chicken. Everyday since Thursday of last week my solicitor has called us to get our permission to exchange ready to move on the 29th. On Friday my buyer thought we were exchanging and moving that same day, and yet here we are on Wednesday still not exchanged because his solicitor is useless keeps saying waiting for the bank to agree his funds can be drawn down on the 29th or something along those lines. However both lots of solicitor are telling me not to worry it will all go through in time for the 29th, I’m finding it hard to believe them at the minute as this has now been going on since the 12th July last year. Just 9 more sleeps till this nightmare is over, I hope......

JadeC93

I need some advice please!!

Our offer was accepted 13 weeks ago, and our searches etc were done and been ready to exchange for 4 weeks now and we are still waiting to get an exchange date!!!!!!

Apparently our seller’s solicitor is still waiting for some enquires to be answered on the property they are buying (is empty!!) and every week we get told the same thing!! I don’t know how much longer we can wait!!

We are really thinking of telling the EA that if no one is chasing their sellers and we still don’t have an exchange date by next week then we are gonna have to start looking at other properties which don’t have a chain, hoping this would help to push it through!!! We obviously don’t want to go through the mortgage and etc processes again but we feel like their sellers are really taking the p***!!

FairyPrincessk

Jade, I'm not a great person to advise, but we had a similar situation except there is no chain. We (as buyers) kept asking our solicitor for updates who just kept saying we were waiting for replies to four enquiries. We eventually contacted the EA to see if he could prod the vendor--at the same time the vendor contacted the EA to find out what the hold up was. He wasn't aware there were outstanding enquiries. Our solicitor just sent them once (5/3) and never followed up. We didn't know they'd been sent so long ago or that they hadn't followed up. There has been a change of solicitor on both sides, so that probably hasn't helped. We've prodded both our solicitor to send the enquiries again and asked the EA to prod theirs to respond (and to let the vendor know that we want to move soon). We did this yesterday and will follow up on Friday with contact with both the solicitor and the EA and we won't be fobbed off with a 'still waiting.' We'll ask what the last date of contact was, what is still outstanding and we will make sure that gets to the EA.

FWIW our offer was accepted about 10 weeks ago, but there are no chains involved, we're FTB and we have a broker who expedited paperwork.

JadeC93

I’m glad someone is in the same position as us!! We are EXTREMELY fed up with this chasing and waiting game now!!!! Just dont know what more we can do!!. I chase the EA (ask them to liaise with the sellers) and my solicitor pretty much everyday and we still haven’t got a answer on when are exchanging!! We’ve been told last week hoping to be this week and been told by the EA that the seller’s solicitor is waiting for a couple of enquires to be answered!?!?!?!

PrettyKittyKat

Still another day of frustration as no exchange has happened. We are also hoping to complete on 29th and have been told ' it will be ok' for then, however we don't want the risk of a same day exchange and complete! We need at least a week between exchange and completion as the house we are buying is vacant so we are baking on going in prior to completion to clean etc as we have no family/friends local to help us on moving day!

Our solicitors are amazing and ready to go. The buyers solicitors are slow and seem to constantly realise something else is needed. The EA has confirmed that the file is having it's 'pre-exchange' check today, so I'm crossing my fingers this means we can exchange tomorrow... but something tells me they will drag it out another day until Friday!

Lokolo_2

JadeC93 wrote: »

I’m glad someone is in the same position as us!! We are EXTREMELY fed up with this chasing and waiting game now!!!! Just dont know what more we can do!!. I chase the EA (ask them to liaise with the sellers) and my solicitor pretty much everyday and we still haven’t got a answer on when are exchanging!! We’ve been told last week hoping to be this week and been told by the EA that the seller’s solicitor is waiting for a couple of enquires to be answered!?!?!?!

I know how you feel, it's a very slow and excruciating process and so much can go wrong! I went through it when I sold my flat and bought the house I'm currently living in, I even had to stay with family for 3 months as my buyer wouldn't wait (and I don't blame him!) after 2 house purchases fell through.

At the same time I lost a job and started another one with less income, which didn't help things, it was a very stressful time. Well worth the wait in the end though once you get the keys and start making your home how you want it to be! Hang in there JadeC93!

Lokolo_2

mpr87 wrote: »

FTB here. So we put our offer in back in January and was accepted a few days later. We waited a week or 2 to make sure the chain was complete before instructing our solicitor at the start of last month. , Got our mortgage approved/ready to go. Completed a survey .Had correspondence from our solicitor about 2 weeks ago confirming all searches are complete and that they are waiting on responses to enquiries.



Heard nothing since so I guess we are literally just playing the waiting game now.

Indeed it's a case of waiting, depending on what the enquiries are it can take a lot of time to get the answers to them especially if they have to be obtained from a local authority or housing association!

It's only as fast as the chain progresses too so other buyers and sellers end up holding up the process, I was lucky when I bought my house that the vendor and the vendor of the house she was buying were both motivated and the solicitors on both sides fairly efficient so the process only took 2 and a half months! Whereas selling my flat took nearly 6 months due to the buyer due to his detailed enquiries about parking and the garage.

JadeC93

Lokolo_2 wrote: »

I know how you feel, it's a very slow and excruciating process and so much can go wrong! I went through it when I sold my flat and bought the house I'm currently living in, I even had to stay with family for 3 months as my buyer wouldn't wait (and I don't blame him!) after 2 house purchases fell through.

At the same time I lost a job and started another one with less income, which didn't help things, it was a very stressful time. Well worth the wait in the end though once you get the keys and start making your home how you want it to be! Hang in there JadeC93!

Thanks Lokolo 2! Feeling a lot better about it today! Just have to try to see the positive side of this, at least it gives us more time to save money for the new kitchen and carpets!!

mooma29

Well jade I still haven’t got my exchange. According to my solicitor all we are waiting for is my buyer to say yes we can exchange. However i am in contact with him and he says he’s done this every time they’ve asked (today is the 6th day my solicitor has confirmed my permission) and I have no reason to doubt him, he has nothing to gain and as a Ftb has handed his deposit over already. So his solicitor is being incompetent/lazy/ not making sure he knows what’s going on (pick one ) so when I got home from work today I sent a polite but firm email to her company and if I have no response by 10:am tomorrow I shall follow it up with a phone call. I can’t think what else to do. Here is hoping tomorrow is the day because I can’t take much more of this.

diggingdude

So I was wrongly told by my solicitor that we had exchanged Monday. Then Tuesday. Confirmed we actually exchanged Wednesday (not impressed), get the keys Wednesday coming eeek