The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

michaelsft

@correll Whilst I agree that would be lovely(!) I can see why they don't do that and why solicitors are so completely against giving any time frame promises for anything at all ever. It's our job as people employing them to coax them into getting things done. I wish that weren't the case but it definitely seems to be from what I can tell!

Leaseholds appear to be a legal minefield, I imagine if it was a FTB paying cash for a freehold that was empty then 4-6 weeks would be possible but having so many people and companies involved in leases (management company, freeholder, buyer, seller and two sets of solicitors) always brings delays until it gets to the point where everyone is working together to get the job done.

I'm still freaking out about mine constantly and looking for updates and anything to cling to each day. Then when 5pm hits I get in a slump and it's worse on weekends and bank holidays. I feel helpless at those points and it's no way to live. Life will throw much worse my way I'm sure and I almost feel ashamed of myself for getting so wound up about something like this. It's normal though and you can't help it but realising that doesn't seem to break the spell.

I spend my evenings looking into the enquiries myself, trying to find documents to resolve them, researching the legalities, trying to find bits of each enquiry we can ignore or scratch off. Of forty enquiries on my purchase I've personally resolved several of them by doing this and begging my solicitor to let minor issues drop. I don't plan on stopping until we exchange and even though I'm going to Glastonbury on Wednesday morning, I'll still be emailing and calling every day. Won't be able to help myself and I'll need to if we're going to hit our targets...

correll

I know solicitors are watching their backsides all the time. I feel that often they are overworked in big company's. We have had the Monday hope and Friday blues for 8 months, as you say, chuck a few Bank Holidays in as well and you can lose the will to live!! We will soon be in annual holiday season when any one of the solicitors / EAs could be on holiday!

yorkie18

Hey guys! I hope things are going well.

So we have been told that everything is in place from our side we are just waiting for our buyer to send their deposit over so we can exchange! I'm really hoping, with every part of me, that it does go through and we can complete on Friday as planned.

I'm finding our estate agents and buyers solicitors completely frustrating!

Strange question, we added all the white goods to the fixtures and fittings form and would sell them for a small extra cost. Despite asking, many many times I can't seem to get an answer on if our buyer wants them or not. Do we just leave them here and hope they pay for them or do we take them and hope they don't?!

correll

yorkie18 wrote: »

Hey guys! I hope things are going well.

So we have been told that everything is in place from our side we are just waiting for our buyer to send their deposit over so we can exchange! I'm really hoping, with every part of me, that it does go through and we can complete on Friday as planned.

I'm finding our estate agents and buyers solicitors completely frustrating!

Strange question, we added all the white goods to the fixtures and fittings form and would sell them for a small extra cost. Despite asking, many many times I can't seem to get an answer on if our buyer wants them or not. Do we just leave them here and hope they pay for them or do we take them and hope they don't?!

We are hoping for completion on Friday. Our buyer wanted both exchange and completion on Friday, but our solicitor says that is not on and we want to exchange ASAP.
With regard to the white goods our buyer has not asked for any extras so we will empty them out.

Our first buyer wanted them and told us as soon as they received the form, so I assume this one doesn't. Good luck for exchange soon
:beer:

firsttimeworrywart

Hey nicksfrustration!

Welcome to the board..

'17th June - solicitors tell me that they wont do any contract checks until they receive all the searches back (seems mad - is this standard?)' - Our solicitor said the same. Had the draft contract back in their possession for around 3 weeks and didn't do anything with it until the searches were returned.

Sorry to rain on your parade, but I think it is highly unlikely that you'll be able to exchange and complete within the next two weeks. Has your Solicitor raised any enquiries yet? If not, that will add another couple of weeks on to the process (in my experience!)

Also it doesn't appear from your timeline that you have signed any of the contract pack etc yet and they usually need to be posted back to your Solicitor as they require the original document etc so that will be another few days added on (if you haven't done that already)

I am also a FTB, no chain and my purchase has been ongoing since the 3rd week of Feb.. almost 16 weeks in and we still haven't exchanged, so being only five weeks in and to be at this point in the purchase, I would say you're doing quite well

But then again, each sale/purchase is different - I hope the rest of the process does go smoothly for you!

drgg

Our smooth running process has been delayed slightly as we found out only via our solicitors that the house is in fact leasehold. This means the mortgage company (Nationwide) have to look back over their valuation report and resend the mortgage offer, which I was meant to go in and sign tomorrow.

The seller wanted a really quick sale (offer accepted 14th May, he wanted to complete on 6th July) It is just SO frustrating that someone didn't just TELL us prior to offer stage, maybe it would have put some buyers off and caused a delay in getting the offer, but now we're just moving the delay several weeks later.

Anyway, I'm away with work now 4th - 11th July so nothing will be able to happen then regardless.

nicksfustration

Thanks everyone for your useful and reassuring words. I am just getting impatient when they seem to drag their feet so much without even pretending not to... I spoke to my solicitor today after 3 attempts at calling and i have never heard anyone sound so annoyed to be talking to me! (hadn't spoken to her directly in weeks anyway always had her no 2). She says the enquiries "should be" raised in the next few days... and that's all the reassurance she gives me.

I think my impatience is half of it but i really think they could be doing more to keep this moving.

I understand solicitors are busy and have lots of cases, but if they are being so slow, just hire more solicitors to handle the cases or dont take on more cases than you can reasonably manage, it will only lead to poor reviews from clients and ultimately less business in the long run.

Bennettxoxo

I feel so much better reading this thread and realising I am just as impatient as everyone else and it isn't just me completely freaking out as a FTB.

28 May - Made offer on property
31 May - Offer accepted
08 June - Full mortgage application completed with broker
08 June - Paid for valuation via broker
08 June - Provisionally paid for searches with solicitor (searches will not be done without our say so but can be put into motion straight away once we have our valuation back without delay or will be refunded if we don't go ahead)

23 June - Chased up our broker and he confirmed that we're still waiting for the bank to complete the survey.

Property is vacant and we have no chain either so I was expecting things to be fairly quick. It's frustrating knowing you're waiting on other people when you're ready to move forward.

Back to waiting and trying to have a little more patience.

correll

@Bennettxoxo.Patience is good. It is a very stressful time, mainly because you have no control over it. With no chain you can expect 8 weeks to completion - but there can be many slips and trips along the way!

KatieDee

We finally exchanged!

Now I feel incredibly anxious...is it the right house? The right area? Can we really afford it? Is this the right decision?

...this is perfectly normal, right?! :rotfl: