The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

RelievedSheff

throughthickandthin wrote: »

Current situation-
Solicitor is about to send out contracts for us to sign & send back, hopefully to exchange Monday next week.

Not sure whether to try and squeeze in completion before Xmas or just wait until the New Year? We've both got 2.5 weeks off over Xmas so it would be a good time to get everything sorted. Conscious it probably isn't even possible though as it would need to happen the same week as exchange....

You can exchange and complete on the same day so it is perfectly possible in a week!

Bluntman_1983

RelievedSheff wrote: »

You can exchange and complete on the same day so it is perfectly possible in a week!

Many lenders need 5 days notice before completion to transfer funds though... If there's a mortgage involved then it'd be v risky to request funds before exchange has happened.

iampetesmith

We're FTB and completed 2 weeks ago, and the whole process was far from a walk in the park. I can't remember exact dates as the whole thing blurs into one ordeal, but here is a list the events and problems in the order they occurred between the 10th of June and the 28th November when we finally completed (5 and a half long months). Everything that went to plan is marked with a face and everything that went wrong is marked with a face:

Got a Decision in Principle from Santander
Viewed house, wanted house, put offer on house, offer was accepted. So far, so good.
Instructed solicitors and filled in paperwork and everything else straight away so that I didn't hold up the sale
Waited 6 weeks for the draft contract pack from vendor's solicitors, much chasing by our solicitors ensued
Applied for a mortgage via Santander, then waited a few weeks for full application to go through
Draft contract pack arrives, we read through it all carefully, sign it and return it as quick as possible so not to hold up the chain
Santander rejected application because some of my wife's paperwork had her old address on it. I then decided to cut my losses and use Habito to find me a new mortgage
Habito found a new mortgage with Skipton, full application goes in so we wait again
Searches all came back and we discovered that the vendor needed written permission from the council to sell the house as it's ex-council, so more waiting
Written permission arrives and searches are all satisfied
Either the vendor or Skipton bungle the first valuation, as Santander did one previously so when Skipton tried to book it in the vendor turned them away, saying it had already been done
Vendor allows Skipton's valuation to go ahead
Skipton down-value the property by 5k, so we had to re-negotiate the price and wait overnight while the vendor "discussed it with his wife"
Vendor happy to sell at re-negotiated price, so we get more of a bargain
Enquiries raised and nothing out of the ordinary comes up
Waiting for enquiries takes a lot longer than expected
Still waiting for the answers to enquiries 2 months later, it turns out the vendor's solicitor hasn't made it clear what is being asked so I email the EA a bullet-pointed list of everything that's missing and the answers come back a few days later
All enquiries are satisfied, almost ready to go...
The house at the top of the chain needs someone's name taking off the deed by the Land Registry, "it shouldn't take long, they're doing it now" says the EA
2 weeks pass, this restriction is still in place, but "they're usually quite quick" says the EA
2 more weeks pass and the EA says that there is a 1 month cooling-off period before any changes can be made, so it's a longer wait but given a date of 18th November for when the restriction will be lifted
19th November arrives and still no news on the restriction, so by now I'm getting rather annoyed
The next day the restriction is finally lifted, and it goes from being months of waiting with nothing happening, to "everyone wants to complete next week"
Solicitor double-checks with Skipton that the funds can be released in 6 days, and completion date is suggested for 6 day's time
Contracts exchanged on the Tuesday and completion for Thursday is set in stone
No news on completion day by 11am, so give the solicitor a quick email to check on progress. Our money has all been sent, but the vendor's solicitor has disappeared in a meeting so can't confirm they've received it and no one knows when she's coming out
Vendor's solicitor confirms receipt of the funds an hour later and the keys are released

Hopefully this will show everyone who is waiting and facing various issues that it might seem like it's never going to happen, but all of a sudden everything moves and you get there in the end. It also shows what I did to keep the sale going when a major stage failed, so hopefully it's good advice for anyone who has had similar things happen during their purchase.

ClaireHead

Waiting to exchange as we speak

I haven't heard from my solicitor yet today though! Should !???

babyblade41

ClaireHead wrote: »

Waiting to exchange as we speak

I haven't heard from my solicitor yet today though! Should !???

Has your solicitor confirmed you are ready to exchange ?

Normally you will get a call before on the day to ask if you still want to go ahead then exchange will happen if everyone is ready .. it may not happen if something is amiss elsewhere

newsgroup_monkey

jimbo2108 wrote: »

Current -
Hoping to exchange Monday 16th as I am sorting out building insurance this weekend. I go on holiday 17th - 20th so need it to be monday. Hoping to move in by 3rd Jan (as my tenancy ends). Fingers crossed!

Wow! That's very brave. I'd suggest not going on holiday if you don't exchange as you're likely to be either on the street or you'll be breaching your tenancy, either way, it's not pretty.


We are not going to even start to think about notice until we exchange. Our monthly date is 1st of the Month.



So going back to ours....
We were told we HAD to exchange by end of October and HAD to be ready to complete by end of November (offer was made late September, so you can imagine, this was very aggressive)#


We lined everything up, including mortgage, searches, valuation etc. and made it happen. Kudos to our solicitors who pulled out every stop.


As we heard nothing by mid-November, we said we would need to exchange ASAP with a completion date for 2nd December so we could hand notice in at end of November.

This date passed, then the 3rd December we were told by the vendor we HAD to complete by 16th December.

Offer was returned: We can't do that because we are now liable for January's rent and mortgage would also be liable for January. The only way we'll do that is if the vendor pays our January rent (which clearly, wasn't going to happen).

So... we've said let's go for 2nd January. We've asked this question 3 times and still had no response. If it goes beyond the end of the month, we'll be going round this circus again.

Apparently, the vendor is desperate to move and has no chain above him and we have no backwards chain..... you'd think this was simple :mad::mad::mad:

ClaireHead

babyblade41 wrote: »

Has your solicitor confirmed you are ready to exchange ?

Normally you will get a call before on the day to ask if you still want to go ahead then exchange will happen if everyone is ready .. it may not happen if something is amiss elsewhere

Had the phone call today - just waiting to hear that we have officially exchanged!!! What takes so long - there's only 3 of us in the chain

iampetesmith

ClaireHead wrote: »

Had the phone call today - just waiting to hear that we have officially exchanged!!! What takes so long - there's only 3 of us in the chain

Ours took a few hours, it wasn't until just gone 5pm when I had a call and email from both solicitor and EA to confirm the exchange had taken place. We had 3 in our chain though, but they still have to get hold of everyone and read the contracts out over the phone.

You'll hear about it soon one way or the other, but the wait is a killer. The wait for news on completion day is a little bit worse.

Cheffy123

Hey everyone
So basically cut long story short. I bought an ex council flat 4 years ago. I have put my flat on the market in September. By October my flat was sold to the local council. They came in. Sent a suvoyer and then put an offer. I accepted.
We was meant to exchange last week my solicitor was like I'm ready to exchange then 1 hour later he rang and said m he cant because he hasnt got deposit. So it didn't happen, also now we have been notified by solicitors that they now want to exchange and complete next Wednesday. Obviously they are chain free and so are we as we are moving in with parents so no onward purchase. I have started moving my stuff into my parents as they have room for storage
How likely will this go through. Getting on edge but alot people are saying dont worry. It's the council buying back. They shouldn't pull out. What are your thoughts? Especially exchange and complete the same day?

asm89

Cheffy123 wrote: »

Hey everyone
So basically cut long story short. I bought an ex council flat 4 years ago. I have put my flat on the market in September. By October my flat was sold to the local council. They came in. Sent a suvoyer and then put an offer. I accepted.
We was meant to exchange last week my solicitor was like I'm ready to exchange then 1 hour later he rang and said m he cant because he hasnt got deposit. So it didn't happen, also now we have been notified by solicitors that they now want to exchange and complete next Wednesday. Obviously they are chain free and so are we as we are moving in with parents so no onward purchase. I have started moving my stuff into my parents as they have room for storage
How likely will this go through. Getting on edge but alot people are saying dont worry. It's the council buying back. They shouldn't pull out. What are your thoughts? Especially exchange and complete the same day?

Well I'm sure they have the cash ready, so should be okay, not like they are relying on mortgage funds.