The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

PJBRFC

PJBRFC said:

PJBRFC said:

Thought I might add our long winded story into this thread.
6th December we accepted an offer on our house, same day we had an offer accepted on the house we wanted. Our house had only been on the market for 4 weeks. 

• 8th Jan - Draft contracts sent/received. 
• 10th Jan - Mortgage offer received.
• 18th Jan - Report on title received from solicitors, including all search results. 
• 3rd Feb - Homebuyers report done.
• 14th Feb - Report received, happy with contents. Meanwhile we'd barely heard anything from our buyers solicitors and our solicitors were struggling to contact them.
• 24th Feb - Purchase pretty much ready to go, all enquiries answered. Just waiting for enquiries on our sale.
• Circa 27th Feb - Call from EA, our vendors have pulled out of the sale with no real reason given. Lots of wasted money and annoyance our side. We decide to go ahead with the sale of our house anyway as it was a 5 year old new build and we wanted to escape fleecehold management fees that were beginning to grow. Management company was awful. 
• 17th March - Enquiries almost answered on sale. Struggling to get some info from management company that buyers solicitor requested. Meanwhile we'd had an offer rejected on another house and decided we weren't willing to pay anymore. Viewed 5 other houses, none were what we wanted.
• 21st March - Move most of our house into storage and move in with in-laws.
• 9th April - Agree to simultaneously exchange/complete on 17th April. Had to get new redemption figures from HtB and Nationwide. Originally meant to complete on 27th March, but delays with buyers solicitors prevented that.
• 16th April - Buyers change mind and want £5000 off the price. We say no it's too late and we will re-market the property. A nervous 5 hours later, buyers confirm they will proceed as planned. 
• 17th April - Complete house sale.
• 23rd April - Call from EA we were originally buying from. Original vendor now wants to sell again. We re-negotiated 10K off the price to cover our storage and move to in-laws (we are paying them rent). Solicitor confirms all previous work done was still valid and that we would continue where we left off from our abortive transaction. They went back to vendors solicitors to confirm that nothing had changed with enquiries and the situation. (They are moving to rented).
• 28th April - Revised mortgage application goes into Barclays.
• 21 May - Mortgage offer issued and solicitors/EA confirm we are ready to go as soon as offer is received at solicitors.

Our solicitors have been fantastic the whole way through this process, and have been contactable and working throughout the pandemic. We just want to get into the new house now before anything else can go wrong. I've also learnt that paying for a good solicitor and a good local EA are crucial to the process. Our EA was fantastic at chasing the useless solicitor our buyer had chosen. 

Well we got our mortgage offer and there were issues with address duplication by Barclays and this had to be resolved. Solicitor finally had the correct offer faxed to them yesterday. Funds released to solicitor today and we are due to exchange/complete tomorrow. I hope nothing goes wrong now, this process has taken long enough!

We did exchange/complete by midday on 5th June. It's been a busy few weeks since that, and now I'm back to work(ing from home).

Good luck to everyone still in the process, it is worth it in the end!

Squirrelz92

After an anxious wait, the vendor has finally submitted his contract pack after a few kicks up the butt by everyone involved to his solicitors so now the ball can once again start rolling with enquiries! Looking very hopeful for a completion on or before the 22nd July according to what they have read so far 😆

Vanessa1215

Gonna move to this thread now from the mortgage one:
Here is my timeline, we are FTB, and the seller has already moved out before lockdown. So no chain.
29/05, House viewing, put down an offer, and has been accepted on same day.
01/06, meet broker, give her our documents. 
04/06, AIP through broker from NatWest (they do a hard search if apply AIP through a broker)
08/06, Full mortgage application went in.  
12/06, solicitor instructed (actually did this on 05/06 but she got our address wrong so we never received the first post she sent), paid for search and she said she would start search straight away (she didn't).
15/06, lender valuation took place
16/06, mortgage offer. 
17/06, Called solicitor to chase up on update, tole her we have got mortgage offer. She wold us she will start search.
23/06, We communicated with broker, she told us that solicitor told her that she(solicitor) has received the draft contract and has sent the request for search. 

Really hope we could move in during summer so I could get things sorted before September (I am a teacher). But the solicitor seems really lay back and I sent her an email on last Thursday (18th) but she didn't reply. In the end we got the updated from our broker. I don't want to push her too hard so she could delay us on purpose? 

Anyway, I am joining this waiting game. x

anerise

We’re in the final stretch I think! It’s been a long process due to COVID so here’s my updated timeline. We’re FTBs.

29/2 Viewed house
4/3 Offer accepted
5/3 Solicitor instructed, ID checks done & searches ordered the following week
18/3 Mortgage application made via broker- 95% LTV (!)
**COVID lockdown...mortgage on ice due to lack of physical valuation. Solicitor furloughed.**
21/5 Mortgage valuation finally takes place. Solicitor back from furlough, sends progress report 
1/6 Mortgage offer issued!!
3/6 Homebuyers survey done, recommends a structural engineer for a specific issue
4/6 Vendors agree to do 10 day radon test as the house is in a radon area and they don’t want to do a bond
15/6 Signed contract, mortgage deed etc returned to solicitor
16/6 Radon detectors returned to lab for analysis 

24/6 Solicitor informs us that all enquires complete

So just waiting on the results from the 10 day radon test (any day now) and the structural engineer, who sadly can’t even visit the house till next week as he’s been booked up 2-3 weeks in advance since restrictions were lifted in May. The vendor is ready to exchange on a vacant property so once we’re ready things will move fast! Hoping to exchange and complete by end of July.

kasqueak

We had our searches back today now the solicitor has to review them. So far our solicitor has had nothing back from the sellers side so sounds like some butts need kicking into action!

Squirrelz92

kasqueak said:

We had our searches back today now the solicitor has to review them. So far our solicitor has had nothing back from the sellers side so sounds like some butts need kicking into action!

Been there and kicked some butt! So frustrating when you are on the ball and prompt with all of your paperwork, yet they struggle to tick some boxes and hand in their first lot! Fingers crossed they hand it in soon!

kasqueak

gemmacampbell2019 said:

kasqueak said:

We had our searches back today now the solicitor has to review them. So far our solicitor has had nothing back from the sellers side so sounds like some butts need kicking into action!

Been there and kicked some butt! So frustrating when you are on the ball and prompt with all of your paperwork, yet they struggle to tick some boxes and hand in their first lot! Fingers crossed they hand it in soon!

It is so frustrating isn’t it! We’ve been really prompt with all our forms and paperwork and the sellers side has been so slow. I think some of the delay is because we’re buying a property where there is a power of attorney in place. But it is frustrating as the sale of our existing place is going through nicely but the place we’re buying they’re being so slow. 

FtbDreaming

Well i joined this thread in February when i got the mortgage offer and im still here. I blamed my solicitor at the start for being slow but its really the Housing Association I am buying off are just not doing anything. 

I waited until around 17th may for the draft contracts to be sent and when they finally came they didn't mention the alleyway so they had to be sent back. I finally got an email off the HA this morning saying they've sent the amended paperwork to their solicitors so we’ll see how long that takes to filter through my solicitor then to me. All searches are back. HTB isa is closed and i have the closure certificate good to go. 


Sooo... fingers crossed something good happens soon! Good luck to everybody else too 

kasqueak

FtbDreaming said:

Well i joined this thread in February when i got the mortgage offer and im still here. I blamed my solicitor at the start for being slow but its really the Housing Association I am buying off are just not doing anything. 

I waited until around 17th may for the draft contracts to be sent and when they finally came they didn't mention the alleyway so they had to be sent back. I finally got an email off the HA this morning saying they've sent the amended paperwork to their solicitors so we’ll see how long that takes to filter through my solicitor then to me. All searches are back. HTB isa is closed and i have the closure certificate good to go. 


Sooo... fingers crossed something good happens soon! Good luck to everybody else too 

Fingers crossed!
It’s such a long process isn’t it. We originally sold our place in Feb but it all fell through when the lockdown happened. Thankfully we found a new buyer and a new place for us at start of June. It’s only been a few weeks but feels like we’ve been talking about moving forever now! 

Squirrelz92

FtbDreaming said:

Well i joined this thread in February when i got the mortgage offer and im still here. I blamed my solicitor at the start for being slow but its really the Housing Association I am buying off are just not doing anything. 

I waited until around 17th may for the draft contracts to be sent and when they finally came they didn't mention the alleyway so they had to be sent back. I finally got an email off the HA this morning saying they've sent the amended paperwork to their solicitors so we’ll see how long that takes to filter through my solicitor then to me. All searches are back. HTB isa is closed and i have the closure certificate good to go. 


Sooo... fingers crossed something good happens soon! Good luck to everybody else too 

Wow you have been here since Feb?!?! How are you not pulling your hair out after all this time!
Its great that you got the draft contracts in May, just sucks you had to send them back for amendment Out of curiosity, what is the draft contract like? My conceyancers are just finishing up with my queries and then my contract will be sent across to me. It is massive? How do you know if something is missing, like your alleyway for example? I'm a FTB and I love researching, but there are only so many answers I can find from google!