The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

Caramac

There must be a better way than this. We are due to complete on Friday (16th Oct) and were told exchange would be a few days before. We spoke to our buyers on Monday and as far as they were concerned everything is on for Friday. We rang the Estate agent to get a progress report yesterday morning, as yet no one has come back. I emailed our solicitor and got an out of office until 21st October. We are waiting for calls from both solicitor’s secretary and the estate agent.

We are buying a new build so are putting furniture into storage and moving in with family until it is finished. We are sat here everything in boxes ready to move out tomorrow to give us a day to clean and wondering if we could have hung on another week or so,

movingon2020

HoopyNJ said:

HoopyNJ said:

Thought I'd finally post here as things are moving super quickly and it's all getting very exciting! We're FTBs and the sellers have no chain.

• 22/08/20 - First viewing - fell in love but we'd only seen 5 houses by that point so wanted to keep options open.
• 27/09/20 - Second viewing, which confirmed our decision that the house was the one for us.
• 28/08/20 - Offer made, a bit of back and forthing and final offer accepted.
• Then we had the bank Holiday weekend, awful timing!
• 03/09/20 - Mortgage application submitted via broker
  
• 04/09/20 - Solicitors formally instructed
• 14/09/20 - all documentation finally sent to solicitor (We had to wait for a few bits and bobs like a gift letter etc)
• 17/09/20 - Mortgage approved
• 23/09/20 - Solicitor confirmed we were happy with mortgage offer. 
•  Got a call on 01/10/20 from the estate agent of all people who advised that the sellers had forgotten to complete a piece of paperwork and the sellers solicitor was just sitting on it. 
• 02/10/20 - Homebuyers report and contract pack received, enquiries raised by our solicitor. Searches commenced.

So not much to wait for now! Both us and the vendors are hoping to complete by Mid-November, all being well. Dya reckon that's realistic?

Still waiting for responses to the enquiries, it sounds like the sellers solicitors aren't exactly fantastic and it's making me antsy 

I think it's realistic, good that all parties are motivated. Really depends on if the enquiries are straightforward enough to answer. We are a bit behind you on our purchase and yet our vendor wants to complete 30th October which is the day we are due to complete on our sale! I thought we would end up with a 2-3 week gap. 

HoopyNJ

movingon2020 said:

HoopyNJ said:

HoopyNJ said:

Thought I'd finally post here as things are moving super quickly and it's all getting very exciting! We're FTBs and the sellers have no chain.

• 22/08/20 - First viewing - fell in love but we'd only seen 5 houses by that point so wanted to keep options open.
• 27/09/20 - Second viewing, which confirmed our decision that the house was the one for us.
• 28/08/20 - Offer made, a bit of back and forthing and final offer accepted.
• Then we had the bank Holiday weekend, awful timing!
• 03/09/20 - Mortgage application submitted via broker
  
• 04/09/20 - Solicitors formally instructed
• 14/09/20 - all documentation finally sent to solicitor (We had to wait for a few bits and bobs like a gift letter etc)
• 17/09/20 - Mortgage approved
• 23/09/20 - Solicitor confirmed we were happy with mortgage offer. 
•  Got a call on 01/10/20 from the estate agent of all people who advised that the sellers had forgotten to complete a piece of paperwork and the sellers solicitor was just sitting on it. 
• 02/10/20 - Homebuyers report and contract pack received, enquiries raised by our solicitor. Searches commenced.

So not much to wait for now! Both us and the vendors are hoping to complete by Mid-November, all being well. Dya reckon that's realistic?

Still waiting for responses to the enquiries, it sounds like the sellers solicitors aren't exactly fantastic and it's making me antsy 

I think it's realistic, good that all parties are motivated. Really depends on if the enquiries are straightforward enough to answer. We are a bit behind you on our purchase and yet our vendor wants to complete 30th October which is the day we are due to complete on our sale! I thought we would end up with a 2-3 week gap. 

That's good to hear Yes the enquiries are pretty straightforward (most are literally basic boxes not completed correctly on the contract pack, hence my thinking the sellers solicitors aren't great as they clearly didn't check it over!)
Good luck with the 30th!! Hopefully we won't be too far behind you  

atrixa

shaunad93 said:

Has anyone ever dealt with the conveyancing director of the firm? Wondering if they actually do anything 

Yep, my conveyancer is the firm's director/owner. I wonder if might have taken my case on as the vendor was also using the same firm, different solicitor. Could also be due to the increased demand after lockdown I suppose.
Should be exchanging/completing on Friday, bit excited now!

ZappyBoy

ZappyBoy said:

Adding ours to the mix. FTB, 85% LTV, no-chain, 3 bed semi, New Build.
10/09 Mortgage offer
17/09 Draft contract created. Enquiries sent to seller's solicitor.
2/10 Homebuyer Survey
5/10 Searches back 
7/10 Solictor update. Only partial replies to enquiries from seller's solictor. 
Bit annoyed seller's solicitor basically dragging their heels with replying to enquiries. We also visited the property again on the 14th September and found the electrics were not working properly and the boiler had a fault so we couldn't test the central heating. 
Have asked the estate agent to contact the seller to respond to all the enquiries from our solicitor and also fix the electrics and boiler. Definitely insisting on paying for our own EICR report once they resolve the electric issues.
Less stressful than waiting for the mortgage but still annoying the seller seems to be excruciatingly slow to respond.

Got fed up of waiting and sent an email directly to the seller's solicitor asking them to respond to all enquiries by the end of the week or provide an explanation as to why they were unable to. Next day our solicitor advised us there were now only 7 of the 17 enquiries remaining to be answered after the seller's solicitor sent an update. Also adding more potential delays to the process, the developer finished the property late 2019 and sold about 3 out of the 6 houses to a property investment company in Jan 2020. One of these is the property we want to purchase and has remained empty since it was built. An application to land registry was submitted in March 2020 but it is still pending. We have asked numerous times for the seller to ask for it to expedited as this is holding up the sale. Trying to remain optimistic but I worry this won't be sorted before our mortgage offer expires in December. 

CBush86

Finally had some suggested completion dates through, it's looking likely to be either the 4th or the 13th November! 😁😁😁

bouzer

Finally a suggested completion date of 26th October! Baby due 1st November!

impatient2020

So as per my username I am getting impatient waiting to move. 

Back in Jan our offer was accepted on a house, all going smoothly and then lockdown happened. 

Early June we got told the chain collapsed. 

We really want the house and currently in rented accommodation so decided to wait it out. 

New chain began a week later. 

EA said it should be straight forward and the chain were happy to work towards our mortgage offer deadline of 28th Aug.
26th Aug we got told chain collapsed again. 

We registered back with all EA’s to check alternative’s but nothing came up as good so 8months already invested we decided to see this through. Managed to get a new offer. 

It’s now Oct and we have just been told a provisional completion date of 30th Oct but no exchange date has been discussed as searches are taking 4 weeks and counting for the top house. 

Also our searches are out of date so we need to purchase indemnity insurance! 

Anyone else finding local searches are taking an absolute age right now? We are FTB, is it normal to not have exchange/completion dates not discussed until last minute? 

Drawingaline

impatient2020 said:

So as per my username I am getting impatient waiting to move. 

Back in Jan our offer was accepted on a house, all going smoothly and then lockdown happened. 

Early June we got told the chain collapsed. 

We really want the house and currently in rented accommodation so decided to wait it out. 

New chain began a week later. 

EA said it should be straight forward and the chain were happy to work towards our mortgage offer deadline of 28th Aug.
26th Aug we got told chain collapsed again. 

We registered back with all EA’s to check alternative’s but nothing came up as good so 8months already invested we decided to see this through. Managed to get a new offer. 

It’s now Oct and we have just been told a provisional completion date of 30th Oct but no exchange date has been discussed as searches are taking 4 weeks and counting for the top house. 

Also our searches are out of date so we need to purchase indemnity insurance! 

Anyone else finding local searches are taking an absolute age right now? We are FTB, is it normal to not have exchange/completion dates not discussed until last minute? 

Our searches were back in less than two weeks,but other areas of the country seem to be taking longer, som posters talking about 8 weeks+!

bearclaws

Another week waiting on seller’s solicitors to respond to enquiries! Ahhhhhhh. Everything else is sorted and the questions are so basic, just respond to them!!!