The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

yksi

Hi everyone I'm also playing the waiting game. Mine is a dirt-cheap leasehold ground-floor flat in a converted building. It all looked very straightforward, so as you can probably guess it has become not straightforward... hurrah

I went to see another flat in the same building last year, and there was water damage to two properties upstairs due to the roof needing replacement. Another owner in the building told me they had a quote which would mean each flat shouldered an expensive share of the repairs. That counted me out of the flat I'd gone to see. But earlier this year a cheaper flat came up downstairs, so I went to see it. In the covid frenzy it went to a bidding war way over asking and priced me out. It fell through, sold again, still out of my price range. When it relisted a third time I offered under the asking, based on the share of repairs I expected to have to pay, and I had my offer accepted. The agent confirmed the likely repair cost and in fact said that insurance had paid out part of it, leaving about 75% of the repair still to be paid. I am in the fortunate position of not needing a mortgage, but of course there isn't much room in the budget to pay more in repairs than I expect.

15/10/2020 offer accepted - supposedly the paperwork is all there, searches all done which we can buy off the previous buyers, so it's four weeks to exchange and two weeks to settle, which sounds just fine
3/11/2020 solicitor asks for money for searches - which I expected as we would be reimbursing the previous buyer
5/11/2020 as it's been three weeks I ask the solicitor if we have confirmed the exchange date - she tells me that the previous buyers did not actually do any searches so it's going to be delayed until probably the first week of December. Oh joy.
12/11/2020 an absolute ton of paperwork arrives. Turns out this is a mortgagee-in-possession sale. Most of the answers from the management company are "we don't know" or "ask the freeholder". Solicitor is now asking the lender which foreclosed. I expect them to mostly answer with "we don't know". The only mention of the eye-watering roof repair is a letter in April to all leaseholders asking for recommendations on roofers who might like to tender. It said they would award contract in May. Nothing else mentioned, no cost estimates, no commencement of either quoting or works, no announcement of successful tender. The roof is probably thus still leaking. The owners have all apparently applied to buy out the freehold. No details on this at all. Obviously I've now sent my solicitor on a lengthy chase for any and all info on the roof and freehold, and I don't foresee a quick resolution...

I just wanted to raise a glass to everyone else whose "in by Christmas" plans have gone pear-shaped and to join you in the commiserations that go with it. x

WorkingHard

I'm right here waiting for exchange with you all.
1st Time Buyer using Equity Loan on a new build. Should be straight forward... well nearly! I have a great conveyancer who I've known for a few years and trust implicitly.
Offer accepted on 16th September and hoping to exchange any minute...
We are awaiting a fax from our lender to then exchange... but there's a problem with the fax line at the solicitors office (not their fault it's outside in the road) so they can't receive it...so they'll post it instead and could take a week. 
Where's the wine??????
Good Luck everyone!

leypt1

To avoid posting yet another "is my solicitor too slow" thread...
Is our solicitor being too slow?? Timeline - 
13/10 offer accepted
14/10 emailed solicitor
20th-ish - received instruction documents
28/10 - Returned instruction documents and paid for searches, emailed solicitor to let him know and got a "thanks"
05/11 - We email to check whether he actually received our documents, no response
07/11 - we get our full mortgage offer! Big surprise, very quick.
11/11 - chase solicitor's PA and find out he's been self-isolating (due to contact with someone with COVID) since the 3rd and hasn't had access to his emails - due back on the 16th
17/11 - we email to check receipt of instruction documents and mortgage documents, and also to raise some initial enquiries following a second viewing
Still radio silence

I know we should be patient, and that in particular we were very lucky to get our mortgage offer so quickly when so many have been delayed, but we're only asking for confirmation of receipt!

We're also a bit miffed that the office doesn't seem to have WFH arrangements in place, and that none of the cover arrangements which were detailed in their terms of business actually seem to have been put into place. Also, there's a chance he didn't start the searches before he left, which adds another 3 weeks of delay onto an already slow process...

Our solicitor is a partner (and a good £1000 more expensive than using an associate from the same firm would have been), and we instructed him following a v strong recommendation from my BIL.

So - are we being too impatient? And how do we gently encourage a response?

tigerlily74

We have been ready to exchange and complete since last Thursday but we now seem to be playing a game of ‘I am waiting for the other party to suggest a date’. Honestly if I hadn’t chased we’d be stuck in this situation for weeks no doubt.

yksi

leypt1 said:

To avoid posting yet another "is my solicitor too slow" thread...
Is our solicitor being too slow??

Oh dear. I feel for you. It's definitely ridiculous not to have any WFH contingency, or at the very least an associate or trainee to acknowledge receipt of documents, but I'm afraid that stubbornness seems standard for solicitors... I used to be a cleaner for a huge firm and personal documents were left out all over the place for all 100 employees to see (lovely for data protection). They also retain huge swathes of boxes of actual paper, work in ancient technology (fax machines anyone?) and are generally messy places, inefficient and stuck in a 1950s mindset. No wonder we feel like they're behind the times, law is an industry trapped by the ancient laws they themselves constructed!

I wonder what would happen if you called them and asked why you're not getting any response and whether it's time for you to engage someone responsive. Recommendation or not they work for you - or they should be - and they shouldn't need kid gloves to do their very expensive job.

Isteon

Isteon said:

Received the contract to sign today, exciting! Starting to believe I might be in by Christmas after all, although annoyingly looks like I'm going to miss my 15th of the month deadline for giving notice on my rental this month as the sellers are waiting for final searches to come back next week before they'll be ready to exchange. But hey, I'll take a month of rental overlap if needed. In the grand scheme of buying a house that's relatively low down the list of possible issues... 

Solicitor floated completion dates of the end of the month today! Annoyingly have missed the rental notice deadline by two days... But sounds like being in by Christmas is a reality, and with some time to spare! 🤩

leypt1

yksi said:

leypt1 said:

To avoid posting yet another "is my solicitor too slow" thread...
Is our solicitor being too slow??

Oh dear. I feel for you. It's definitely ridiculous not to have any WFH contingency, or at the very least an associate or trainee to acknowledge receipt of documents, but I'm afraid that stubbornness seems standard for solicitors... I used to be a cleaner for a huge firm and personal documents were left out all over the place for all 100 employees to see (lovely for data protection). They also retain huge swathes of boxes of actual paper, work in ancient technology (fax machines anyone?) and are generally messy places, inefficient and stuck in a 1950s mindset. No wonder we feel like they're behind the times, law is an industry trapped by the ancient laws they themselves constructed!

I wonder what would happen if you called them and asked why you're not getting any response and whether it's time for you to engage someone responsive. Recommendation or not they work for you - or they should be - and they shouldn't need kid gloves to do their very expensive job.

Thanks for this! Yes, I think a phone call's in order this week!

bell2020

sancahojo said:

How long are your searches taking? Our buyer’s solicitor apparently submitted request 6 weeks ago and have now said they are only expecting them on 11th December - we are based in Greenwich London.

Our searches were submitted last Monday (9th November) and we are waiting on our last one coming back! Our local authority website says 10 working days but we shall see 🤷‍♀️

jimjam83

Exchanged on Monday and completed on Tuesday!!

MgComp

First time buyer here also with no chain either side so SHOULD have been the quickest sale ever! - offer was accepted on Sat 3rd October...and we still haven't recieved our draft contract from the seller's solicitors! We've been chasing for 6 weeks now.

Our side we have had our survey done, and our mortgage has been sroted and accepted. So now it's a waiting game! I've been calling as much as possible. Does make you wonder what these solicitors are doing honestly...