The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

badger09

badger09 said:

badger09 said:

Finally decided to post our timeline, which is bound to spell disaster!

28/7 Our ‘niche/marmite’ house live on RM

25/8 2 identical below asking offers from 2nd viewing, & another who viewed today. Told EA to seek ‘best & final’ offers by 27th

27/8 both increased offers to above asking price. Viewed house we are buying - in torrential rain (+ 1 other)

28/8 accepted our buyers’ offer even though £4k lower than other offer. Solicitor lined up

29/8 2nd viewing on house we are buying – in sunshine (+ 2 others). Negotiated below asking offer direct with seller (PBricks)

1/9 buyer does his own survey. All OK (house built late 1950s, extended 1990s) Exchanged contact details. He mentions end October completion if possible

2nd offer couple ask EA if another £10k will change our minds. Decide he might be a chancer, so stick with our agreement

2/9 seller’s offer accepted on onward purchase, mortgage application done. Wanted to buy this ‘forever’ home for years. Offered privately. Its tenanted, tenants will be out by end October, but they will move in with parents if any delay. Alarm bells ring but this is repeated on several conversations. EA dismissive about my concern over issues re evicting tenants

5/9 buyers get their mortgage offer. Sales & Purchase packs received from solicitor  

7/9 Homebuyers survey done on purchase (no mortgage)

8/9 Completed Property Information Form, Fittings & Contents etc. Solicitor already has contract papers re purchase (PPL)

11/9 Homebuyers Survey received – nothing untoward, valued at offer price

17/9 contract papers to buyers’ conveyancer (Countrywide Conveyancing). Contract papers re purchase received

22/9 our solicitor raises enquiries re purchase

7/10 buyer says their chain is ok, all mortgage offers in place, waiting for searches. Doesn’t know if solicitor has raised any enquiries on contract paperwork.

8/10 I phoned solicitor for update. Buyers solicitors have lost our pre contract paperwork! No replies to enquiries to sellers’ solicitors. Searches not yet received.

Seller says tenants in onward purchase ‘being awkward’. Alarm bells & sirens now going off. Very unsettled all weekend

13/10 solicitor phones, sellers not going ahead with sale. She said it was odd as on 9th she received replies to most enquiries.  Devastated; can’t lose sale as our house not easy to sell (failed 3 years ago). Decide to view others & look for rented. 

In view of friendly relationship with seller, decide to message to try a work around. Costed rental, storage, hassle factor etc etc we would offer sellers more, to cover additional SDLT they might pay due to delay. Wonder if we’re completely mad.

14/10 view chain free house, but too many compromises. Resigned to renting. Seller contacts me. Equally devastated by turn of events. What did we have in mind? We offered additional money if they completed to original timescale. They discussed with parents & accepted. Instructed their solicitor same day. I updated our solicitor. Immense relief.

20/10 single enquiry from buyers solicitor, reply same day

22/10 seller confirmed all enquiries dealt with. They are working towards completion mid November. Already sold some furniture. I feel much happier about whole situation.

23/10 receive 14 page ‘Client Report’ and half a rainforest of paperwork & replies to enquiries on our purchase. Solicitor on holiday next week

24/10 updated buyers. He will chase solicitor re only one enquiry. Sent me list of 10 enquiries, supposedly sent by conveyancer 8/10 BUT mine told me 13/10 she’d received only 1 enquiry.

27/10 Our solictor says list of 10 enquiries was received 26th by email. Somebody has been less than honest!

28/10 visited our new house to check boundaries with Title plan, chatted with sellers. Children excited to be staying with grandparents, boxes everywhere. Replied to Client Report.

31/10/20 today buyer tells me they’ve taken reduction on their sale in order to keep chain intact.

No chickens being counted – but all hopefully committed. Now for the COVID announcement!

Congratulations if you've got this far. You're either bored, or like me, derive some comfort from knowing you're not alone on this rollercoaster. Anyway, it has helped me to 'share'   

 

Haven't felt like posting update, but here goes:
18/11/20 solicitor phones, working through final batch of paperwork from sellers' solicitor when email pings. Basically, their onward purchase has been withdrawn from sale. As they were only selling so they could buy that particular property, which we knew, they also had to withdraw from sale. Devastated, for 2nd time, but this time its not recoverable.

Can't risk losing sale of our 'marmite' house this time, so have to think about renting. Honestly, can't think straight about anything.  

Spoke to our buyers who basically said, if we don't buy 'our house name' we're not moving. Tell them we'll look for rental immediately. It is their searches which are the hold up, so they check with their buyer who checks with their FTB - all agree that if they can't complete by 4th December (virtually impossible as search not expected until 27/11) they'd rather keep going with view to complete early January. 

Now trying to persuade landlord of new build, that a couple in their 70s, with guaranteed pension income, substantial savings, house equity well over £500k, non smoking non pet owners, prepared to pay several months up front if necessary, are suitable candidates. This is in an area with dozens of 4 bed properties available - aimed at students. But unlike them, we have no history as tenants!

Surrounded by boxes labelled for our new house, can't sleep, constant sick headache.
So, to all those who say glibly 'why don't you move into rented'? In the middle of lockdown with Christmas & New Year approaching, it really isn't always that simple.

Grateful to son in Hong Kong for being available to 'chat' at all hours of night (for me), but I wish he was here for a proper hug. 
Apologies - feeling very sorry for myself & easier to talk to strangers.

Congratulations to all who have completed their journey.  

Thanks to all those who sympathised. We've asked about several possible rental properties, but they all want 12 month contracts. The newbuild landlord has said he will let to us if other applicant doesn't check out.

Yesterday a friend offered a lifeline. It is far from ideal, but at least we will have somewhere we can stay temporarily.

Caramac said:

Does your EA do rental properties? They may be able to help you. I agree that going into rented accommodation isn’t as easy as it sounds. We looked at it and we would either have to commit to a year or go into short term whilst we waited for our new house to be completed. Short term would be fine for up to a couple of months but rather costly for longer.

I have now emailed EA - twice as I can't bring myself to speak to them without getting extremely angry and upset. The only communication I've had from them is an unsolicited mailing of their 'new instructions' of totally unsuitable and irrelevant properties, received the day after we lost our purchase. We've never requested, or received details of any properties from them before that. To say it was insensitive and unprofessional is an understatement. They haven't even had the decency to reply, so my next step will be a written complaint.

Isteon

I have now exchanged!! Completion set for 9th December!! Best of luck to all those waiting to get things across the line still 

badger09

Congratulations. Hope you'll be very happy in your new home.

sarcal3813

Does anyone know what happens if a property isn’t left clear? Is it then the buyers responsibility? 

Bad_Accountant

sarcal3813 said:

Does anyone know what happens if a property isn’t left clear? Is it then the buyers responsibility? 

I'll quote a really good post by PrinceofPounds from a thread where the sellers had left some old furniture in a property:

This is a situation called bailment. Legally you are supposed to offer the owner of the items a reasonable opportunity to collect them. If they do not, then you can dispose of the items, and/or sell them. If you sell them, you can keep a reasonable amount of money to cover your costs, but you are supposed to make a reasonable effort to offer anything extra back to the owner of the goods.

If disposal costs you money, you could sue the vendor for it, but it may well not be worth the time and effort. 

If the value of the items is negligible, the practical risks in just disposing of it are very low.

sarcal3813

Bad_Accountant said:

sarcal3813 said:

Does anyone know what happens if a property isn’t left clear? Is it then the buyers responsibility? 

I'll quote a really good post by PrinceofPounds from a thread where the sellers had left some old furniture in a property:

This is a situation called bailment. Legally you are supposed to offer the owner of the items a reasonable opportunity to collect them. If they do not, then you can dispose of the items, and/or sell them. If you sell them, you can keep a reasonable amount of money to cover your costs, but you are supposed to make a reasonable effort to offer anything extra back to the owner of the goods.

If disposal costs you money, you could sue the vendor for it, but it may well not be worth the time and effort. 

If the value of the items is negligible, the practical risks in just disposing of it are very low.

Thank you! This is really helpful  

firsttimebuyerhelpme

mlb95 said:

firsttimebuyerhelpme said:

mlb95 said:

firsttimebuyerhelpme 

Yes, I would start putting your money into one place in order to transfer to your solicitor! Our solicitor also was really slow at telling us when to do things, but then expected them to happen immediately 😂 so if it’s all one place ready to go it’s easier and probably quicker! 

Thank you for your advice, I'll start doing that in preparation 🙂 Don't want to hold anyone up but don't really have a clue how long this should take either 🤦

It’s so hard isn’t it! I had no clue what was going on for most of our transaction! Once our enquiries were back we completed within two weeks. We exchanged and completed on the same day due to covid. 

That sounds quick , how long was the whole process for you ? I'd rather exchange and complete on the same day too, do you know why there is a gap between them sometimes? It's all so much new jargon to learn 🤦

Whole process from offer acceptance to getting keys was 8 weeks so pretty quick. No chain either side and an empty house helped! We live with parents and are renovating before fully moving in so didnt need any time between exchange/completion. If you’re moving furniture etc then it’s beneficial to have some time between. Just depends on everyone’s circumstances! 

Othmas

The peril of finding someone to witness your signatures when you have no friends!

Doodlebugs

Had a chat with our EA yesterday to find out why our buyers haven’t requested access for a mortgage appraisal. They were having issues with their mortgage advisor and have decided not to continue with them, so they have no mortgage offer yet. Getting slightly concerned. The EA assured us it wasn’t a problem with the lender, just the mortgage advisor but I’m sure they say that to try keep things calm. They couldn’t say if the buyers are continuing with the application they’ve already made or will look to start a new application. 

This is going to be a stressful run up to Christmas. We don’t want to lose our buyers but we also don’t want our sellers to drop us because of delays.  

gingerlex

Buckle up folks, this timeline is a long one!

09/09 offer accepted on ours

13/09 viewed new house

14/09 offer accepted on new house

16/09 restart application as filled incorrectly (did homeowner loan. Woops)- new DIP

23/09 details confirmed, valuation requested, research surveyors.

25/09 documents of wages uploaded  (had to chase as link not working)

28/09 learned that buyers are awaiting mortgage offer and have instructed searches; vendor has also instructed searches.

29/09 advise solicitor to begin searches, draft contract received

30/09 paid for searches

09/10 mortgage offer given, surveyors instructed (booked for 20/10)

12/10 searches back, enquiries received from buyers, responded to enquiries

15/10 our vendor has pulled out of her sale and put an offer on a different property - rejected 4 days later

20/10 our solicitor forwarded response to enquiries to buyers solicitor. Survey carried out at purchase

26/10 buyers still waiting on mortgage offer, had drive by valuation. No property-accessed survey

27/10 survey report received. Answered additional enquiries from buyers. Vendor has had an offer accepted on a house. Awaiting chain confirmation (their vendor to go into rented)

04/11 receive information that buyers mortgage offer is through

05/11 email received from solicitor, buyer is ready as are we, just need vendors position.

11/11 phone call from vendors EA, vendor is buying two properties. New build set to be completed in December (awaiting flooring). Vendor super keen to move and prepared to go into new build until other purchase completed (other purchase = most recently accepted offer). Offered a second viewing on purchase if we wished (accepted)

13/11 buyers super keen. Proposed date of 27/11. Counter propose 1/12. panic about packing a 3 bed house with hoarding tendancies in the middle of a lockdown solo as hubby is away for work.

16/11 Vendor EA inform vendor pulled out of new build purchase (drain probs), 2nd purchase is awaiting searches.

17/11 buyer is still interested despite what's going on. His rental is up 3rd Jan. Vendors solicitors saying no move til Jan.

18/11 spoke to vendor EA, vendor has offer on another property, they have asked their vendor if can rent for 2 months first but that vendor not comfortable with that. Property 2 vendor will move in with partner, but given time of year deffo January before everything wrapped up. I told them as long as we move before March, it's fine; but our buyers are wanting to move sooner. Vendor EA discussing end of January as clause for completion and talking to out EA so they can speak to our buyers.
Viewed property for second time. Still feels like home. Drain problem of new build was flooding. Vendor frustrated because she wants to move but not make rash decisions. New accepted property is chain free and initially said yes to a 2month rental before getting cold feet. Other property from October have changed their minds about rental and haven't even started looking yet.

20/11 Our buyer has just been speaking to our EA, seeing if there is any way we can speed things up, will our vendor go into rented etc. He initially said his rental agreement was up 3rd Jan. That's now changed to "end of December". His landlord won't do a rolling contract. He then said "as long as it's before the end of January", which my EA said "it's pretty likely it will be", he's then flipped a switch and said it needs to be before 18th December or he doesn't see the point.

I've told my EA that I don't know what he wants from us. We can't make the system work any faster. I wouldn't buy a flooded house either. He can spit his dummy out and stamp his feet but it doesn't change Christmas is in the way, we don't have a date and I can't book a removal van without a date. There is no way I am renting and moving twice with a 4yr old and cats. Not fair to them.
23/11 spoke to EA, buyer has apologised (he took out his frustration on her a bit). He IS happy to wait and has sorted accommodation for himself for after Xmas.

So all being well, in our new home for end of Jan. At this point I am fed up of people lying and moving goalposts.