The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

katie91_2

katie91_2 said:

I don’t know how much more of this I can take. We’re still no further on with our purchase after 3 1/2 months due to the chain collapsing twice. We accepted an offer on our flat this week (which we can keep, but are hoping to sell as we’d rather not be landlords) and the buyer pulled out literally AN HOUR after the memorandum was issued. It seems like nothing is going right and we’re getting nowhere. I am so fed up.

Our sellers finally found somewhere 2 weeks ago and by some miracle the people they’re buying from already have an offer accepted on a vacant property - fingers crossed it’s third time lucky on this chain! We got responses back today on our enquiries which have been outstanding since 25th Sept, not all resolved yet but it’s nice to have some (any!) progress after the last couple of months.

amandacat

I’m selling (moving into rented after selling due to relocation and wanting more time to find somewhere to buy. FTB buying our house. 
Timeline currently:
Sale agreed: 10.11.20 
Draft contract/property forms sent by my solicitor: 16.11.20
Buyers mortgage valuation survey (done in person) 19.11.20
Draft contract accepted by buyers solicitor and pre contract enquires received: 3.12.20
Following a personal headache trying to answer all the pre contract enquires, these answers were sent to buyers solicitor: 8.12.20. 
Now it’s just waiting. EA tells me the buyers have their mortgage offer and searches have been paid for but won’t be back until mid January but from experience I take EA feedback with a pinch of salt. 
Spending every day nervous now the buyer will pull out for some reason. 

Lostthegame

Reading through all these posts is very therapeutic!
I’ve only just started the process and I’m already getting impatient! I’m buying a shared ownership flat with no chain.
Had an email from my solicitor last Thursday saying that they’re waiting for the contract papers from the sellers solicitors and then they will begin the searches.

All I seem to be doing is checking my emails every hour of the day, fingers crossed it’s a smooth and fast process... wishful thinking, I know!

joe90mitch

I think I'm just writing this out as self-therapy, so here goes... Me and my partner buying our house as FTBs. Chain of 4.

• Viewed the house: 11th July
• Offer made: 14th July
• Best and final offer (sealed bids) made along with 14 others: 23rd July
• Offer accepted: 24th July
• Solicitors instructed and Sales Memo sent: 25th July
• Mortgage application submitted through broker: 27th July
• Homebuyers survey carried out and valuation confirmed: 17th August
• Mortgage offer received: 18th August
• Seller's solicitors still haven't sent us a contract pack, but instruct our solicitors that they can begin searches: 10th September
• Initial contract pack received (no idea why this had taken so long, our seller's thought their solicitors had sent it weeks prior): 18th September
• Additional damp and electrical surveys done through September and small reduction in price agreed: 6th October
• Searches complete and initial enquiries sent back to seller's solicitors: 16th October
• Again, no idea why things took so long, but received answers to these enquiries and our solicitor sent report out to us on: 20th November
• Solicitor informed us they hadn't received a reduced mortgage offer after reduction in price, chase our mortgage broker who it seems forgot to process it. Halifax accidentally double the price reduction and so solicitor comes back saying it's an incorrect mortgage offer. Our mortgage broker initially says he's unsure if he will be able to get it back to the correct amount. Panic begins. Thankfully is sorted a day later and correct reduced mortgage sent to solicitor: 24th November
• Four postal days later, we finally received the contract pack (sent first class but took 4 days, not good for the old stress levels), reviewed it, agree with what we've heard from rest of chain in terms of aiming for completion on 11th December, signed it and returned to our solicitor: 26th November
• After chasing seller's EA and getting vague replies, start to hear that they should be ready to exchange soon. Then on Thurs 3rd December hear they're ready to exchange and that they want to exchange the next day, on Friday 4th, to complete on Friday 11th. But our solicitor has only just submitted Lifetime ISA withdrawal forms to Skipton, where the vast majority of our deposit lies. Get pressured by our sellers, I have a few panicked phone calls with Skipton. In the end our solicitor phones up and they agree to sort it that day. Party time, think it's all going ahead, then at 4pm hear that someone in the chain has outstanding enquiries: 4th December

Now... just waiting. We were told after the disappointment on Friday that it's the end of the chain and that it should be resolved by Monday (2 days ago) and everyone is still aiming for Friday 11th completion. Have heard nothing concrete since. Our sellers are now saying if they don't get an update for an exchange date by the end of the day today that they want to wait to complete until after Christmas. They also said the very latest they want to complete is by Wednesday 16th (they claim no removals are available at all after that). Feeling so stressed. I know it's all normal, but our purchase does seem to have really dragged on and on, with times where it was sat with our sellers and nothing was happened. 

gab3x

@joe90mitch - It is the most awful process imaginable to man. I do hope this gets sorted out for you asap. If it makes you feel any better we are a mini chain (us, our FTB and our seller with no onward chain) and yet it is still complicated. I am now waiting for well over a week for sellers to receive revised mortgage offer (remember they have no onward chain!?!) and we are only to complete 8.1.21. If we don't exchange this week our buyers are saying they cannot complete on the 8th..... aaaaargh

joe90mitch

Thanks @gab3x - yeah it's so frustrating. I know I'm probably just repeating what others have said hundred of times before, but my fiance and I are now already saying "never again" haha. Just crazy that the process is still so old fashioned and you never have any clue at any stage as to what's causing delays.

Good luck with your move too, hope it all gets ironed out

Mineral1

Stuck at the minute as our solicitor won't allow us to exchange until closer to the time that the vendor is ready to complete - late January. I can understand why they're advising us to wait. However the vendor is part exchanging their house for a new-build and the developer is constantly threatening to cancel the sale and remarket their plot which would obviously collapse our sale. At the minute the vendors solicitor is apparently trying to agree the contents of a covid clause that would satisfy my solicitor and allow them to advise us to proceed but with how risk averse they (perhaps rightly) have been, I can't see them agreeing to anything other than a simple exchange on day of completion. I can't see the builder accepting that so i have a strong feeling the purchase will just fall through. We made our offer in July!!!

hema123456789

Currently working towards Monday.

Bit concerned as my house sale is being completed on Monday (apparently!) but they haven’t drawn down funds from the buyers mortgage provider yet which apparently takes 5 days and we haven’t received the contract yet either.

Exchanging on my new property on Monday but that’s conditional on my mortgage being paid off and the deposit funds coming in from my sale.

Am defo !!!!!! my solicitor off with all the calls 

mlb95

fleur8 said:

We’re all ready to exchange but the co-freeholder is essentially blocking the sale. If we don’t exchange by Friday we have to pull out. Never expected this to happen!

Sorry Fleur8 , you've probably said earlier on but there's a lot of messages to read. Why might you have to pull out ? Have they been messing you around a lot ? I hope it gets sorted for you ! 🤞

Slithery

calamityjenny said:

fleur8 said:

.... We have a strict deadline due to our rental property and time is running out so I think we’ll have to pull out. I reckon I can’t be bothered to go through this process again. I’d rather just keep renting really. 

Totally don't blame you... we're in a similar boat, we're all done and ready to complete .... but just been told it'll be at least another 6 months, but our rental ends at the end of Feb.  Really dissapointed

You know that you are under no obligation to leave when the fixed term ends? A periodic tenancy is your legal right and occurs automatically if you stay in the property.