The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

amandacat

We have restrictive covenants on our property we are selling. It’s on a 15 year old estate and so there are covenants that have to be agreed to although not as strict as yours but still things that could put people off eg no extensions without permission from the management company, no businesses to be set up at the property and no caravans on the drive. This seems to be typical on newer estates. I know these aren’t enforced because there are neighbours who have been breaching all of these for years. I told my EA about these but I know from the solicitor dealings that she didn’t communicate these to our buyer. 

Doodlebugs

Peppermint90 said:

Haha!


Why so long until exchange? 

I'm asking because I only got my mortgage offer a few days ago. Solicitor still hasn't received searches yet....is it too optimistic of me to hope to complete before stamp duty deadline? 

The house we are buying is tenanted. The tenants indicated they would be leaving mid January but notice from the vendor doesn’t end until early March. They could also stay past that date too if they haven’t actually found anywhere to move to. 

We won’t exchange until the property is vacant, so it’s a waiting game. Our offer was accepted end of September.  

Rachel*

Finally tomorrow my solicitors will be open again! Even though I don’t expect to hear from them straight away, it’ll be nice to not feel in limbo anymore! 

Sotts

We've had our searches back (after just 2 weeks),  no queries at all - is that usual on a new build property? 
So I think we should be ready to exchange - well just waiting for signoff on our mortgage offer.

Roll Monday when everything is open.

kenneth77

Potential lock down worries?! 
Waiting to exchange. Believe all searches back and last one being reviewed. House we buy is empty and our buyer is ftb so all good to go really. Solicitors said before Xmas looking likely complete by end of Jan but now since  boris's announcement on Marr show this morning that likely further restrictions I'm really worried there might be restrictions to housing market and moves?! I'm pretty sure Wales has restrictions though could be wrong. Were in England in tier 3 area but getting very anxious 

mm1985

kenneth77 said:

Potential lock down worries?! 
Waiting to exchange. Believe all searches back and last one being reviewed. House we buy is empty and our buyer is ftb so all good to go really. Solicitors said before Xmas looking likely complete by end of Jan but now since  boris's announcement on Marr show this morning that likely further restrictions I'm really worried there might be restrictions to housing market and moves?! I'm pretty sure Wales has restrictions though could be wrong. Were in England in tier 3 area but getting very anxious 

We’re due to exchange once solicitors reopen and we sign contracts but I was concerned about another lockdown too. We’ve suggested a completion date of 14th Jan but I’m now wondering if we move it forward to next week. Although, I’m also trying to remind myself that the housing market remained open in the last lockdown and should a full lockdown happen again with a closed housing market surely the government would have to extend the sdlt holiday 

badger09

kenneth77 said:

Potential lock down worries?! 
Waiting to exchange. Believe all searches back and last one being reviewed. House we buy is empty and our buyer is ftb so all good to go really. Solicitors said before Xmas looking likely complete by end of Jan but now since  boris's announcement on Marr show this morning that likely further restrictions I'm really worried there might be restrictions to housing market and moves?! I'm pretty sure Wales has restrictions though could be wrong. Were in England in tier 3 area but getting very anxious 

Unless any potential new restrictions are even more draconian than those during 1st nationwide lockdown, fear not. By that I mean house moves will still be allowed.

We complete on Friday in Shropshire  - Tier 3, and move to temporary accommodation in Wales, in full lockdown on either Thursday or Friday. All going ahead, barring us or removal men all going down with Covid.

Then will hopefully be moving back to Shropshire in not too distant future. We're allowed to travel between areas for house move & can even stay in hotel Thursday night if we have to because we have legitimate reason.

see links in posts by SDLT_Geek in this recent thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6225735/moving-in-tier-4/p1

kenneth77

badger09 said:

kenneth77 said:

Potential lock down worries?! 
Waiting to exchange. Believe all searches back and last one being reviewed. House we buy is empty and our buyer is ftb so all good to go really. Solicitors said before Xmas looking likely complete by end of Jan but now since  boris's announcement on Marr show this morning that likely further restrictions I'm really worried there might be restrictions to housing market and moves?! I'm pretty sure Wales has restrictions though could be wrong. Were in England in tier 3 area but getting very anxious 

Unless any potential new restrictions are even more draconian than those during 1st nationwide lockdown, fear not. By that I mean house moves will still be allowed.

We complete on Friday in Shropshire  - Tier 3, and move to temporary accommodation in Wales, in full lockdown on either Thursday or Friday. All going ahead, barring us or removal men all going down with Covid.

Then will hopefully be moving back to Shropshire in not too distant future. We're allowed to travel between areas for house move & can even stay in hotel Thursday night if we have to because we have legitimate reason.

see links in posts by SDLT_Geek in this recent thread
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6225735/moving-in-tier-4/p1

Thank you and fellow salopian here! Staying in Shropshire:-) good luck 

Slithery

DairyQueen said:

Apologies for the rant...

A warning re: enquiries. These are not just box-ticking, last-minute exercises as problematic issues can fall out of the woodwork, and often do so at a late stage of the purchase.

Just when we thought we were over the line....

Having waited almost 6 months since our buyer offered, our sale will complete on the 13th Jan. No issues with our property but plenty of issues with buyer's mortgage. We are lucky that we are not in a chain as buyer has nowhere to sell and we have another property in which to stay until we complete our purchase.

Our purchase (offered in September) was well-advanced (or so we thought) until our solicitor dropped a pre-Christmas bombshell. Turns-out that there is a very restrictive covenant on the property we wish to buy. A neighbouring property sold the land on which it was built and they have retained the right to control the appearance of this house and its grounds. Any structural or aesthetic change, including garden buildings, requires their permission. Also, they must approve the design. 

We couldn't even change the colour of the front door without their say-so and we were planning a garden office, kitchen extension and conservatory within the first 6 months of ownership. Our plans are covered by permitted development rights so we should have been good-to-go on day one. Now, at this late stage, the deeds have revealed that we are buying a property with similar restrictions to a listed building. Worse, as any changes would be at the discretion of a neighbour with a vested interest and zero accountability.

I am fuming. We have incurred the majority of the costs of purchase, including a structural survey and searches, and were hoping to exchange in January. The post-lockdown bunfight of last summer means that there is currently nothing on the market, other than 'problem' properties and/or those seriously overpriced, within a radius of 20 miles. Despite being cash buyers we will almost certainly miss the stamp duty holiday even if we found a 'no-onward-chain' property tomorrow.

We have been misled. The vendors and, possibly, their agents must have known about this covenant. Presumably they naively thought it wouldn't be noticed by our solicitor or, possibly, that we would still proceed having committed this far.

Wrong.

This is a potential show-stopper so it should have been mentioned when we made an offer in order to avoid wasted time and costs on both sides. It may not be an issue for some but it most definitely would be for most, and it is for us. We know there was a previous buyer who pulled-out 4 months into the process and we were told by the agent that she just changed her mind at the 11th hour.  Ahem...... Really?

The EA and solicitors have been closed since Xmas Eve so we have been unable to raise the red flag to the vendor. Yet more time wasted. We know the vendors are coordinating this sale with the purchase of an empty property so that transaction will be jeopardised if this sale falls-through.

It's one thing to selfishly waste others' time and money but this is also a spectacular own goal. Stupid. Really, really stupid.

This is why spending £6 online to get the title plans and deeds for a property before even deciding to view in the first place is recommended. You should have known about this before your first viewing.

Fionaanne141

Nearly just fell off my chair, my solictor (who hasn’t exactly been the most responsive) has just sent me an email. She’s clearly trying to get ahead of the back to work chaos.