The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

tervozina

breakfast_epiphanies said:

Just exchanged..... waiting for a call to say it’s completed. 

Yey! Good news for you! 

We are still waiting. Apparently our solicitors are trying to reach sellers solicitors and getting no responses. I have a feeling it will not happen today 😖

tervozina

Ok an update. 

We were cheeky enough to call sellers solicitors as ours not answering and they told us that our solicitors are literally sending the money over now, they couldn’t tell us anything more as they are not allowed to talk to us but they said that we should complete within next couple hours 

breakfast_epiphanies

tervozina said:

Ok an update. 

We were cheeky enough to call sellers solicitors as ours not answering and they told us that our solicitors are literally sending the money over now, they couldn’t tell us anything more as they are not allowed to talk to us but they said that we should complete within next couple hours 

👍👍

stuartwatford

oniongirl said:

We are in a chain of 5, 3 above us, FTB below, with the top of the chain a divorcing couple. 

There is paperwork being waited for from a management company at the final house is a relatively new build. They have been waiting for it for months. Mortgage offers are starting to expire, our buyers' being the first, expiring on Friday, and an extension only possible if they provide a Completion date within 14 days of the expiry. Ours is next at the end of Feb... we started all this in July!

I'm too scared to ring the agents and find out what's going on.

Similar position to you. I've found out there is an outstanding issue that related to management company and a solicitor isn't willing to progress to exchange yet. We have a long chain as well. 

WiseOwl00

Received our draft contracts yesterday, trying to find someone to witness us signing our contract and mortgage deed during a lockdown is proving stressful! Hoping our solicitor has received the searches and raised enquiries, just waiting on an update from her. 

I've honestly got no idea how long it's going to take from this point (been attempting to buy a house since July!) and this lockdown is making it so much more nerve-wracking. 

HoopyNJ

• 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.

• 19/11/20 - Searches FINALLY back
• 25/11/20 - told by estate agent that our solicitor had received the responses to the final enquiries and had them on her desk.
• 9/12/20 - Upon chasing, turned out there was in fact *still* one enquiry outstanding.
• 14/12/20 - Told all enquires were back. At this point my solicitor was on medical leave so we were dealing with her assistant who said she would try and get the report out to us before Christmas. (Spoiler...she did not.)
  

I emailed our solicitor today for an update and she basically said she has a lot to catch up on and will do her best to get the report out to us ASAP but basically that she has to prioritise the many completions she has this week and cannot give us a date.

In my view chasing further or getting angry isn't going to change anything but my partner disagrees and thinks we should be expressing our frustrations. What are your thoughts?

*Edit to Add* There is no chain. 

Drawingaline

WiseOwl00 said:

Received our draft contracts yesterday, trying to find someone to witness us signing our contract and mortgage deed during a lockdown is proving stressful! Hoping our solicitor has received the searches and raised enquiries, just waiting on an update from her. 

I've honestly got no idea how long it's going to take from this point (been attempting to buy a house since July!) and this lockdown is making it so much more nerve-wracking. 

Estate agents may be able to view the signatures. Or drive to a friend and sign on the doorstep wearing masks (what I will be doing) 

tervozina

breakfast_epiphanies said:

tervozina said:

Ok an update. 

We were cheeky enough to call sellers solicitors as ours not answering and they told us that our solicitors are literally sending the money over now, they couldn’t tell us anything more as they are not allowed to talk to us but they said that we should complete within next couple hours 

👍👍

Yey! We completed! Just going to collect the keys. 

Did you complete yet?

thaddy

HoopyNJ said:

• 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.

• 19/11/20 - Searches FINALLY back
• 25/11/20 - told by estate agent that our solicitor had received the responses to the final enquiries and had them on her desk.
• 9/12/20 - Upon chasing, turned out there was in fact *still* one enquiry outstanding.
• 14/12/20 - Told all enquires were back. At this point my solicitor was on medical leave so we were dealing with her assistant who said she would try and get the report out to us before Christmas. (Spoiler...she did not.)
  

I emailed our solicitor today for an update and she basically said she has a lot to catch up on and will do her best to get the report out to us ASAP but basically that she has to prioritise the many completions she has this week and cannot give us a date.

In my view chasing further or getting angry isn't going to change anything but my partner disagrees and thinks we should be expressing our frustrations. What are your thoughts?

*Edit to Add* There is no chain. 

We are in a similar situation waiting for our report and draft contracts which are expected sometime this week. I am not sure if chasing further will help as you have already been given some kind of update. Perhaps expressing your concerns when you next make contact may help but I don't think it will change much either. We are yet to have enquires raised so getting very nervous with our mortgage offer expiring in a few weeks and our solicitor is aware of it so trying not to worry too much. All the best!

kaizergilhelm

Hi all,
Currently still waiting to exchange and just wanted to firstly have a small vent and secondly ask how you all deal with the stress of the process and lack of communication from all parties!
Me - FTB
Vendor - Selling with no chain as they planned to move back in with parents until a suitable house found
10th September - Offer Accepted
11th September - Mortgage Application Started
14th September - Solicitors Instructed
9th October - Mortgage Offer Received 
23rd November - Searches Received and Satisfied. Signed agreement sent back. EA believes we can exchange/complete early December.
....now here's where the landscape changes. Vendor has found another house and had the offer accepted but still plans to move back to parents to keep the 'no chain' part of the deal.
1st December - EA believes we can exchange this week, complete next......
Come Friday I chased EA & my solicitor (useless at using telephones or computers it seems btw) but hear nothing back
8th December - My solicitor emails me to say they will start getting the completion pack together - this is the last communication I've managed to have with them
11th December - EA phones to apologise for not phoning and informs me that the vendor's solicitors believed this sale was part of a chain for the new house and that it had to be unpicked before things could move again. Assured that this was in progress and happening ASAP.
14th December - EA calls to say we should be able to exchange end of the week but the vendor's solicitor isn't fully ready so will need to complete 1st week of Jan. They also mention that vendor can't complete on new house until early Feb but would still move out to help me. 
18th December - still not a peep from my solicitor despite chasing and now nothing from the EA
4th Jan - as above....
5th Jan - as above...117 days since offer acceptance and counting...

I'm fairly certain that despite me being FTB and this being sold as no-chain it's now becoming part of something larger and that I won't complete until Feb. I wouldn't mind so much if there was some communication but there is none whatsoever and it's stressing me out as on paper it was a simple transaction. My parents have also just major started building work in the house based on EA/solicitor believing that I would have left by now so I'm now in a box room where I need to sleep, work and live......not ideal for a new national lockdown. Good luck to all still waiting and respect to everyone still hanging on to the end of the phone!