15 weeks and still not exchanged

Danielle201

Good evening, as the title suggests I am getting a little concerned. We own a house which we accepted an offer on nearly 16 weeks ago. The couple are first time buyers living at home and we are buying a new build. All our work was done within 8 weeks, we had done everything asked of by our solicitor, our mortgage was done and all surveys competed. Now because we are buying a new build, the company expects a quick turn around, we should have exchanged about 6 weeks ago now at the latest, Taylor wimpey are being very good about it but I'm not sure how much longer they will let us keep the house reserved without exchanging.

The problem lies with the buyers. It took 13 weeks to get their mortgage approved! There was problem after problem and we didn't know anything until week 10. Now they are waiting for their gifted deposit to be approved. Our solicitor has been great and spoke to their solicitor the other week, but could only get basic info, they went with a cheap online solicitor who is basically useless and impossible to get hold of. Our estate agent has been helpful but is now getting annoyed with us calling for updates. We called today to find out if the gift had been approved but it hadn't, we asked why the buyers hadn't signed their mortgage deeds and sent back to the solicitors and he got really irritated. We are being made to feel like we are being a pain but I'm suffering with terrible panic attacks set off by the constant uncertainty. He can't tell us if they've signed their contracts or if they've even been issued! I've been sending emails and copying Taylor wimpey, solicitors and estate agents in and I feel like we are getting Chinese whispers.

So the whole point of this long long thread....to let off some steam and to maybe find out if there is anyone with advice on how to handle this. We went with expensive solicitors and estate agents to get this done properly as I suffer with Depression and anxiety which are made worse by stress. I've suffered a miscarriage while this has all been going on and I'm about 7 days from saying pull the sale. I feel like we are being told we are over reacting but we don't even have a real chain! What I think is our buyers sat on their backside and our estate agent didn't bother pushing them.

Has anyone dealt with something similar? Is it just a case of make our estate agents life hell until we get some answers? Sorry for the long long post!

goodwithsaving

I'm sorry you are having a really hard time. I'm 8 weeks in and already panicking that we haven't exchanged.
I would just say, don't worry about chasing. I annoy my agent but as I remind her, the more she chases, the faster we can potentially get done and the quicker she can get rid of me :-)

hazyjo

Danielle201 wrote: »

Has anyone dealt with something similar? Is it just a case of make our estate agents life hell until we get some answers? Sorry for the long long post!

Sort of (a few times). The last time, I found it easier to just email the EAs every day or few days with an update, even if was to say no news, or that I'd emailed [whoever] for an update and was waiting to hear... They were awful EAs, but actually at the end they were saying they wished all their clients were like me and they really appreciated the updates. It completely kept them off my back. I'd also try and say things like 'I'll email on Wednesday to give you an update' so they knew when I'd next be in touch.

goodwithsaving wrote: »

I'm sorry you are having a really hard time. I'm 8 weeks in and already panicking that we haven't exchanged.
I would just say, don't worry about chasing. I annoy my agent but as I remind her, the more she chases, the faster we can potentially get done and the quicker she can get rid of me :-)

Try not to worry - 8 weeks is still relatively early. 12 weeks is average for offer through to completion. You'll prob have 2 weeks or so between the two.

Jx

Danielle201

Thank you both for your replies. Xx

AnotherJoe

I think it would be reasonable to tell the EA that unless the buyers pull their fingers out, you will be putting it back on the market, lets say in a couple of weeks time.
Having a deadline focuses everyone (especially your buyers) and gives them a reason to push at their end.
As FTB they may just be going with the flow and not realising that they need to push along at their end.

I wouldn't email, easy to ignore, I'd be phoning. And its your EAs job to sell so they should be helping you.

If the two weeks passes without significant progress, I'd put it back on the market. Having been messed about seriously before by a couple of FTBs in the past my tolerance levels are low.

Thrugelmir

Danielle201 wrote: »

We went with expensive solicitors and estate agents to get this done properly

The fact that the service providers you employed were expensive has no bearing on the actions of the other party. When will the new build be completed?

mitalmistry

Hi
Im buying a house which the seller is buying a new build with from Taylor Wimpey and part exchanged their home.
Taylor Wimpey rang me and said they wanted to exchange within 28 days. This was on the 4th of May. MY solicitors were rubbish and very slow. We exchanged on the 4th of August. They say 28 days but really they will wait. I would not worry.
The new build has taken forever to build. Its still incomplete. I was told it would be August/September time and we are approaching October no plans to complete at present. House still undercontructionw ith scaffolding!

kinger101

I've put a property back on the market because of lack of progress on a buyers part. They soon upped their game. When I was buying, I also ended up telling the vendor that I'd withdraw from the sale if they hadn't exchanged by the end of the week (all queries had been finished three weeks earlier but they went on holiday and couldn't be bothered to phone their solicitor for authority to exchange).

You have my sympathies. When one party is doing all the pushing, and the other thinks it will all mysteriously fall into place, it gets very annoying.

antilles

If I'm reading correctly, it sounds like the mortgage hasn't even been approved, is that right? From experience of buying and selling 3 houses in the last 2 years, the mortgage offer was approved and in place within about 2 weeks of the offer being accepted.

It sounds like they haven't even started the searches, is that correct? They take 3-4 weeks from experience, then there's the solicitor's enquiries to sort out. Basically you could still be looking at 4-5 weeks minimum before exchange unless I've missed something.

If searches haven't been started by now, I'd put it back on the market. Sounds like you're just being messed about here. I was in a similar situation for about 5 weeks, buyer had all sorts of excuses, I found out in the end that they actually had the mortgage refused and were trying to get another approval to no avail.

Also, if your estate agent is no good, sack them and list with another.