Formal acceptance

elburnzo

I am a ftb and put an offer in on a house on 14/8/18. The seller accepted and I started organising the mortgage which i have now got the offer for. However whenever i call the lawyer (who isnt particularly helpful and i'm wishing i had found someone else but nevermind) he just keeps telling me they havent received the formal written acceptance and expect it in the next few days. He's been saying this since i called him a week after the offer was accepted.



Is this seeming normal to more experienced buyers? I have no idea having never done it all before and i'm starting to get a bit worried. The lawyer set a moving date of 14/9/18 (that date was his idea, i just said as soon as possible) and i just dont see how thats possible if we are still waiting on the acceptance.



No idea if this is just normal lawyers taking their time or what.


I was going to call him again later and see if theres any movement but wanted to see if i could check with folk on here first about it!

davidmcn

Presume you're buying in Scotland? (expect a few baffled answers from the English here)

Really up to the sellers to progress it - what's their position? Had you discussed the date of entry with them? Is the property already empty, if not are they able to move that quickly?

elburnzo

the property is empty and as far as i have been led to believe they wanted a quick sale.



Yes i'm in Scotland! forgot to mention that sorry.


I've got the estate agent to chase it again for me but it sounds like its the sellers lawyer holding things up but as usual i cant get a straight answer out of either the estate agent or lawyer. I think my lawyer just made that date up, no idea if the seller has agreed to it as it wasnt in the offer (it just said a date to be agreed). The lawyer is particularly hard work and would make a good politician as he never answers the question you ask. I certainly wont be using them again regardless.



Trying to tread the fine line between chasing them every day and not looking like a crazy person!

[Deleted User]

Have you had the memorandum of sale from the EA? until they send this to you & the vendors solicitor they will be unable to send draft contracts to your solicitor. Chase with the EA and insist its sent today. Then chase your solicitor tomorrow to ensure they've received the draft contract.

davidmcn

Impatient_Coconut wrote: »

Have you had the memorandum of sale from the EA? until they send this to you & the vendors solicitor they will be unable to send draft contracts to your solicitor. Chase with the EA and insist its sent today. Then chase your solicitor tomorrow to ensure they've received the draft contract.

Like I said OP, you'll get baffled replies from the English...

pinklady21

You need to be patient OP. To be fair, your solicitor is saving you money at this stage, as until there is a formal written acceptance, there is no point in moving forward and incurring costs until the seller has formally agreed to sell the property to you.
Don't get too hung up on the date of entry at this stage, the offer to buy from your solicitors probably said "a date to be mutually agreed" or somesuch. It may or may not be the 14th Sept. there are quite a few steps before you get to that stage, and things may take longer than expected.
You still need to conclude missives, which may or may not take a while, and the first stage is usually for the seller to formally accept your offer. The seller should then send the Title Deeds to your solicitor, who should check them, update you on what they contain and ask any relevant questions to the seller.
Once all is well on both sides, and you have confirmed to your solicitor that you have sufficient funds to proceed, then you conclude missives, the concluded missives will show the actual date of entry. At that stage, you have a concluded bargain and neither side may pull out without incurring the costs of the other.
Enjoy your new home when it happens!

elburnzo

thank you for the explanation, thats exactly what i needed. I dont have an issue waiting as the 14th is earlier than we expected anyway, it was more the lack of any explanation from the solicitor that was bothering me. I had asked the lawyer to explain the process to me but he just kept giving me the same line about waiting on the acceptance, which was fine but didnt really explain what would happen to me or how long he expected it to take.