Slow Solicitor appointed by elderly sellers

Paras

Dear friends,

We are buying this dream house and our only buyer forced us to exchange contracts a month ago with the completion date being the 6th of December 18.

I am stressed to the point of no return. I have booked storage space as renting will make the chosen house go out of our budget. The seller's side is not cooperating much.

I have been calling our solicitor and the other side's EA every hour but they keep saying 'we are doing all we can'. The problem is that the contract needed some revision with a few clauses about the following issues ..
1. Relocation of the electric meter for our house that sits on the neighbouring property (also owned by the sellers). Retention (10K) on the price for this work to be carried out by the sellers. This took over a month as they invited quotations from Electric companies and it needed surveying. This is the time during which my solicitors suddenly got an ultimatum from our buyer to exchange asap or he would pull out. And we gave in.
2. A clause that allows us to enter upon their property to get it done ourselves in case this gets delayed.
3. The sellers have applied for a Possessory Title to a piece of land included in the sale but not included in the Land Registry Title. This application takes time to be processed so a clause needs to be inserted to secure our position. Also an Indemnity Insurance to be provided against this on completion.

We were ready to exchange while giving up on all the above privileges but out Solicitor advised us against it giving us solid reasons to avoid rushing into this. And now for the past week, she is on a long break somewhere nice leaving the case with her assistant.

The solicitors on the other side are extremely old fashioned and have no sense of urgency. They do not respond to phone calls or emails. Our sellers who are close to exchanging on their purchase are so wealthy that I doubt if they will bat an eyelid if I cannot buy their house. Also, there was a bidding war between us and a mysterious buyer who could afford this house without selling their property. The sellers chose us as the other buyer seemed to be using cash/cheques to make payments and it made our elderly sellers (90s) uneasy. After being a buyer with no chain, I feel like a pleading beggar in this situation.

There is no house on the market for the past 12 months that could beat the one we have chosen. It is a lovely house indeed and suits us in every possible way.

Today I have 18 days before I and my family become homeless.
Any advice on this will help me get through this agonising weekend.

Thanks

AnotherJoe

Make plans for being homeless. You already embraced that prospect when you agreed (not "were forced" ) into exchanging. At this time of year you may find holiday lets that are available at a decent rate for a month or three.

pinkteapot

Priority is finding somewhere for you and your family to live in case you don't get the house in time. If you're storing your stuff then you can stay with family/friends, or find short-term accommodation.

Look at AirBnB - some properties are marked as being available for longer stays. You'll probably want to book one for several weeks if you don't want to risk it running out and being booked by someone else, and therefore having to move to different temporary accommodation.

Look at holiday cottage websites then Google to see if a given place has an owner's own website. If you contact them direct, you could get a decent discount for booking a long stay.

As above, you chose to exchange on your sale without exchange on your purchase. It's done - there's no changing that, and you're doing all you can to push the purchase along. Focus your energies on making the fall-back plan.

Doozergirl

Focus on the silver lining that you did this to secure your dream home and your looming completion gives you the security that no one else is going to get it.

And then look forward to the fact that you will be moving to that dream home soon enough. And enjoy the adventure of staying somewhere else for a bit.

These things take as long as they take. No point getting stressed about things you can't control. You made your choice for good reason, embrace it.

G_M

Paras wrote: »

We are buying this dream house and our only buyer forced us to exchange contracts a month ago with the completion date being the 6th of December 18. Very hard to understand how. But still....

I am stressed to the point of no return. I have booked storage space as renting will make the chosen house go out of our budget. The seller's side is not cooperating much.sensible backstop (the word of the week!).

I have been calling our solicitor and the other side's EA every hour but they keep saying 'we are doing all we can'.

:eek:How are they expected to get any work done if they are spending all their time answer calls from you and, perhaps, countless other clients......?

Leave them be!

The problem is that the contract needed some revision with a few clauses about the following issues ..
1. Relocation of the electric meter for our house that sits on the neighbouring property (also owned by the sellers). Retention (10K) on the price for this work to be carried out by the sellers.

why on earth did you ask the sellers to do this? :eek:

This took over a month as they invited quotations from Electric companies and it needed surveying.

sensible. I'd shop around too!

This is the time during which my solicitors suddenly got an ultimatum from our buyer to exchange asap or he would pull out. And we gave in. your choice

2. A clause that allows us to enter upon their property to get it done ourselves in case this gets delayed. very unlikely to be agreed. I suppose it might be but if it's slowing down the contract then.....
Forget this idea.
3. The sellers have applied for a Possessory Title to a piece of land included in the sale but not included in the Land Registry Title. This application takes time to be processed so a clause needs to be inserted to secure our position. Also an Indemnity Insurance to be provided against this on completion.
I agree this should be a simple matter and take little time to accomplish. But is this the cause of the delay in contracts? Or one of the other matters?


We were ready to exchange while giving up on all the above privileges but out Solicitor advised us against it giving us solid reasons to avoid rushing into this.

What 'solid reasons'? Only the Possessory Title needs resolving.

And now for the past week, she is on a long break somewhere nice leaving the case with her assistant. :rotfl:NO! Soliciors are not allowed holidays. Report this to the Law Society.


The solicitors on the other side are extremely old fashioned and have no sense of urgency. They do not respond to phone calls or emails.

How do you know? Calls/emails from who? I trust you have not been calling them.....?

Our sellers who are close to exchanging on their purchase are so wealthy that I doubt if they will bat an eyelid if I cannot buy their house. Also, there was a bidding war between us and a mysterious buyer who could afford this house without selling their property. The sellers chose us as the other buyer seemed to be using cash/cheques to make payments and it made our elderly sellers (90s) uneasy. After being a buyer with no chain, I feel like a pleading beggar in this situation.
Property buying/selling brings paranoia to us all....
There is no house on the market for the past 12 months that could beat the one we have chosen. It is a lovely house indeed and suits us in every possible way.

Today I have 18 days before I and my family become homeless.
Any advice on this will help me get through this agonising weekend.

Instruct your solicitor to forget the meter and forget points 1) and 2) above. Deal with it once you own.
Take out the indemnity insurance yourself.
Ask your solicitor to suggest the wording for the clause relating to Possessory Title and ask the seller's solicitor to inset it into the contract. Yes - the sellers should draft this but if they are being slow why not help them....?

AnotherJoe

I wouldn't want my electricity meter on someone else's property. So I don't blame them for wanting to fix that. But I don't see why it needs hold things up get it done afterwards I wouldn't have thought the sellers would want it there either.

lookstraightahead

You will just have to rent. Did this not seem like a possibility when you exchanged? Will a few months renting really stop you buying (you won't have to pay a mortgage in that time). Rent a studio flat for a while - you already have stuff in storage

buglawton

After a chain fell through OH and I sold up and used a serviced room for 2 months while continuing to house hunt. It enabled us to put an instant chain free offer on the one we finally bought. The temporary accomm was costing over half my earnings but in retrospect seemed a bargain as it achieved the aim.

Serviced accommodation has the benefit of highly flexible notice period.