House Buying/Selling

Smallann76

Hi All
I am new to this site and myself and DH are pretty new to buying and selling so your kind opinions and advice would be much appreciated.  Here is the scenario,  our house went on the market in February we were offered it's asking price one month ago which we accepted.  Buyer due to complete on her house on 14th April.  First time buyers buying her house and she is divorcing husband so pretty straightforward.   One week later we found our home to buy a few days before lockdown.  We put in an offer it was accepted.  Both the offers were put in writing from the estate agents.  We have had our mortgage offer accepted ...Yes even in this climate and have found a surveyor who can do a full survey because the house we are buying is empty.  We have a solicitor on board and filled in TA6 and TA10 forms etc.  However, despite the estate agents still operating albeit remotely we are getting no information regarding our buyer or about the position the vendor of the house we are buying from is in.  Absolutely nothing.  Do we just carry on pay for a survey on the goodwill everything is still ok? is this how it should be such a lack of communication? Before we accepted our offer we heard from our estate agent very regularly and now despite them still working we've had one email to say everything is ok as far as they're concerned.  Any advice please? do we keep chasing them everyday? we've heard nothing from the estate agent either who we are buying the house through.  Once the survey is done we would at least expect our buyer to want to do a survey.  Are we being inpatient!!? thanks  x 

greatcrested

Need a clear timeline in order to comment, but it looks like the chain only completed very recently so I see no cause for concern.

Things always take time to move forward, always slower than buyers/sellers expect or want, even without the current situation.

eddddy

Smallann76 said:

However, despite the estate agents still operating albeit remotely we are getting no information regarding our buyer or about the position the vendor of the house we are buying from is in.  Absolutely nothing.  Do we just carry on pay for a survey on the goodwill everything is still ok? is this how it should be such a lack of communication? Before we accepted our offer we heard from our estate agent very regularly and now despite them still working we've had one email to say everything is ok as far as they're concerned.  Any advice please? do we keep chasing them everyday? we've heard nothing from the estate agent either who we are buying the house through. 

I guess it's possible that you're not hearing from the estate agents because a lot of their staff aren't working at the moment, so perhaps the people familiar with your sale and purchase aren't available at the moment...

Connells furloughs majority of estate agency teams...

Link: https://propertyindustryeye.com/connells-furloughs-majority-of-estate-agency-teams-but-pays-100-salary-and-commission/

Knight Frank furloughs employees...

Link: https://www.egi.co.uk/news/knight-frank-furloughs-employees-and-reduces-monthly-partner-drawings/

Foxtons furloughs 750 staff...

Link: https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2020/4/foxtons-furloughs-750-staff-and-slashes-pay-for-high-earners

Allsop furloughs staff...

Link: https://www.egi.co.uk/news/allsop-furloughs-staff-and-moots-pay-cuts/

So it might be worth trying to phone somebody at the EA companies, to see who (if anyone) is progressing your sale and purchase.

It'll be frustrating if you find that nobody is progressing your sale - because the EA will still expect their commission when you complete.

Smallann76

Thanks for your comments.  We were instructed that the manager at our EA would be progressing our sale despite the current climate so I guess we just need to be putting the pressure on to make sure that happens.