First Time Buyer - Scotland

jb2189

I'm a first time buyer, offer was put in on house 19th March by my solicitor and accepted by seller solicitor the same day.  My mortgage has all been approved last week however my solicitors are still waiting on the initial written formal acceptance from the seller solicitors. I emailed my solicitors on Friday asking if they knew when the seller solicitors would send this over and chased again yesterday as I never had a respons . Does it usually take this long for it to come through or do the seller solicitors usually wait until the mortgage is approved before sending the initial letter. I know everything is taking longer than normal the now, just hate having no idea what's going on etc. 

davidmcn

(I presume we're talking about Scotland - you might get other replies from people confused about why solicitors are putting in offers etc).

I think the practice of some solicitors is not to bother with the qualified acceptance until they've been told you've got your mortgage sorted, so that could be the holdup.

jb2189

davidmcn said:

(I presume we're talking about Scotland - you might get other replies from people confused about why solicitors are putting in offers etc).

I think the practice of some solicitors is not to bother with the qualified acceptance until they've been told you've got your mortgage sorted, so that could be the holdup.

Yeah in Scotland. Is that normal then for the sellers to wait on the buyers mortgage being approved in Scotland then? My solicitors were initially really quick at emailing back to say they didnt have it etc but not getting any response now so I'm hoping they have it, are reviewing it and will then confirm to me.  The mortgage was only approved last week so as you said could be why they haven't had it yet.

MovingForwards

Took my sellers nearly 4 months to send qualified acceptance, even though my offer was accepted and my solicitors offer was accepted, just the qualified acceptance wasn't sent but that is also the start of the contract / negotiations which can get sorted out very quickly!

jb2189

MovingForwards said:

Took my sellers nearly 4 months to send qualified acceptance, even though my offer was accepted and my solicitors offer was accepted, just the qualified acceptance wasn't sent but that is also the start of the contract / negotiations which can get sorted out very quickly!

I'm hoping it doesnt take 4 months lol.  How long do searches etc usually take or does it different for every case.  As I said above because theyve not responded to me I hope they now have it and my solicitor is reviewing it before letting me know.

davidmcn

Not usually anything to do with searches, but often there's a delay while the sellers' solicitors copies the offer to their clients, goes through it with them, possibly need to await title deeds etc coming from lender or previous solicitors. Most people are working from home so that's only going to slow things down.

We're just guessing though, if you want to know the actual position you'll need to talk to your solicitor and see whether they've heard from the other side.

jb2189

davidmcn said:

Not usually anything to do with searches, but often there's a delay while the sellers' solicitors copies the offer to their clients, goes through it with them, possibly need to await title deeds etc coming from lender or previous solicitors. Most people are working from home so that's only going to slow things down.

We're just guessing though, if you want to know the actual position you'll need to talk to your solicitor and see whether they've heard from the other side.

Yeah my solicitors are working from home but someone is getting the post every day. I'm waiting on my solicitors emailing me back to update me again but they haven't responded yet so hopefully theyll respond soon. Its just a stressful time trying to sort moving, especially with it being during a pandemic.  

MovingForwards

Think I read the seller does the searches, I've not paid for any.

My solicitors stripped their staff right back, no secretaries were working within the conveyancing department, everything was coming directly from the partner who I had instructed to act in my purchase. He is possibly covering that whole department for that office. Nothing was sent by post, only one form was emailed to enable him to sign everything on my behalf; I scanned it back to him and dropped it through the door.

It was very slow to begin with, but the last two weeks have been near daily emails between us.

There is little point trying to sort moving until missives have been concluded. 

I do feel for the solicitors at the moment as they have to follow guidance from their firm, what the government / SRA are saying, whilst trying to keep their client happy. 

jb2189

MovingForwards said:

Think I read the seller does the searches, I've not paid for any.

My solicitors stripped their staff right back, no secretaries were working within the conveyancing department, everything was coming directly from the partner who I had instructed to act in my purchase. He is possibly covering that whole department for that office. Nothing was sent by post, only one form was emailed to enable him to sign everything on my behalf; I scanned it back to him and dropped it through the door.

It was very slow to begin with, but the last two weeks have been near daily emails between us.

There is little point trying to sort moving until missives have been concluded. 

I do feel for the solicitors at the moment as they have to follow guidance from their firm, what the government / SRA are saying, whilst trying to keep their client happy. 

Yeah definitely. I've been letting it all take as long as it needs. Just wasnt sure if it was normal to not have the formal acceptance yet from the sellers.  As you said must be so hard for solicitors the now trying to follow everything the way they should be and keep their client happy. 

jb2189

Solicitor advised today they have chased the sellers for the formal acceptance.  Got my mortgage offer in the post today but property address is wrong on it my advisor said they're going to contact Virgin about it. 

MovingForwards

I had my name spelt different in the one part of the offer, these things do happen and it is frustrating / annoying, but try and remember the companies are not running on full staff.

Expect blips to happen as they are doing the work of 3+ people and still under the same pressure to get it done in a short time.