Do buyers normally wait for their mortgage offer before proceeding with the legals?

amandacat

AskAsk said:

amandacat said:

Thank you, it’s good to hear that others are feeling the same worries, makes me realise I’m not the only one.
I’m finding myself worrying about everything lol! My latest worry is because on my property Information form I’ve said I had a replacement window 7 years ago but don’t have the Fensa cert. After speaking to the glazier he told me that because it was just replacing the glass and not the actual window frame, I wouldn’t have been given/needed a Fensa cert and so didn’t need to declare it aaahhh!! 

you mean you changed the glass to a different pattern glass?  it is unusual to replace glass on so many windows without changing the frame.

No it was just one window in the downstairs toilet because  the glass got cracked by the neighbours kid( long story)  so we got a glazier who just removed the glass unit and replaced just the glass inside the existing frame. 

AskAsk

amandacat said:

AskAsk said:

amandacat said:

Thank you, it’s good to hear that others are feeling the same worries, makes me realise I’m not the only one.
I’m finding myself worrying about everything lol! My latest worry is because on my property Information form I’ve said I had a replacement window 7 years ago but don’t have the Fensa cert. After speaking to the glazier he told me that because it was just replacing the glass and not the actual window frame, I wouldn’t have been given/needed a Fensa cert and so didn’t need to declare it aaahhh!! 

you mean you changed the glass to a different pattern glass?  it is unusual to replace glass on so many windows without changing the frame.

No it was just one window in the downstairs toilet because  the glass got cracked by the neighbours kid( long story)  so we got a glazier who just removed the glass unit and replaced just the glass inside the existing frame. 

jeese, my memory is that bad, that by the time i finished reading your comment, i remembered it as you got 7 windows replaced     

that is not a replacement, that is a repair!  you should email your solicitor and tell them you made an incorrect statement, and explain that it was a repair and not replacement window.

NatNat77

AskAsk said:

NatNat77 said:

That's understandable. There's so much that can go wrong and once bitten twice shy! I didn't want to be the one to hold things up though so we're proceeding with our purchase and have laid out £2500 already, I just hope nothing goes wrong! Our buyer has instructed conveyancers and they've had our house valued so at least I know there has been some action, and they seem to think their conveyancers will deal with the paperwork quickly but they're all so busy. I don't think there'll be an issue with their finances for their mortgage but I am concerned if the mortgage company have down valued our house and they want to reduce their offer, as we have no wriggle room for that, so I won't relax until they've got that confirmed. Just feels like there are so many hurdles and I hate my fate being in other peoples hands but it is what it is

what's the £2,500 for?  that is a lot of money.

£560 for the searches, £940 for the valuation on the property we're buying as we're not new customers and we're porting our mortgage, and £795 plus VAT for the structural survey.

Amandacat you can get indemnity insurance for the windows, your conveyancer will be able to sort. We are going to have to do the same and I don't think it's too expensive 

Thrugelmir

AskAsk said:

they normally start the legal work straightaway.  it may just be their solicitor is slow.  12 days is not a long time for these dozy solicitors, especially in the lockdown when they are all pretending to be working from home.

Since when?  

geoave1

We are FTB and we instructed our solicitor straight away for searches before we even applied for the mortgage as we know they’re so delayed (there was a significant wait for an app with a MA at the bank!). 6 weeks in now and searches still not back, had our mortgage offer in the mean time! But it’s like other posters said, it’s quite a lot of money to put on the line but it was worth the risk for us..

AskAsk

Thrugelmir said:

AskAsk said:

they normally start the legal work straightaway.  it may just be their solicitor is slow.  12 days is not a long time for these dozy solicitors, especially in the lockdown when they are all pretending to be working from home.

Since when?  

from my experience, the buyer always seem to be starting the legal work straightaway, and as a buyer, i have always started the legal work straightaway, so i thought this was the norm.

i didn't think you could instruct a solicitor and then tell them not to do any work as once you instruct them, they get on with the work.  when we sold a flat recently, we didn't instruct a solicitor so it wasn't as if we had a solicitor but told them not to do any work.

Thrugelmir

AskAsk said:

Thrugelmir said:

AskAsk said:

they normally start the legal work straightaway.  it may just be their solicitor is slow.  12 days is not a long time for these dozy solicitors, especially in the lockdown when they are all pretending to be working from home.

Since when?  

from my experience, the buyer always seem to be starting the legal work straightaway, and as a buyer, i have always started the legal work straightaway, so i thought this was the norm.

i didn't think you could instruct a solicitor and then tell them not to do any work as once you instruct them, they get on with the work.  when we sold a flat recently, we didn't instruct a solicitor so it wasn't as if we had a solicitor but told them not to do any work.

Solicitors normally ask for the funds for the search fees upfront. Once they receive the mortgage offer. They'll commence chargeable work. 

firsttimesellerldn

Personally I’d check what the time frame was for searches to be returned in my local area and if they’re lengthy I’d be pushing the buyer to request them early on in the process. But that depends on how important it is for you to move within a particular time frame, and I appreciate buyers might well be reluctant to lose the money. But money is always at risk in the house buying/selling process isn’t it. I wish I’d been more pushy about this in my current attempted sale! 

MaiTai

AskAsk said:

they normally start the legal work straightaway.  it may just be their solicitor is slow.  12 days is not a long time for these dozy solicitors, especially in the lockdown when they are all pretending to be working from home.

 This really is not the case in the uncertain times we are currently working in.With the increasing difficulties in obtaining mortgage offers,down valuations and chains collapsing in unprecented numbers many more clients are opting to mitigate losses by delaying searches until they are necessary.

All the solicitors in my local network are working flat out to ensure that our clients get over the finishing line to completion in as timely fashion as humanly possible.We are certainly not dozy as you so delightfully label us.

For the record I have been “pretending” to work from the office Monday to Friday then “pretending” to work from home in the evening for several hours each day.In fact I have also “pretended” to review case files this afternoon in preparation for next weeks workload.

amandacat

My solicitor has been absolutely fantastic, she has emailed me regularly and got all documents across to the seller’s solicitor promptly.