No friends so unable to complete on a purchase

NatNat77

The EA maybe? Perhaps you could ask for a revisit to the property in order to measure for furniture etc and kill two birds with one stone? 

DMatt92

moneysavinghero said:

1. A high street solicitor should be able to witness it for you (for a fee). Might be a bit more difficult in these Covid times though.
2. Most of the risks would be on the seller not you.

Thanks, I hadn’t thought about a high st solicitor because my solicitor refused. Do you know why they might Refuse?

Bad_Accountant

In my experience of completing and getting all the forms witnessed, there is zero risk to being a witness as long as they follow the guidance on the form. They don't have to know you and they aren't liable in any way. They just have to see you sign/date it and put in their details correctly.

I was told ANYONE can do it as long as they are over 18 and not your family/connected to the transaction.

It might be worth double-checking with your sol who can do this, and then checking with your acquaintances again if anyone can stretch to it - this isn't like being a loan guarantor, if you are being fraudulent or don't pay the mortgage no-one is going to ask them for the money.

If you're still completely stuck try posting on a local Facebook group for your area / Gumtree offering to buy someone a coffee/mince pie/bottle of wine in exchange for witnessing. This is tricky in COVID times but might work.

EDIT: is there a NextDoor group for your area? Try posting on that.

DMatt92

FaceHead said:

Finding someone to witness the signatures shouldn't be a barrier to getting the purchase done. 

Who do you know at work? What about your line manager, or anyone you might work with and perhaps grab lunch with? When having lunch, a break or at the end of a meeting, I think it's fine to whip it out and say 'would you mind witnessing my mortgage agreement?'. 

I wouldn't say no to anyone I even vaguely know - there's really no risk to the witness and no one is even going to check that they actually exist. Whilst you could get away with falsifying it, it'd be a really silly thing to get a CIFAS marker for. 

I’ve been working from home since Feb and even before that, having a lunch break is incredibly rare let alone sharing that time with someone else. If I was working, I bet I could ask a colleague to sign it but no one knows me at all. 

Thanks for confirming that there’s no risk to the witness. I’ve tried to explain it to two acquaintances but they weren’t interested. I thought about the post office, but they said no. I think I should try another solicitor first...or beg my one? She doesn’t know about this offer from the seller to rent to us yet, so it might change her mind if she truly understands that I haven’t been able to find anyone. 

DMatt92

Thanks everyone. Some great ideas. I might try out the Facebook thing at a distance. I didn’t know CAB was an actual place? 

Silly question - what about a sales manager who filled in for the regular sales manager while she was off in the estate agent office? They aren’t directly connected to the sale, especially as they were covering for a colleague. She sounded really friendly over the phone. 

nyermen

Another agreement to find anyone.  For myself (I bought first time last year) my conveyancer (solicitor) met me once and witnessed my signature then. 
Though I am sorry you haven't got the social network.  I hope that with your own home, you can start to meet neighbours, join a local club etc (after this strange time is over).

kazwookie

The person it witnessing your signature on a form, you sign first, they sign and add address, you don't need to know them as such. Just ask a neighbour to help you

theoretica

DMatt92 said:

Silly question - what about a sales manager who filled in for the regular sales manager while she was off in the estate agent office? They aren’t directly connected to the sale, especially as they were covering for a colleague. She sounded really friendly over the phone. 

No harm in asking - I think the estate agents don't get paid until the sale happens so they will be keen for this to happen - if you just drop them a line to say you are having ridiculous trouble finding witnesses can they help they may have a solution.

GDB2222

I will witness your signature, provided you are nearby. I’m in Finchley North London.

 If you say roughly where you are ...

I second the suggestion of the estate agent. Or ask your vendors to suggest a friend of theirs?

lika_86

kazwookie said:

The person it witnessing your signature on a form, you sign first, they sign and add address, you don't need to know them as such. Just ask a neighbour to help you

This is what we did because we were WFH so not seeing colleagues, the advantage of a neighbour was that they didn't mind putting their address down because we knew where they lived anyway (a total stranger might be wary). He did want to check our IDs to see we were who we said we were (we had probably seen each other before but not much more), but that was him being cautious before signing the various documents (fair enough). Obviously if it's someone you know better then that's different.