longest sale ever ?

ivanhoew

Morning to the collective ,

I thought this might cheer up others in a similar situation .i live alone ,have CFS, very low income self employed , girlfriend covid stranded in canada all 2020 and until now .
I put my hs on the market last year ,and accepted an offer 24th september 2020.
continued searching for hs to move to.

found hs ,in october  bid on it , lost it . arranged storage and a option of staying with family,if i cannot find a house.
started moving masses of heavy workshop machinery and spares into nearby neighbours barns .
normal process of hs survey by buyers lender etc .
chain of 4 was all eager to move in before xmas.
just before xmas  my solicitor realised i had no sign of the ,6ft of one room,flying freehold, on the deeds , so apllied to my buyer sol to apply an indemnity insurance for it .
buyers lender refused this , and wants deeds changed .
after xmas break , i draw plan of flying freehold according to land registry tutorial.
27th jan my sol sends letter to my neighbour ,he has to approve change of deeds , and needs to get solicitor..(which i pay for)

hs i offered on in oct  comes back on market,put in offer , its accepted !! (on proviso my hs is exchanged soon...pressure !)
neighbour looks for sol.
5th march ! neighbour finds a sol !!
Entire chain now panicking cos of stamp duty deadline .
22nd march , still not even heard from neighbour solicitor.
24th march , we hear from neighbour sol, he's writing to next doors building society Halifax, because they need to clear any deed change . also i have to send moneys to my sol to cover his bill .
25th march ...send money .
8th april , nothing happening so i ask neighbour if he can call halifax ,they wont talk to me .
9th april ...agent, for  hs i really want  asks if my chain is still in play .
12th april neighbour tries to nudge halifax .
16th ,april  no news from my sol ,
16th april,neighbour told me halifax said they had no letter from his sol yet ! he called his sol , and then chaecked back with halifax , they said it was now on the system and would be updated on the 19th...
20th april,apparently halifax wrote back to N.sol today.
22nd vendors agent reminds me time is moving on .
26th april , letter from N.sol , basically stating he is chasing halifax , this is now the only obstacle .
28th april , slight variation made to the plan by me for buyers sol , little bit of shading .all happy with it .
11th may ,vendor asks is there any movement on my sale ... i am constantly updating her .
11th may ,we now find my buyers lender will not accept deeds sent to them for L.R. application ,we have to get them to the L.R ourselves . Alos N.sol is still chasing halifax , and also my sol wants papers of my hs i want to buy , but vendor will not involve legal until i exchange (probate sale)
13th may ,my kind estate agents calls vendors agent , and reassures her i am reliable and committed .
13th may another slight plan alteration to make it darker so it prints better for all 4 sol ,to see .
20th may , mail to sol to see if any progress.

AND ,that's the state of play so far ,until the halifax clear the deed , nothing can happen , 4 families in chain behind me ,and them me and then beneficiaries to the house i buy .all in limbo ,and SD holiday dependent.



regards
ivan .

FTB_Help

I had a similar journey.

Ftb, viewed around mid Sept 2020 and just exchange 19th May.

No chain but the property was tenanted

[Deleted User]

Neither of these sales seems to be particularly long.

From the title, I was expecting something in the region of 3-5 years...

ivanhoew

ZX,perhaps i should have titled it , prob not the longest sale ever , just feels that way .

FTB , thank you that  makes me feel a little less hard done by and stressed .

TheCheerleader

Deleted_User said:

Neither of these sales seems to be particularly long.

From the title, I was expecting something in the region of 3-5 years...

We bought an amazing house with land in 2015, it was built in 2005 (all will become relevant further on....)
We decided to sell in July 2018, we had an open day on the first Saturday and accepted an asking price offer.. our buyers then lost their buyers, but found others quite quickly.
 We were due to exchange contracts mid Nov, the day before their buyer pulled out with ‘cold feet’. We said we would give them until January to find new buyers or we would have to go back on the market.
January 2019 back on the market, we sold again first weekend to a buyer that said they didn’t need to sell as they had a development company and were getting a let to buy mortgage.. fast forward June and they couldn’t get a mortgage!
June 2019 sold straight away again to buyers in rented, all going well until it’s discovered our house is built over three titles, we are only registered for one. The previous owners are still registered owners of another and the L.A are registered as owning our garden and part of our house. 

We contact the L.A, who had an independent survey carried out in Sept 19 and they offer to sell us the land for  £150,000. We appoint a solicitor and suggest adverse possession but they believe we do not have a claim, we proceed to try and sue our previous conveyancer. They notify their insurers who robustly defend the claim. 

Nov 19 we appoint a barrister to look at the merit of our claim, which we are given slightly more than a 50% chance of winning. The danger being they could appeal if they lose, until we run out of money, potentially bankrupting us. Limbo.
At a total loss of a way forward, we have a meeting with the head of our solicitor’s firm and 
discuss again adverse possession as we believe we fit the criteria. He agrees, we appoint a surveyor and an application goes in March 20, we still have our buyers at this point. The L.A are notified they have 60 working days to appeal.
Sept 20, after almost 18mths our buyers pull out.
Late Oct 20, the L.A doesn’t raise an objection and we are awarded full title!
We decide to go up for sale late Feb 21, we couldn’t believe the market as we went to best and final, sold for over the asking price to buyers again in rented. We have now hit a brick wall as the house doesn’t have the final building certificate and their solicitor won’t accept an indemnity policy, even though that’s how we bought..... so almost 3 years later, on we dance! 

Sorry that’s the condensed version 🤣

ivanhoew

holy smokes cheerleader .high 5 !

Scotbot

My neighbors are about to hit 18 months. Put up for sale Jan  SSTC and about to complete when lockdown hit in Mar 2020. After lock down buyers pulled out, SSTC a few weeks later. Still waiting to complete I don't like to ask why but I know the chain has been complete for some time. Mortgage applications have had to be renewed so that is one reason

ivanhoew

omg , this has gone totally "hold my beer "

amyr

@TheCheerleader this doesn't beat you, but our family member had a two year stint of trying to sell a beach house. 

The land had partially collapsed in to the sea (coastal erosion) and there ended up being the most complex boundary issue imaginable. Only resolved by the next door neighbour wading in and gazumping the previously buyer. If it hadn't sold to next door, I'd be confident in saying it would never have sold.

ivanhoew

gosh some horrendous stories here , i find the really irritating thing is the halifax acting like mi5 , no comms , and 9 weeks later ,no sign of any help from them , just one letter  on the 21st april. . , they won't talk to my neighbour who actually has the mortgage with them .appear to be somewhat uncaring .

but compared to the above stories i am on the nursery slopes of property purgatory !

Bad_Accountant

I'm sure I saw a post on here from someone whose purchase took 6-7 years due to probate problems! I was aghast at that one.