Flat purchase delayed by uncooperative freeholder - is there anything I can/should be doing?

SingleSTB

Hello there, 

I'm a second-time buyer, in the throes of buying a flat and the whole process seems to have ground to a halt because the property's freeholder is not being particularly forthcoming with some unspecified information my socilictor needs. As far as I know, this is the last bit of information we need before we progress to exchange and completion. 

I submitted my offer in early June and my mortgage offer lasts until December, and we've been stuck at this stage for more than a month. From reading other posts in the forum from people in similar situations, it doesn't seem like I have much power in this dynamic to push things along, but I'm so fed up with nothing happening. 

The agent is liaising with the buyer's solicitor to get things moving, as of yesterday, but is there really nothing I can do at all on my side to make sure everything that can be done to sort this situation is being done? Are there any questions I should be asking or courses of action I should consider taking? 

I've got a few months to run on my mortgage offer yet, but I'm fed up with sitting around waiting for things to happen.

tacpot12

I think you should be pulling out, or at least telling the vendor that you are considering it. If the freeholder isn't co-operating now, how responsive do you think they will be when you want to do something they are not keen on? 

eddddy

Find out what information your solicitor needs, and why. Maybe even ask for a copy of the email/letter that was sent.

Then you and the EA can chase the seller more effectively.


As a random example, you (or the EA) can then say something like this to the seller...

"My solicitor sent this email to your solicitor on 20th August requesting (for example) a copy of the buildings insurance policy from your freeholder. Can you chase your freeholder to send a copy to your solicitor, and then chase your solicitor to forward it to my solicitor"

That's likely to get better results than a generic comment to the seller like "My solicitor's been waiting a month for some unspecified information from your freeholder.". (And perhaps the buyer's solicitor isn't sure what information you're talking about, and perhaps the freeholder isn't either.)



Also judge whether the info your solicitor is asking for is important to you, or if you're willing to proceed without it - although it might be something that your mortgage lender requires to proceed.

NameUnavailable

I'm in a similar position, offer has been going on since May and I was fully expecting to be in the new place by now.

The EA chased me up asking what was going on as the vendors solicitor hadn't heard anything, so I chase my solicitor who said they were waiting on a number of queries back from the vendors solicitor.

I went back to the EA to explain and asked them to chase via the vendor. Then I get an email from the EA saying I'm wrong and everything has been answered, but they had included an email below from the vendors solicitor which shows that there are 7 questions they are waiting on the management company to answer!!

Crazy. Now I will miss the SDLT holiday so my next step is going to be to ask for a reduction in price.