Five Year Fix, Five Year Plan

savingholmes

Good luck sorting it out. It will all be worth it in the end.

Merlin's_Beard

Thanks @killerpeaty and @South_coast - I'll shoot an email to the solicitor to see if they can shed some light on it. Given previous interactions it's entirely likely that my solicitor does not in fact know their a+++ from their elbow, but worth a shot, especially now developers have given me 26th August in writing!

(Thankfully flooring people happy to move dates)

Merlin's_Beard

Reading back over the solicitors emails, the solicitor has offered a "fixed" legal completion and in a different email chain her assistant has written an "anticipated" legal completion - I think one of those is binding and one isn't??

No wonder I'm blimmin confused.

killerpeaty

Anticipated could be a lot of things, it might be earlier in the process or it might be alluding to a non fixed date of completion.

I think your best bet is to go back to your solicitor/conveyancer. I do the occasional solicitor client money audit, they do get these kinds of queries a lot.

26th of August seems like a great date though. I'm so excited for you.

Merlin's_Beard

killerpeaty said:

Anticipated could be a lot of things, it might be earlier in the process or it might be alluding to a non fixed date of completion.

I think your best bet is to go back to your solicitor/conveyancer. I do the occasional solicitor client money audit, they do get these kinds of queries a lot.

26th of August seems like a great date though. I'm so excited for you.

Not so much worried about bothering them, more about them replying with something either nonsensical or that muddies the waters further or them doing something ridiculous. The communication so far has not convinced me that they're actually there to push my best interests, or that they listen to me, or that they tell the truth.

Entirely possible that I'm just in a bad mood and work stress is playing into that sense of defeat. Skipped lunches mean I end up buying mildly discounted yellow sticker desserts on the way home to make me feel better - not great for the food budget, not actually great for my mood in the long term, and I may well just be crashing from a sugar high right now 

savingholmes

YS deserts are somehow tastier... Now if only I had any... 

Merlin's_Beard

Solicitors have come back saying that despite the solicitor offering dates for a fixed completion date, and the solicitors assistant emailing saying I'd completed with an anticipated legal completion date, I had actually exchanged as completion on notice despite that phrase appearing in exactly none of their emails (despite me querying it as a possibility several times)

About what you'd expect from a solicitor, I guess!

Have emailed M!llers about their opening times over the Aug BH weekend as, luck will have it, I'm working the late shift on the Friday I complete and I'm working on the Saturday as well. If I can't get to collect the keys because they're closed Sun and Mon, I'll see if my parents can pick them up.

Anyway. Floors are booked in for the week after completion, and after a bit of nudging they've also confirmed I sent the deposit to them correctly (terrified of scammers here). So that's on track. £5800 altogether for the whole house, where CR as a chain would have been about £5300, but a better quality LVT with a longer guarantee and it's a small local independent that's been there for about 30 years with a decent rep.

Survey also booked for the BH Monday (definitely dropped them an email to check their booking system wasn't playing up on that one) -  that means the survey will be done and out the way before the flooring guys get in, which will make life easier. £413 for that.

That means that the list of things I need to spend on before moving date is down to: removal firm (large furniture only and I'll do the rest), bedroom curtains, blinds.

Food spends haven't got better - I think the chain of events can best be described as a Friday evening buying YS and a whole full priced cake, then a weekend spent doing very very little, then having no food for sandwiches this morning and a bought lunch. I mainly like my job but the weeks it wipes me out are very expensive. Have sat down and meal planned this evening, Herr A is getting a visit tomorrow. Will do better.

We officially get paid on the last day of the month, but small business style it can hit at any point in the week before that, so I have one, maybe two paydays before completion, definitely two before moving.

I've shuffled all the money I know I'm going to spend (solicitors, flooring, deposit etc) around in YNAB to see what I've got left and I might be able to move with a £10k emergency fund, if I'm good, if I'm lucky with surveys, if the rest of the stuff I need isn't madly expensive, and if I stop buying entire cakes.

savingholmes

The cakes sound essential

Well done on being able to complete with an intact EF of £10K that's awesome. All sounds exciting even if the solicitors are letting you down.

South_coast

I think I was left with about £150 to my name after I bought my place - £10k would have felt a great deal more comfortable 🤣! Well done

Merlin's_Beard

@South_coast - the years I've spent on the save 12k in 20XX thread is a lot to thank for that!