Buyer is concerned about the garden…

eidand

Don't worry about it.

In situations like this it is good to be polite and tell them that if they want something cut then they need to move their lazy bum and just do it, once the house is theirs. 

markin

Photos, So we can all see the flowers and weeds.

My house came with a garage full of tools and useful junk, I'm sure many houses come with sheds and attics full of stuff, maybe they are wondering if your taking the shed lol

You could take half of any of your favorite plants and bushes away with you in pots.

donutandbeer

Sorry for the lack of photos, not sure how I feel about posting them online, it’s not good enough that we’d want to show it off but also definitely not just covered by brambles. 
 
So the latest update:
 
Lots of phone calls this morning to try to sort out the exchange today. Now the problem is our buyer wants the indemnity policy we paid for to start on exchange instead of completion. Indemnity policy is for building over a sewer.

Our solicitor told us that buyer’s solicitor emailed her yesterday to say buyer wants indemnity policy to start on exchange. According to our solicitor, indemnity policy always starts on completion, and she has also replied to our buyer’s solicitor that it is going to start on completion. Our solicitor said she’s not sure what our buyer has read online but it’s not something we have to worried about.
 
My guess is that being FTB they might have confused the indemnity policy with house insurance that has to starts on exchange!?

Anyway apparently our buyer still has some mental blockage about it but solicitors are trying to sort it out now. Then hopefully we will be able to exchange today.

Honestly I feel like our buyer’s solicitor is a joke. Like it’s understandable that our buyer being FTB might get confused about things but surely their solicitor should know better? I already found it weird that their solicitor asked us to clear the garden, now this? It seems like their solicitor is either incompetent or can’t be bothered to explain what’s what to our buyer. Or it could be that our buyer is really stubborn and refused to be convinced. 

martindow

Is the agent doing anything here?  They have an important role to keep things together and get the sale over the line.  If buyers or sellers are doing silly things they are well placed to speak to both sides to resolve problems.

donutandbeer

martindow said:

Is the agent doing anything here?  They have an important role to keep things together and get the sale over the line.  If buyers or sellers are doing silly things they are well placed to speak to both sides to resolve problems.

Estate agent talked to buyer this morning. Buyer insisted that he wants to be covered in case something happens between exchange and completion. Honestly we don’t care when the indemnity policy starts, it can starts five days ago or whatever. I can’t seem to reach our solicitor by phone right now but I sent an email asking her if it’s possible to do it just to please the buyer. 

Atomix

donutandbeer said:

Sorry for the lack of photos, not sure how I feel about posting them online, it’s not good enough that we’d want to show it off but also definitely not just covered by brambles. 

Hi donutandbeer, I respect the decision, however, not sure which side to take, without seeing the garden - whether your buyer has a genuine issue or not - therefore I shall not comment either way... all good

ic

Does it matter if the indemnity policy starts a little earlier?  Once you've exchanged, they're contracted to buy.  These policies are usually cheap so a few extra days shouldn't make odds in the scheme of things.

donutandbeer

ic said:

Does it matter if the indemnity policy starts a little earlier?  Once you've exchanged, they're contracted to buy.  These policies are usually cheap so a few extra days shouldn't make odds in the scheme of things.

Yes that’s what we think. We just made the payment to our solicitor for the indemnity policy. Our solicitor said our buyer is unreasonable & uninformed and she’s been doing conveyancing for 11 years and never heard such a request. 😂 Anyway finger crossed our solicitor receive the payment soon so we can exchange soon.

Skiddaw1

Atomix said:

donutandbeer said:

Sorry for the lack of photos, not sure how I feel about posting them online, it’s not good enough that we’d want to show it off but also definitely not just covered by brambles. 

Hi donutandbeer, I respect the decision, however, not sure which side to take, without seeing the garden - whether your buyer has a genuine issue or not - therefore I shall not comment either way... all good

I can understand why the OP is reluctant to post pics of the garden. Leaving all else aside, I have visions of the buyers being alerted to the pics being on a public forum and throwing some sort of mega-wobble about it. OP, I really hope you've exchanged before the day is out.  

olgadapolga

donutandbeer said:

Sorry for the lack of photos, not sure how I feel about posting them online, it’s not good enough that we’d want to show it off but also definitely not just covered by brambles. 
 
So the latest update:
 
Lots of phone calls this morning to try to sort out the exchange today. Now the problem is our buyer wants the indemnity policy we paid for to start on exchange instead of completion. Indemnity policy is for building over a sewer.

Our solicitor told us that buyer’s solicitor emailed her yesterday to say buyer wants indemnity policy to start on exchange. According to our solicitor, indemnity policy always starts on completion, and she has also replied to our buyer’s solicitor that it is going to start on completion. Our solicitor said she’s not sure what our buyer has read online but it’s not something we have to worried about.
 
My guess is that being FTB they might have confused the indemnity policy with house insurance that has to starts on exchange!?

Anyway apparently our buyer still has some mental blockage about it but solicitors are trying to sort it out now. Then hopefully we will be able to exchange today.

Honestly I feel like our buyer’s solicitor is a joke ... surely their solicitor should know better? It seems like their solicitor is either incompetent or can’t be bothered to explain what’s what to our buyer.

Sadly, I think that some really are incompetent. When we sold our last house, the buyer's solicitor wanted the charge against the house sorted out before exchange - the charge was the mortgage. Our lovely, efficient solicitor got very exasperated with theirs and I think that her exact comment to us was that she'd have to explain to them how it all worked. The buyer's solicitor was from a long-established local firm, it was a stupid situation.

OP, I hope that you get things sorted out and exchanged soon.