Mortgage expiry issue what to do

joseyjo72

I'll try to be as brief as possible....
Nearing the end of a house sale/purchase with a handful of enquiries outstanding throughout the chain, all searches etc done, contracts signed and almost ready to exchange. BUT our mortgage offer expires this Friday, we've extended it once by the standard 28 days allowed by the lender. They've said they will extend by another week, which we're very hopeful will be enough, but they need a completion date from the conveyancer which they say they can't give until ALL enquiries settled. This could be tomorrow, or it could be next Monday by which time it'll be too late.
Our mortgage adviser is putting in a new application but that will likely take 2 weeks minimum to approve, so if we miss this deadline it's likely to be another 2/3/4 weeks before we can exchange.
Our seller has already given two deadlines for exchange, the latest being this Friday - the same day the mortgage expires. Both they and we have been in the process for months as we have both had previous buyers pull out, so I can understand their impatience and don't know how much longer they'll wait for us to sort out another mortgage.
Both myself and the estate agent, who is thankfully very proactive, are pestering everyone to hurry up, chasing bits of information etc. but some of it is beyond our control. 
I'm wondering if there's anything else I can do apart from going all out to get them to commit by Friday and hoping the bank will still agree to extend the offer. If the mortgage does expire, is a bridging loan an option while the new mortgage is approved or is it a really stupid idea? (I am confident we'll get the mortgage but would a bridging loan complicate that?) Might a lender extend the offer after it has officially expired if we suddenly get a date on Monday or Tuesday next week.
Has anyone been in a similar situation, and what did you do? It seems crazy that we are I think very likely to be ready to complete next Friday but could miss out because the mortgage expires.
Actually that wasn't brief at all.....

user1977

Do you know what the outstanding enquiries are?

joseyjo72

Yes I think so. None of them seem to be too complicated so I'm hoping they can be sorted quickly, but they do depend on other people producing the right piece of paper etc.

housebuyer143

I don't really think bridging is viable for you. Not only will you spend thousands on it, you will then need to remortgage to a lender who will allow you to do this before 6 months to repay the bridge, so you will limit yourself.

I imagine the seller will give you the 2 weeks if it came down to it. Much longer to remarket and start again. 

dell12

You probably need to take a view on what the outstanding enquiries are, who is providing them, and whether you (and/or your lender) really need the answers.

user1977

joseyjo72 said:

Yes I think so. None of them seem to be too complicated so I'm hoping they can be sorted quickly, but they do depend on other people producing the right piece of paper etc.

We could give more useful advice if you told us what they were i.e. whether they are something you (and your lender) can take a view on, or actually showstoppers.

joseyjo72

user1977 said:

joseyjo72 said:

Yes I think so. None of them seem to be too complicated so I'm hoping they can be sorted quickly, but they do depend on other people producing the right piece of paper etc.

We could give more useful advice if you told us what they were i.e. whether they are something you (and your lender) can take a view on, or actually showstoppers.

Only one of the enquiries relates to our purchase and it's apparently a legal matter to do with the wording of the contract which the conveyancer seems to think is important for our protection but she didn't explain why. One enquiry is that someone lower in the chain is waiting for one bit of paperwork (some accounts I believe) from a management company. The final enquiries were (very annoyingly) last minute ones made on our sale - I have answered them and we are hoping the buyer's solicitor will be happy.

joseyjo72

housebuyer143 said:

I don't really think bridging is viable for you. Not only will you spend thousands on it, you will then need to remortgage to a lender who will allow you to do this before 6 months to repay the bridge, so you will limit yourself.

I imagine the seller will give you the 2 weeks if it came down to it. Much longer to remarket and start again. 

Yes I'm sure you're right. I was just hoping there was some magic solution to avoid another delay. And something else cropping up in the meantime to scupper things. It's annoying as I've been saying for weeks that our mortgage was coming up to expire and noone seemed concerned. Then the adviser was confident he could get the weeks extension but only just discovered that the lender needed the definite date to do that. Hopefully the mortgage would be approved quickly as no further valuation would be needed.

eddddy

joseyjo72 said:

Our seller has already given two deadlines for exchange, the latest being this Friday - the same day the mortgage expires. 

Realistically, what will your seller actually do if you can't exchange on Friday?  Wait a few more days (or maybe 2 or 3 weeks) for you - or remarket their property, and once they get another buyer, start the 6 or 8 or 10 week process all over again?

I think they'd probably only do that if they thought you were no longer serious about buying.

joseyjo72 said:

Only one of the enquiries relates to our purchase and it's apparently a legal matter to do with the wording of the contract which the conveyancer seems to think is important for our protection but she didn't explain why. 

Are you saying that your solicitor is waiting for a response to an enquiry from the seller's solicitor?

If so, you should be "having a go at" the seller (via the EA) - i.e. telling the seller to chase their solicitor. Because their solicitor's lack of response is delaying progress.


It might be better if you found out what the "legal matter" is - so that you can tell the seller (via the EA) what they need to discuss with their solicitor.

joseyjo72

@eddddy thanks. I have asked my estate agent to chase the sellers' solicitor today and find out what the sticking point is. But to be honest I'm not sure there is any point now as no one in the chain seems willing to push for Friday. This morning my agent said the bottom of the chain was ready, our buyer almost ready (buyer just approving last replies) which only left our conveyancer to chase. By this afternoon she'd changed that to "more enquiries at the bottom". It's very hard to chase when the messages change every time, I don't actually know whether people are giving her the wrong information or whether she is just telling me whatever she thinks I want to hear.

joseyjo72

Another concern I have is that another buyer in the chain has a mortgage offer expiring 2 weeks after ours, so if ours takes 2 weeks to approve (and the adviser seems to be going very slow with the application, I have chased today and still not requested paperwork) then theirs will be about to expire - leaving it very close for exchange/completion. Is borrowing the money from a relative an option? (Don't know if there's anyone who could/would) Then applying for mortgage once in new house,? Are there money laundering issues there?