Almost seven weeks since offer accepted and nothing from buyer’s solicitor

ss2020jd

RHemmings said:

I got quite annoyed by my sellers and their EA complaining that things were taking a long time when I was doing everything as fast as I could, and my solicitors seemed completely on the ball. The house buying process in the UK is slow (other than traditional auctions). Not annoyed enough to stop the purchase, but annoyed. I'm not suggesting that the OP is like this, but until it's known that someone is dragging their feet, it might be better to not be combative. E.g. don't say one more week and then it's going back on the market with a different EA. 

Yes I haven’t done that and do understand these things take time. It was my solicitor that alerted me to the fact there has been no communication from the buyer’s solicitor’s at all. It’s the first time I approached the EA for an update since the offer was accepted seven weeks ago.

ss2020jd

In case anyone is interested in an update; the EA let me know that the buyers were frustrated trying to get hold of their solicitors themselves. 

Then a week after that I found out that they had decided to have a survey done. Turns out the survey at the beginning was just a valuation. 

I told the EA that eight weeks in to the process for a survey was not in line with moving quickly and if there were any more unreasonable delays I would be looking to re-market the property. 

After that the EA kept me regularly updated and continued chasing and things finally started moving. Although their conveyancer was still proving elusive to mine. Then there were multiple attempts over seven days to exchange but their conveyancer could not be reached. They also claimed the buyers had not agreed to exchange on that attempt! The buyers said otherwise. 

Then when my solicitor was finally going through the contracts for exchange their conveyancer realised he didn’t have the buyer’s deposit! We did eventually exchange but it was a rollercoaster. I am keeping everything crossed that we complete this coming week as planned.

It was a stressful and exhausting dash to get the last bits finally cleared and cleaned with the reduced time between exchange and completion. But if completion goes to plan that will be just over three months for everything so not bad overall in the end. I will feel more relaxed when it finally happens though. 

RHemmings

ss2020jd said:

In case anyone is interested in an update; the EA let me know that the buyers were frustrated trying to get hold of their solicitors themselves. 

Then a week after that I found out that they had decided to have a survey done. Turns out the survey at the beginning was just a valuation. 

I told the EA that eight weeks in to the process for a survey was not in line with moving quickly and if there were any more unreasonable delays I would be looking to re-market the property. 

After that the EA kept me regularly updated and continued chasing and things finally started moving. Although their conveyancer was still proving elusive to mine. Then there were multiple attempts over seven days to exchange but their conveyancer could not be reached. They also claimed the buyers had not agreed to exchange on that attempt! The buyers said otherwise. 

Then when my solicitor was finally going through the contracts for exchange their conveyancer realised he didn’t have the buyer’s deposit! We did eventually exchange but it was a rollercoaster. I am keeping everything crossed that we complete this coming week as planned.

It was a stressful and exhausting dash to get the last bits finally cleared and cleaned with the reduced time between exchange and completion. But if completion goes to plan that will be just over three months for everything so not bad overall in the end. I will feel more relaxed when it finally happens though. 

Sorry to hear that it's been so stressful. Please keep us informed as to how completion goes. 

Gentoo365

Often these things seem like weeks (months) of nothing happening and then suddenly it's a mad rush to do everything in a short time period.

demeggy

We had a similar nightmare situation recently. Offer in March, no contract paperwork until June. Diabolical service. Sadly, it's in the lap of the gods.
We're still currently waiting on a completion date after several false starts.

Best of luck.

ss2020jd

Thanks everyone, happy to report that completion happened today so that is a huge relief. 

Sorry to hear that @demeggy that is so frustrating. I hope you get there soon. 

Hoenir

ss2020jd said:

In case anyone is interested in an update; the EA let me know that the buyers were frustrated trying to get hold of their solicitors themselves. 

Then a week after that I found out that they had decided to have a survey done. Turns out the survey at the beginning was just a valuation. 

I told the EA that eight weeks in to the process for a survey was not in line with moving quickly and if there were any more unreasonable delays I would be looking to re-market the property. 

After that the EA kept me regularly updated and continued chasing and things finally started moving. Although their conveyancer was still proving elusive to mine. Then there were multiple attempts over seven days to exchange but their conveyancer could not be reached. They also claimed the buyers had not agreed to exchange on that attempt! The buyers said otherwise. 

Then when my solicitor was finally going through the contracts for exchange their conveyancer realised he didn’t have the buyer’s deposit! We did eventually exchange but it was a rollercoaster. I am keeping everything crossed that we complete this coming week as planned.

It was a stressful and exhausting dash to get the last bits finally cleared and cleaned with the reduced time between exchange and completion. But if completion goes to plan that will be just over three months for everything so not bad overall in the end. I will feel more relaxed when it finally happens though. 

Your buyers seemed to have their own agenda ! 

RHemmings

ss2020jd said:

Thanks everyone, happy to report that completion happened today so that is a huge relief. 

Sorry to hear that @demeggy that is so frustrating. I hope you get there soon. 

That's fantastic news. Congratulations and well done. 

subjecttocontract

In my experience conveyancers & solicitors are often overloaded with work. People want the job done for the lowest cost but that comes at a price. That price is often a slower, drawn out sale than usual. It's happened to me a few times. Now when I sell I check with my EA to make sure the buyer hasn't employed one of the slow ones we know about in my area. Some firms offer a premium service for an additional cost which usually means you are always at the top of the list and get dealt with as a priority. Well worth the extra fee.