When should I pull out of my offer

bm6719

I put an offer on a house on the 2nd of April. My mortgage and paperwork has been sorted literally days after this. 

However, I am still no further forward with the sellers. Their solicitor kept saying they were waiting for their mortgage offer and after weeks of pestering about 7 weeks then came back to say they were struggling to get surveyors into their new house but this was now sorted. Almost 3 weeks on and their mortgage has still not been sorted apparently. I’m almost at my whits end with it. I feel that there has been many secrets and they haven’t been honest with me. When I went to see the house originally they said they had a house to go to and they would be ready to move. Almost 12 weeks on and still nothing. When do I give up and look for other places. Is it a wise move to do. Any advice would be grand

Southend_2

Sounds fairly typical. Ask your estate agent's progression team for regular updates and try to be patient, though it's easier said than done. 

Hoenir

How many other parties are there in the chain? Until it's complete. Progress (for you) will appear painfully slow. 

propertyrental

You have to either be patient, or take action.

But withdrawing your offer is not the only option.

Leave your offer on the table but start looking at other properties. Let the seller's EA know you are doing this.

That might give the sellers the push they need (assuming the delay is actually within their control). If you find another property you like, that is the time to consider what to do.

cjdew

To the best of my knowledge, a mortgage in principle based purely on financials is very quick. But, it's once the purchase property is known, that's when some mortgages in principle fall by the wayside as some lenders won't be interested because the property to them might not fit their criteria.

Perhaps it could be that this is the case so they have had to go to multiple lenders, which does take weeks. Good thing is, once you have found one then it's quicker the other side to get it over the line. Maybe if they had problems with the lenders, they would be reluctant to fork out for a surveyor too early.

But all of the above is speculation. You are closer than you were in April to the finish line, and purchases do take many months, even if they seemed relatively simple. 

RelievedSheff

You need to be patient. House sales are never a quick process. 

From your description it sounds very much like a normal transaction.

If you are in a chain, expect at least six months before everyone has their affairs in order.

Niv

propertyrental said:

You have to either be patient, or take action.

But withdrawing your offer is not the only option.

Leave your offer on the table but start looking at other properties. Let the seller's EA know you are doing this.

That might give the sellers the push they need (assuming the delay is actually within their control). If you find another property you like, that is the time to consider what to do.

I did similar but as I wasnt really looking I just viewed houses from the same agent as the house I was waiting on. Not sure if it worked but things started moving shortly after I did that.

GadgetGuru

I ended up waiting 8 MONTHS because my seller kept messing around. Even broke the chain and moved out and into my parents so that my buyers could move in the meantime!
It was a terrible experience. 

Millsandovis

Regardless of what people have said about it being normal, if they said when you viewed that they were ready to go and had a house to move into and 12 weeks later they’ve made no progress then something is amiss. 

I wouldn’t be necessarily withdrawing my offer yet but I would be asking for some clarification on what’s actually going on and threaten it if needed. 

EssexHebridean

If you do decide to threaten to withdraw your offer, then you need to mean it. If you’re not prepared to follow through, then don’t make the threat, and certainly don’t start giving any ultimatums. 

What does your solicitor say about the delays - they will be able to get a feel for the lie of the land and whether the hold up is genuine or if there is more to it than meets the eye. The thing is, there really is no “normal” in conveyancing, we’d see “realistic” fastest expected timescales from start to finish as perhaps 12 weeks on a freehold, 16 weeks if there is a leasehold involved, for a short chain, but things can move faster or slower than that without anything being out of the ordinary. There are a huge number of variables - whether all parties have lenders involved, whether there is a probate property in the chain, hoe fast a freeholder is at responding to questions… it all makes a difference, which is why anyone telling you that “X is a normal timescale” for this sort of thing is really just acting on guesswork and supposition. 

bm6719

I appreciate everyone’s comments. As a first time buyer I hadn’t realised some of the things that have been mentioned. 

My solicitor has said that this does seem to be taking a while and to maybe think about setting a deadline.
i know I’m the start of the chain. When I viewed the house the seller had explained that the house she is moving into the owners have other property and will move into that while finding their own house.
It’s just been a bit unsettling.