No memorandum of sale 1 month

Willow333

Good Morning,

We are first time buyers so probably getting anxious over nothing!

Our offer was accepted on a house on the 10th of June. We have no chain and the sellers have no chain, the house sits empty. We provided our AIP and solicitor details as on the 11th of June in which the estate agent said that was fine and it will be removed from the market and a sold sign put up. 

The estate agent has been keeping us in the loop by email and says that he plans on sending over the memorandum of sale this week which never happens. 

Shall we just sit tight and wait for the estate agents to send it? we do not want to pester if we do not have to.

We are good to go in terms of solicitors, fees, deposit. 

Any advice greatly welcomed! 

All the best,

ss2020jd

I think after this long you are entitled to chase and at least enquire about the MOS. 

It could be that the sellers have yet to instruct a solicitor although that should have usually been done by now. I thought two weeks was slow when I recently had to sell my mum’s house but it took the buyers that long to instruct a solicitor so you are well organised on that front!

Is the sold sign up and has it been taken off the market? What timescale did you discuss with the agent/vendor in terms of completion etc? Do you have a mortgage offer expiration date that you need adhere to? 

Hoenir

What's the story behind the house sitting empty? 

booksandbikes

A bit odd - you should probably chase, as that seems like a long time. For context, our memorandum of sale was issued 2 weeks after we accepted our buyers offer. That was how long it took for our estate agent to do AML and proof of funds checks. 

Slinky

We never got one. It was so long since we had bought/sold a property it didn't even occur to us that it was something we should have had. I guess it may have shown us that our expectations for completion were a completely different timescale to the vendor's

cymruchris

I recently attempted to purchase a house that ultimately fell through for an unrelated reason, but the memorandum of sale was sent within 4 hours of the offer being accepted. A month does seem a little excessive. 

propertyrental

A MOS is just paperwork. What matters is

* is the property still being advertised (get a friend to ring and ask for a viewing???)

* do you, or your solicitor, have the seller's solicitor details and have they had any exchange of info?

badger09

Almost 2 months and still no MOS? 
Why is property empty?
Tell EA that unless you receive MOS, or valid explanation for delay, by Monday, you’ll look elsewhere. 

Look elsewhere over the weekend. 

pjs493

In my case I believe the memo of sale was issued around a week after my offer was accepted. I think the timeline was:

Thursday or Friday - viewed property

Sunday - made offer, offer accepted (I was really surprised that the agent responded to my email, I didn’t expect a response until the Monday, but they called and we had some negotiations while the went between me and the vendor)
Monday - I got quotes from solicitors and surveyors, checked online reviews, etc. 
Tuesday - appointed a surveyor and gave them the estate agent’s details. They liaised to find a mutually convenient date for the survey which happened the following Thursday. On the same day I appointed a solicitor and they sent documents through the post for me to sign and return. 

Wednesday: Docs from the solicitor arrived through the post. 

Thursday: I sent docs back to my solicitor along with my proof of funds, etc. I informed the agent who I’d appointed. 

Friday: Solicitor received docs and I received an email confirming everything was in order. Solicitor received memo of sale from agent. 

On the Monday morning the agent emailed me a ‘confirmation of offer’ form that I completed and emailed back to them at some point during the week along with bank statements as proof of funds. There was a little back and forth because they were asking for a money trail. Particularly regarding funds that came from an inheritance, at one point a junior member of staff asked for a copy of the death certificate which seemed both unnecessary and intrusive. But this was quickly shut down when I pointed out that my solicitor was asking for all this information and could confirm in due course with the agent (when they’d completed their AML checks), and that I’d already sent them bank statements showing I had the cash in the bank.  

It did take a while (maybe a month) for the website to be updated with SSTC. This got me a little antsy because one of my conditions of my offer was that the property be withdrawn from the market with no further viewings. However, when I questioned this in week two after the survey, I was told that if any enquiries came in, they’d respond to say the property was under offer.