Struggling to get my leasehold flat to the finish line :(

Mind_Overload

Good morning,

I'll try keep the beginning bit brief, as any help with this would be much appreciated. Selling a leasehold flat has been even harder than I ever imagined and it's taking its toll now.

I applied to sell in January with Peabody (HA), finally got it on the market 1st April, one viewing, 4th April, buyer agreed to buy a few days later. I still have the same buyer.

HA took 11 weeks to release the management pack. Madness. Buyers solicitor done nothing with it for 8 weeks, now all questions are answered apart from the two below.

The chain is becoming very restless, and it all rests on my flat sale. The department my solicitor is messaging, have an automatic template reply, we will respond in 30 working days ( 6 weeks!!). This was the response with the management pack, that took 11 weeks. They emailed them 3 weeks ago, and my solicitor, Peabody's solicitor, and also Peabody's sale team are putting pressure on them to reply, but nothing.

I know this needs to come from the HA mouth, but one of the questions is about cladding, and there is no cladding in my building. I looked in the pack, there is a  EW1S form, and it mentions cladding once. any ideas why they would ask this? is this too vague on the EW1S cert?

Many thanks for any help.

EW1S form from management pack

EW1S form from management pack



Questions from the buyers solicitor that my solicitor has forward to the HA

“1. Please confirm whether the building is cladded. a. If the building is cladded please confirm whether the cladding been subject to fire safety inspection since the Grenfell Tower disaster? If no such inspection has taken place please confirm whether an inspection is scheduled and when it will be done. b. If the cladding has been inspected please confirm the outcome of the inspection and whether any remedial works are required to be undertaken to the cladding to ensure it complies with fire safety requirements. c. If remedial works are required to be carried out to the cladding please confirm how the costs of the works will be funded. d. If remedial works are required to be carried out to the cladding please confirm that the current insurer of the building has been notified of the results of the inspection and that you hold confirmation from the insurer that the buildings insurance policy is not affected by the same.

 

2. A. Please provide confirmation from the landlord as to whether the building has been or will be remediated under the Building Safety Act 2022. B. Please provide copies of any Landlord’s Certificates, signed by the Landlord in the form set out in the Building Safety (Leaseholder Protections) (England) Regulations 2022. C. Please provide copies of any executed Leaseholder Deed of Certificate (in the form set out in the Building Safety (Leaseholder Protections) (England) Regulations 2022) and confirmation that they have been submitted by the relevant leaseholder to the landlord.”

Murphybear

An amusing aside.  When I saw your headline I had visions of you carrying your flat in a race and struggling to finish 

EssexHebridean

We’re finding a lot of delays with freeholders and HAs over this stuff - it’s causing a lot of delays at the moment. Once it becomes apparent that the standard enquiries by email aren’t getting a response we pick up the phone and become politely insistent, being sure to point out that our client’s sale is reliant on the HA/FHer responding to enquiries in a timely manner, and that X weeks is NOT a timely manner. Often you can’t speak directly with the department responsible for answering the enquiries, but if you can get hold of a property a aged with direct responsibility for that development or part of development then they are be prevailed upon to put pressure on. 

This is obviously a course of action for your solicitor’s office to follow, but you presumably also have a contact with the HA as well - their home ownership department or similar name? No reason for you too not to put a call in - make the point that it is wholly unreasonable for their delays in responding to be putting your sale at risk - and that this now needs turning round within a few days. Get a name and email address for the person you speak to, and back that telephone conversation up in writing, copied to your solicitor too. 

GrumpyDil

That wording refers to typically so looks like generic wording used within the pack so is irrelevant.

What I'm bemused about is why it has taken this long to get to the position of asking for confirmation about the cladding question. 

EssexHebridean

It’s detailed in the OP - lengthy delay even issuing the pack, then lengthy delay with the buyers Solicitor dealing.

And yes - it is irrelevant in the OP’s building case but it will still need an answer as it has been raised - and this is a pretty standard “belt and braces” question now. With the way the legislation around this has been introduced, no solicitor is going to take any chance that they have left anything unanswered on this one. 

Mind_Overload

EssexHebridean said:

We’re finding a lot of delays with freeholders and HAs over this stuff - it’s causing a lot of delays at the moment. Once it becomes apparent that the standard enquiries by email aren’t getting a response we pick up the phone and become politely insistent, being sure to point out that our client’s sale is reliant on the HA/FHer responding to enquiries in a timely manner, and that X weeks is NOT a timely manner. Often you can’t speak directly with the department responsible for answering the enquiries, but if you can get hold of a property a aged with direct responsibility for that development or part of development then they are be prevailed upon to put pressure on. 

This is obviously a course of action for your solicitor’s office to follow, but you presumably also have a contact with the HA as well - their home ownership department or similar name? No reason for you too not to put a call in - make the point that it is wholly unreasonable for their delays in responding to be putting your sale at risk - and that this now needs turning round within a few days. Get a name and email address for the person you speak to, and back that telephone conversation up in writing, copied to your solicitor too. 

Yes, Home Ownership Approvals. You have heard of them before, maybe a lot? 

I tried calling them at least 6 or 7 times during the summer months to push for the management pack, every time you call, they have you on hold for exactly 20 minutes and the phone goes quiet and call ended - Same every time, they are impossible to get on the phone I think.

I have one contact that you can get most days with a bit of effort, he works in the resale department. I piled a lot of pressure on him Friday, and he openly admitted the Home ownership team are a mess, and ignore their co workers, they have staffing issues, never answer calls and get more complaints than any other department. I have asked him to escalate this to his manager, he said put it in writing and he will, I done yesterday.

Is it worth opening an official complaint on Peabody's site to? I opened one in August and the management pack came a day or two later, I believe this was a pure coincidence, as when a manager spoke to me, I told them the pack had come, they didn't get into dialogue why it took 11 weeks, I said how long does it take to answer solicitor question if they arise, 30 days the manager said. I cant accept this. This was August, I think the case is closed.

Thanks for your tips. 

Mind_Overload

Murphybear said:

An amusing aside.  When I saw your headline I had visions of you carrying your flat in a race and struggling to finish 

  It would be easier to carry it than deal with this HA 

Mind_Overload

GrumpyDil said:

That wording refers to typically so looks like generic wording used within the pack so is irrelevant.

What I'm bemused about is why it has taken this long to get to the position of asking for confirmation about the cladding question. 

Unfortunately, I am not just dealing with a hideously slow HA, the buyers solicitor had done nothing for several weeks, and it was only when people threatened to collapse the chain, I texted the buyer, their solicitor started working fast.

EssexHebridean

Absolutely raise a formal complaint! 

Mind_Overload

Hi, 
Out my depth, in answer to the 2nd question i posted in this thread, this is what I finally got back. I did not realise I had to complete this document, is this correct?

Thank you for the email.

I have forwarded it to all the relevant parties.

I have spoken to Fire Remediation Team and they have advised that you would need to request a Landlord Certificate which they can prepare. The Fire Remediation Team would need a date of request as a starting point and it can take up to 4 weeks for them to provide the document but that should provide you with the assurance that you need for these works.

Deed of Certificate – Follow the link to apply.
Leaseholder protections: deed of certificate - frequently asked questions - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
 
You do not need to wait; you can download the deed of certificate template follow the Government’s link.  We would suggest you complete the form and save a copy to share with your buyer when your buyer needs it for a mortgage application.
 
Deed of Certificate – You can download the deed of certificate template