FTB - confused by the just the initial process already!

KeepingOnLearning

Hello all,

FTB and I’m struggling to understand what we exactly we can expect from our conveyancer. For example, I asked of they knew the size of our chain, and was told that they only handle the transaction. The conveyancer advised us not to take additional steps eg mortage etc until they have received the draft contract pack (this is as some years ago we had other sellers changed their mind after our offer was accepted, we lost £2k and as there was no point in spending any more more at this stage) which should be a few weeks. Now that those few weeks are up, is it for the conveyancer to chase it up? And, is it common for your conveyancer to takes days/weeks to get back to you? We’ve used the conyencers online portal to message them (nearly 10+ days ago and followed with a voicemail a day ago) and still no response.

In the meanwhile, the sellers EA is asking about updates to us getting a mortage. When we explained we were waiting on the draft contract pack as per advice, they strongly suggested this wasn’t necessary. 

I presume many sellers don’t wish to or advised to not take further steps until buyers have got a mortgage and survey etc. either

I feel like we are stuck in some kind of game!

Thank you so much in advance. 

p00hsticks

KeepingOnLearning said:

 We’ve used the conyencers online portal to message them (nearly 10+ days ago and followed with a voicemail a day ago)

Is that 10+ working days or 10+ calendar days ? thre's a big difference between the two when you factor in Easter.  

grumpy_codger

MSE: 

• Process of buying a house: timeline

• First-time buyer PDF.
  
  
  

Not sure if you'll find all answers there.

HouseMartin567

It’s your EA (or the EA of your vendor) that you need to speak to with regards to the length of chain. And general advice is that you should only start spending money (searches, mortgage application, survey etc) once the chain is complete.

As for conveyancing solicitors, my experience is that they are all slow until you get near to the point of exchange.

KeepingOnLearning

p00hsticks said:

KeepingOnLearning said:

 We’ve used the conyencers online portal to message them (nearly 10+ days ago and followed with a voicemail a day ago)

Is that 10+ working days or 10+ calendar days ? thre's a big difference between the two when you factor in Easter.  

p00hsticks said:

KeepingOnLearning said:

 We’ve used the conyencers online portal to message them (nearly 10+ days ago and followed with a voicemail a day ago)

Is that 10+ working days or 10+ calendar days ? thre's a big difference between the two when you factor in Easter.  

Good point. It’s 7 working days.

KeepingOnLearning

grumpy_codger said:

MSE: 

• Process of buying a house: timeline

• First-time buyer PDF.
  
  
  

Not sure if you'll find all answers there.

Thank you. That is appreciated.

KeepingOnLearning

HouseMartin567 said:

It’s your EA (or the EA of your vendor) that you need to speak to with regards to the length of chain. And general advice is that you should only start spending money (searches, mortgage application, survey etc) once the chain is complete.

As for conveyancing solicitors, my experience is that they are all slow until you get near to the point of exchange.

HouseMartin567 said:

It’s your EA (or the EA of your vendor) that you need to speak to with regards to the length of chain. And general advice is that you should only start spending money (searches, mortgage application, survey etc) once the chain is complete.

As for conveyancing solicitors, my experience is that they are all slow until you get near to the point of exchange.

Thank you. It’s all a bit confusing with so much different advise.

Myci85

One thing to bear in mind is that different professionals involved have different motivations. We appointed solicitor once our offer was accepted, but on advice from people on here we asked them to hold off doing any chargeable work until the chain was complete, which they were perfectly happy with. However, the EA was pushing for us to get it all started asap and seemed quite put out when I explained we were waiting, telling us that wasn't the normal process at all. The EA's interest is in getting to completion asap to get their commission, so it makes sense they want to push ahead, as it's not their money lost on legal fees if it falls through. Bizarrely they didn't even update us to inform the chain was complete, until I asked again for an update and was told it had been complete for several days. 

I'd recommend speaking to EA and finding out if chain is complete, and if it is, give your solicitor the go ahead to start searches etc, and put your mortgage application in. 

Are you using independent solicitors/conveyancers or online company? I think from what I read response times vary hugely between the two. 

KeepingOnLearning

Myci85 said:

One thing to bear in mind is that different professionals involved have different motivations. We appointed solicitor once our offer was accepted, but on advice from people on here we asked them to hold off doing any chargeable work until the chain was complete, which they were perfectly happy with. However, the EA was pushing for us to get it all started asap and seemed quite put out when I explained we were waiting, telling us that wasn't the normal process at all. The EA's interest is in getting to completion asap to get their commission, so it makes sense they want to push ahead, as it's not their money lost on legal fees if it falls through. Bizarrely they didn't even update us to inform the chain was complete, until I asked again for an update and was told it had been complete for several days. 

I'd recommend speaking to EA and finding out if chain is complete, and if it is, give your solicitor the go ahead to start searches etc, and put your mortgage application in. 

Are you using independent solicitors/conveyancers or online company? I think from what I read response times vary hugely between the two. 

Hello,

Yes the EA informed us the chain is complete and we are using a regional conveyancer for the area. 

When we explained we have taken the advise of conveyancer to not get a mortage etc until the draft contract pack is received by them, like the original post mentioned we’ve lost money to sellers changing their minds once before). 

It seem like as buyer I have to show ‘committed’ spend money while the seller seems to offer very little. This to me very game playing. And, now I’m worried they are serious sellers of they are holding off and we won’t get the house as we are playing the game wrong. I don’t know. This is so hard. 

Albermarle

You have two options ( at least ) 
1) You can push at your end to get everything moving asap. That includes mortgage, booking survey, instructing conveyancers etc . If it works out this will hopefully reduce delays in the process, but exposes you more to increased costs in case the sale falls through.
2) Wait for each part to slot into place before starting the next one. This will obviously extend the process, but may keep costs down if the same falls through.

If the sale was chain free or maybe only three in the chain, I would probably risk option 1) to speed things up.
With a long chain I would probably go with Option 2.

You could of course find a half way house between the two options. 

Bigphil1474

OP, I would be looking at getting in the mortgage application - that shouldn't cost money? Obviously a survey will. I'm not sure why you wouldn't apply for a mortgage now, particularly as a FTB. If you can't get the mortgage the rest is moot. 
If it was me, now the chain is complete, get your mortgage sorted, once that's approved, book in the survey, if you are happy with the results of that, get your conveyancer on with their bits. 
Don't worry too much about what your seller is doing - they are probably fretting about their purchase the same as you. We have a rubbish system in England but it is what it is. Keep on going and hope for the best basically.