Charges against a house

diddlysquat23

We’re in the process of buying a house and for the last 5 weeks the sellers solicitors have been trying to obtain details regarding some charges against the property. They’re saying they need to get some redemption figures before they can do the undertaking but this has been dragging on for ages now. I’ve tried threatening to pull out even though I know the solicitors won’t care lol.
I’ve made complaints about it but they’re saying it’s out of their hands and they’re waiting for the companies to get back to them.
We are obviously against time with our mortgage application being valid and due to personal circumstances we cannot afford for it to expire. We have agreed between us with our mortgage advisor that we will wait until the end of march but if it’s not sorted by then (at least exchanged) then we will have to find somewhere else.
This is really stressful as we really love the current house but we are just being told to keep waiting and they won’t give a timescale either. We feel really hopeless.
Anyone else been in a similar position at all? How long did it take ? Or did you just find something else ?
Thank you

Brie

Is the seller aware of the delay? And that you might withdraw your offer? They're the ones paying their solicitor so they're the ones that needs to get the solicitors to move along.

Isthisforreal99

It will take as long as it takes unfortunately. It could be an old charge with the charge holder may have changed hands. It's something the seller should have sorted out before trying to sell.

Sometimes these thinga can drag on for months and bottom line completiom cannot happen until the charges are settled/removed.

I'd start looking elsewhere now.

eddddy

diddlysquat23 said

I’ve tried threatening to pull out even though I know the solicitors won’t care lol.

Solicitors tend to focus on doing the legal stuff - they don't really do 'chasing'. And they generally get paid whether the sale goes ahead, or falls through.

It's the estate agent that usually does 'chasing' (they call it sales progression). And they usually only get paid if a sale exchanges/completes - so they have a vested interest in making the sale happen.

If you haven't already, phone the estate agent and warn them that you might walk away if these issues aren't resolved quickly.

Hopefully, the estate agent will then phone the seller and 'encourage them'.

For example, tell the seller to phone the charge holders and ask them why they haven't provided redemption figures and/or ask when will the redemption figures will be available.

(TBH, some 'more experienced' estate agents understand this kind of stuff really well, and are really good at getting problems resolved. But other 'less experienced' estate agents might be useless. But it's still probably worth a try.)

MEM62

I’ve tried threatening to pull out even though I know the solicitors won’t care lol. 

I’ve made complaints about it but they’re saying it’s out of their hands and they’re waiting for the companies to get back to them.

Frankly, you threat carries no weight as the matter is out of the solicitors hands. It is in the hands of the lenders and they are unimpacted by you pulling out, proceeding or otherwise. If the previous owners have let debts get this far and this messy you cannot expect a speedy solution to the issue.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81918824#Comment_81918824

If you haven't already, phone the estate agent and warn them that you might walk away if these issues aren't resolved quickly.

Hopefully, the estate agent will then phone the seller and 'encourage them'.

This is also what I would do .

The EA is in danger of losing their commission, so they will be motivated to chase things up.