How long would you wait before considering pulling out of a sale?

jez9999

Got an offer on my house, now it's 4 months down the line from the memorandum of sale and estate agent is still apparently chasing every day, but my buyers' solicitors and their buyers' solicitors are still "dealing with enquiries" with no end in sight. How long would you wait until just saying "the sale's off"? Because I'm starting to bounce off the walls I'm so sick of nothing happening.

Sooz1966

We got our memorandum of sale on 5th April. We're supposed to be completing this Thursday but today, buyers solicitor is raising queries about where surface water drains! How do we prove, other than with the water bill, that water drains into the sewers and shouldn't this have been done via buyers searches weeks ago? We're beyond fed up; this was an inherited property, freehold, unoccupied, being bought by someone without a property to sell, so no chain. Have to say, our EA has been a star in terms of chasing and is actually speaking directly to our buyer as we speak, hopefully advising them their solicitor is being a d*ck and not to be swayed into pulling out at this late stage over this, especially as the estate is over 60 years old so any potential issues with drainage would have been long since addressed.

No answer to your question I'm afraid, just lots of empathy!

jez9999

Yeah my chain's a bit longer than that but it still does seem like some of the enquiries being raised are pure make-work. I've emailed my solicitor to ask whether the enquiries still on my house need to be responded to (they want plans from the original developer for some reason even though the house was finished 7 years ago) or whether we can just advise the buyers to instruct their solicitors to accept our responses. Supposedly our buyer really want our house so their solicitors should maybe stop getting in the way.

Sooz1966

Yes, use your EA to liaise directly with your buyer. If, like us, your buyer is serious, they're likely to be as fed up as you are and may not even know what's going on behind the scenes. In our case, I honestly dont believe our buyer is sitting at home considering pulling out over proof of surface water drainage systems after waiting 4 months to complete on a rather sad bungalow requiring modernisation.

RelievedSheff

You are only 4 months in.

You are going to require a lot more patience just yet.

Yes enquiries are annoying, especially when they drag on over several rounds, but remember that your legal team are working on your behalf to, hopefully, avoid issues down the line and the same goes up and down the chain. It is eventually for all of your benefits.

Buying and selling houses has never been a straightforward process!

jez9999

No, but it's sure been a lot faster than this in the past. The system desperately needs reform. My estate agent was telling me she used to tell people to expect 8 to 12 weeks in the past!

Sooz1966

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82069041#Comment_82069041

Yes I remember a 'fast sale' being considered about 6-8 weeks. Our situation couldn't be more straightforward but we're already at 16 weeks. No known reason for delay, no chain, buyer got mortgage offer quickly and didn't have a survey. Our poor buyer is stuck in a mobile home as they sold their house a while back and their intended house fell through, so I'm sure they've been exerting pressure from their end too - meanwhile, solicitors are pratting about, suddenly getting all over-excited and macho at the 11th hour, about a side issue which should have been clarified by their searches weeks ago.

Tiglet2

Buying and selling houses requires a lot of input from lots of different people involved in different parts of the process - if everyone responded quickly then the transaction can move faster. While buyers and sellers themselves tend to do everything as quickly as possible, many third parties do not.

There are also a lot more requirements needed these days - due diligence has got more complicated with AML checks and various government schemes which help first time buyers but create extra work for the conveyancer, as well as the various management company's that conveyancer's have to liaise with in both leasehold and freehold properties.

The enquiries can drag on, especially when they are complicated questions rather than basic straight forward ones. These often need to be sent to various third parties as well as the seller. If the responses are very vague or do not answer the enquiry, then the enquiry will need to be sent again for clarification.

If the estate agent is chasing every day, then that will delay the work the conveyancer is doing. The conveyancer may decide not to talk to them, unless there actually is a change or update to give.

jez9999

Any conveyancer that adopted that attitude would be one I would avoid like the plague.

Slinky

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82069207#Comment_82069207

You're not likely to find that out until it's too late!

Bigphil1474

If you're just waiting for a few enquiries then you aren't far off. We had to put our foot down with our solicitor on some enquiries e,g, the electrical installation we received the report 3 times. Once that was sorted we moved within 2 weeks. It was frustrating at the time, but we spent more on this house than all our other houses before, so we wanted it right. 2 years in, and everything is fine.