Speeding up house purchase

peterc2609

Local searches were done in HIPS so dont need to be done again.

JimmyTheWig

peterc2609 wrote: »

Local searches were done in HIPS so dont need to be done again.

Shows what I know! Haven't bought since HIPS have come in.
In which case, proceed with phoning agesnt and solicitor as I suggested.

peterc2609

solicitor has got back to me this morning by email and said that they are still waiting for contract and supporting documents from sellers solicitor.

She has also said that the target completion date of 18/4/08 is becoming tight.

I've called sellers solicitors but they wont speak to me... so advised seller to call them.

What happens after my solicitor receives contract etc? how can it take over 2 weeks?

Jorgan_2

The sellers solicitor may be waiting on information/forms from the seller before sending out the contract to your solicitor. If the seller doesn't return the info, their solicitor may delay in sending everything. Get your solicitor to chase them and request what ever info they have at present. If its a leasehold property then they could be waiting on a management company to provide info as well.

Is there a chain involved? If so how well advanced is everyone else?

peterc2609

Spoke to seller, he completed all forms on Thursday... so my solicitor should hopefully get it all today or tomorrow.

Its freehold and there is no chain. I'm a FTB, and the seller has already moved out of this house.

What exactly needs to happen from when they receive this info...?

Is it just me sign contract and then seller?? Or is there any other steps involved?

Jorgan_2

Your solicitor will check the information when they receive it, they may raise additional enquiries, depending on what the information states. How long the additional enquiries (if any) will take to answer depends on what information they have requested, it could come back on the same day or take a week or longer.

Speak to your solicitor tomorrow to see if they have received the contract, if they have, what is the state of play. Arrange to sign as soon as they are ready.

Some lenders require five working days between exchange & completion to get the funds to the solicitor. Check if this is the policy your lender has before trying to push for exchange & completion dates.

Richard_Webster

Your solicitor will check the information when they receive it, they may raise additional enquiries, depending on what the information states. How long the additional enquiries (if any) will take to answer depends on what information they have requested, it could come back on the same day or take a week or longer.

Quite...

From my point of view until I get the draft contract package there is nothing for me to check until then and that's when the work really starts...

It is for instance pretty common for there to be say a conservatory on the back of the property and for the seller to have answered "No" to the question in the Property Information Form about whether there has been any building work including conservatories. People don't read the question - they think it only applies to work they have done - so the buyer' solicitors goes back and asks all about the conservatory to check that it either didn't any permissions or that the permissions etc exist. That's just an example, but there could be other inconsistencies and questions not included, or included but not answered, that need to be followed up.

Most solicitors now prepare a written report on the contract papers and associated documents that is sent to the client with the contract and documents to sign and that has to be prepared. Some of it will be standard template but each property is different and so there will always be one off explanations that have to be given. This all takes time and there are limits to what any conveyancing solcitor can do in a day.

If you were in a hurry I would have been screaming at the seller to get his act together and send the forms etc to his solicitor so a draft contract could be sent out.

peterc2609

Well, we done it!

We signed the contract etc over the weekend and I took it to the Solicitors yesterday! Transferred the deposit and solicitors fees electronically yesterday afternoon.

The solicitor has applied for the mortgage money on Friday.

So all is left for us to do is to collect the keys on Friday!

Offer submitted and accepted on the 19th March. Exchange and Complete on the 18th April. Not bad! And we got it for 25k below asking price!

JimmyTheWig

peterc2609 wrote: »

Offer submitted and accepted on the 19th March. Exchange and Complete on the 18th April. Not bad! And we got it for 25k below asking price!

Blimey Peter, that's got to be some sort of record!
My average (from 3 moves) has been about 5 months!

Well done for chasing hard. Fingers crossed the rest of it goes as smoothly...