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The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

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Comments

  • michael1234
    michael1234 Posts: 550
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    We're also waiting to exchange......

    We're in a chain of three - ourselves, our vendor and our buyer. There are no mortgages involved and there will be no surveys of either our place or where we want to buy. I know its not the standard advice, but I've always thought surveys are a waste of money.
    However (!), both our vendor and buyer want to get to exchange within 21-28 days!!

    Our timeline so far is this:

    17 July: Instructed local solicitor, filled in forms and did the ID checks the same day
    26 July: Draft contract send to our buyer's solicitor. Why did they sit on it for so bloody long?
    27 July: Found out that the vendor's solicitor had sent the draft contract on the 17 July. "Most" searches are apparently back but not all. Draft contract send to buyer's solicitor. Questions to vendor's solicitor to be forwarded to us "tomorrow".
    28 July: Info around vendor's draft contract and questions supposed to be send to us. Nothing received.
  • goodwithsaving
    goodwithsaving Posts: 1,311
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    I offered at the end of last month and am ready to exchange. I've had my mortgage offer, searches, survey etc. My buyer is almost ready to go as well.
    However.....my vendors haven't even applied for their mortgage despite telling me I needed to 'catchup' the chain (their previous buyer fell through). There is an issue with their online purchase which may well take 6 months to resolve (god bless the land registry).
    They could have had the decency to let me know before I spent any money. I am terrified that it'll take months and my buyer will pull out. For logistical reasons I need to be sold and moved ASAP (hence why I went for an already formed chain in the first place).

    I'm infuriated by the whole thing and finding it all so stressful :-(
  • Lurking & others, I am another one buying on my own and wondering if I am making a big mistake.

    The survey found a few things I had to get investigated, but the vendor isn't going to reduce the price. A house in the next street has just come on, and I'm wishing I'd waited instead of making an offer on the one I am buying :(

    I am worrying about a tree in the front garden of all things, even though I obviously knew it was there, it was only when the survey pointed out that it had the potential to affect the house that I started thinking worst case scenarios - what if it falls on to the house when it's windy :eek:

    Just get it cut down then. What's wrong with first time buyers? We have a couple, FTB, buying our house, hopefully, who seem to need their hand holding at every minor thing. Stick to renting if you're all so scared then you can have a landlord come running whenever the slightest problem arises. Maybe buying isn't for you.
  • Lauralou79
    Lauralou79 Posts: 268 Forumite
    Not all first time buyers need hand holding. But at the same time it's a lot of money, time and stress especially when doing it for the first time.
    We didn't use a broker I researched everything beforehand and was confident we could do it ourselves. When the survey came back with some issues we didn't ask for reductions as it's an older house and needs maintaining. And we got the house for being FTB and in no chain, against higher offers.
  • goodwithsaving
    goodwithsaving Posts: 1,311
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    edited 30 July 2017 at 9:30AM
    happytails wrote: »
    Well I've had a total poo 24 hours. Got a text yesterday from my purchaser saying her dad has looked at the survey ............... Hoping she carries on as we were due to exchange in a few weeks.

    My agent got us another viewer though for tomorrow who has an offer on her house so maybe a good back up.

    Sarah

    Why are you still accepting viewings when your buyer has had a survey and your house is sold STC?

    All; not all first time buyers scare easily but I do think experience of buying/selling a few places has taught me what to look for and I can now wander around a house knowing what things will cost to put right and how achievable they are. I'd hate to be a FTB again! I'm probably over-paying for the one I'm buying (if it all goes through) but I like the house and the area so for the sake of the £5k I'm possibly overpaying by, it really doesn't bother me.
  • Land_Registry
    Land_Registry Posts: 5,755
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    Organisation Representative
    I offered at the end of last month and am ready to exchange. I've had my mortgage offer, searches, survey etc. My buyer is almost ready to go as well.
    However.....my vendors haven't even applied for their mortgage despite telling me I needed to 'catchup' the chain (their previous buyer fell through). There is an issue with their online purchase which may well take 6 months to resolve (god bless the land registry).
    They could have had the decency to let me know before I spent any money. I am terrified that it'll take months and my buyer will pull out. For logistical reasons I need to be sold and moved ASAP (hence why I went for an already formed chain in the first place).

    I'm infuriated by the whole thing and finding it all so stressful :-(

    Appreciate this is a waiting to exchange thread but as you blessed us I felt we should post

    We are not currently as fast as we or others woukd like and we can take several weeks and months in some cases to complete a registration.

    However where there is a linked transaction such as onward sale/purchase then the applicant can provide those details and ask us to expedite.

    If we do then the wait time for considering/processing the application is shortened dramatically to around 10 working days in most cases.

    That expedition essentially mean the 'online purchase' will be looked at much sooner than the 6 months you have quoted. Everything then depends on it being in order and if it can be completed at that point it will be.

    Two things to add though are what is an 'online purchase'? And 6 months is not the norm although it is a figure people do quote. I think it's what some conveyancers refer to but the current longest average timescale is 67 working days for a first registration. That is though an average so some will take longer but 6 months remains a rarity. And that is especially true where expedition is applied for and given.

    Just wanted to share to explain there are ways of shortening the process although you are reliant on others to achieve that for you
    Official Company Representative
    I am the official company representative of Land Registry. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"
  • goodwithsaving
    goodwithsaving Posts: 1,311
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    edited 30 July 2017 at 10:36AM

    Just wanted to share to explain there are ways of shortening the process although you are reliant on others to achieve that for you

    THANK YOU! I'm very grateful to you for replying to my post and giving me more insight. I'm sincerely hoping it can be fast-tracked in that case. My mortgage offer isn't valid very long and due to health, it hasn't been an easy time. Does it matter that the property with the problem is at the top of the chain (holding up those below)?

    I appreciate you replying, thank you.

    ps. onward purchase not online. I made a sloppy typo......
  • Land_Registry
    Land_Registry Posts: 5,755
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Organisation Representative
    THANK YOU! I'm very grateful to you for replying to my post and giving me more insight. I'm sincerely hoping it can be fast-tracked in that case. My mortgage offer isn't valid very long and due to health, it hasn't been an easy time. Does it matter that the property with the problem is at the top of the chain (holding up those below)?

    I appreciate you replying, thank you.

    ps. onward purchase not online. I made a sloppy typo......

    The fact there is a chain should be sufficient so it's important to pass the message re expedition up or down that chain as appropriate.
    I should stress that there are lots of things to be put in place when buying/selling/mortgaging - you already appreciate this of course
    And that means that in some cases in a chain there are reasons why some may be quicker than others and for some expedition may not be something they are ready for or want e.g they are waiting for some additional item/details so know the registration can't be completed anyway

    If they've quoted 6 months I'm guessing either the property to be registered is a first registration or a new build. But the key here is if you don't ask you don't get as for the vast majority of buyer's the registration aspect comes at the very end and after they have moved in so time taken is not an issue.

    With a chain the emphasis is very different and the dependencies are much more intricate - if you can take some of the stress out if it by picking off some ofthe intricacies then I'm sure it will help
    Official Company Representative
    I am the official company representative of Land Registry. MSE has given permission for me to post in response to queries about the company, so that I can help solve issues. You can see my name on the companies with permission to post list. I am not allowed to tout for business at all. If you believe I am please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com This does NOT imply any form of approval of my company or its products by MSE"
  • happytails
    happytails Posts: 1,554
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    Why are you still accepting viewings when your buyer has had a survey and your house is sold STC?

    I, personally, wasn't. The EA haven't been accepting viewings bar this one that called after my buyer wobbled over the survey (The house isn't listed as under offer or sold STC on Rightmove or the board yet - not sure why). They advised me to take it. The viewers didn't show anyway (was supposed to be 4.30 today) and my potential buyer still hasn't made her mind up.

    I will be calling my solicitors in the morning to ask them to halt things (searches are being carried out atm) until we have an agreement. She wanted £7000 off, we said we would knock £1000 off. The survey valued the house at exactly what she is paying and we have no room to negotiate down further. It's been a very worrysome weekend.
    DFW Total £21,800 to clear by Dec 2022
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  • michael1234
    michael1234 Posts: 550
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    happytails wrote: »
    I, personally, wasn't. The EA haven't been accepting viewings bar this one that called after my buyer wobbled over the survey (The house isn't listed as under offer or sold STC on Rightmove or the board yet - not sure why). They advised me to take it. The viewers didn't show anyway (was supposed to be 4.30 today) and my potential buyer still hasn't made her mind up.

    I will be calling my solicitors in the morning to ask them to halt things (searches are being carried out atm) until we have an agreement. She wanted £7000 off, we said we would knock £1000 off. The survey valued the house at exactly what she is paying and we have no room to negotiate down further. It's been a very worrysome weekend.

    I really sympathise with your situation. We are early on in the legals but braced for either vendor or buyer to mess us around. As I said in my earlier post, we didn't book a survey for the place we are buying and our buyer hasn't done one on ours (he's planning on knocking it down and rebuilding). But I've already made a cast iron guarantee to myself that if either side change the agreed terms we've agreed to I'll pull out immediately. In my view the time to negotiate is before joining the chain. If something so onerous comes up in the legals or survey then the other party should pull out.

    By the way, I'm definitely not advising what I think you should do - I know its incredibly hard. Actually offering 1K when 7 was asked for is maybe not that unreasonable - it shows you want to keep the chain going but are not going to be seriously messed around with.

    And now a quick rant about our system. What I don't understand is the government is happy to take all kinds of decisions that they consider important (foreign affairs, EU, who to bomb next, etc) but sorting out how houses are bought in this country surely would be an instant vote winner and be at little cost. The system of exchange then completion was supposed to assist but in reality "exchange" becomes the crunch point because you need to make a huge commitment at that point. My understanding is that there are many other countries that handle this a lot better than we do !
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