Contracts signed, still no keys!!!

cloudsurfer · 23-07-2015 2:35pm #1

Hi there,

Can anyone help please?!

The contracts for our house have been signed three weeks ago by ourselves and the sellers and the mortgage has been drawn down but there is still no sign of keys and our solicitor is refusing to give us a date. There is nobody currently living in the house, it's been free since it was put up for sale so we are not waiting on anyone to move and we are first time buyers so we are good to go. The sellers are very anxious to sell as were we to get they keys.

We then received an email today to say that the vendors solicitor is now on holidays until the 4th August. I am really concerned that our solicitor is trying to draw it out as long as possible as we are always waiting days for a response and she is never there when we ring the office.

Has anyone else had this problem and how long should you be waiting if the house is free and everything has been signed and drawn down?

Any advise at all would be great!

Lucy B · 23-07-2015 2:49pm

Quoting my own solicitor, "it's silly season". We are having problems with our house purchase too, both sets of solicitors are on holidays, overlapping by a week. So frustrating as nothing can be sorted now til middle of August for us.
I would imagine you will get keys as soon as your solicitor is back from holidays.

cloudsurfer · 23-07-2015 2:52pm

Its so frustrating! Are you a first time buyer also? Have ye at least been given a date? I was reading other forums online and they said that when you sign the contracts you are supposed to be given a closing date??

Rew · 23-07-2015 3:06pm

Whats the closing date in the contract? I would have thought that drawing down mortgage 3 weeks ago is unacceptable without good reason even in silly season.

cloudsurfer · 23-07-2015 3:14pm

There was no closing date in the contract when we signed....that's why we are worried now!

Lucy B · 23-07-2015 3:40pm

I could be wrong but I don't think the closing date has to be in the contract? Don't worry too much, once your solicitor is back from holidays ye will be sorted id say. Good luck with the move

We haven't even got to contract signing and we are 9 weeks sale agreed, some drama with finding the deeds. It's a whole other story but I think we are getting somewhere.

It really is all so stressful isn't it. Yes, we are first time buyers too.

La.m · 23-07-2015 3:49pm

Someone else in the firm should have been given the details to close the sale while they're on holidays. I'd try pushing it if I were you. If your solicitor has actually drawn down your mortgage you'll have already started paying interest on it which is a bit unfair if you haven't got the house yet.

However, three weeks from signing the contracts is not that long. Signing the contract is only the start. While some solicitors do all their investigations before signing contracts some old school solicitors still wait until after signing to do the investigations. Do you know whether the requisitions on title have been answered yet? If they haven't then you're not actually ready to close and there could still be substantial issues to be addressed.

cloudsurfer · 23-07-2015 4:00pm

It's a whole racket. I was watching a programme the other day and it said in New Zealand it takes 3 weeks to close the sale of a house from start to finish!

cloudsurfer · 23-07-2015 4:02pm

I was thinking that surely somebody cloud close it especially if they thought it was a possibility that they might be away. As far as we are aware all investigations have been done, but that's what we've been told so not really much to go on....

cloudsurfer · 23-07-2015 4:02pm

I was thinking that surely somebody could close it especially if they thought it was a possibility that they might be away. As far as we are aware all investigations have been done, but that's what we've been told so not really much to go on....

Mrs OBumble · 23-07-2015 8:01pm

cloudsurfer wrote: »

It's a whole racket. I was watching a programme the other day and it said in New Zealand it takes 3 weeks to close the sale of a house from start to finish!

Don't believe everything you see on TV!

That would be best case, there are plenty which take longer. Though perhaps not as much longer as you have here.

Naid23 · 27-07-2015 8:32pm

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Don't believe everything you see on TV!

That would be best case, there are plenty which take longer. Though perhaps not as much longer as you have here.

My sister in law bought a house in Norway and the whole process took a month from start to finish, and that included selling her own apartment. I am currently looking for my first house and i am already anxious of the whole process.

MarkAnthony · 27-07-2015 9:15pm

cloudsurfer wrote: »

It's a whole racket. I was watching a programme the other day and it said in New Zealand it takes 3 weeks to close the sale of a house from start to finish!

Yes New Zealand with it's ancient history spanning hundreds of years of land ownership and identical laws to jolly ol Ireland.

It can take three weeks here, it rarely does but it can.

OP my only concern would be the mortgage being drawn down. My Solicitor specifically refused to do this as he was under an obligation imposed by the bank to use it within 5 days or return the funds. I'd be canny about it and find out if such a condition exists then raise it, oh so innocently. Careful if you push too hard they might return it and delay things further.

Unfortunately this is a very bad time for anything legal as it's the long vacation and they're all in the South of France. Well solicitors are; barristers with under 5 years experience are having a wet weekend in Wexford and they had to walk there.

Contracts signed, still no keys!!!

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