Awaiting contracts from vendors solicitor....

Wesser

Vendor..... ' not in a rush to sell..... willl wait for an acceptable bid'
Bid accepted 17 June.
Sale agreed 5th July.
Email to EA 20th July.....EA says that the vendors solicitor says all is in hand....
Phone call 1st aug..... EA says vendors solicitor is in her holidays.....stop worrying.
Phone call 10 AUG .. EA sounds alarmed..... speaks to vendors solicitor..... she has only just requested the title deeds from the bank and it'll be another 4 weeks before they arrive.....

Phone call to my solicitor...... has emailed and rung to speed this up..... nothing more she can do


Buying in Dublin..... vendors market.....
Very worried now.....is this going to fall through..... now waiting nearly 6 weeks and no contracts.......aaaahhhhh

LirW

We waited almost 7 weeks for the contracts. It's holiday season and when you went sale agreed on July 5th, you're still very well within the 8-12 weeks timeline that it takes to close a purchase.
You're the only person that takes this as a priority, a solicitor has done this hundreds of times before and has probably plenty of these contracts to work on at the same time.
I'd seriously stop worrying. I feel you, it's a headwreck. Continue to view other places but if that's the house you want, you have to be patient. This can be a painfully slow process.

cameramonkey

Early days, be prepared for a wait. Any sale I have been involved with has taken months.

CeilingFly

The sale process in Ireland is painfully slow and both sides can create delays.

I learnt the hard way. Sale agreed August - closed January.

Put it this way - if a certain solicitors name ever appears on anything I am involved in, I will walk away. Solicitors in this country are a law onto themselves and there are quite a few that are just dreadful.

Wesser

House went up for sale in February.
That means from Feb to August the solicitor hasn't even bothered to request the title deeds from the bank.
I find this shocking unprofessionalosm!

Wesser

How can I check that everything is ok ie the house is actually saleable? Just to put my mind at ease?

LirW

That's the job of your solicitor, he'll make sure that the titles are right, there's no negative equity and a few other important things that could stop the bank from giving you a mortgage on this particular property.

CeilingFly

Keep looking for alternatives - even ask for viewings for a couple of properties the agent selling this property has.

If they ask why, just say you are not confident that the seller is genuine, so continuing to look for places.

A property that is on the market for 8 months will raise a red flag and the agent will know this, so it may suddenly move things along.

I'd even put a bid in on something else that agent has to really freak them our.

LirW

CeilingFly wrote: »

Keep looking for alternatives - even ask for viewings for a couple of properties the agent selling this property has.

If they ask why, just say you are not confident that the seller is genuine, so continuing to look for places.

A property that is on the market for 8 months will raise a red flag and the agent will know this, so it may suddenly move things along.

I'd even put a bid in on something else that agent has to really freak them our.

If you're in Dublin this can work out or can go very wrong. The EA might take this as you being an unreliable buyer and if you pull out and put bids for another house with the same agent he might advise the vendor that you're an unreliable party.
Unless you are in a really strong position (no chain, cash buyer, price bracket with low demand) this probably won't do you any favours.

But OP should definitely continue viewing places.

Juwwi

CeilingFly wrote: »

Keep looking for alternatives - even ask for viewings for a couple of properties the agent selling this property has.

If they ask why, just say you are not confident that the seller is genuine, so continuing to look for places.

A property that is on the market for 8 months will raise a red flag and the agent will know this, so it may suddenly move things along.

I'd even put a bid in on something else that agent has to really freak them our.

The chances are the property has risen in value since it went sale agreed , l doubt at all they would be freaked out .

Wesser

Yes Robbie you're right.
I'm very vulnerable.
I work so hard and saved for 10 years + and now this lazy solicitor is making me worried+++
Sorry just gotta rant.

If the title deeds arrive in 4 weeks time then it will be 10 weeks waiting for contracts. Not ok.

Theoretically.. if your solicitor has the nod from the bank/financial crowd, and the seller's solicitor has the green light from the seller to get rid of the property, and you've already done a survey or whatever such you want to do..

How long should it actually take? At that stage, should it not just be a one-day affair? Sign the contracts, big thumbs up from all involved and away you go, with keys to a house and a few euro poorer?

I really don't grasp the length of time it takes? A builder I know is of the opinion that the buyers solicitor deliberately holds things up as they get the money from the bank straight away, and by taking long to do it, it gathers interest sitting in the bank, but im not sure if thats really true or not?

Juwwi

I would stop contacting the estate agent for updates , your solicitor is the best person to contact for updates , in case the estate is friendly with the seller and tells him/her you seem very eager and could be worth chancing an extra 5k from.

Juwwi

Deleted User wrote: »

I really don't grasp the length of time it takes? A builder I know is of the opinion that the buyers solicitor deliberately holds things up as they get the money from the bank straight away, and by taking long to do it, it gathers interest sitting in the bank, but im not sure if thats really true or not?

Personally l think solicitors are taking on too much work , they see the dollar sign and take it on , when you think about it during the recession they were getting very few house sales now they are probably closing a couple a week if they are based in Dublin , l'd doubt interest rates on money in the account amounts to much but could be wrong .

liam7831

I would start viewing other properties to fall back on as it sounds like it could fall through and go back on market for 20 or 30 k extra

Wesser

Should i have pushed harder for more action earlier on?
I didn't want to be a pain in the ass but it hasn't paid off for me.

LirW

Anecdote: Friends of us had a really pushy solicitor that chased the other party on every minor detail. Other party got so annoyed that they threatened to pull out.

Make sure, that you have everything in order to close asap after signing contracts. Survey, have an idea about insurance and also chase up your own solicitor to make sure that he gets paperwork (for example planning permission for existing extensions and the like) that's required now rather than later. Our solicitor requested 2 additional documents after the contracts were signed, which delays everything again.
Your own solicitor is your point of contact, make sure you have good communication with him, you pay him for that.

Anyway, don't forget that you're talking about the biggest purchase in your life here. Wait a while and have everything in order properly to close, it'll put your mind to ease.

Wesser

Thanks for your advice.

God I'm so worried I can't sleep.

I really hope it doesn't fall through. It's the perfect house for me and I've put so much work into this project.

Juwwi

Bid accepted 17 June.
Sale agreed 5th July.

When you say bid accepted 17 June and sale agreed 5th July do you mean you were the highest bidder from the 17th of June until they accepted your offer and then you paid the deposit on the 5th of July ?

If so then it isnt that long , as others have said keep your options open view other properties if you prefer , l wouldn't view any properties from the same estate agent tho ,but personally l think you are worrying too much , ask your solicitor what do they think on the situation , l don't think solicitors would lead each along on wild goose chases if they didn't think their seller was being genuine .

Wesser

Ok thanks.
What I mean is that my bid was accepted on 17 June and by the 5th of july i had paid my booking deposit and we had both found solicitors and the sale agreed notice arrived on 5th July.

Wesser

Thanks for your help.

LirW

Yeah, so you're officially into the process from the 5th of July. Before that there was no deposit down, therefore there was no formal sale agreement. That's not even 6 weeks. You're all fine, that's pretty much the normal timeline.

CeilingFly

Wesser wrote: »

Ok thanks.
What I mean is that my bid was accepted on 17 June and by the 5th of july i had paid my booking deposit and we had both found solicitors and the sale agreed notice arrived on 5th July.

That's different - other party only engaged solicitors in early July (they should have done so as soon as putting house on market)

Add in holiday season and you can write off a month.

So with this info, I wouldn't be worried in the slightest. Once it starts moving, it should move quickly.

You need to get a survey done (solicitors not needed) so that you know there are no structural issues or other issues. This is a must - you have no comeback once contracts are signed if an issue is noticed.

Wesser

Well I'm not actually sure exactly when she got the solicitor. But that was when I got mine. But yeah thanks for the reassurance.

fishy_fishy

Solicitors are a disgrace. I'm on the opposite end of a similar situation to you, OP. We do our best but our solicitor is some combination of dozy and lazy. Plenty of stuff we didn't know we had to do that could have been done before people were even bidding, yet it still took solicitor 5 week after sale agreed to get to "draft contract" stage and eventually ask us for stuff that was needed to do the contracts. We had no idea that the solicitor hadn't done a tap until the EA came back asking for an update for the purchasers.

It just sounds like their solicitor isn't prioritising it. Unfortunately that seems to be the norm.

On a related note, once we realised how little had been done, we lit a fire under the solicitor and relayed that to the buyer. They kept coming back more than weekly pestering via the EA. THAT made us want to pull out. There were plenty of other bidders almost as high as the final bid. the EA told them to calm down and leave us alone. Push, but don't push too hard. This stuff actually does take time and once everyone is moving then pushing only annoys people.

CeilingFly

Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was an ombudsman office for solicitors - would soon put many of them on the back foot and actually working for their clients.

It must be the only profession that has absolutely no authority they have to answer to - and please don't say law society - boys club managing the boys club.

Wesser

The problem here is that I am not the solicitors client.


Imo there should be a central conveyancig office, where contracts are checked and turned over in 2 weeks no need for a solicitor to get involved ... like piab....only need a solicitor if there are actual problems... there are not problems with the vast majority of contracts.....take the work off them if they can't do it right. Small fee say few hundred euro for the servive. That would solve the problem. .

LirW

But if there is an office like that there's no way that you'd get your paperwork within 2 weeks. More like 2 months if they have to deal with all the contracts issued in Dublin alone.

joleen100

I am in the same situation but have being told by estate agent on many occasions that the vendors are in a rush to sell and want a quick sale (the house is currently empty).

Sale agreed and deposit paid the 30th June. Vendors said they have met with their solicitor and contracts are on the way - nothing yet. Very frustrating as I have handed in my notice to my landlord and he is keen for me to give a move out date!!!

Should I keep at the estate agent? I am ready to go my side with mortgage (everything with my solicitor) so just waiting on their contracts to get moving.

Anyone know how long it would take from getting vendors contracts to closing and getting the keys? Trying to not sorry too much.

Thanks

LirW

Our vendor was in a rush, we are cash buyers, there is no chain involved or anything, everyone wanted a quick deal and we close now after 12 weeks. It was a painfully slow process really, also getting into holiday season.
I think people underestimate of how long this whole thing can take, especially during the summer months because the higher temperature get the slower everything is moving it seems :rolleyes:

There is nothing really you can do but waiting. Engage your solicitor to communicate with the other party about your situation, you might get lucky and it will speed things up a bit.
But if the other party has to request titles from the bank first, that alone can easily take 6 weeks.

smeal

What a lot of people need to remember is that the majority of Vendors do not get in touch with their Solicitors until the property is sale agreed. So you went sale agreed on the 5th July. The sales advice might not have reached the V's Solicitor for a few days. The Solicitor then needs to arrange a time for the V to come in and sign an ATR to be sent to the bank to take up the title deeds. Depending on the bank, the wait for title documents can be weeks. Some banks send back the standard ATR and ask for their own form of ATR to be signed... the client needs to then come back in again and suddenly you know it 2 weeks have passed. In the middle of all this the solicitor is on holidays. The title documents finally come and it might be another few days until the Solicitor has a final contract prepared.

Yes there are slow and inefficient solicitors out there but the majority are extremely busy people who simply don't have time to act on something the moment it comes through their letter box. 6 weeks without a contract is reasonable given the circumstances i.e. you have a Vendor who isn't pushy and title documents that need to come from a bank. It's a completely different story if the Vendor's deeds are sitting in their solicitor's safe and the Vendor is on the ball pushing their solicitor constantly. Like people have said above, don't put too much pressure on the EA. The EA's then have a tendency to wreck the V's Solicitors heads. Your own Solicitor will know the right times to write and ring the V's Solicitors.

ciarang85

joleen100 wrote: »

I am in the same situation but have being told by estate agent on many occasions that the vendors are in a rush to sell and want a quick sale (the house is currently empty).

Sale agreed and deposit paid the 30th June. Vendors said they have met with their solicitor and contracts are on the way - nothing yet. Very frustrating as I have handed in my notice to my landlord and he is keen for me to give a move out date!!!

Should I keep at the estate agent? I am ready to go my side with mortgage (everything with my solicitor) so just waiting on their contracts to get moving.

Anyone know how long it would take from getting vendors contracts to closing and getting the keys? Trying to not sorry too much.

Thanks

We went sale agreed in November, took us till March to get contracts which we signed straight away and it took the Vendor two months to sign the contracts, Finally got the keys the following June, all the while being told "the vendor wants a quick sale"

Hang in there and make sure you have all your stuff together! It's a really headwrecking time but you will get there!

Once you and the vendor have both signed the contracts it should fly from there. it took us about a month after the contracts were exchanged as the vendors were slow at singing the deeds, as far as i know it should have been quicker

Wesser

Thank you all for your posts. Very reassure g.

I understand that it takes time. But to not even have requested the title deeds at 6 weeks, to me is appalling .
I mean that means the contracts will arrive at probably 11 weeks at minimum.
I don't mean that we will close at 11 or 12 weeks. I mean the contracts only arriving at 11 weeks!!

LirW

Which is still absolutely normal.
A purchase can take up to a year for various reasons.
People often don't think or see how very slow this process is.

Jake2

I just got my contracts 6 weeks after sale agreed and that was with alot of pushing from me from the get go.I was promised a quick sale and they said they would work to an 8 week timeline...probably wont meet that but this is my second time around and first sale fell through it took 8 weeks for those contracts to appear and I couldnt sign for about 13 weeks as my solcitor wasnt happy with them. Anyway the vendor ended up pulling out when it came down to them having to sign so that was a waste of 16 weeks!!!!!

In the 6 weeks I have been waiting I have had my valuation done with the bank got approval from bank and contracts sitting in my solcitors office waiting. I have gone in and provisionally sorted out life insurance as this required visit in person. So I just have to call up and tell them to start it when I have a date. Surveys have been done as I know the bank needed boundary confirmation etc.

My solictor is reviewing contracts now and I hope Im called in to sign this week with any bit of luck....please god I can't take anymore waiting!!!!!! I feel your pain op. Just keep on everyone, I actually found the EA great for getting information on where the vendor is at and she hassled the vendors a bit for me to go in and hassle their solictor to hurry the hell up. She was also able to tell me what they were waiting for ...I find the solictors not great at giving info...so slow. But my solcitor is brilliant he has one day turn around

Out of curiousity, once the contracts arrive with your solicitor, what's next?


(all hypothetical, of course: my solicitor has got my contracts, but is away on holiday, so i have an appointment with her in early september. im wondering what comes next? Assuming i sign on the day at the meeting, how much else is there to do before i can call on the bank to pay out and get the keys?)

LirW

When you sign, you should get a closing date. Once you have that you need to set up life insurance or mortgage protection and house insurance. Also you need to make sure that the bank issues the money in time, that can take a bit so get that done too.
If you haven't done a survey, now is the time.
And for your own sake, take care of water and electricity immediately, depending on how careful the vendor was it can be a real mess and requires calls and waiting times. Same goes for broadband.

TJJP

Keep your bank in the loop too (unless you're a cash buyer). Check your mortgage approval as you don't want that to run out while you're waiting on contracts. Keep everything your side straight and just wait out the various checks needed before the contracts are finally agreed. It's a frustrating process but all you can do is have your parts ready to go as soon as needed.

juke

Deleted User wrote: »

Out of curiousity, once the contracts arrive with your solicitor, what's next?


(all hypothetical, of course: my solicitor has got my contracts, but is away on holiday, so i have an appointment with her in early september. im wondering what comes next? Assuming i sign on the day at the meeting, how much else is there to do before i can call on the bank to pay out and get the keys?)

Does your solicitor have your loan offer?

If no - talk to you bank;
If yes - your solicitor reviews contact/title and raises pre-contractual queries and advises you (before and/or after response from other solicitor - varies);

If responses are ok, you meet solicitor to sign contracts and loan papers;
Closing dated set, you work on your stuff to drawdown your loan cheque (eg house insurance/mortgage protection)
Close - you get keys in exchange for money/loan.

If responses not ok - how long is a piece of string.

juke

juke wrote: »

Does your solicitor have your loan offer?

If no - talk to you bank;
If yes - your solicitor reviews contact/title and raises pre-contractual queries and advises you (before and/or after response from other solicitor - varies);

If responses are ok, you meet solicitor to sign contracts and loan papers;
Closing dated set, you work on your stuff to drawdown your loan cheque (eg house insurance/mortgage protection)
Close - you get keys in exchange for money/loan.

If responses not ok - how long is a piece of string.

My solicitor has my loan offer. The house has had a survey done, i have house insurance on it already (I already live in it).

So it sounds like im nearing the end of the process, so. Things have just taken so, so long of late that I am worried about things lasting forever again after i sign the contract.


Hopefully when I meet the solicitor it'll be all quick from there and a date will be set, as ye guys say. I feel a little more optimistic having read this thread, now.

Jake2

Deleted User wrote: »

Out of curiousity, once the contracts arrive with your solicitor, what's next?


(all hypothetical, of course: my solicitor has got my contracts, but is away on holiday, so i have an appointment with her in early september. im wondering what comes next? Assuming i sign on the day at the meeting, how much else is there to do before i can call on the bank to pay out and get the keys?)

I dont think your solcitor would call you in unless it was to sign the contract I would take that as a good sign. Maybe im wrong and they havent reviewed them yet but I dont see the point of you having to take time off work to have a chat about the contracts its a waste of all your time.

It should be quick once you have signed though

Fingers crossed. I'll update here anyway once it happens. Supposed to be on the 6th september.

Jake2

Deleted User wrote: »

My solicitor has my loan offer. The house has had a survey done, i have house insurance on it already (I already live in it).

So it sounds like im nearing the end of the process, so. Things have just taken so, so long of late that I am worried about things lasting forever again after i sign the contract.


Hopefully when I meet the solicitor it'll be all quick from there and a date will be set, as ye guys say. I feel a little more optimistic having read this thread, now.

How are you living there already sure thats half the battle

Jake2

Jake2 wrote: »

How are you living there already sure thats half the battle

I'm the enemy on boards. I'm buying a council house.

(so naturally I have never worked a day in my life, have a new BMW, 8 holidays a year, free travel, getting the house for free, I'm a single mother, etc.)

LirW

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm the enemy on boards. I'm buying a council house.

(so naturally I have never worked a day in my life, have a new BMW, 8 holidays a year, free travel, getting the house for free, I'm a single mother, etc.)

How dare you :pac:

On a more serious note, once the contracts are signed, you're almost done, you can close once your solicitor is satisfied with all the documents he received and you are good to transfer the money then.
Ask him for the exact closing date, some solicitors won't give you one until they are fully satisfied with the papertrail (like ours, we then received a call to transfer the money and it was closed within days).

Askthe EA

Deleted User wrote: »

A builder I know is of the opinion that the buyers solicitor deliberately holds things up as they get the money from the bank straight away, and by taking long to do it, it gathers interest sitting in the bank, but im not sure if thats really true or not?

Not true. Moneys are held in client accounts which do not get interest.

Solicitor (or her secretary) contacted me today,to let me know there is no map with my stuff from the sellers solicitors. I hope this won't be yet another delay in the process. :mad:

Jake2

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Solicitor (or her secretary) contacted me today,to let me know there is no map with my stuff from the sellers solicitors. I hope this won't be yet another delay in the process. :mad:

Oh god how basic is that...obviously they need to give you that. Hassle them big time every little thing seems to take weeks

liam7831

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Solicitor (or her secretary) contacted me today,to let me know there is no map with my stuff from the sellers solicitors. I hope this won't be yet another delay in the process. :mad:

Min a month to sort this I would estimate

Jake2

Jake2 wrote: »

Oh god how basic is that...obviously they need to give you that. Hassle them big time every little thing seems to take weeks

The solicitors I'm using have two branches. One in Drogheda and one in Ashbourne. One branch represents me, and the other represent the council/seller.

I was lead to believe that by using two branches of the same name, where they often office-share and know each other, it would speed things up.

So far their incompetence has been insane. My initial meeting was in drogheda, when i was advised i could use Ashbourne (couldnt use drogheda as I am not allowed use the same solicitor as the council). So they signed me up with the council, gave me the details of my ashbourne solicitor and said get the stuff sent to ashbourne, they'd be informed.

My stuff arrived in Ashbourne and the solicitor there hadn't a clue what it was. Wasn't expecting it and didn't know who i was as a client. The drogheda office hadn't contacted them at all.

Then when the council sent out their files to their own solicitor (same people in drogheda i talked to initially), they addressed them to the wrong solicitor in the office. You'd think that'd be an easy mistake and would be sorted in 5 minutes and handed to the right solicitor.

Nope.. it took THREE WEEKS to get the file from one solicitor to the other - inside the SAME building. And that only happened because i hounded them over it. (I rang asking for an update and they said they hadn't received anything, but when i rang the council complaining, the council were adamant they had sent the file out).

If I wasn't ringing and ringing them I have no doubt my file would still be sitting on a table somewhere being ignored.

Then when they eventually get their act together and send the file over, they haven't got a map.



If anyone here can figure out what solicitor I'm using, I certainly wouldn't recommend them. It's outright incompetence at this stage. They're a well known and big firm in the area, so I anticipated a much more professional approach to this. They rarely return my calls and have never voluntarily provided any updates (except to say there was no map).


Truth be told, I think the girl in the council dealing with this has a pain in her ass with them too. She didn't sound impressed when I told her about the map thing.

Hopefully she'll rear up on them and move things along a bit.

liam7831 wrote: »

Min a month to sort this I would estimate

I hope not! I still want my appointment to go ahead. Can I still sign contracts and such under the presumption that the council and myself know what is for sale and should there be any issues with the maps, sort it out at a later date? My garden is sandwiched by two others, both privately owned, so there is obviously no issues with boundaries etc.


I'll tell you, i know how the T-1000 felt!

LirW

Well the thing is once you signed contracts there is no turning back. This could potentially be a make it or break it for a bank. If you sign and it turns out the maps are a mess or anything else along the lines and you can't proceed because the bank won't lend you money on this particular house you'll lose your deposit. Better safe than sorry with the biggest purchase in your life.