The wait is killing me!!

Corruptedmorals · 22-11-2019 11:42am

ontheditch2 wrote: »

Signed contracts 4 weeks ago roat, transferred funds the following Tuesday.
Vendor hasn't signed yet and we have been onto the estate agent 3 times to find out what the hold up is.
Getting a little bit worried now.

The estate agent had been on our case weekly to get contracts signed. Between waiting on engineer report, high court etc, our solicitor was slow but we eventually tied up our side, so now waiting for them. They seemed in a mad rush initially but now, nothing.

Should this be a concern or just normal house buying slowness?

Is it possible they're away? The solicitor and auctioneer should both be pressing to find out the delay in signing.

Arlessienne, hopefully you hear an update soon. We are awaiting land registry original folio to confirm that we can go ahead and close but with Christmas holidays looming I'm not expecting that this year.

r93kaey5p2izun · 12-12-2019 6:07pm

Corruptedmorals wrote: »

Arlessienne, hopefully you hear an update soon. We are awaiting land registry original folio to confirm that we can go ahead and close but with Christmas holidays looming I'm not expecting that this year.

Any luck with closing?

I'm nearly 18 weeks sale agreed and no contact from anyone or updates since week 12. The probate was supposedly due to be sorted 6 weeks ago but there's been radio silence since then. Still no contracts issued. Waiting for the EA to get back to me now again. At this stage I feel like pulling out completely as I'm sick of being in the dark. On the other hand I haven't seen any other properties that interest me.

stevek93 · 13-12-2019 12:07am

How long after request for funds from solicitor? No idea after this point.

Sparks15 · 13-12-2019 6:11am

stevek93 wrote: »

How long after request for funds from solicitor? No idea after this point.

My solicitor requested funds last Thursday. Bank found no direct debit mandate on my file so had to sort that before final approval. Funds were then released on Wednesday.

I was told cut off point was today to have all documentation with the bank in order to drawdown this year so I was anxious to get all of the mortgage stuff done before that.

Sale closed yesterday and keys obtained from estate agent yesterday evening.

Uglysoik1 · 13-12-2019 11:11am

Sale agreed beginning of Oct. Solicitor got contracts end of November. Silence since then, been chasing my solicitor but no word from them. This waiting game is a killer!

Jen Pigs Fly · 13-12-2019 12:58pm

Mortgage protection insurance taking weeks, I just want to close!!

Corruptedmorals · 13-12-2019 1:30pm

Cara Angry Spotlight wrote: »

Any luck with closing?

I'm nearly 18 weeks sale agreed and no contact from anyone or updates since week 12. The probate was supposedly due to be sorted 6 weeks ago but there's been radio silence since then. Still no contracts issued. Waiting for the EA to get back to me now again. At this stage I feel like pulling out completely as I'm sick of being in the dark. On the other hand I haven't seen any other properties that interest me.

No. The document will issue any day. Next week will be 6 months sale agreed. All sides appear to be pushing for the close but we've definitely lost time with the order the other side have done things. The main priority now is not to have to reapply and go back to underwriting as it'll delay and be horrible timing, but if it can close in January it won't have to. Waiting with no definitive timeline is so frustrating. Have you threatened to pull out or could you call to EA office in person maybe? It can be too easy sometimes to be ignored with emails. Hopefully you hear back soon.

Sueffun · 13-12-2019 1:46pm

We also went sale agreed end September, paid the deposit and heard nothing since.
We have the additional problem of living in South Africa and so it's a huge move that involves international shipping which takes 6 weeks for our things to arrive and organising our animals.
I can't understand went the EA in Ireland are so slow in getting things done, don't they need the income?

Wildly Boaring · 13-12-2019 2:23pm

Sueffun wrote: »

I can't understand went the EA in Ireland are so slow in getting things done, don't they need the income?

Nothing at all to do with the EA

They are glorified car salesmen

They get a listing up and find a buyer
They then pretend to try to speed things up while speaking out of both sides of their mouth to the two parties.

Solicitors do all the work - slowly

SozBbz · 13-12-2019 3:00pm

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Nothing at all to do with the EA

They are glorified car salesmen

They get a listing up and find a buyer
They then pretend to try to speed things up while speaking out of both sides of their mouth to the two parties.

Solicitors do all the work - slowly

Slightly unfair and biased post there.

I bought agian recently. I found the EA I dealt with very knowledgeable and she actually assisted us wiht a problem that arose around closing.

The value of a good EA is who they know. In our case, our bank wanted to go back to the valuer for some unknown reason and he'd been non responsive. I mentioned this to the EA and she happened to know the person in question, that he'd recently taken up a new job. She contacted him and got him to move things along, and within half a day the issue was resolved. This is after a week of us/our solicitor and broker chasing the bank.

Don't get me wrong, I know she wasnt working for us but we had the same aim - we all wanted the sale to go through and she did genuinely help.

Piper101 · 13-12-2019 7:08pm

Cara Angry Spotlight wrote: »

Any luck with closing?

I'm nearly 18 weeks sale agreed and no contact from anyone or updates since week 12. The probate was supposedly due to be sorted 6 weeks ago but there's been radio silence since then. Still no contracts issued. Waiting for the EA to get back to me now again. At this stage I feel like pulling out completely as I'm sick of being in the dark. On the other hand I haven't seen any other properties that interest me.

This happened to us...forced their hand. They had no intention of actually selling. Wasted 12 weeks of house searching and mortgage approval.

Gone sale agreed for a second time.

Give them an ultimatum, some contact/update or you're pulling your offer.

Underground · 18-12-2019 12:35am

Lol - I'm less than four weeks sale agreed and was getting worried about lack of progress on the vendor's side, then I read this thread and now feel like an absolute idiot. Live and learn!

Corruptedmorals · 19-12-2019 8:05am

Underground wrote: »

Lol - I'm less than four weeks sale agreed and was getting worried about lack of progress on the vendor's side, then I read this thread and now feel like an absolute idiot. Live and learn!

Lol, thankfully the sales in this thread are the exception not the rule. I'd say you are running into Christmas/January annual leave season for progress but hopefully you get contracts soon. Waiting around is not nice in any sale.

Our sale has just changed a bit, we have to try close it from a different angle now but everything is set up properly so not worried just a bit frustrated that Christmas is basically an added delay. We also have to balance the 30 day extension to loan of offer with re application next month. It will all be worth it in the end.

ontheditch2 · 19-12-2019 2:19pm

Wildly Boaring wrote: »

Nothing at all to do with the EA

They are glorified car salesmen

They get a listing up and find a buyer
They then pretend to try to speed things up while speaking out of both sides of their mouth to the two parties.

Solicitors do all the work - slowly

Agree very much with this.

Mortgage drawdown yesterday, so hoping to get the hands on the keys before Christmas (hopeful, I know).

The whole process has been a pain, from start to finish.

I believe the whole process of buying/selling is crap and leads to unnecessary anxiety/stress, for everyone involved.

Fia11 · 19-12-2019 6:18pm

ontheditch2 wrote: »

Agree very much with this.

Mortgage drawdown yesterday, so hoping to get the hands on the keys before Christmas (hopeful, I know).

The whole process has been a pain, from start to finish.

I believe the whole process of buying/selling is crap and leads to unnecessary anxiety/stress, for everyone involved.

Hopeful, but possible! We got keys 2 days after drawdown.

trigger26 · 21-12-2019 10:08am

Close to signing and hopefully in end of January, there was a hold with the bank saying they sent out mortgage pack x 2 but they enver arrived, in the end I went in and collected the pack and hand delivered to my solicitor.

Patch of land at back of house that no one owns so that still to be sorted but at this stage I dont care about that bit, solicitor said hold back 5K till thats sorted which could take years. This year has felt like years, we've had 3 sale agreeds only for 2 to fall through and now so close!

Sueffun · 21-12-2019 10:18am

That's a nice Christmas present.
If you dont mind me asking why did two of your sale agree houses fall through and was it after quite a time.
I'm 12 weeks sale agreed and heard nothing from anyone. I have to plan everything to the day as we are moving over from South Africa, so at the moment I can't organise the container, cats or our house in SA.
It's going to be frustrating if it falls through, I can't just pop over and find another house.

scarepanda · 21-12-2019 11:30am

We will be sale agreed 12 weeks on the 6th of January and it's been radio silence since then from the vendors. I had to chase the EA to get the letter with everyone's details issued, the vendors went off on holidays without giving them their solicitor details.

Our solicitor has been trying to make contact with theirs for the last few weeks, but when it got so close to Christmas we didn't want to be packing up and moving with the kids etc. So come the 6th of January we will be starting up put pressure on the EA to get the vendors moving. We are very very close to pulling the plug ourselves but like another poster we haven't seen any other properties, so we're not sure what's the best way to go about things.

If it does arise that they don't actually want to sell, is there any way for us to recoup our costs from getting the place surveyed etc?

Wildly Boaring · 22-12-2019 2:29am

scarepanda wrote: »

If it does arise that they don't actually want to sell, is there any way for us to recoup our costs from getting the place surveyed etc?

No

scarepanda · 22-12-2019 8:34am

Figured as much, but worth asking. The whole process really is to the favour of the vendor.

kippy · 22-12-2019 10:05pm

scarepanda wrote: »

Figured as much, but worth asking. The whole process really is to the favour of the vendor.

Ya think so?

trigger26 · 23-12-2019 8:10pm

Sueffun wrote: »

That's a nice Christmas present.
If you dont mind me asking why did two of your sale agree houses fall through and was it after quite a time.
I'm 12 weeks sale agreed and heard nothing from anyone. I have to plan everything to the day as we are moving over from South Africa, so at the moment I can't organise the container, cats or our house in SA.
It's going to be frustrating if it falls through, I can't just pop over and find another house.

First one they couldn’t find deed after 3 months of waiting, 2nd one the house had problems with sewage system, would have needed planning and circa 10k to sort

ontheditch2 · 24-12-2019 12:02am

Went sale agreed end of January.
No progress and started looking again in June. Decided to withdraw offer.
Went sale agreed on 2nd house in August.
Between issues on our side and theirs, got the keys today.
Hopefully, won't have to go through this process ever again.

stevek93 · 26-12-2019 8:34pm

Took me two months after sale agreed to keys in hand mortgage not cash.

Ciarajl · 30-12-2019 12:33pm

We did it a little backwards and viewed/offered before we got AIP I did a little timeline out to show the key dates

Viewed Monday 12th August
Offer accepted Thursday 15th August
Approval in Principal Tuesday 24th September (credit report issues to be explained to bank for approval!!)
Valuer came to view house Thursday 26th September
Survey Saturday 28th September
2nd viewing Wednesday 30th October ( we wanted to measure up and see it again

)
Received contracts Wednesday 6th November
Requested certifications re: works to the house 12th November
Signed contracts, subject to certificates and paid remaining deposit Friday 22nd November
Certificates received, contracts released, solicitor fees paid Tuesday 3rd December
Seller signed contracts received, life policy and deed of assignment given to bank Tuesday 10th December
Funds requested from bank Wednesday 11th December
Funds received from bank Friday 20th December and received our keys same day under a lot of rushing and pressure as everyone was closing for Christmas.

Delighted to finally have the keys!

trigger26 · 07-01-2020 12:04pm

Getting closer, there's a strip of land in between our house and next door, hammering out the details with the solicitors on that, think will hold 10k back till seller has strip of land adjoined to our plot. Started looking for mortgages this time last year, will not be doing this process again any time soon!!

Corruptedmorals · 22-01-2020 6:47pm

7 months and 1 day after sale agreed...we are closing next week. Bank accepted qualification of title (fix going on in the background). Has to close before the letter of offer extension runs out. Delirious. Disbelief. I don't think I'll ever be able to listen to someone complaining about a few weeks delay ever again

Butterface · 30-01-2020 7:43pm

7 1/2 months since we went sale agreed, mortgage funds were drawn down today... approval offer expiring in 4 days! The snagging was only completed yesterday, so I guess we wait to see whether we get all the big fixes done by next week.

Excited to move in.. whenever we get the keys!

twiddleypop · 31-01-2020 10:48am

I went sale agreed before Christmas. Probate sale and was under the impression house was not occupied. Signed contracts 18th of January and thought sale was closing following week. Solicitor drew down mortgage funds. I was then told that the current occupants are refusing to leave! They are the sons of the deceased. Now I'm wondering should my solicitor have requested funds before we had a definite closing and should I have been informed the house was occupied?

r93kaey5p2izun · 31-01-2020 7:51pm

Cara Angry Spotlight wrote: »

Any luck with closing?

I'm nearly 18 weeks sale agreed and no contact from anyone or updates since week 12. The probate was supposedly due to be sorted 6 weeks ago but there's been radio silence since then. Still no contracts issued. Waiting for the EA to get back to me now again. At this stage I feel like pulling out completely as I'm sick of being in the dark. On the other hand I haven't seen any other properties that interest me.

So 24 weeks sale agreed and zero updates since week 12. I'm now waiting 2 weeks for a response from the EA since my last enquiry. My bank valuation has expired. I'm thoroughly fed up at this stage. There's now a couple of houses that have come on the market that I'm interested in, so going to start viewing again this week.

Uglysoik1 · 31-01-2020 8:23pm

Sale agreed since start of October. Solicitor got contracts at the end of November. My solicitor was off all month of December. I've been chasing all this month, finally this week we got response back for queries from the other side and solicitor started working on it.

So it's been 16 weeks now and the excitement is gone completely. There are definitely more properties in the the market that I'm interested in,don't know if I should pull out completely from this or hang on ðŸ˜ðŸ˜•

aaakev · 31-01-2020 8:37pm

3 months and 4 days. Sale agreed 11th june 2019 and got the keys 15th September 2019. House we bought was repossessed and everyone said it would take ages. I told my solicitor I needed it pushed on as we were in a Deadline to be out of a rented house by 1st September and that he would be glad to see the back of me after it, he laughed. I melted their heads when things weren't moving and it worked, even the estate agent was surprised we got it closed so quickly as he was expecting 6 months at least. When we went in to sign the deeds a few weeks after we moved in he said he missed my daily calls haha

I decided to be the pain in the hole they just wanted to get rid of quickly

Woshy · 04-02-2020 10:11am

We put an offer in on a house last Thursday morning and we're still waiting to hear back. My head is wrecked trying to figure out what is going on!

Uglysoik1 · 04-02-2020 10:27pm

Woshy wrote: »

We put an offer in on a house last Thursday morning and we're still waiting to hear back. My head is wrecked trying to figure out what is going on!

Pick up the phone and find out.

SteelyDanJalapeno · 05-02-2020 1:37am

Clock starts for me today, offer accepted

Woshy · 06-02-2020 8:45am

Uglysoik1 wrote: »

Pick up the phone and find out.

EA not answering/returning calls and has not replied to an email my husband sent. It's been a week now since we made the offer.

I forgot how much I hate all this bidding/dealing with EA stuff!

off.the.walls · 06-02-2020 12:09pm

Went sale agreed in June 2019 got keys in September same year, friend of mine went sale agreed on a new build in March, moved in the week after us, just takes as long as it takes.

Corruptedmorals · 06-02-2020 8:01pm

Drawdown ended up very hairy with a last minute home insurance issue. Our extended letter of offer was expiring on Monday at 4pm and it drew down at about 3 lol. Waiting for keys as the last hurdle is fixed, should be 10 days or so. Considering the almost 8 month wait 10 days truly is nothing.

Highcontrast1 · 25-02-2020 7:00pm

solicitors have set a completion date, is this the same date that you get the keys? do you have to wait till the funds are drawn? trying to figure out all the steps involved.

Uglysoik1 · 25-02-2020 8:18pm

Contracts finally signed both sides after just under 5 months sale agreed. Now, I am wondering how long until I get the keys? I asked my solicitor the same question this morning, she said she'll be in touch during the week.
Tick tock tick tock
ðŸ™„ðŸ™„

Corruptedmorals · 05-03-2020 2:56pm

Sale closed today! 8 and a half months later. We drew down a month ago but it wouldn't be this sale without some last minute hiccups and delays. Very glad we stuck with it as the house is the kind that won't come up again within our budget but wow I do not advise sticking with a house with a boundary problem. That was...intense.

06-03-2020 1:22pm

We've been sale agreed for a while now. I'm a bit frustrated with the process because I don't really know anyone who's bought a house, and all the online guidance is very high level and mortgage-focused.

We had some issues that came out of the structural survey that we wanted to query with the seller. We thought we would have to send queries through our solicitor so we thought we'd wait until we got to meet her.

Then the bank sent us our letter of offer and told us to arrange to meet our solicitor to sign it. When I contacted her she said that she'd meet us when the contracts were ready to sign. I don't know how she's supposed to organise the contract for us if she's never met us and has no awareness of any issues with the house?

So anyway, then we forwarded our queries to the seller through the estate agent, hoping we could get a response that way. No response and it's been 3 weeks.

Meanwhile, our solicitor has now sent us a letter letting us know that she has actually sent queries of her own to the seller. Some of these are very similar to the queries we had, e.g. architectural certs, but it doesn't show any awareness of our biggest issue (a wooden-framed extension that would have been exempt from planning permission that we want to get some comfort on).

It just seems so nonsensical. Someone wants to sell their house, and we want to buy it. Surely it's in everyone's interest to speak to each other? If the solicitor and the seller would just communicate with us I feel like this could have been sorted in a week.

Has anyone on this thread had similar issues and can anyone give me advice? I'll settle for sympathy.

awec · 06-03-2020 1:37pm

It's normal to only meet the solicitor face-to-face once during the whole process, when you're actually signing contracts. Everything else is done via email / phone / post.

06-03-2020 2:04pm

awec wrote: »

It's normal to only meet the solicitor face-to-face once during the whole process, when you're actually signing contracts. Everything else is done via email / phone / post.

What is the 'everything else' though?

She basically gave us a PFO til contracts are signed, so we started trying to sort out our issues ourselves, but then it turns out that she's pursuing the same lines of inquiry that we are.

I suppose my question is, what can I reasonably expect from her?

awec · 06-03-2020 2:25pm

true-or-false wrote: »

What is the 'everything else' though?

She basically gave us a PFO til contracts are signed, so we started trying to sort out our issues ourselves, but then it turns out that she's pursuing the same lines of inquiry that we are.

I suppose my question is, what can I reasonably expect from her?

In my experience, solicitors will do their thing and will contact you when they need something from you. They don't need to meet you to figure out what to do. You need to sit tight and let them do their job, it's what you're paying them for.

If she hasn't already asked for it before then you can bring up your survey concerns before you sign the contract.

Like you asked how can she organise your contract if she's never met you? Your contract will be organised the exact same way she organises contracts for all of her other clients. Conveyancing is not really a personalised service, in the majority of cases the process is exactly the same.

The queries she has sent are likely to be the standard legal queries that solicitors make on every single sale they manage. This is what you pay them for.

06-03-2020 2:32pm

awec wrote: »

You need to sit tight

Agh, my greatest weakness.

Uglysoik1 · 06-03-2020 3:34pm

true-or-false wrote: »

Agh, my greatest weakness.

Patience is key here!

Mitch Connor · 06-03-2020 3:42pm

Signed to buy our new build in September, was told we'd be in around the end of October, finally did second snag on Tuesday and hopefully closing next week. Maybe.

Been a long and annoying process.

But so looking forward to moving in to my own house at last.

Wildly Boaring · 06-03-2020 7:52pm

true-or-false wrote: »

What is the 'everything else' though?

She basically gave us a PFO til contracts are signed, so we started trying to sort out our issues ourselves, but then it turns out that she's pursuing the same lines of inquiry that we are.

I suppose my question is, what can I reasonably expect from her?

You can reasonable expect that she is working for you.

You got a survey done. She should forward that, together with her own queries on the contract, to their solicitor.
This is normal. If she hasn't then she should if you ask her.

Never saw my solicitor at all during our sale or purchase. But I'd say he took 10 calls from me and had about 10 for me. (we signed in the office of another solicitor as witness)

Dolbhad · 06-03-2020 9:10pm

true-or-false wrote: »

We've been sale agreed for a while now. I'm a bit frustrated with the process because I don't really know anyone who's bought a house, and all the online guidance is very high level and mortgage-focused.

We had some issues that came out of the structural survey that we wanted to query with the seller. We thought we would have to send queries through our solicitor so we thought we'd wait until we got to meet her.

Then the bank sent us our letter of offer and told us to arrange to meet our solicitor to sign it. When I contacted her she said that she'd meet us when the contracts were ready to sign. I don't know how she's supposed to organise the contract for us if she's never met us and has no awareness of any issues with the house?

So anyway, then we forwarded our queries to the seller through the estate agent, hoping we could get a response that way. No response and it's been 3 weeks.

Meanwhile, our solicitor has now sent us a letter letting us know that she has actually sent queries of her own to the seller. Some of these are very similar to the queries we had, e.g. architectural certs, but it doesn't show any awareness of our biggest issue (a wooden-framed extension that would have been exempt from planning permission that we want to get some comfort on).

It just seems so nonsensical. Someone wants to sell their house, and we want to buy it. Surely it's in everyone's interest to speak to each other? If the solicitor and the seller would just communicate with us I feel like this could have been sorted in a week.

Has anyone on this thread had similar issues and can anyone give me advice? I'll settle for sympathy.

It’s usual to meet your solicitor once. You’ll sign the contacts and loan offer documents with her. Presumably you or your engineer sent the report to her. She is concerned with the legal side of things so for her in the engineer’s report, it’s the planning situation and the boundaries. Generally anything else in the report is for you, your engineer and auctioneer to sort out.

Surely your engineers report highlighted the timber structure and said it was exempt?

You have to remember conveyance is a fixed fee so you won’t be having appointments all the time. But a good solicitor will return calls or emails. But may also say I’ll contact you when I need to situation.

The wait is killing me!!

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