[tee and dee]

:o Need a bit of help and this forum is becoming my comfort blanket. We moved here 8 years ago and it was straight forward because we part exchanged our old house for this a brand new one - so now feel like I don't know anyhtoing about the house selling/buying process (even though we've owned 4 houses in the last 18 years).
We are now waiting for our buyers solicitor to receive the local search - which should have taken 7-10 days and is now into the third week. Similiar with the survey - they came here 3 weeks ago today and no-one's heard from them since - so there is a hold up with their mortgage offer ! We optimistically booked flights for 16th Sept and now it looks like that will not happen. Re-arranged the shippers without a problem - and will change the flights later this week if we get any furhter info.
Question to you dear friends -- how long is realistic for us to exchange and complete from getting the search and survey report sorted. Should we try to fly on 23rd Sept :confused: or are we looking at even later than this ? :wah Today is the first day of term here and it is very weird for me as I'm not going back to school - and before anyone says it I am definitely not a lady of leisure as I've too much to do !
Any help or just commiserations will be appreciated,
Tracey :clap

[katandbob]

I know how you are feeling Tracey, and all I can offer is that you constantly wear out the phone by ringing the estate agents/solicitors and dont let them rest, our house sale only went through on time because I was constantly on their backs, hassling and mostly doing their jobs for them :mad:
I'll keep fingers crossed that this is just red tape at its worse and that it goes well ASAP. as for when to re-book the flights? how long is a piece of string - as you quite rightly named this thread!

:nice1 Good luck and hopefully you'll be squashed on a seat for a day - or two before you know it!

My boys fly out on the 5th....eek, havent slept properly for nearly a week now and its getting worse! So yep this forum keeps you sane, thk the heavens!

Kat

[zardell]

Hi Tracey.

We are going through the exact same thing right now.

We heard nothing for weeks after the purchasers had their survey done, so eventually (last week in fact) I phoned our solicitor and TOLD him that we wanted 22nd Sept as completion date and that we wanted to exchange contracts a.s.a.p.

Well, the proverbial hit the fan so to speak and I have never seen anything move soooo quick in my life !!

Whilst speaking to the solicitor, it transpired that the purchasers were waiting for a report to be done (all to do with new building regs that we knew nothing about !) on a new door that had been fitted to one of the buildings outside....and we hadn't been told anything about it!! :mad:

As you can imagine, I went ballistic and told the solicitor that he had better sort it quickly or we would pull out. Well, I guess he must have done something, because that same afternoon, a building inspector arrived, passed the door as meeting with the required regs and gave me the necessary document. This was passed onto our solicitor and we exchange this week with completion on 22nd as per request........PHEW..... :)

On reflection, maybe I was too content to let things run their course and wasn't pushy enough.

Ring your solicitor and make sure he's working to the agreed completion date......don't sit on your laurels like I did....big mistake.

Julie

xx

[K&CS]

Tracey, it can actually happen very quickly. A few years ago we were stuck at the bottom of a very long chain (about 9 people in it) and we were going mad trying to find out what was going on with the various links in the chain. The week we were due to complete, a couple of people in the chain hadn't even had their surveys done yet. They were in the end rushed through along with mortgage offers and we exchanged and completed on the same day and on schedule. It can be done if you hassle, hassle and hassle some more. Make sure you are on the phone to the solicitors and estate agents (make them work for their money) first thing in the morning and several times during the day. They will make it happen to get rid of you!! Obviously there is never a guarantee and yes, this is cutting it fine, but it CAN happen. Sympathise with you anyway - house selling in England is horrendous (and buying). It's a lot more straightforward over here.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Kate x

[katandbob]

house selling in England is horrendous (and buying). It's a lot more straightforward over here.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Kate x

Yep Tracey, its a lot simpler here, infact we signed for ours today, and complete on friday....went to the solicitors, (Mr Mee) yep thats his real name.

he went throught he mortgage papers, said we'd got a good rate from the bank, then sorted out a will (which is free when you buy a house) and said, give me a call on Friday morning to see what time we can pick the keys up! :clap

it took less than 30mins.

As for land registerys etc I think it was about a week! and I went to the City council and looked at the LIM report for free, even took a photocopy!

looking forward to buying a sewing machine and making curtains! :laugh (oh and surveying my paddocks from the windows.....and a Fitted kitchen Woohoo, although I did get used to the 50's kitchen in the rental eventually ;)

[tee and dee]

Hey - thanks for that - one thing I forgot to mention in my moan was that my solicitor is on holiday until 11th Sept (must ahve taken at least 3 weeks off - pay must be good !). Tried geeing up her secretary but to be honest felt sorry for the woman as she's been left in the lurch I think. Will get on the phone AGAIN right away,
Cheers, Tracey

p.s. Kat - bet you can't wait for tomorrow (or it prob is already 5th for you)

[sizzlingbadger]

Tracey, It's also worth contacting your estate agent to find out what the buyer's solicitor is up to and trying to get her to pass on that you want a quick completion date. It's also worth trying to see if they will exchange contracts slightly earlier than the completion date, once you've done that the buyers can't legally pull out on you without penalty. Wish we had known about that sooner, one house we sold the guy pulled out the day before we moved :mad:

All I can say is the same as above, push, push and push. The last sale in the UK we made was the quickest, 2 months, previous ones had been 3/4 months. Nothing is done in haste with solicitors and estate agents it seems :roll

[Ria]

Not sure if this may help at all, but hindsight has taught me that you can't rely on solicitors or estate agents - even though you're paying the privilege for both!!! I now make it a point of saying to the estate agent that if I agree a sale I want a contact number work and mobile for the buyer. It's amzing how quick you can get things moving if you go straight to the horse's mouth - sometimes they are having the exact same problems with their solicitors.

Second line of attack is go to the estate agent and just ask for the buyers number - they must have it - again emphasise that you're paying their fees and you expect their help. All they can do is say No.

Can sympathise with the solicitors. Most don't ever do things on email, the letter gets stuck in 'typing' for another 3 days and the post takes just as long! Why they can't pick up the phone and just say - can you send this or what's the answer to that - I don't know.

When you've done all this, the final bit is very quick. You could go for a simultaneous exchange & complete - but some sellers solicitors are very against this.

Anyway - good luck and I hope all is sorted soon.

Ria