Bloody solicitors and buying a house!

RoyMi6

RoyMi6

RoyMi6

Soldato
Joined
9 Mar 2010
Posts
2,893
Sorry guys, not really looking for advice but need to vent this.

Some of you might remember that only two or three weeks ago I posted about getting the property I was after.

Was that really nice two story apartment.

As many of you will know when buying a house they're efficiently two parts. Actually "buying the house" and "getting the mortgage".

Today, I got a call from my solicitor saying that the sellers solicitors have been in touch saying "If you don't conclude the missives (buy the house) by close of business today then we're putting the house back on the market".

*sigh*

The reason why I / my solicitor hasn't signed the missives is that I don't yet have the mortgage papers "in hand".

The mortgage company first signed off the approval in principle on the 26th of January, Approved it on the 2nd of February (pending valuation), and agreed to the valuation on the 17th of February. Yesterday.

I've got an email stating that the papers will be sent out shortly, today.

Why don't you just sign the missives you ask? Because if for some totally bizarre reason that between telling me it had been approved and me getting the documents they changed there mind - I would be the best part of £150K in debt to the seller.

Even more annoyingly, from the beginning, the move in date has been set as the 4th of March. I know it doesn't mean anything in legal terms but I continually hear from others that they mortgage wasn't sign off until the "day before" etc. I'm getting hard balled TWO WEEKS before mine.

Arg!

I've been pretty chatty with the seller regarding buying various bits of furniture in the flat (white goods etc) so I've sent him a friendly email saying that it's unexpected, I've done the best I can and hope he understands it's kind of out of my hands.

Also sent an email to my mortgage broker asking if he could get in touch with mortgage company and maybe get them to fax it through.

As yet, no reply from either party.

Soooooooo anxious right now. Everyone who said buying a house was stressful I completely agree with now! I've had it plain sailing up until today but I've got from completely laid back about everything, to worrying about having a heart attack! (not quite, but getting there :))

Needless to say, I'll be making a complaint once it's over, regardless of the outcome. Probably turn up in person to their offices actually.

I think this would make a good Friday joke thread to cheer me up. What say you? :)

EDIT:: Bah, there is one. I'll read that :D
 
Last edited:
So ultimately, your problem isn't with the solicitor. It's with the mortgage broker for not sending out the paperwork yet.

always blame the solicitors don't they....
 
If you're this stressed about the sollicitors wanting the missives signed today, why don't you actually phone them instead of emailing them?
 
Where's the estate agent in all this? As much as everyone hates them, they do have a role to perform here i.e. getting the sale through, greasing cogs such as this etc. The problem with solicitors is that if you put two of them together in a room you've got an argument on your hands before they've said even hello.
 
Get onto your broker & get him to hassle the provider to reslove it as a matter of urgency. This is all part of them earning their fee.

Don't let it lie. Find out of if faxed copies are ok for the transaction & get them to send them straight away.
 
J-FRO said:
So ultimately, your problem isn't with the solicitor. It's with the mortgage broker for not sending out the paperwork yet.

always blame the solicitors don't they....
Click to expand...

You see, at this point, no. I'm angry with the solicitor. The mortgage company, although they are taking their time, only just got property valued yesterday. Yes it's 4 weeks but I'm under the impression mortgages usually take up to 8.

First time buyer here so correct me where I'm wrong. I reserve the right to be angry at whoever I want though :D

Dunks said:
If you're this stressed about the sollicitors wanting the missives signed today, why don't you actually phone them instead of emailing them?
Click to expand...

Phone who and tell them what? Everyone has the facts.

scorza said:
Where's the estate agent in all this? As much as everyone hates them, they do have a role to perform here i.e. getting the sale through, greasing cogs such as this etc. The problem with solicitors is that if you put two of them together in a room you've got an argument on your hands before they've said even hello.
Click to expand...

Solicitors are the estate agents.

WillyNelson said:
Get onto your broker & get him to hassle the provider to reslove it as a matter of urgency. This is all part of them earning their fee.

Don't let it lie. Find out of if faxed copies are ok for the transaction & get them to send them straight away.
Click to expand...

Have done and he is on the case. Mortgage company have told him that the documents haven't been printed. The valuation was only received yesterday so documents are getting printed and sent in due course. He's hassling them to fax them now.
 
Someone is at fault and I would say its the mortgage company.

I have to say, my purchase went smoothly. Then again, I got a mortgage in principle to see what I could afford and, within circa 3 days of agreeing to buy the house, the valuation was done and my solicitor was already in the process of checking over the mortgage paperwork that had come through that same day.
 
Still can't quite see where the solicitor is to blame...

If you're not signing the missives because the mortgage broker hasn't got the paper work to you yet, then surely its the mortgage brokers fault for not working to deadlines.
 
Richie said:
Hold up, the selling estate agents is ALSO your solicitor? (same company)

Bit of a conflict of interest there....
Click to expand...

Sorry, the sellers solicitors are the estate agents.

scorza said:
I guess he's in Scotland where I think that's normal. I don't think it's allowed in England and Wales.
Click to expand...

And yeah, it's the norm up here.

J-FRO said:
Still can't quite see where the solicitor is to blame...

If you're not signing the missives because the mortgage broker hasn't got the paper work to you yet, then surely its the mortgage brokers fault for not working to deadlines.
Click to expand...

Well, everyone has been working to a deadline of the 4th of March. No other date had been discussed. The selling solicitor phoned today, out of the blue, and said "complete by end day".

Mortgage broker hasn't done anything wrong as far as I see it. He got and sent everything the day after I got the house. The mortgage company has had everything they've needed apart from the valuation report, which they only just got yesterday, since they approved it pending valuation on the 2nd of February.

I'm being careful not to defend the mortgage company too much here, whether it normally take 8 weeks or not is ridiculous in my books. But if that's the normal time it takes why are the selling solicitors being so hard lined about it?! Why after only 4 week, 2 weeks before the move in date, are they being such ******* about it? Why say you're going to put it back on market THE SAME DAY that you get in touch with the buyer about it?!
 
Ahh right, the selling solicitor is peeving you off.

Sounds like they may have got a better offer so either want to sell now and save time or quit your offer tomorrow and take up theirs. If they do that then its called gazumping.

It's completely legal AFAIK but a pain in the backside nevertheless.
 
scorza said:
I guess he's in Scotland where I think that's normal. I don't think it's allowed in England and Wales.
Click to expand...

I agree, its very common for the selling estate agent to also be the seller's solicitors but the selling estate agents are not meant to be the buyer's solicitors which is how I read this

RoyMi6 said:
Solicitors are the estate agents.
Click to expand...

As people were asking him why he was blaming his solicitor and then asked where the estate agents were in this (given that a buyer doesn't employ an estate agent to buy a house) and he replied as above, I naturally assumed that he was stating that his solicitor was the estate agents....
 
Just to be clear, it's the sellers solicitors I'm annoyed at.

They're the one pushing for everything to be finalised today.

My solicitor just relayed me the message to let me know. He's quite happy to wait actually - call their bluff.

He's of the opinion that if they're eager to sell it, they'll wait. If my offer was to fall through, which was on track to be completed by the middle of next week (2 or 3 working days), then they'll be another month getting another buyer with a mortgage sorted out. It's not going to save them time.

I'm just worried 'cause I want it so badly. Sure as hell don't want to be forced into signing for a house without that mortgage agreement in writing though...
 
Last edited:
I have no idea about moving stress as of yet despite owning my home now for 4 years.

It took bang on 30 days from offer accepted to getting the keys, and other than signing a few bits we had nothing to really do :)

As for the OP, I doubt the sellers would want to mess around putting it on the market if you have everything nearly sorted. Can you contact them directly and tell them to order their solicitor to back off a bit?
 
AHarvey said:
I have no idea about moving stress as of yet despite owning my home now for 4 years.

It took bang on 30 days from offer accepted to getting the keys, and other than signing a few bits we had nothing to really do :)

As for the OP, I doubt the sellers would want to mess around putting it on the market if you have everything nearly sorted. Can you contact them directly and tell them to order their solicitor to back off a bit?
Click to expand...

Aye, did this just after I got the call. We've been on touch previously regarding the sale of individual items in the property.

AND just got a reply from him there! He saying that he was under the impression, from his solicitors, that 14 days prior to the move in date was the usual deadline. In addition from meeting me during the viewing, and our communications in general, he trusts me as a buyer as has told his solicitors to hold off until Monday.

This is just the amount of time we needed to get things sorted. The pressure that my side have managed to put on the mortgage provider today will hopefully result in the papers getting sent out or faxed for Monday.

I suppose I'm not so annoyed at his solicitors now. 14 days prior does make a lot of sense just I've always heard of things getting done completely last minute. On the other side of the coin it's also a pretty selfish threat. At this very moment in time the seller is in a very powerful position over me. Like I said, if I sign for a house without a mortgage agreement I'm potentially screwed for life - just because the seller doesn't want to wait another 3 days...

Also - at least a days notice, rather than calling on the day, for a deadline that obviously hadn't been agreed on, other than in principle, would have been nice...

Either way, positive outcome for the end of the day :)

Fingers crossed that it all goes well come Monday! Wish me luck!
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom