The nervous wait to exchange....

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hit my first snag.

My buyers have had a survey done on my house and potential damp has been found, which has caused the bank to hold £3k off the asking price until it is sorted.

So I've had an appointment with a damp specialist for a quote to give to the bank booked in for over a week and it's just been cancelled at the last minute. Got another week to wait again :(

so the delays begin ho ho
 
Semple said:
That is kind of comical, despite how annoying it is for you :D
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In general, I like Germany but every now and then they seem fond of making things just plain needlessly difficult. In any case, now I've calmed down a bit; it is what it is.

Well we finally exchanged this morning. Feels a bit of relief that we're now passed the legal standpoint of house ownership, but was one hell of a bumpy road getting there.
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Congratulations! I hope the moving day goes smoothly.
 
montymint said:
hit my first snag.

My buyers have had a survey done on my house and potential damp has been found, which has caused the bank to hold £3k off the asking price until it is sorted.

So I've had an appointment with a damp specialist for a quote to give to the bank booked in for over a week and it's just been cancelled at the last minute. Got another week to wait again :(

so the delays begin ho ho
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Good luck with that scammy industry. Surveyors who find damp that refer you to a "damp specialist" who finds lots of damp who refers you to a damp remedial contractor who can use lots of "specialist products" to fix the issues :rolleyes:

Unfortunately you're in a pickle if they deemed it bad enough to affect the mortgage. Mine didn't go that far but recommended all suggested works were carried out (hacking back to brick on all downstairs external walls , DPC injected and replastered in fancy expensive plaster) after completion.

I did nothing except unblock the air vents in the chimneys that were full of dust & dog hair, open the window trickle vents and actually use the heating in winter and no evidence of damp after 2 years. Just had the valuation done for my remortgage and it was the same surveyor who came round as did it back then and when asked said everything was fine.
 
Mr Jack said:
Uggh, buying in Germany is such a frickin' ballache. In order to exchange contracts we have to go to a Notary who will read the entire frickin' contract out before we are allowed to sign it. Worse, because my German is not great and they won't trust my wife to translate it for me, we have to find someone to translate the whole bloody time.
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Yeah I nearly bought in Germany last year....it was pretty daunting, ending up paying 12-15% of the transaction value in notary/agency/stamp duty. Keeps property from being too much of a speculative money-making enterprise as opposed to a provider of homes though.
 
Skillmister said:
Good luck with that scammy industry. Surveyors who find damp that refer you to a "damp specialist" who finds lots of damp who refers you to a damp remedial contractor who can use lots of "specialist products" to fix the issues :rolleyes:

Unfortunately you're in a pickle if they deemed it bad enough to affect the mortgage. Mine didn't go that far but recommended all suggested works were carried out (hacking back to brick on all downstairs external walls , DPC injected and replastered in fancy expensive plaster) after completion.

I did nothing except unblock the air vents in the chimneys that were full of dust & dog hair, open the window trickle vents and actually use the heating in winter and no evidence of damp after 2 years. Just had the valuation done for my remortgage and it was the same surveyor who came round as did it back then and when asked said everything was fine.
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I think the issue is that the buyers lender is very strict (virgin money). The specialist was provided by the estate agent.

If the specialist comes back particular badly, I'll get something independently quoted and take it from there.

if push come to shove I can afford the 3k loss if needs be.
 
Mr Jack said:
Uggh, buying in Germany is such a frickin' ballache. In order to exchange contracts we have to go to a Notary who will read the entire frickin' contract out before we are allowed to sign it. Worse, because my German is not great and they won't trust my wife to translate it for me, we have to find someone to translate the whole bloody time.
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We've signed the contract now, so it's all go :D

It was actually interesting seeing how the process worked with the contract. Unlike the UK, where you have a solicitor each, both parties go to the one Notar. The whole thing about reading the contract out, isn't really about reading it out; it's about explaining the whole thing so that the Notar is reasonable comfortable that both parties understand and agree on the terms of the contract. Which is a whole load more effort put into making sure people understand stuff than the UK ever bothers with.

I dunno, I think I still prefer the UK method, but the German system is not as bonkers as I originally thought it was. There's some method to their madness. One weird detail though: after we'd signed the contract with the sellers, we then went on to sign the contract with the bank with just my wife and I present. The Notar again explained what it all meant and we signed. Trouble is, this time it's kind of irrelevant whether we want to agree or not because we've already signed a legally binding contract to buy the house, so it seems a little pointless!
 
Just picked up the keys to our place.

June 22nd it all began, we viewed the place and put an offer in at the same time. Finally, it's over and ours.

Moving day tomorrow, now to go and clean and do a wee bit of celebrating with the other half.

I know some others here are completing in September too so hope all goes well for you.
 
Well after the advice on here we are slowly moving forward. Getting a shared ownership property onto market is proving a very slow process. Has taken nearly 4 weeks so far.

Thankfully we have a buyer already lined up as a relative who is renting wants to take it on so as soon as it’s up they can apply.

We offered on the one we wanted anyway despite not selling yet and had an offer accepted. Seller also agreed to take it off the market until we sell.

As soon as this is technically sold the rest all starts. I have jumped the gun a bit to get things moving and our conveyancers are appointed, Id checks done and paperwork for sale started. Also my mortgage application is in and hopefully due approval on Monday. As soon as sale on his is agreed I’ll be arranging a survey of the new house.

This will be only my 2nd purchase and hopefully my last. This process is horrible. Our first buy was guided my the Housing Association so was a breeze lol.
 
After reading this thread for over a year, I can finally join it!

Reserved this style today, aiming for March exchange.

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Not enjoying the shared ownership process at all. Considering they deal with a lot of properties and people from all backgrounds their communication has been rubbish so far and their processes just as bad. They took 2 weeks just to get the legal pack to my solicitors and they were the ones demanding a quick process. Exchange deadline was supposed to be 2nd Oct but my solicitors only got the paperwork from them last week. I've been to view the property since and found further issues with will need to be sorted prior to moving in, some of it usual new build shortcuts but they've decided not to vent the bathroom to the outside vent installed in the roof, but direct in to the loft space along with other active vents in the property. Only vent connected properly is the hob extractor. Already looking to re-paint the whole place now that it looks like it's settled, including the kitchen carcasses as they look tired already (unused).

They want to complete next week and so far I've had nothing, ideally I want to exchange on the start of the month so we'll see if they'll add the 2 weeks they delayed to the end of the process.
 
We're done - exchanged last week... with the odd hiccup. Our deposit went missing whilst being transferred from our account to the solicitors, which sent me into meltdown trying to get through to Barclays call centres to track it down. Turns out it was in the solicitor's account all along... but they'd just not checked properly. Wonderful.

Complete on 14th October, move in the next day. And then set about living in a house that's not been updated in almost 40 years...
 
Steeps said:
Not enjoying the shared ownership process at all. Considering they deal with a lot of properties and people from all backgrounds their communication has been rubbish so far and their processes just as bad. They took 2 weeks just to get the legal pack to my solicitors and they were the ones demanding a quick process. Exchange deadline was supposed to be 2nd Oct but my solicitors only got the paperwork from them last week. I've been to view the property since and found further issues with will need to be sorted prior to moving in, some of it usual new build shortcuts but they've decided not to vent the bathroom to the outside vent installed in the roof, but direct in to the loft space along with other active vents in the property. Only vent connected properly is the hob extractor. Already looking to re-paint the whole place now that it looks like it's settled, including the kitchen carcasses as they look tired already (unused).

They want to complete next week and so far I've had nothing, ideally I want to exchange on the start of the month so we'll see if they'll add the 2 weeks they delayed to the end of the process.
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Is this a new build from a major developer? Are you using the solicitors they recommended, or your own?
 
Not a major developer, probably ~100-150 houses a year. Looks like they outsource all building work to a single contractor who works for various developers. The problem seems to be the property appears to have been released to the shared ownership as a shell who then did the final fit out as the specifications do not match the regular private stock at all, everything is budget from the carpets, kitchen and switches/sockets.

I went with one of their "list of recommended" solicitors as I assumed the process would have been simpler as they'd already have a working relationship and the right contacts (mortgage broker did and was great at getting things pushed). My solicitor seems to be doing alright and has turned around documents quickly, it's waiting for their solicitors to send paperwork which seems to be slowing down the process, which is the housing association.
 
toshj said:
We're done - exchanged last week... with the odd hiccup. Our deposit went missing whilst being transferred from our account to the solicitors, which sent me into meltdown trying to get through to Barclays call centres to track it down. Turns out it was in the solicitor's account all along... but they'd just not checked properly. Wonderful.

Complete on 14th October, move in the next day. And then set about living in a house that's not been updated in almost 40 years...
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Ooof that's pretty poor from the solicitor firm! Certainly one i'd be making a complaint to them about. Normally with deposit fees we're talking a good 5 figure amount, so something that would stress anyone about if it suddenly went missing.

We picked our keys up on the 13th Sep, thankfully we still had the flat for 3ish weeks, so can take our time with the move.

Despite being a newish house (2012), it would appear the previous owners hadn't decorated in the 7 years that they were there. So last week i've ended up having to strip off some wallpaper, repair some walls, and pull up the carpets. Got furniture turning up at different times over the next few weeks as well. God knows how people manage to do a move out and move in, all within a single day!
 
Semple said:
Ooof that's pretty poor from the solicitor firm! Certainly one i'd be making a complaint to them about. Normally with deposit fees we're talking a good 5 figure amount, so something that would stress anyone about if it suddenly went missing.
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Six figure. I tried to ignore it - definitely avoided mentioning it to my wife - and then got a call from the solicitor saying "Yeah... I'd have been worried too!" as if it wasn't their fault.

Semple said:
We picked our keys up on the 13th Sep, thankfully we still had the flat for 3ish weeks, so can take our time with the move.

Despite being a newish house (2012), it would appear the previous owners hadn't decorated in the 7 years that they were there. So last week i've ended up having to strip off some wallpaper, repair some walls, and pull up the carpets. Got furniture turning up at different times over the next few weeks as well. God knows how people manage to do a move out and move in, all within a single day!
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What's the condition of the place like once you stripped everything back? Some new builds are spotless behind everything. Others are a complete mess. The firm who built our place went bust just before the end, so as all of the owners have found out when doing their own renovations... the insides of the building is a nightmare.
 
toshj said:
What's the condition of the place like once you stripped everything back? Some new builds are spotless behind everything. Others are a complete mess. The firm who built our place went bust just before the end, so as all of the owners have found out when doing their own renovations... the insides of the building is a nightmare.
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Erm, if i'm being completely honest, i wouldn't say it was great either, and the building firm are still going (not one of the big housebuilders though).

I noticed when inspecting the ceilings that there's a couple of raised bumps, and even two screws that are actually on show where whoever was putting up the drywall never sunk the screws deep enough. It also amazes me that the previous owners put up with that for 7 years. All it'd take is knocking the loose bits of plaster off, tightening up the screws, refill and then re-paint.
 
Our house was the same, no screws showing but quite a few raised bumps where they went in and badly filled over. 16 years later I went round and fixed them all.

The one thing that I found really odd is people not taking the plug sockets and light switches off the walls when they paint. Both the last two houses we had were the same. Stuck to the wall and caked in paint. I just don’t understand, it takes 15 seconds to take the screws out and lift them off the wall to paint behind....
 
toshj said:
We're done - exchanged last week... with the odd hiccup. Our deposit went missing whilst being transferred from our account to the solicitors, which sent me into meltdown trying to get through to Barclays call centres to track it down. Turns out it was in the solicitor's account all along... but they'd just not checked properly. Wonderful.

Complete on 14th October, move in the next day. And then set about living in a house that's not been updated in almost 40 years...
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Congrats and welcome to the never ending life of trying to sort a house that's not been touched in 40 years!
 
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