Vendor is his client and as a result of you lowering the original price agreed (as I understand it), he is probably under massive pressure from his client to make sure you commit this time around. Annoying no doubt though haha!
The nervous wait to exchange....
- Thread starter noj
- Start date
Vendor is his client and as a result of you lowering the original price agreed (as I understand it), he is probably under massive pressure from his client to make sure you commit this time around. Annoying no doubt though haha!
I have no idea what kind of pace or timetable you are working to, etc. but I find people have very different perceptions of what is reasonable in these situations and sometimes you just need to know things are moving along - no news can be seen as bad news very easily, etc. extremes being like I've mentioned before where someone decided to go on holiday (without even telling anyone in the process - not that it would have mattered as it still wasn't an acceptable delay) at a crucial time in the process and thought everyone would just hold up until they were back!
Being a kitchen I'd say probably 50/50 between not enough ventilation when cooking, etc. and a damp problem - is the kitchen part of the main structure or an extension?
Last edited:
Whats more likely is that they are worried about their commission and not much else. 
Given how much work Right Move does for agents these days and the rise of companies like Purple Bricks who will do whats needed for a fraction of the price it's not surprising they are concerned about closing every sale. Their cash cow is getting eroded from all sides at the moment, it was a market ripe for disruption given the margins agents are able to achieve. So many of the actions can be can be automated with not very clever software and the 'middle person' cut out completely.
Hopefully this new competition will clean up the industry and make it more competitive.
Given how much work Right Move does for agents these days and the rise of companies like Purple Bricks who will do whats needed for a fraction of the price it's not surprising they are concerned about closing every sale. Their cash cow is getting eroded from all sides at the moment, it was a market ripe for disruption given the margins agents are able to achieve. So many of the actions can be can be automated with not very clever software and the 'middle person' cut out completely.
Hopefully this new competition will clean up the industry and make it more competitive.
Whats more likely is that they are worried about their commission and not much else.
Given how much work Right Move does for agents these days and the rise of companies like Purple Bricks who will do whats needed for a fraction of the price it's not surprising they are concerned about closing every sale. Their cash cow is getting eroded from all sides at the moment, it was a market ripe for disruption given the margins agents are able to achieve. So many of the actions can be can be automated with not very clever software and the 'middle person' cut out completely.
Hopefully this new competition will clean up the industry and make it more competitive.
I certainly think it is making some of the more reputable established agents more competitive - the company we used for the latest move was a very different story from the laziness, etc. we encountered last time around (years ago) - they were actually chasing up the solicitors, etc. for us and doing half their work at times
to keep things moving along. I found the solicitors, etc. the weakest link in the chain in dire need of a boot up the backside.
I agree solicitors seem to be the worst link in chain. The particularly annoying thing is when someone else's solicitor is crap. I can at least hassle my own and give kick up backside, but when it's a different solicitor there is not much you can do. The amount of times I've heard that the person involved in case has been on holiday for last 2 days and are back tomorrow, makes me fairly certain they lie through their teeth to you all the time also. You feel you need to hassle them regularly to have some secretary lift your folder up to the top of their to do tray, or it doesn't get actioned. Their ability to multi task and predict issues before they arise is laughable also.
The number of times we had them come back to us and ask for information specifically - after we'd already submitted the information (along with everything else) including formatting/collating and annotating it specifically to how they asked so they could "easily" reference it was silly - they obviously couldn't be bothered to look through what they had to find it.
Soldato
have the same with mine - told we cant exchange yet because my solicitors havent answered some minor question only to be told they send that stuff back last week and its actually the solicitos below who haven't spotted it. Exchange next week, move the week after we hope!
I had the opposite experience recently with our own solicitor, they were turning round all of our documents same or next day and were generally very communicative. They were a large firm which came recommended to us by a friend and we have since recommended to two others.
I think we could have got the whole thing done 3 weeks faster if the rest operated at the same pace.
I think we could have got the whole thing done 3 weeks faster if the rest operated at the same pace.
Soldato
Complete tomorrow, anything I might have forgotten to do?! Utilities sorted, broadband/TV sorted, council tax notified, can't change bank addresses in advanced, Royal Mail forward set up, buildings/content insurance cancelled/restarting tomorrow...
Soldato
Had a couple of valuations on mine now and been to see six or seven.
Looked at a really nice place last night, was a bit above our price bracket at 300k though. May have to push the boat out if it's still for sale when mine has sold.
Looked at a really nice place last night, was a bit above our price bracket at 300k though. May have to push the boat out if it's still for sale when mine has sold.
Soldato
And we're in! Move went pretty smoothly yesterday, got the keys at 2pm. Now for two months of unpacking...
Do whatever you can in one big go! Otherwise you'll find boxes unpacked for months to come.
When my flatmate moved out we found a moving box hidden behind a load stuff from two years beforehand.
We're getting massive cold feet/jitters ahead of our move - is it the right house, will the neighbours be as difficult as we think, is the renovation work too much with a baby in the house, etc.
Soldato
So going out for 5 pints at lunch wasn't a good idea then?
It's a funny one with this place, it's all 95% livable but because we know we'll be here for a long time you start questioning a lot more; does that go there, will we want to replace that, etc. We also had a new bed arrive on move day and new mattress in a couple of weeks.
Tomorrow I need to plumb the washing machine into a new location and board out an understair cupboard (because we want to). We'll get there, ha.
I accept that the whole process has lots of hoops for solicitors/conveyancers to jump through, i guess what annoys me most is when it feels like nothing is happening.
Our solicitor sent us a copy of the lease agreement over 2 weeks ago, and since then i've literally not heard a peep out of him despite sending 3/4 emails asking for an update. I now need to send a bollocking email next week to complain about the apparent lack of progress.
Soldato
To be fair, complaining mid process isn't going to get you anywhere.
I found that our estate agents did an amazing job of chasing solicitors up and down the chain to check things are progressing. I guess from the solicitors point of view they also have to make requests that they have to wait to come back at a variable speed.
I found that our estate agents did an amazing job of chasing solicitors up and down the chain to check things are progressing. I guess from the solicitors point of view they also have to make requests that they have to wait to come back at a variable speed.
Soldato
I'm hoping to get my exchange rolling within the next few days (wanted to Exchange by the 31st), my buyer originally wanted to complete on the 14th of August, but I'm not convinced it's entirely possible at the moment. Last few queries in the chain pending answers.
The process began around the end of May, so a completion at some point in August might be doable.
My mortgage expires at the end of August though, and I was intending to port this over on my purchase. If the purchase goes beyond the end of August then I would need to put in a new mortgage application I think.
The process began around the end of May, so a completion at some point in August might be doable.
My mortgage expires at the end of August though, and I was intending to port this over on my purchase. If the purchase goes beyond the end of August then I would need to put in a new mortgage application I think.
Soldato
Some great news on from this post
The home we are looking at is not a Hawksley Schindler type but a Wimpey no-fines and it is not listed as defective.
Our surveyor was kind enough to revisit the premises free of charge and was able to "locate a section of the external wall in the under stairs cupboard in the kitchen which had not been provided with render and plaster on the inside face. In this narrow strip it is possible to see insitu cast concrete without fine aggregates (sand) which leads us to believe this is a Wimpey NoFines property."
Even with it being a Hawskley Schindler we were still contemplating on continuing with the purchase. I'll make a separate thread on this as I've done a fair bit of reading online on these concrete types of non-traditional build homes there is a lot of scaremongering and confusion surrounding non-traditional built homes.
If anyone else is in the same boat feel free to ask questions.
The home we are looking at is not a Hawksley Schindler type but a Wimpey no-fines and it is not listed as defective.
Our surveyor was kind enough to revisit the premises free of charge and was able to "locate a section of the external wall in the under stairs cupboard in the kitchen which had not been provided with render and plaster on the inside face. In this narrow strip it is possible to see insitu cast concrete without fine aggregates (sand) which leads us to believe this is a Wimpey NoFines property."
Even with it being a Hawskley Schindler we were still contemplating on continuing with the purchase. I'll make a separate thread on this as I've done a fair bit of reading online on these concrete types of non-traditional build homes there is a lot of scaremongering and confusion surrounding non-traditional built homes.
If anyone else is in the same boat feel free to ask questions.
Last edited:
Unfortunately in this case it's our own solicitors that seem to be taking forever, so not something that the estate agents would chase.
What's everyone's thoughts on an emergency budget announcement? I'v read that it'll likely be announced in the first week of October, and there are several key aspects - notably the rumoured halving of stamp duty over a certain amount, whilst a very distant claim indicated scrapping of the second home surcharge.
I can't imagine the latter will happen, but the former is something I think Boris would implement, and this would have a real and significant impact upon my wife and I. Saving half our stamp duty would cover a huge amount of renovation costs. Combined with a lack of second home surcharge would be unreal. We're deep into our process, with the estate agent wanting to exchange this week or next, and then complete early September when we return from our holidays. I'm having a think as to how best discuss building in a delay in the process so that we see how an emerging budget would impact us.
I can't imagine the latter will happen, but the former is something I think Boris would implement, and this would have a real and significant impact upon my wife and I. Saving half our stamp duty would cover a huge amount of renovation costs. Combined with a lack of second home surcharge would be unreal. We're deep into our process, with the estate agent wanting to exchange this week or next, and then complete early September when we return from our holidays. I'm having a think as to how best discuss building in a delay in the process so that we see how an emerging budget would impact us.