The nervous wait to exchange....
- Thread starter noj
- Start date
Fair enough. In my head the end of June was the gamechanger, so I kept forgetting about the Sep change as well!Final change for the stamp duty holiday is end Sept though so lots of people trying to get in for that too, having had my offer accepted on Monday mine could go either way for a saving of £3,750 so understandable that people are trying, it wont bother me if it misses that but hell, I'm not going to say no to that, would pay for a nice OLED and a few other bits as a housewarming gift to myself
For me this was the worst - silence and no way to find out what is going on. A few of the buyers in our chain were in contact which helped massively getting things resolved.
Yeah it's not great, but I do have direct contact with them so they're going to find out what's going on. Never again, going to go into rented next time I think!
House my mate is selling wouldn't be subject to stamp duty after the holiday ends
Yay me. Finally exchanged today on our new home in Devon.
Had to sell 3 to buy 1 as my elderly mother-in-law is coming with us as the place has a separate annexe.
Most stressful thing I’ve ever done selling 3 properties at once and it’s lucky I completed on the last flat today as it allowed us to exchange for our move and we complete on Tuesday.
Talk about cutting it to the wire!
Had to sell 3 to buy 1 as my elderly mother-in-law is coming with us as the place has a separate annexe.
Most stressful thing I’ve ever done selling 3 properties at once and it’s lucky I completed on the last flat today as it allowed us to exchange for our move and we complete on Tuesday.
Talk about cutting it to the wire!
Are you in Glasgow? My brother is looking there and house & flat prices seem mental. The increase seems to be more significant than elsewhere in the country.
Mate put his house up for sale this morning, 10 viewings booked in 90 mins
Next door neighbour 8 viewings and sale agreed within 24 hrs
it's all going bonkers
I've already been priced out of the area I'm moving to, it's absolutely insane. A house in the same terrace that's 2 bed sold for more than what I'm paying for my 3 bed and it went in days. If my purchase fell through for any reason I'd have to go even further away from London. Absolutely RIP to anyone trying to buy right now.
Soldato
- Joined
- 3 Oct 2009
- Posts
- 19,893
- Location
- Wales
Nice to read about someone who actually gets this
Having to do most of my actual work after 5pm at the moment. Literally getting more calls and emails during the day than I can respond to! People really don't help themselves and I've had to tell quite a few people to just leave me alone if they want to have a prayer of saving themselves 15k.
Soldato
- Joined
- 3 Oct 2009
- Posts
- 19,893
- Location
- Wales
End of the day it's down to the individuals for the most part. I've worked in both types of firm and you get muppets in both. I also have both types on the other side and I can tell you there are a lot of smaller high street solicitors you would give your arm to not have your buyer use.
Bigger firms have more red tape but they also have a lot more going on behind the scenes that helps speed things up (which you and most on the client side won't be aware of). Bigger firms are also more likely to screw up things like opening files like for your buyer but also those people that screwed up opening files are the same ones who will chase people to fill in their initial forms and guide old doddery clients through the process.
Pros and cons.
Yep, we’ve been bidding on places for around 9 months all over Glasgow. It’s crazy. We were getting a bit closer for a while (and had somewhere accepted but we pulled out) but when people are paying 30% above the valuation, how can you even compete?
Yes the OcUK masses would have me beg for updates every week. I trust my solicitor implicitly.Nice to read about someone who actually gets this
People will also often choose the cheapest price they can find and wonder why they're not very good or responsive - good solicitors aren't cheap, and if they are it's because they're having to stack too many matters to make the numbers stack which invariably means things will take longer / pay less attention to it.
A lot of lawyers (at any type of firm) could really make their lives a lot easier with more pro-active comms - even just setting up a portal that lists all actions outstanding, which party is responsible for them, what the last Comms on it was/next follow up date is, so people can consume this without having to request it in peace meal. Very few firms, even at the very VERY top of their game (and I mean top global corporate law firms too, not just low-end resi conveyancing), do this remotely well yet. Keeps me in a job though
I do think its a short term blip, while I never subscribe to the forthcoming crash types this rise I think won't last long
True that!
My mate deals with a bunch of tools on a day to day basis and (problebably like yourself) is doing a lote of late nights ,especially on Fridays as people try to rush completions through.
His biggest frustrations is that he'll answer every email he can within a day and deals with harpies that case within a hour, only for them to blank his questions for a fortnight.
Why are prices so inflated/ing in Glasgow all of a sudden? We bought (not completed yet) in the midst of the stamp duty craziness and paid under asking in west London. Other houses around here have gone for under asking too
I'd understand places like 35mins drive out of a city, in the countryside etc being over-inflated what with everyone on the WFH bandwagon I don't know if anyone remembers my GDPR issue with the solicitors we had been recommended, but I am feeling very thankful that perhaps these things happen for a reason. The solicitor we are with now is absolutely brilliant. If we send an email on the evening, she's mostly replied by 9am the next morning. She's taken our calls every time I've tried, even looking through paperwork to answer my questions there-and-then, and generally just been very communicative. 4 weeks to exchange with her, not bad eh. Just gotta complete now, so I'm still crossing fingers and toes and touching woodVery few firms, even at the very VERY top of their game (and I mean top global corporate law firms too, not just low-end resi conveyancing), do this remotely well yet. Keeps me in a job though
The thread is called nervous wait to exchange... but on our sale we are now being made to wait to complete. We have another house under offer, but the transactions aren't linked, thankfully, we are staying in temporary accomm.
We exchanged contracts on 27th May with a completion date of 7th June. No issues at all really, until morning of the day of completion where I get an email from my solicitor, forwarding a message from the buyer (via her solcitor) where it turns out she's still not executed her insurance, and is struggling because the insurer has identified a historical flood event in 2013. And that because we maintained whenever asked that we weren't aware of any history of flooding and that we never had insurance denied due to flooding etc., that this is somehow my problem.
The interesting thing is, this triggered in my mind a memory that I actually ran into the same thing when I was taking out insurance when I bought it in 2017. My insurer said at point of executing the policy that they saw a historical claim (2013) that was categorised as flooding, and did I know about a flooding history. I checked all our info from seller and solicitors, which showed nothing, and reasserted that to insurers. Insurers then said that on further investigation, that claim was actually only a burst pipe (I think the neighbours), and should not be categorised as a flood, therefore zero issue and here's your insurance. From start to finish it was barely more than an hour to sort, so didn't stick in my mind even. I only found the details as I had an email chain in parallel with my solicitors where I was keeping them up to date.
Now, foolishly, trying to help, I forwarded this information to my solicitors and said please can you share this to show there is no actual flooding issue, it's just a mix up.
Next I know, buyer's solicitor is accusing me of willful misrepresentation, saying I had prior knowledge of a known issue regarding flooding which I either recklessly omitted or deliberately withheld. I think this is nonsense as the issue doesn't pertain to an actual flood event, and the fact that it was a 1-hour long misunderstanding 3 years ago, after which I never thought of it again, means that this allegation is spurious at best and actually malicious at worst.
My solicitor proceeds to give me zero help despite me asking, and despite calling the estate agents too to fight my corner to remonstrate and clear it up as a misunderstanding, 5pm rolls past and no money in the bank.
By Wednesday, I have them demanding I take 5k off the price due to 'increase insurance costs and effect on future value of the property'. I rejected this as neither I or my previous seller had any issues whatsoever given the same circumstances, and this should all have been covered by buyer's due diligence prior to exchange. And given I have never had any knowledge of a flood event, there is zero legal basis for this, and they must pay full price as legally bound to by the exchange of contracts.
On further discussion with my lawyers, it seems the only leverage we have is to 'serve notice' that they have missed completion, which gives them 10 days to complete or else we can walk away from the sale. I don't want to walk away from the sale, I want them to complete as they contractually committed to.
Sort of just having a rant, but if anyone has any ideas how to force or persuade the buyer to just complete, that would be great.
There's plenty more details which I've omitted for brevity (!), but I think this is a fair representation of things.
We exchanged contracts on 27th May with a completion date of 7th June. No issues at all really, until morning of the day of completion where I get an email from my solicitor, forwarding a message from the buyer (via her solcitor) where it turns out she's still not executed her insurance, and is struggling because the insurer has identified a historical flood event in 2013. And that because we maintained whenever asked that we weren't aware of any history of flooding and that we never had insurance denied due to flooding etc., that this is somehow my problem.
The interesting thing is, this triggered in my mind a memory that I actually ran into the same thing when I was taking out insurance when I bought it in 2017. My insurer said at point of executing the policy that they saw a historical claim (2013) that was categorised as flooding, and did I know about a flooding history. I checked all our info from seller and solicitors, which showed nothing, and reasserted that to insurers. Insurers then said that on further investigation, that claim was actually only a burst pipe (I think the neighbours), and should not be categorised as a flood, therefore zero issue and here's your insurance. From start to finish it was barely more than an hour to sort, so didn't stick in my mind even. I only found the details as I had an email chain in parallel with my solicitors where I was keeping them up to date.
Now, foolishly, trying to help, I forwarded this information to my solicitors and said please can you share this to show there is no actual flooding issue, it's just a mix up.
Next I know, buyer's solicitor is accusing me of willful misrepresentation, saying I had prior knowledge of a known issue regarding flooding which I either recklessly omitted or deliberately withheld. I think this is nonsense as the issue doesn't pertain to an actual flood event, and the fact that it was a 1-hour long misunderstanding 3 years ago, after which I never thought of it again, means that this allegation is spurious at best and actually malicious at worst.
My solicitor proceeds to give me zero help despite me asking, and despite calling the estate agents too to fight my corner to remonstrate and clear it up as a misunderstanding, 5pm rolls past and no money in the bank.
By Wednesday, I have them demanding I take 5k off the price due to 'increase insurance costs and effect on future value of the property'. I rejected this as neither I or my previous seller had any issues whatsoever given the same circumstances, and this should all have been covered by buyer's due diligence prior to exchange. And given I have never had any knowledge of a flood event, there is zero legal basis for this, and they must pay full price as legally bound to by the exchange of contracts.
On further discussion with my lawyers, it seems the only leverage we have is to 'serve notice' that they have missed completion, which gives them 10 days to complete or else we can walk away from the sale. I don't want to walk away from the sale, I want them to complete as they contractually committed to.
Sort of just having a rant, but if anyone has any ideas how to force or persuade the buyer to just complete, that would be great.
There's plenty more details which I've omitted for brevity (!), but I think this is a fair representation of things.