yes vacant possession is exactly that - it must be empty before the money is lent
The nervous wait to exchange....
- Thread starter noj
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yes vacant possession is exactly that - it must be empty before the money is lent
That's my point. So unless you're getting a BTL mortgage how does a bank even approve/proceed with your mortgage until they know the property is vacant?
That doesn’t actually need to happen until just you exchange though.
It’s pretty scummy in the seller though, I’d have expected notice to be served the moment solicitors were instructed. 2 months is normally enough time to complete a normal transaction on a relatively small chain and thus the timer should have been started right away. I’d expect there to be little to no chain if you are buying a rebates property.
Waiting until you are all ready to exchange is unacceptable IMO.
It’s pretty scummy in the seller though, I’d have expected notice to be served the moment solicitors were instructed. 2 months is normally enough time to complete a normal transaction on a relatively small chain and thus the timer should have been started right away. I’d expect there to be little to no chain if you are buying a rebates property.
Waiting until you are all ready to exchange is unacceptable IMO.
Soldato
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It's one of those things that is negotiated between the start and end of the process. That's why it takes ages - several parties have several requirements and solicitors have to get it all arranged on paper. That's how there can be a moment where all 3+ parties nod and say OK, I'm happy, let's complete.That's my point. So unless you're getting a BTL mortgage how does a bank even approve/proceed with your mortgage until they know the property is vacant?
That's my point. So unless you're getting a BTL mortgage how does a bank even approve/proceed with your mortgage until they know the property is vacant?
They agree to lend the money subject to the property being vacant. So the offer to lend is there, you can start a purchase with it but the bank will want confirmation that the tenant has left before the funds are drawn down (usually a day or two before completion). As others have said, it's completely normal (and very common) for mortgage offers to be given when tenants are present, the money just won't be released until the property is empty.
Fair enough. Maybe it was the state of the place that we looked and not reading the stuff from Nationwide correctly!
I haven't posted in here before but thought I'd post a story about our PITA purchase.
First time buyers, started looking at houses beginning of the year and had an offer accepted towards the end of April.
Unfortunately having received a copy of the title it was clear the general boundary was incorrect... The house we eventually bought had been built on what used to be the neighbours side garden, many years/owners ago.
Based on how things progresses in the final few weeks or so of the purchase, I think this could have been resolved reasonably quickly. Both the vendor and their neighbour were aligned that it needed sorting - and they both had solicitors lined up to help with this. Unfortunately, what actually happened was 5+ months of absolute pain. All solicitors involved seemed to not have a foggiest as to what needed to be done, people were going on holiday all over the place (not hugely surprising, but often not informed), and a total of three submissions to the land registry to get it sorted - primarily driven by the solicitors refusing to talk to HMLR, and instead incorrectly interpreting a number of boundary related forms.
We eventually exchanged in the beginning of November and moved a week later.
It was very stressful, especially given the whole thing could have fallen through at any moment - made worse by the vendors divorcing and having two chains.
Lessons learnt:
First time buyers, started looking at houses beginning of the year and had an offer accepted towards the end of April.
Unfortunately having received a copy of the title it was clear the general boundary was incorrect... The house we eventually bought had been built on what used to be the neighbours side garden, many years/owners ago.
Based on how things progresses in the final few weeks or so of the purchase, I think this could have been resolved reasonably quickly. Both the vendor and their neighbour were aligned that it needed sorting - and they both had solicitors lined up to help with this. Unfortunately, what actually happened was 5+ months of absolute pain. All solicitors involved seemed to not have a foggiest as to what needed to be done, people were going on holiday all over the place (not hugely surprising, but often not informed), and a total of three submissions to the land registry to get it sorted - primarily driven by the solicitors refusing to talk to HMLR, and instead incorrectly interpreting a number of boundary related forms.
We eventually exchanged in the beginning of November and moved a week later.
It was very stressful, especially given the whole thing could have fallen through at any moment - made worse by the vendors divorcing and having two chains.
Lessons learnt:
- Divorcing owners? run.
- Boundary doesn't match the title? run.
Hey, you got there in the end!!
Doesn’t look like we will be completing on Monday having got agonisingly close today the crappy Conveyancing company running our BTL mortgage have found yet another last minute spanner to throw in the works. I’m still hopeful we can sort something for early next year but this might collapse our chain and kill our purchase!
Soldato
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- 13 May 2003
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- 8,986
Sorry to hear that.
First time purchase completed yesterday, feeling a combination of joy, relief and fatigue currently 
. I forgot about the joys of moving, still need to figure out how the heating systems work properly and get into unpacking but fortunately we have 2 weeks off work from next week to sort things out.
. I forgot about the joys of moving, still need to figure out how the heating systems work properly and get into unpacking but fortunately we have 2 weeks off work from next week to sort things out.We bought with an incorrect boundary, everyone agreed where it was supposed to be so we ended up moving in and the solicitor held a £5k retainer until it was sorted. Took a good 7 months after moving before Land Registry completed it.
First time buyer here, I'm 30 years old and been saving my money since finishing university so I'm paying for almost half the house in the deposit. Never had a stable enough job so wasn't able to move out and I'm very against the idea of renting (my parents are as-well) so saved my money for the most part while working. My budget was anywhere up to around £130k as a maximum (north east) dont earn enough to get anything more.
Went to see a few houses and finally found something I liked. Recently completely renovated inside apart from the bathroom that just didn't need touched. 1950s (ish) End terrace 3 Bedroom 1 Bathroom, downstairs WC converted into a separated laundry room for washing machine/dryer from the kitchen, brand new carpets throughout, internal modern simple design, re-wired, new sockets, replaced all doors with solid wood doors, "walk in" wardrobes in the 2 main bedrooms, new plaster and paint, what I would consider a "fancy" kitchen and a decent size (about 1000sq ft). Lounge is nice and big, the littlest room upstairs is big enough to have as an office/gaming situation and the 2nd bedroom is big enough to eventually convert into a dedicated "theatre room" easily with a 100-120 inch screen. Also has a loft area that has been floored, could turn that into a 4th room in the future if I wanted as its big enough to stand up in.
Had everything I was looking for, driveway, walk in shower and simple square rooms no cut-outs or chimney breasts getting in the way (its amazing how hard this is to find I really hate cut outs in rooms specially chimneys taking a chunk out the living room and the bedroom above). Also has a summer house outside with power and solar panels on the main roof top.
The only issue is the area its in isn't exactly looked upon in a good light, gets looked down upon quite allot from what I can find online and from what family have said. But from someone who a is loner and more than likely going to stay single and just have pets I'm not too bothered. However its on the very edge of the area in a quiet part away from the main roads, front view is overlooking wide open fields, its very quiet standing outside cant hear a thing, which is nice. Plenty of supermarkets, post office, amazon click and collect locations and nearby petrol stations about 2-3min drive away.
The seller is leaving a barely used 3 seat electric recliner and regular (1 seat) electric recliner, along with the bar stools in the kitchen as they match the colour scheme. Also leaving the sofas in the summer house and might be leaving a double bed frame behind also. It does need some slight cosmetic issues fixed (damaged bricks) but the seller has agreed to pay for it after some talks and I have the quote for that to get done once sale is complete (the seller took the price of this off the purchase price to compensate). The only thing I need to do is get virgin installed (the neighbours have it already so easy job) and bring my PC/TV/TV unit/bookcases and the rest of my junk across and can move in straight away. Parents are purchasing washing machine for me as a good riddance gift lol.
The house wasn't on the market long, I had my viewing the morning after it appeared on the market along with 5 other people. Everyone offered asking price the same day and I had to increase my offer. Luckily the seller accepted my offer apparently because the estate agent said I was the safest buyer due to my deposit (only went up about 5% of the asking price after going up in small increments and being outbid twice) but still came in at a good chunk less than my max budget.
My mortgage provider did their free valuation and actually down valued the property by about 8% of the agreed price which was disappointing but semi-understandable due to the area and how much houses are going for in that area (that have not been modernised). I called the surveyor and they just did a drive by as they are not allowed inside due to covid or something (a little odd but whatever). Seller refused to budge from the agreed price, I know fine well what they paid for it, they are making a sizable profit on it.
This made my original mortgage interest rate and payments increase by £5 a month which isn't too bad but kinda miffed about it being down valued in the first place. Its made me question the sale but I can't find anything as nice (to me) anywhere close to the same cost or even a good chunk more, its got me spoiled in what I would expect from a house. Might seem silly to some at what is a cheap house but I wouldn't want anything more.
Currently on 23% complete on the estate agent tracking waiting on solicitor searches to complete but still mulling it over, constantly checking what becomes available on rightmove hahaha
Went to see a few houses and finally found something I liked. Recently completely renovated inside apart from the bathroom that just didn't need touched. 1950s (ish) End terrace 3 Bedroom 1 Bathroom, downstairs WC converted into a separated laundry room for washing machine/dryer from the kitchen, brand new carpets throughout, internal modern simple design, re-wired, new sockets, replaced all doors with solid wood doors, "walk in" wardrobes in the 2 main bedrooms, new plaster and paint, what I would consider a "fancy" kitchen and a decent size (about 1000sq ft). Lounge is nice and big, the littlest room upstairs is big enough to have as an office/gaming situation and the 2nd bedroom is big enough to eventually convert into a dedicated "theatre room" easily with a 100-120 inch screen. Also has a loft area that has been floored, could turn that into a 4th room in the future if I wanted as its big enough to stand up in.
Had everything I was looking for, driveway, walk in shower and simple square rooms no cut-outs or chimney breasts getting in the way (its amazing how hard this is to find I really hate cut outs in rooms specially chimneys taking a chunk out the living room and the bedroom above). Also has a summer house outside with power and solar panels on the main roof top.
The only issue is the area its in isn't exactly looked upon in a good light, gets looked down upon quite allot from what I can find online and from what family have said. But from someone who a is loner and more than likely going to stay single and just have pets I'm not too bothered. However its on the very edge of the area in a quiet part away from the main roads, front view is overlooking wide open fields, its very quiet standing outside cant hear a thing, which is nice. Plenty of supermarkets, post office, amazon click and collect locations and nearby petrol stations about 2-3min drive away.
The seller is leaving a barely used 3 seat electric recliner and regular (1 seat) electric recliner, along with the bar stools in the kitchen as they match the colour scheme. Also leaving the sofas in the summer house and might be leaving a double bed frame behind also. It does need some slight cosmetic issues fixed (damaged bricks) but the seller has agreed to pay for it after some talks and I have the quote for that to get done once sale is complete (the seller took the price of this off the purchase price to compensate). The only thing I need to do is get virgin installed (the neighbours have it already so easy job) and bring my PC/TV/TV unit/bookcases and the rest of my junk across and can move in straight away. Parents are purchasing washing machine for me as a good riddance gift lol.
The house wasn't on the market long, I had my viewing the morning after it appeared on the market along with 5 other people. Everyone offered asking price the same day and I had to increase my offer. Luckily the seller accepted my offer apparently because the estate agent said I was the safest buyer due to my deposit (only went up about 5% of the asking price after going up in small increments and being outbid twice) but still came in at a good chunk less than my max budget.
My mortgage provider did their free valuation and actually down valued the property by about 8% of the agreed price which was disappointing but semi-understandable due to the area and how much houses are going for in that area (that have not been modernised). I called the surveyor and they just did a drive by as they are not allowed inside due to covid or something (a little odd but whatever). Seller refused to budge from the agreed price, I know fine well what they paid for it, they are making a sizable profit on it.
This made my original mortgage interest rate and payments increase by £5 a month which isn't too bad but kinda miffed about it being down valued in the first place. Its made me question the sale but I can't find anything as nice (to me) anywhere close to the same cost or even a good chunk more, its got me spoiled in what I would expect from a house. Might seem silly to some at what is a cheap house but I wouldn't want anything more.
Currently on 23% complete on the estate agent tracking waiting on solicitor searches to complete but still mulling it over, constantly checking what becomes available on rightmove hahaha
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Our chain is in pieces only two purchases involved but the house above has gone back on the market we are desperately trying to get to an exchange position this week and hopefully get things going again. House buying is such a pain!
We're having a right nightmare with getting our exchange completed. Accepted our house offer in mid-September and still no where near completion. The solicitor recommended by the estate agent are very slow at getting things done and they recently had a cyber attack which took their systems down for a few weeks which has caused a massive backlog of work for them. Even before the cyber attack the sale and purchase should have progressed further than it has but they're using it as an excuse. We had hoped to be in for Christmas but that isn't going to happen. The sales office of the new build we're buying is threatening we could lose our reservation on the plot if this drags on much longer and it's really starting to get to my partner who ended up in tears on the phone to the conveyancer today. We're stuck in middle trying to do what we can and it's causing us to get very frustrated especially when they are incredibly hard to reach on the phone.
Paperwork comes in dribs and drabs and they need the original form returned at our own cost every time and won't accept it signed, scanned and email back. Our house is leasehold and there is also a service charge on the estate which is complicating matters. It feels like it is me that is having to do the leg work for them. The buyer of our house is also using the same solicitor in the hope that it would speed the process up but it has been anything but. There's no risk yet of them pulling out of the deal as they still live at home and are a first time buyer but we're wanting out ourselves as soon as we can.
We saw the house for the first time today (bought off plan as no show home) and it just made us want to move in there and then. It's so frustrating. I guess this is the downside to dealing with online only estate agents and their recommended solicitor. In hindsight we should have gone with a trusted solicitor and paid the premium for the service provided. They're getting slated in recent reviews so they have a lot of disgruntled customers all wanting answers.
Paperwork comes in dribs and drabs and they need the original form returned at our own cost every time and won't accept it signed, scanned and email back. Our house is leasehold and there is also a service charge on the estate which is complicating matters. It feels like it is me that is having to do the leg work for them. The buyer of our house is also using the same solicitor in the hope that it would speed the process up but it has been anything but. There's no risk yet of them pulling out of the deal as they still live at home and are a first time buyer but we're wanting out ourselves as soon as we can.
We saw the house for the first time today (bought off plan as no show home) and it just made us want to move in there and then. It's so frustrating. I guess this is the downside to dealing with online only estate agents and their recommended solicitor. In hindsight we should have gone with a trusted solicitor and paid the premium for the service provided. They're getting slated in recent reviews so they have a lot of disgruntled customers all wanting answers.
I will never ever use an online factory again after our experience they have likely cost us our chain because they can’t work outside a set of tick boxes on a computer anything out of the ordinary and they grind to a halt!
a terrible combination - an online estate agent (which isn’t really a true description of what these ‘cheap’ alternatives actually offer) and an online conveyancing factory during one of the busiest markets on record and during a crippling pandemic.
it can only end one way sadly.
Sorry to hear of your problems. I've never heard good stories from people using solicitors recommended by the estate agent.
We were on the opposite foot with the first house we almost bought. Our vendors were using a solicitor firm attached to the estate agent they were using to sell the house. They were absolutely beyond useless, to the point we actually ended up pulling out and accepting the loss on fees paid for searches/surveys etc.