The nervous wait to exchange....

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Itchytrigg said:
We did yeah, we just had a couple chain failures which is why it’s taken so long. We had 1 week left on our mortgage offer.

However…had to call to pick up the keys and we turn up to find them still moving out and I reckon they need another couple hours. We’re moving tomorrow so it’s not like I need to sit in and van and wait but stil had to drive back to our rental with a car full of boxes instead.
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we had similar.. grabbed the keys and went to have a look only to find them outside, they took everything out of the house and left it on drive and handed the keys to EA. I think we were meant to be get ours at 12 but got them around 3pm with them still on the drive packing up, two more loads before they were gone. Didn't bother us as we had 2 weeks left on our rental and it was 2 minutes away but they left the house in a mess I can tell you that :D
 
grudas said:
we had similar.. grabbed the keys and went to have a look only to find them outside, they took everything out of the house and left it on drive and handed the keys to EA. I think we were meant to be get ours at 12 but got them around 3pm with them still on the drive packing up, two more loads before they were gone. Didn't bother us as we had 2 weeks left on our rental and it was 2 minutes away but they left the house in a mess I can tell you that :D
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Just was not expecting it as they said “just a little more” when they said we could get the keys, but when we showed up I’d say they needed at least another van load or more.

Like you it’s ok as we’ve about 3 weeks left but meant I had a 20 minute drive home with the car still full which I’ve had to now partially unpack as the kids will now need to get in!
 
Good news overall then really.

The thing I don't get, is house buying and moving happen probably thousands of times per day across the country, it's not like it's a mysterious 'never been done before' pioneering process.

Solicitors dragging thier feet over what is often just an admin excercise, people not being packed to move out on time etc... baffling.
 
JamesH85 said:
Indeed. Why does their process take so long, literally admin.
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There'll be so much time saved in the future.

How many bloody flood/environment/local authority etc searches are repeated on the same property. Not to mention flats; literally 100s of identical documents. The only reason they do them is because they don't trust the previous solicitors.

I'm pretty good with contracts, agreements, T&Cs etc as I do it as part of my work. Our current purchase (no chain/no sale) has 28 documents plus accompanying solicitors letters, and I'm barely reading them fully. Imagine what someone less experienced/educated does with all that. Nothing basically.

Blockchain has a part to play in the evolution of property purchasing I'm sure.
 
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ChrisD. said:
This is what I'm confused about.

Is it a brand new house and OP is buying from a developer, and OP has no house? If so, it can be done in less than a month and there is only 1 solicitor, usually appointed by the developers.
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This is how companies like Taylor Wimpey managed to sell thousands of houses with ground rents that doubled every 10 years creating a national scandal.

Developer and buyer shouldn't use the same solicitor.
 
Russinating said:
The only reason they do them is because they don't trust the previous solicitors.
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This literally isn't true though is it? The reason is that you don't get the most up to date information unless you do the searches (and most of the rest of the paperwork for that matter) again. It's not the solicitor's fault that things change without the searches changing. It's also not the solicitor's fault that lenders require searches less than 6 months old. Quoting from the lender's handbook:

5.4.3All searches except where there is a priority period must not be more than six months old at completion.

If you buy cash you don't need searches so you're more than welcome to save up to buy a house with cash then you can complete in a week or two (or less!)

What there should be is a rolling search document available that is updated with any new information so it can be instantly downloaded and be accurate. There is no excuse to have to wait weeks or months for a search that may or may not have changed, but you have to do it for the reasons above and these timescales are not solicitor's doing.

My local council is making headlines because of how long they take and they've been the same for nearly 10 years https://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/north-wales-news/house-sales-north-wales-county-25124448

They've caught up a lot now, but earlier in the year West Oxfordshire were quoting a 65 working day turnaround!!

Then there's the other things like people building extensions and the like that changes the Property Info forms.

Russinating said:
Blockchain has a part to play in the evolution of property purchasing I'm sure.
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I totally agree. I spend a lot of time thinking about this but I don't know enough about the blockchain or really have any idea about how to go about working to implement something like it.

JamesH85 said:
Indeed. Why does their process take so long, literally admin.
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For probably 90% of cases it is or at least basic legal matters. You do still get some extremely time consuming complex ones. There's an awful lot of property out there that hasn't changed hands since conveyancing became a different beast to what it was 20+ years ago.

But despite it being mostly admin it comes with a lot of risk for even basic mistakes. https://www.forsters.co.uk/news/blo...nce-claims-claims-against-property-solicitors

Then you're into the problem of do you only have experienced, qualified lawyers dealing with everything or do you have "admin" staff doing an "admin" job. Well if its the former your transaction will take a lot longer and then people complain. If its the latter people complain about that exact thing, go look at the reviews for some of the bigger companies.

Big companies are closing their conveyancing departments because it isn't worth the risk https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/l...nts-and-puts-100-jobs-at-risk/5113363.article

Indemnity insurance is getting more difficult to obtain.

The list goes on...
 
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Russinating said:
How many bloody flood/environment/local authority etc searches are repeated on the same property. Not to mention flats; literally 100s of identical documents. The only reason they do them is because they don't trust the previous solicitors.
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Some (probably all) new-build companies will recommend you a solicitor when buying from them because that solicitor will have done a lot of the searches for the area beforehand so can save money. That being said, I don't like the idea of having a solicitor who is also in the back pocket of the new-build companies!
 
So we've had the searches back and they mention that the house is at medium/high risk of subsidence. The house is on the border of a high and medium area.

We are going to check with the bank to see if this changes anything, our solicitor is raising it with the sellers and we will also check if it has any insurance implications too.

Has anyone else encountered a similar situation before?
 
~Divine~Wind~ said:
Do all the demolishing/stripping at once and dont bother tidying in between, we did it room by room... never again

Congrats and Welcome to 6 month of dust xD
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I was thinking whether to just do the upstairs+ bathroom then move in and do the rest slowly
...or...
Do it all at once and an extension too

Still debating...
 
My sale and purchase are still sitting there, entryless since 6th September.
Waiting on enquiries and searches still and then contract on the sale.
Wanted to be out on 2nd/3rd November! !!
 
tamzzy said:
I was thinking whether to just do the upstairs+ bathroom then move in and do the rest slowly
...or...
Do it all at once and an extension too

Still debating...
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That's what I'm planning to do. Upstairs first and then downstairs. Need ceiling taking down and loft hatch moved. Rewire needs doing and new boiler /rads.

Then there's the little job called a rear extension and new open plan kitchen...
 
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