Buying a home and don't know how anything works

[hash tag]

A few weeks for a survey.....that's some wait

 

[moonsi til]

I booked my survey soon as offer was accepted which was very late August 2021 & earliest I got was about 4 weeks. Demand outstripped supply.

 

[equationgirl]

Have owned my flat for 4 months. Have received a letter from the management company telling me I owe nearly a grand in various fees that should have been sorted by my solicitor when I bought it. I don’t have the money to pay them.

Speak to your solicitor, make sure none of your money is sat in their bank account. If it is, get them to contact the management company to pay the bill.

 

[Elpenor]

I booked my survey soon as offer was accepted which was very late August 2021 & earliest I got was about 4 weeks. Demand outstripped supply.

That was approx what I was quoted. I arranged it the week before Easter, and I guess that 3 bank holidays didn’t help?

 

[A380]

Got a chain of three underneath our sale.

All I can say at the moment is aaaaaaaaaaaargh.

 

[5t3IIa]

I think I mentioned that Weds has traditionally been the day we hear from the solicitor, so when we hadn’t for a couple of weeks (excused due to Easter hols) I chased yesterday. Emails flew about from our sols back, saying they hadn’t got replies from seller and advising we ask EA to chase. EA flew back, saying ‘o they replied just now, as a coincidence!’ Then our sol saying ‘actually, there’s nothing in the portal. Can you ask them to send ‘again’?’ Not sure where the issue lies… it’s not us, as sol hasn’t asked us anything. Don’t think it’s the sellers themselves, but may be their sols?

Despite this nonsense, I am concerned that we are going to end up in an ‘open sky’ situation, wherein there’s a sudden call and we have to go now now now!!!





Am going to spend this bank holiday weekend decluttering

 

[5t3IIa]

I have mentioned this before but there’s no harm in transferring it now - that way there won’t be any last minute hiccups with the transfer. I would do this if I were you.

Am thinking that we should arrange transferring the deposit to our solicitor? I’ve read this thread several times, and believe that it means we can avoid up-to-the-wire delays with moving the money, our deposit will be protected, and ringfenced in their account, and sit there ready to go the moment we sign the docs, right? If it all goes to pot we can leave the money with them, or take it back if we change solicitor.

Not sure where my FTB ISA fits into all this? It’s ‘extra’, as in we are not relying on it to pay for anything so if there’s a delay with it being paid out that doesn’t affect anything?

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Absolutely dying to hear the full story on this, but understand if you’re traumatised

It's felt a bit mental. I'm sure there's lots of things we could have done to make our lives easier, but you live and learn. The completion itself was bonkers, right up to the morning, we weren't sure if it was going to happen. I finished work early to go with my partner to get the keys and found the house still full of stuff. I understand how it happened, but just being given a heads up would have been nice and it stressed her out, so took some of the magic away. It also wasn't in as a good state as we remembered when we looked round before xmas, so decided that the living room dinning room should be redecorated before we filled it with stuff. It was the right call, but made for a very long day right at the start.

I totally get why people hire movers now, but still packing was stressful. I don't know how we acquired so much in the last 6 years. Renting crates was an amazing idea, but I would certainly pay to have the delivered next time, as with the van rental it felt we were packing and moving at the same time. Luckily her parents helped. Took us the best part of two very very long day. My legs still feel stiff days afterwards.

Paying to get the boxes collected today, so need to get the last few empty. Thank god we have a garage here, I don't think I could have faced the carnage if we didn't. Still over all I feel very lucky and looking forward to getting everything sorted so I can actually go out and explore the area.

 

[UnderOpenSky]

Despite this nonsense, I am concerned that we are going to end up in an ‘open sky’ situation, wherein there’s a sudden call and we have to go now now now!!!

Yes. This. How is it even a thing?

 

[hash tag]

Am thinking that we should arrange transferring the deposit to our solicitor? I’ve read this thread several times, and believe that it means we can avoid up-to-the-wire delays with moving the money, our deposit will be protected, and ringfenced in their account, and sit there ready to go the moment we sign the docs, right? If it all goes to pot we can leave the money with them, or take it back if we change solicitor.

Not sure where my FTB ISA fits into all this? It’s ‘extra’, as in we are not relying on it to pay for anything so if there’s a delay with it being paid out that doesn’t affect anything?

Transferring money should only take 24 hours I would have thought, so not a great worry.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Your best checking with your provider for ISA details.


For my LISA I’ve had to fill out a form and send to solicitor and it’ll be bundled up with the deposit money. We’ll see.

 

[Thora]

Yeah the Lifetime ISA is a bit of a pain and can take quite a while to transfer.

 

[platinumsage]

Am thinking that we should arrange transferring the deposit to our solicitor? I’ve read this thread several times, and believe that it means we can avoid up-to-the-wire delays with moving the money, our deposit will be protected, and ringfenced in their account, and sit there ready to go the moment we sign the docs, right? If it all goes to pot we can leave the money with them, or take it back if we change solicitor.

Definitely transfer it at least a few days early to your solicitor, with their permission. This allows time to fix any problems with the transfer. You don't want what happened to my mum when the bank refused the transfer of her completion funds because they thought it suspicious, and then wouldn't accept her ID when she went into the branch. I ended up running through town with a cheque to her solicitor, who was standing in their doorway and then grabbed it and ran to their bank branch to pay it in before closing time, narrowly avoiding breaching the contract.

 

[Artaxerxes]

Yeah the Lifetime ISA is a bit of a pain and can take quite a while to transfer.

Up to thirty days but provider says likely to be just a week so we’ll see

 

[5t3IIa]

Have emailed the solicitor to ask about money matters - deposit and ISA

Not panicking but aware that we must Do Things with our stuff, as have also acquired a lot in six years and this rental has more storage than the one we are purchasing I currently have a walk-in wardrobe, if you please. I’ll miss her

 

[kebabking]

We sold my MIL's house at the end of October - we are, after six months of shit lawyers and duplicitous buyers, supposed to exchange and complete today (Friday).

Our buyer sent me a text last night to say that her solicitor still hadn't got a settlement figure for an equity release mortgage on he property, and that her solicitor had not informed her buyers solicitor that their was an additional charge on the property.

Spoke to our solicitor at 9.02 this morning, she's pretty convinced it's not going ahead - she's steering us (and pushing at an open door) to just chin them off and put it back on the market. It sold in 3 days last time for well over the asking price, so we're very tempted.

6 months for a chain with three people in it, two of which don't have mortgages involved? Fuuuuuuck off.

 

[5t3IIa]

I have a Help To Buy ISA. I’ve got onto the bank (in their chat lol) to ask how much I can deposit in it now. My understanding is it is £2k per tax year… Anyway, my partner had one too and we decided to use mine as I had more £ in it, and withdrew his to save in the House Buying Bank Account. Hopefully, I can dump a load of cash into mine, bin the standing order then we can maximise the return. I think that’s how it works!!!

 

[5t3IIa]

I was wrong! £20k!



We don’t have £20k, but we have some

 

[salem]

Wish I'd found this thread a while ago! A lot to catch up on so sorry if this has been covered already but we've got our homebuyers report through and it's very through but it's hard to know where to go from it.

It flags £30k worth of stuff needing fixing but most of it seems fairly minor (a front wall that could be rebuilt, some paving that's broken). The most significant thing is pebbledashing which is in poor condition and needs remedial work - £8k. But all of the work is marked as "level 2 - Defects that need repairing or replacing but are not considered to be either serious or urgent. The property must be maintained in the normal way."

For context it's a 1930s maisonette for £380k which is fucking madness as it's in the sticks but was still very nice compared to other places we've seen - however there's also another one come up for £10k less (interior isn't so good but it's a ground floor vs ours which is first floor). I'm quite happy with the place we're going for and we could probably cover a few grand here or there over the next few decades but a £30k bill would flatten us - but then would it even be a £30k bill or £15k because it's split with the other leaseholder?

Part of me is thinking the surveyor is just picking up every minor thing (I've lived in a lot of shit places over the years so my opinion on most of it was 'meh') but my partner is much more twitchy and probably rightly so. My side of the mortgage was just about passed and we're quite a chunk of time, money and emotions invested so I think I would have preferred to live in ignorance.

The people we are buying from have a kid and I don't want to go demanding discounts at this point but other people have suggested using the surveyors report to get something off. Do people build this sort of stuff into the asking price? Other advice is to get quotes for the work - I don't really want to waste the time of half a dozen trades to quote up on stuff they're not likely to actually get work on to help some annoying first time buyers get some money off.

As first time buyers it's such a bloody minefield, there are so many experts you're paying for but they only give you very guarded advice and only about their specific field no one to advise on the overall process! Anyway sorry I think this became a bit of a rant and it was good to get it written down and off my chest.

A late update to this, we spoke to the surveyor and on the phone he was more positive and it sounded like it was all quite typical for a 100 year old property so we didn't chase any discount as we weren't expecting a show home.

The whole buying process slowed to a crawl as our vendors purchase stalled, they've now found a new place (a repo) so there's a new target completion date of less than a month - everything is straight our side but there's a lot of huge question marks their side. They're going to cover our rent for a month so we don't have to give notice on our current place until successful exchange which makes it more viable.

What started off super fast is now dragging along but tbf everyone has been quite reasonable so far including our solicitors who have been great.

I was wrong! £20k!

View attachment 320528

We don’t have £20k, but we have some

I'd double check that as it doesn't seem to tally with my memory or Help to Buy ISA - IIRC the allowance is monthly rather than something you can chuck in a lump sum too. This is in order to receive the bonus payment, you may be able to pay in more just as a regular payment but not get the bonus payment on that amount.

I'm not an expert but worth checking.

 

[5t3IIa]

A late update to this, we spoke to the surveyor and he

I'd double check that as it doesn't seem to tally with my memory or Help to Buy ISA - IIRC the allowance is monthly rather than something you can chuck in a lump sum too. This is in order to receive the bonus payment, you may be able to pay in more just as a regular payment but not get the bonus payment on that amount.

I'm not an expert but worth checking.

Thanks. Either way we can dump in the max we are allowed for a month, rather than the skimpy standing order that’s been in place for a couple of years

 

[kebabking]

She wants to move in without completion or exchange!!!!!!!

She's got her stuff in the removal van of and is asking if she can bring it all round.

Fuuuuuuuuck off!

 

[Artaxerxes]

She wants to move in without completion or exchange!!!!!!!

She's got her stuff in the removal van of and is asking if she can bring it all round.

Fuuuuuuuuck off!

Epic

 

[platinumsage]

She wants to move in without completion or exchange!!!!!!!

She's got her stuff in the removal van of and is asking if she can bring it all round.

Fuuuuuuuuck off!

Offer to rent it to her from today for the full purchase price per month.

 

[moonsi til]

OMG kebabking can you do a rental agreement?

 

[5t3IIa]

In other news I am on a personal admin streak so rang probate office to ask about my mum’s case. If we get it granted we can sell her house (Abroad! We have a buyer champing at the bit! And the friendliest, most helpful EA on board!!) and I can use my share for more dormer and a patio However, there is a delay with the witnesses to the will. They haven’t replied to a questionnaire…sent on 04/03/2022 If neither of them replied it either wasn’t sent or disappeared into junk and has been auto deleted by now Will ask probate office to send by post on Monday. They say they can, but I’d need to check whether it has been received first

 

[Glitter]

OMG kebabking can you do a rental agreement?

We considered renting to our eventual buyer whilst we were waiting but were advised strongly against it by our EA as if there was a problem with the sale the renter could make things very difficult once in situ.

 

[moonsi til]

For reasons I rented my previous house for a month before I bought. I must have completed though. But I understand why this would a concern.

 

[A380]

She wants to move in without completion or exchange!!!!!!!

She's got her stuff in the removal van of and is asking if she can bring it all round.

Fuuuuuuuuck off!

Oh yes. What could possibly go wrong? Does she also want you to unload it?

 

[Leafster]

This reminds me of a friend who was trying to sell her late mother's house.

A prospective purchaser asked if they could move in to see if they liked it before they made an offer!

 

[5t3IIa]

I have chosen some paint for the hall, the sitting room and the conservatory. Egyptian this, cotton the other and pineapple crush