Buying a home and don't know how anything works

[Leafster]

Email from solicitor (reply to mine): Searches are currently taking around 4 weeks. Shortly after searches requests have been submitted, we usually receive a estimated date for the return of the local search which is always the last one to be received.

We still await the Contract however at the moment before we can submit searches.

FFS. So this is an issue from the sellers solicitors, right?

Possibly. It could also be that your solicitors simply haven't chased it. Perhaps you could contact your solicitor to ask if they've contacted the other side to ask why there is a delay.

That way you'll know if they've done anything about it or just sat on their hands waiting for a reply.

 

[Brainaddict]

The whole process will be like this I'm afraid. No one will pull their finger out until chased (and you'll often go round the houses trying to find out who can do the chasing). Possibly the best way to deal with it is accept how shit it is and view it as a kind of part time job to keep the process moving for the next couple of months. I got repeatedly pissed off that people weren't doing stuff despite being paid thousands of pounds, but the reality is that this is what house buying is like in England&Wales, it's part of why it is unnecessarily stressful (along with the stupidity of no commitment until exchange). If I'm doing it again I will aim for a zen-like acceptance of the crapness of it all, but easier said than done.

 

[Winot]

I honestly wouldn't rely on that, not even from your own solicitors, and especially not from the estate agent. We ended up phoning the other side's solicitors, making sure they were in the office, and getting the direct dial, and going back to our solicitors and saying PHONE THEM NOW, because he was phoning once a day and just shrugging if they were unavailable. No checking when they would be available, no asking who was dealing with the file in their absence, no followup phonecalls unless we asked. Absolute nightmare.

At one point I ended up saying something like "Phone them at 9 o'clock opening, and every hour after that if they're not available. If you can't reach the handling solicitor by 1pm, then immediately escalate to the supervising partner at their firm." because OUR OWN solicitors were being so shit. Reading that back, I think I will go ahead with the complaint I was contemplating, actually.

Were you on a fixed fee arrangement or paying for time spent?

 

[hash tag]

Yep. Contract has to come from sellers solicitors, though if you don't mind taking the financial risk, I don't see why searches cannot be done in meantime

 

[WouldBe]

We still await the Contract however at the moment before we can submit searches.

FFS. So this is an issue from the sellers solicitors, right?

Contact your solicitor to clarify that. Do they mean the contract for the sale? Or the contract from you to engage them as your solicitor?

 

[prunus]

Email from solicitor (reply to mine): Searches are currently taking around 4 weeks. Shortly after searches requests have been submitted, we usually receive a estimated date for the return of the local search which is always the last one to be received.

We still await the Contract however at the moment before we can submit searches.

FFS. So this is an issue from the sellers solicitors, right?

Yes, the seller’s solicitor usually provides the contact (doesn’t have to be that way, but it’s convention). It’s a boilerplate standard piece of text so shouldn’t take long. It does have the price on it though, so if there’s any indication you might still be thinking of haggling on price they might be holding on until that’s finalised; it can of course be amended later right up until exchange (or even after if both parties agree) but some solicitors will wait until it seems all negotiations are over so they don’t have to go to the enormous trouble of writing a different number on a piece of paper.

It is at least equally as likely however that they’re just rubbish. You want to hope your sellers are calling them daily to push it through. Solicitors have enormous rest inertia.

 

[iamwithnail]

Were you on a fixed fee arrangement or paying for time spent?

Fixed fee.

 

[miss direct]

Possibly. It could also be that your solicitors simply haven't chased it. Perhaps you could contact your solicitor to ask if they've contacted the other side to ask why there is a delay.

That way you'll know if they've done anything about it or just sat on their hands waiting for a reply.

She said they're chasing it.

 

[Winot]

Fixed fee.

That’s the problem with conveyancing. The market sets a very low rate and therefore solicitors give a very bad service. As soon as things get tricky or outside the norm there is no incentive for solicitors to spend more time because they don’t get paid any more.

Not saying that you should have had to put up with that or that you shouldn’t complain.

 

[miss direct]

So I'm now thinking at least two months. Patience is indeed a virtue.

 

[iamwithnail]

miss direct we were about 11.5 weeks from offer to completion if that's a useful reference, no chain on either side.

 

[Boudicca]

In your situation, my next step would be to call the estate agent and get them to call the vendors solicitor and ask why the contract hasn't been sent.

 

[miss direct]

Just emailed her back.

 

[prunus]

So I'm now thinking at least two months. Patience is indeed a virtue.

I haven't been following in detail so apologies if there is a specific reason that's emerged as to why you should, but absent that remember you don't have to get the searches done, you can just insure against any loss instead, to speed things up.

 

[miss direct]

Why is everyone so incompetent? Apparently my own solicitor hasn't bothered to tell anyone that I've instructed them, even though that was done weeks ago. Ffs.

 

[miss direct]

Feel like I'm caught in the middle. Been forwarding emails between the two and my solicitor said normally the seller's solicitor wouldn't wait for confirmation but just get on with it once they got verbal confirmation from EA (but they've sent a letter and emailed). How am I meant to know any of this?

 

[Boudicca]

Feel like I'm caught in the middle.

Congratulations, I think you have now understood the task ahead.

 

[hash tag]

No doubt solicitor or agents will get back to you.


In a few weeks time

Feel like I'm caught in the middle. Been forwarding emails between the two and my solicitor said normally the seller's solicitor wouldn't wait for confirmation but just get on with it once they got verbal confirmation from EA (but they've sent a letter and emailed). How am I meant to know any of this?

 

[miss direct]

Lots of email action today. Solicitor said they're waiting for the sellers to complete the fittings and contents forms and once that's done, they'll prepare the contract. Hurry up sellers.

(Do my solicitors actually need to wait for that before starting the searches??)

 

[WouldBe]

Lots of email action today. Solicitor said they're waiting for the sellers to complete the fittings and contents forms and once that's done, they'll prepare the contract. Hurry up sellers.

(Do my solicitors actually need to wait for that before starting the searches??)

They shouldn't do. That's something they could be getting on with while waiting for the other side.

 

[hash tag]

I doubt it. Little thought, the agents don't get their money (from the seller) until sale is completed. They will be wanting their money as quickly as possible. It's in their interests to get it moving.

 

[miss direct]

Well, I've asked the solicitor exactly that, and also told the EA that I may be keen on any furniture or white goods the sellers are considering leaving.

 

[trashpony]

Well, I've asked the solicitor exactly that, and also told the EA that I may be keen on any furniture or white goods the sellers are considering leaving.

If there's anything you see when you go round to look that isn't on the F&F form, ask them. They may be willing to add it in if you want. Don't buy crap you don't want or need though - it will annoy you.

And also remember that they might leave things that look like they might be really difficult to remove without you paying any extra (a F&F form has space to say that X is included in the sale price or that they'll leave it for £Y).

When I bought my first flat, they said they wanted money for this really lovely bathroom cabinet that was clearly really old and pre-dated them. I looked at the fittings and decided there was no way they could get it off the wall so I told them I wasn't going to pay for it. They left it anyway

And in the last place, the woman said she wanted THREE GRAND for the ugly blue carpets. The estate agent had to point out that you can't leave a flat with bare concrete floors so she had to back down. Which I was really glad about as when she moved out, I found an iron shaped burn in the middle of the carpet in one of the rooms

 

[cybershot]

Feel like I'm caught in the middle. Been forwarding emails between the two and my solicitor said normally the seller's solicitor wouldn't wait for confirmation but just get on with it once they got verbal confirmation from EA (but they've sent a letter and emailed). How am I meant to know any of this?

this won’t fill you with confidence. But get used to it. If you do t hear anything for a week. Chase. Every few days once searches are done.

 

[miss direct]

I thought carpets came with the flat! They're welcome to take the one out of the bathroom though.

 

[WouldBe]

I thought carpets came with the flat! They're welcome to take the one out of the bathroom though.

They normally do but there's nothing to stop the owner taking them provided they state they are not included in the sale.

 

[trashpony]

They normally do but there's nothing to stop the owner taking them provided they state they are not included in the sale.

Except they have to leave the property in a 'reasonable condition' and in the case of that flat, removing the fitted carpets would have left bare concrete floors which isn't considered reasonable.

 

[WouldBe]

Except they have to leave the property in a 'reasonable condition' and in the case of that flat, removing the fitted carpets would have left bare concrete floors which isn't considered reasonable.

Possibly but all the (ex) council flats I've seen round here have vinyl tiles on the concrete floor so it wouldn't be unreasonable if the carpets were removed and when the council prepare to re-let a flat they remove any carpet that's been put in by the previous tenant.

It's unlikely that carpets would be taken by current owner anyway particularly as they are moving in with parents to care for them.

 

[Epona]

When I bought my first flat, ex and I had been living in rented furnished - the foiks we bought the flat from were moving to a flat that had been the show home in a new development and was fully furnished, so we bought (as in paid extra for, on top of the price of the flat) all their furniture and appliances and moved in with it fully furnished - saved them having to get rid of it all and meant we didn't have to start from scratch buying the big necessary items - worked out well for both parties. The only thing we didn't buy was the mattresses, best to get new ones.

So yeah, definitely ask about it if you are interested in them leaving any furniture (either included in the price or to buy separately) - they may not want to of course, but they might be keen if it would make their own move easier in terms of removals, if they wanted new furniture in their new place anyway.

 

[miss direct]

Hoping something will happen next week, even if its just getting the list of fixtures and fittings from the sellers and booking a second viewing. I'd like to take down the wallpaper (there's some fake brick work wall paper in the kitchen and a swirly pschycadelic one on one wall of the living room which both need to go) and have it painted. Although I suppose I can do all that once I'm in.

I'm so keen to get out of where I am. I really can't stand sharing. Even though I've got my own bathroom, the shared space is causing issues. One housemate is a disgusting slob, who fries meat every single morning and never opens windows so the entire house stinks. Never washes up and frequently leaves the sink full of grimy water and all the dirty stuff. Yuck. Im trying to be tolerant and keep telling myself this is just temporary, but every delay is bothering me. Feels like life is on hold.