buying a house.it’s so slow?
February 23rd, 2010 by admin
We had our offer accepted on a house 14 weeks ago, and now we are ready to exchange and the sellers are dragging their heels. they said they would go and live with family until their house is ready so we can move in. but now it’s down to that and they won’t exchange!
They are saying they just want a letter about the extension on the house they are buying, but this doesn’t affect us so I don’t get why they won’t exchange.
I’ve even threatened the estate agents with pulling out as it’s taking so long it is getting silly! but we don’t really want to look else where as we love this house and we are so close I can’t bare to go through all this again.
I’ve called the estate agent twice today and he still hasn’t called back, even my mortgage advisor hasn’t replied to my e-mails.
What more can I do!? any advise greatly appreciated
Sal*UK: I have a solicitor and a mortgage advisor who say what happens with their house doesn’t affect me. I think I will believe my solicitor.
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Sadly the letter they are waiting for about their extension DOES affect you in that their mortgage offer will not be approved without it, therefore the chain will break down.
Frankly no point in threatening the estate agents – they aren’t responsible for this at all.
I suspect the Vendors of the house they are buying didn’t have Planning Permission or something like for the extension on their house.
Edit: OK – but I can tell you truthfully I have seen entire chains break because of this issue – a house can become unsellable without the required Permissions (if they WERE needed in the first place obviously) if permission cannot be gained retrospectively. The owners of the house can either find themselves unable to sell, or in a position where they have to restore the property to its original state at their own cost.
And at the end of the day, if they can’t get a mortgage on the property, your chain WILL break!
Tell them that the next extension is going to cost them $5,000 off the price of the house and if they don’t move or agree, you will pull the offer. Since they don’t seem to care one way or the other about the agreement they have made, it looks like you may have to play hardball with them.
Unfortunately there isn’t really much that you can do in this situation. You’ve done what you can by threatening to pull out but, unless you are willing to follow through on the debt, it doesn’t really carry much weight and people can usually sense these things.
I had the same problem when I bought my house and ended up living with a friend with two months as I had given notice on my flat based on when the completion date was meant to be.
Really, you just have to wait. The best person to do the nagging is your solicitor to their solicitor. If you haven’t got them involved yet do so, it might help.
There are some good answers here and good advise, so I will not repeat it, just to say people threaten to pull out all the time but do not mean it, so estate agents just ignore threats like that as you have said yourself you are not going to pull out are you so you did not mean it either.
Your estate agent is piggy in the middle and can not really do a great deal, the solicitors involved in the chain are the ones that know what is happening and can move things along. Hounding your estate agent every day is only going to piss him off so he will then just ignore you your mortgage broker can not do anything. Your solicitor is the one that is in the know, listen only to him, chase him a couple of times a week but try not to become a pain in the arse.