The nervous wait to exchange....

Associate
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How long should I expect for the searches to come back? We've received the mortgage offer in the post today with the solicitor saying we should be in within 4-6 weeks from now, from members experiences, do you think this is accurate?

The local authority that I work for is currently processing searches within a week. Whether the solicitors are then sitting on them is another matter. We had to respond to a letter from our sellers solicitor via our solicitor and when we received the letter it was clear from the date stamps that it had sat on our solicitors desk for five days!

In our case we had our searches done weeks ago but the owner of the house two above on the chain is horrifically slow. We got an email today saying she's only just got her searches back.

I think, particularly in a chain, there are so many variables that can hold up exchange. I had hoped we would be done soon but the email about the searches today has really put a downer on that thought.

We've gone from hoping we'd be moved in before Christmas, to hopefully exchange in January to now wondering if we'll be done by the end of February in time for my Birthday.

It's immensely frustrating, the whole process.
 
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South Glos
Hi all,
We're going through the process of purchasing a house and selling our flat.
We received the paperwork from the solicitors yesterday and spotted something that we hadn't anticipated, and that was about the ~10% deposit required at exchange of contracts.

Our plan all along was that we would use the equity on the sale of the flat to act as a deposit and has allowed us to secure (hopefully) at mortgage at 75% ltv (£50k deposit/equity). Obviously though this will only be released at completion so are left with the solicitors wanting £20k that tbh we just don't have kicking about!

I have read something that the deposit essentially gets moved up the chain, so that the FTB'ers buying our flat, their £15k deposit (savings presumably) will move up to us and then up to our seller...? Does that make sense and is that right?

I know that getting on the bottom rung of the property game is hard work and requires a lot of saving but had never considered that the next level requires essentially 2 deposits!? Do peeps buying £400k houses just happen to have £40k stuck in the bank?? I know lots of people buying more expensive houses than me and cant imagine they've got that much £££ in their savings account!

Thanks guys.
 
Soldato
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Wales
Yes the deposit moves up the chain. But obviously the higher you get up the chain if everyone is up sizing the deposits required get greater and greater. There is often a bit of leeway, most people have no issues accepting a couple of % less for similar value properties.

But would you want to be a seller at the top of the chain selling a 500k house with only a 10k deposit coming up the chain?

If you are selling for 150k and buying for 200k it shouldn't be an issue using your sale deposit on the purchase.
 
Soldato
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11 Apr 2004
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19,807
I've had my mortgage offer and the searches have started to come through from my solicitor. Some warnings of contaminated ground but it's an old mining area so to be expected really.

So far nothing to be overly concerned about which is good. My solicitor seems to be pretty decent, I hear from them every few days with updates. I can't say the same for the seller's solicitor though. My solicitor has contacted them a few times to clarify some details and to my knowledge, hasn't heard anything back.

I was talking to my mortgage advisor about life insurance and payment protection. Bit of a minefield trying to decide what I do and don't need. I feel that I should have something in place but don't want to pay over the odds for something I'll hopefully never use.
 
Soldato
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Caddington
Dealing with this myself at the moment. Made extra fun by online statements not being acceptable unless they are stamped by the bank and my savings account (NS&I) seeming to have no statements available at all.

Yeah one of ours was NS&I. The solicitor verified the account for us as I took screenshots of the account and it showing our current address and the payments coming into NS&I, Then logged into the NS&I account in their office to show funds. We still had to prove where the initial funds came from but was relatively easy after that.

How long should I expect for the searches to come back? We've received the mortgage offer in the post today with the solicitor saying we should be in within 4-6 weeks from now, from members experiences, do you think this is accurate?

Our searches took 3 weeks, The people whom we bought from however, Their searches took 9 weeks from memory. It really depends on how quickly the local council and how organised the solicitors are. Sorry


OH AND WE MOVED... All done... I have come back into work for a break as good god am I tired. However the previous owners did an amazing job cleaning and labeling, Providing access to everything. There is a little panels all over the house (hidden away) that comes off and it has all of the pipes and cables labelled as to what they are. Upstairs on the floors under the carpets (we pulled one up to have a look) there are markers on the floor where junction boxes or lights are downstairs. He even did a whole binder full of things we should know I.E what to do if the water pressure drops, How to empty the water tank and how to access certain things. It is amazing.

Still feels very weird being in a new house though, Isn't quite ours and is very surreal. Guess a splash of paint is required to make it our own.
 
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Finally getting somewhere, found the house, had the offer accepted and mortgage has been agreed in principal

Now just the last step to get it fully agreed by the lender and then for the legal people to do their stuff
 
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Devonia :)
Still feels very weird being in a new house though, Isn't quite ours and is very surreal. Guess a splash of paint is required to make it our own.

Our last house was like that, it felt like being on holiday, staying in someone else's house and it didn't go away for ages... We have been in our new place now for two months and its been the complete opposite; from the moment we crossed the threshold we were home, like we had always lived here, despite the chaos of boxes etc. There are things we want to do and change, but don't feel in any rush as that feeling of making it our own exists already. I think part of the reason is for both of us it reminds us of aspect of our childhood homes, which is something we've both wanted to get back to; a rural life again after twenty years of being in, and then on the edge of town, which never suited us.

Anyway, I'm done with house moving now... I ain't going through what we did again last year; it was basically a year of our life written-off and full of stress and anxiety. The process seems such a horrible drawn-out mess in this country.

Good luck to those going down this path.
 
Soldato
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Anyone had an issue where the people who are buying your house, their survey is taking ages?

They said they request the survey 10 days ago but still havent even received a date its going to take place.

Meanwhile we requested a survey from our lender and its booked in within 24 hours?

I want to get the survey over and done with so we know exactly what we'll be getting for the house and the waiting is frustrating
 
Soldato
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Caddington
I think ours is simply the size of it. It is bigger than anything either of us grew up in being a around 2100-2200 sqft and a little under double the size of our previous home which was around 1100 sqft. We simply do not have the stuff to go in the house and it all just seems like we are on holiday as its too big, too empty, the wrong colors and has none of our character yet. The one room we have managed to sort feels like home as it very much resembles our old living room. The rest is starting to feel that way as things get placed and organised but it 100% needs a new coat of paint for us to really feel at home.

I guess a part of us also cannot quite get our heads around the fact we went from buying a 3 bed semi detached £235k house 4 1/2 years ago to buying a 4 bed detached with study, converted garage, living room, dining room, sitting room and a massive workshop coming in at 510k. Life has changed a lot and its almost like we are in a dream.
 
Soldato
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3 Oct 2009
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Wales
Anyone had an issue where the people who are buying your house, their survey is taking ages?

They said they request the survey 10 days ago but still havent even received a date its going to take place.

Meanwhile we requested a survey from our lender and its booked in within 24 hours?

I want to get the survey over and done with so we know exactly what we'll be getting for the house and the waiting is frustrating
My survey was arranged through Halifax and they used Countrywide Surveyors who took nearly 3 weeks to go out to the property.
 
Soldato
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Anyone had a report of high levels of damp come back in the homebuyers report? I am not sure how seriously to take it as I don't think their methods for detecting it would be very accurate? The property was built in around 1900 and has an old chimney which has been blocked up, which the report indicates is the cause.
 
Soldato
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Under The Desk, Wales
Anyone had a report of high levels of damp come back in the homebuyers report? I am not sure how seriously to take it as I don't think their methods for detecting it would be very accurate? The property was built in around 1900 and has an old chimney which has been blocked up, which the report indicates is the cause.

Get a 2nd opinion. 1900 houses can be quite damp.
 
Soldato
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Anyone had a report of high levels of damp come back in the homebuyers report? I am not sure how seriously to take it as I don't think their methods for detecting it would be very accurate? The property was built in around 1900 and has an old chimney which has been blocked up, which the report indicates is the cause.
Mine did - 1960s council house. It recommended a specialist damp report which I had done with Peter Cox. This was after I'd done some research and found out about all the potential for fraudulent damp reports and recommendations for expensive unnecessary remedial works.

The damp survey came back to say that on the ground floor, about 50% of the external walls and one of the internal walls were suffering from rising damp, and recommending a new DPC being injected (by them), and all the internal walls having the plaster stepped and re-done using their specialist damp proof render. The upstairs was also reported to suffer badly from condensation, which I'd already seen when I viewed as one of the rooms was being used to dry clothes with the window obviously never being opened :eek:

So I moved in and I thought I'd get the place stripped, ventilated and heated for a while before considering whether it needed anything doing. In the lounge/diner the carpet was damp in a number of places and there was thick vinyl wallpaper on the walls. Stripped it all and on the blocked up chimney the plaster was soaking wet :eek: The air vent was completely blocked and the wallpaper was waterproof so the wall obviously couldn't breathe at all. Within a week it was dry and there's no evidence of moisture coming from anywhere else. All signs point to it coming in from the chimney and tracking along the carpet. I'll get a better chimney cap fitted just to be on the safe side but the vent is working fine for now. Upstairs is also completely dry.

Tl;dr survey said rising damp, I ventilated and heated and now it's fine.
 
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Devonia :)
I guess a part of us also cannot quite get our heads around the fact we went from buying a 3 bed semi detached £235k house 4 1/2 years ago to buying a 4 bed detached with study, converted garage, living room, dining room, sitting room and a massive workshop coming in at 510k. Life has changed a lot and its almost like we are in a dream.

That's quite a change, and something only time will get your head around... sounds great though and a dream indeed!... We went from a 1970's bungalow, with a little patch of garden surrounded by other houses (lovely views though, as it was on a steep hill) to a Victorian cottage with an acre of land surrounded by fields... but its very much like the house I grew up in, and so feels like coming home. Can't wait for Spring and the chance to get out in the garden and do some work (the land is sodden currently) veg, chickens and maybe some bees, but that's for another thread.

Re: damp... this guys site was an eye-opener to me, and shows some of the shocking stuff done in the name of - the con - that is a large part of the damp industry.
https://www.youtube.com/user/stibnite11/videos
 
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Mortgage has now been agreed by the bank pending their valuation. Feels like we are moving forwards now

This is the "soulless box" that we have bought. I know a lot aren't keen on new builds but this ticks all the boxes. Tried finding older cottages / houses but there just weren't any that didn't need a lot of work doing that I don't have the funds for

http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-60385774.html?premiumA=true
 
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