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Is stressful. Is anyone else in the process at the minute? I might lose it at any minute...
We did it in that small gap between things being lifted around July through to October. Was a bit stressful but I don't think Covid had a massive part to play, I think it was more a combination of dickhead solicitors and the person at the top of the chain playing silly buggers.
We're in the middle of the 'quiet' spell between agreeing a sale and waiting for solicitors/banks etc. to get their fingers out and make it official.
Covid shouldn't change anything as all travel related to property sales appears to still be considered 'essential' so we're just waiting for new property to come on the market so we can view.
Ours fell through back in October, buyer didnt like the extension next door. The process I thought was still quite smooth up till then.
Only thing I found stressful was how shit the estate agents were and tidying the house before viewings after a rampaging toddler has run through it.
We'll probably miss out on the stamp duty holiday when we put our house back up for sale, be thankful you'll take advantage of that (if you qualify obviously).
We did & were in at the end of July.
Just buying a house is stressful anyway, dealing with sellers who use cheap solicitors makes the whole thing very painful.
We've been doing it since October. Apparently our local searches have come back now (were predicted for march!). Can't say it's fun.
We made our offer in August and it became apparent that the top of the chain is a new build that isn't ready and won't be until the end of January. Between then and now we've been hassled weekly to exchange contracts "or the chain will break" but we've held out. Now we've been given a date of the end of the month for completion but our solicitor advises us not to exchange until closer to the time, ideally on the same day as completion!
Not buying, but selling. We put our house up for sale at the beginning of March, agreed a sale within a week and then went into lockdown. The problem was there was unclear/ conflicting legal advice - we were told we had to exchange and complete on the same day because if you exchanged and then one of the parties caught COVID they might die before completion. Our estate agent 'expediter' went AWOL for a few weeks which was a bit frustrating. We ended up having to push the solicitors to allow us to exchange/complete a week apart- they made us sign a waiver effectively to say we were ignoring their advice and it wasn't their fault if it went tits-up.
One of the difficulties was that some estate agents completely closed down in Scotland - we were looking for a rental. You'd see somewhere online to be told that 200 people were waiting to view and they weren't doing viewings. We ended up agreeing to a rental without a viewing.
We moved during lockdown and half-expected to get stopped somewhere by the police during our 10 hour drive.
At least now the guidance is a bit clearer and that viewing property and moving is seen as an essential journey.
We're having a new house built and had hoped that it would be finished before the stamp duty/LBBT holiday - delays to planning and delivery of building supplies probably means it won't happen on time so that'll be £5-10k of extra bills for extra rent/storage/LBBT costs to suck up.
Same experience as @DaveyBoyWonder. Travelled as soon as we could stay overnight (we moved several hundred miles!) and fortunately had an offer accepted on our second round of viewings. Actually moved just before lockdown 2.0. Banks were pretty quick to approve mortgage etc with minimal encouragement which was a really big help.
Nothing too problematic due to covid. Our solicitors were clued up with moving things to email where possible and got things moving as well as they could (other members of the chain were less helpful!).
i am and it is such a slow process that I am getting lukewarm about the purchase now.
We were during the first lockdown! Everything literally just stopped for a few weeks when lockdown kicked in and even when it was resumed everything was soooo sloooooow. Complete nightmare from start to finish tbh. But, everything worked out in the end! You'd have thought the homeworking stuff was sorted now so hopefully this new lockdown shouldn't have too much impact?
Our house went up for sale on 11/12/19 sold at the end of feb 2020 we bought something else and they own it all went to shit.
Our purchase fell through on exchange day because the seller changed his mind. So we moved into a rented house while we looked for something else. Found another one in August, that seller also changed their mind, finally moved into our nee house on 3/12/20.
The original house back we tried to buy is now back on the market for £15k more than we were paying. What a bellend.
I don’t ever want to move again, it’s been horrific. Hopefully we shouldn’t have to now, plenty of space inside, manageable garden good riding nearby, just round the corner from our old house.
I think starting now shouldn’t be as bad becau All of the estate agents are set up for it now, we had massive delays because no one was working for months. You can still move during this lockdown.
We're just getting ready to exchange and should complete later this month.
Solicitors have been a nightmare to deal with, slow doesn't do them justice! I've used the same solicitor previously and they were great but it's painfully slow at the moment and they're just blaming Covid.
Hopefully completing next week.
This is the third time we've bought property and each time I become more convinced that estate agents are a completely useless waste of time and space.
I don't understand how something so simple can take so looooong. Pretty sure solicitors schedule at least a week between any actions they take.
Don't think covid has really made any difference though
My inlaws moved at the beginning of Dec - the whole process was immensely tortuous, but not (on the whole) as a result of Covid, more a combination of both parties' intransigence and their respective solicitors not being great.
Whilst not moving, we were due to remortgage at the end of the year, but for reasons presently unknown it didn't go through, so we've been whacked with our lender's standard variable rate for this month. Currently awaiting an explanation from our broker as to exactly what went wrong with, with bated breath...
My wife has over 25yrs in conveyancing. Some of the stories she tells me are rather amazing. She works for a solicitors who you would probably class as expensive but much more personable. It seems the majority of people value saving a few quid on solicitors over paying a few quid more for quality.
That said, from what she has described of the other solicitors and clients it usually boils down to a few things.
Clients never listen. You can spell something out in one syllable words and they only hear what they want to hear
You can be the best solicitor in the world but you are relying on other solicitors within the chain. If one of them is a freebie/cheap solicitor thrown in on a newbuild purchase the whole chain will suffer.
Covid changed a lot of things but even when clients are told in no uncertain terms, the client still thinks they have a right to be able to circumvent it. My wife told me of one client on the phone to her giving it both barrells about something that was completly out of their hands. The guy asked to speak to the managing partner and when my wife tried to put him through she found that the clients wife was already speaking to him, getting told exactly the same info and wasting another persons time.
Its a bit like everything. You get good and bad but the sensible people try their best to avoid the bad. I wonder if we ever see the bad in ourselves?
@ihn to the thread please
Your wish, my master...
We’re in the middle of the ‘quiet’ spell between agreeing a sale and waiting for solicitors/banks etc. to get their fingers out and make it official.
Same here. Have a sale agreed on ours and and offer agreed on the one we're going to buy, managed to get a bit more for ours by agreeing to break the chain (we'll move in with my folks for a few weeks if needs be), managed to get the folks we're buying off to do the same too by offering asking price, so chances of completing by the end of March (for Rishi's Stamp Duty deal) are as good as they can be.
Stressful bit was finding somewhere, as a long distance move into a higher tier area meant no staying over, so more weekends than I could bear driving three hours up and three hours back again, Saturday and Sunday, to look at properties.
Covid shouldn’t change anything as all travel related to property sales appears to still be considered ‘essential’ so we’re just waiting for new property to come on the market so we can view.
If you've not got an offer in place by now, you know you're chances of completing by the end of march are really slim, right? (if that matters, obvs)
We ended up having to push the solicitors to allow us to exchange/complete a week apart- they made us sign a waiver effectively to say we were ignoring their advice and it wasn’t their fault if it went tits-up.
This is what they are wanting us to sign if we won't do it on the same day, not sure i'm comfortable at all with signing it, did you?
We completed early December, took most of 2020 and I had to constantly push everybody to get anything done. Seems working from home when you work for a bank doesn't actually mean working as there were several steps that they couldn't complete when not in the office. Frustratingly it also means that they can't tell you about these delays "because of covid".
Similar for conveyancing, seems it is still a largely paper driven process and that doesn't work well when solicitors are working from home. It also seems that they can't keep people updated on delays "because of covid".
Local searches took 3 or 4 times longer than expected because of limiting the number of people allowed into the building. You guessed it, they also cant keep you updated on the endless slipping deadlines "because of covid".
The one thing that does work well from home is the solicitors billing department, they tried to change me more because of all the chasing they had to do "because of covid". I politely told them to get knotted as all the chasing was done by me and that included chasing our solicitor. I pointed out that if it wasn't for me constantly chasing them there would be no sale and they wouldn't be due any money at all.
All in, a very, very frustrating process.
Put my girlfriends up for sale the week before lockdown 1.....had 1 offer but declined. Nothing then happened until viewings started again in June. Accepted an offer in July....it still hasn't completed....mainly because the buyer is a little baby and his solicitor is inept. We're pulling out this month and just renting it out if it doesn't complete. We've already moved out and moved on basically!
The next job is to finish renovating mine and sell that this year!
In the process of moving and it’s been a complete pain in the arse, not just because of covid but linked.
So we are trying to sell our two bedroom flat which while it’s been put on the market at a good realistic price for the area we haven’t had that many people view it or any offers. The first time buyers market is shot at the moment because of covid, job uncertainty, banks wanting a bigger deposit and proof that it’s all your money and not from the bank of mum & dad. Less people want to live in a flat if you are in lockdown and the area I live is satiated with flats for sale, a mixture of new builds and people getting rid of buy to let’s because of change in tax rules (and what can be claimed back).
The houses we have been looking at are 3/4 bed (happy to go for 3 if all good sizes but realistically it’s 3 and a box). Most of the 4 are converted to 4 with mixed results of effectiveness (not square rooms, extension that limits access somewhere else to the property). Have looked into properties that need a lot of work to even live in (and stay in the flat) but prices are cheaper (just get to put your own stamp on it). The biggest fun and games has been any property that comes on for sale at a good price for what it is sells before it even gets on Rightmove or once it’s dropped in price (£25k being the norm).
In the end we have put on offer on a house (only the second offer we have done) at the asking price. They did have another offer beforehand but they did not have a mortgage in principle. It’s below our budget because it’s location so the plan is to rent the flat out as we can’t sell at the moment and home to sell within 3 years (to be able to claim stamp duty back), if not will keep renting it out.
The fun and games for us has been the people that we are buying from the a house above has fallen through (that house had changed estate agents and previsionly sold (to the people we are buying from) but other people had views and put an offer in through the original estate agents by an extra £20k right before Xmas. Our sellers have matched that but the other buyer have put an even higher on the house). They were only selling because they had seen this house (one off old wooden cottage) so unless they find something they really want we’re not moving ay time soon and if we do move the stamp duty freeze will have run out.
If you’ve not got an offer in place by now, you know you’re chances of completing by the end of march are really slim, right? (if that matters, obvs)
Yeah, thankfully the buyers made a great offer, so even if we miss out on stamp duty holiday we're still quids in.
However, I am worried that the buyers might have budgetted assuming stamp duty holiday! I guess if we move out and they move out in time it's not a problem, we'll just end up living with in-laws (and I'll end up accruing mega-brownie points given this is all wife's idea and it's her parents we'd be crashing with....).
Well, I just got an email from my solicitor with the environmental report for the place we're buying. Smashing, I thought, good to see they're on it.
Open the report.
Hang on, thinks I, this is for the place I'm selling...
Mail the solicitor asking if they've done the report on the wrong property. Apparently there was a 'typing error'. Wasn't there just, when you typed the address in to the search wotsit...
Selling our house and buying another at the moment too. Sale / purchase both agreed back in October. All the surveys and everything are all done, buyer wanted to negotiate slightly on price but that's agreed now. Our seller has moved out (to Norway) so the house is empty. I really want to get moving as fast as possible, but currently the solicitors do not appear to be answering phones or emails.
Do your buyers want to purchase those searches? 😀
Hopefully moving at the end of January, all been a bit slow but no major hassles. Out buyers are very keen to get in before school catchment dates but somehow are doing things slower than we are, still I'll be moving to somewhere with an epic double garage man cave vaulted roof bike storage paradise so it's all good, there is handily a house attached to it as well!
Wife & her ex's house went on the market in July 2019, between time wasters and chancers we finally got an exchange date of 23rd March 2020 then the chain collapsed because of covid, so back to square one, finally completed at end of Nov. Recon lockdown #1 cost us about £15k but very relieved not to have to nurse an unloved & empty victorian house through the winter.
We ended up having to push the solicitors to allow us to exchange/complete a week apart- they made us sign a waiver effectively to say we were ignoring their advice and it wasn’t their fault if it went tits-up.
This is what they are wanting us to sign if we won’t do it on the same day, not sure i’m comfortable at all with signing it, did you?
I was OK with the solicitor's waiver, me and Mrs DB agreed that if either one of us was seriously ill or died from COVID we'd move anyway
Yep selling on England buying in Scotland
What a mess...
Still hoping that by the end of the month I can put it behind me!
We’re due to complete on Friday with our sale, but new one isn’t going to complete until end Feb at earliest due to COVID shenanigans, so it’s full #hobolife for us as we’ve moved all out gear into storage and will be living in our motor home on my parents drive way until
Completion. It’s going to be a long 8 weeks I think...
No further forward and even less certainty now from the solicitors. It just feels like the solicitors aren't speaking to each other or any of their clients properly and it's leading to us all being somewhat confused and since we aren't the legal experts we don't understand what we're telling each other.
Or, someone is playing silly buggers somewhere in the chain.
Completed on 11/12 and moved on 13/12 - huge pain in the arse but more because of estate agents and solicitors than Covid.
So many bullshit inputs from various independents - the land registry map which isn't to scale so it's effectively useless or the structural survey by the guy who failed to notice the hidden doorway.
I would love to know why it takes so long, there appears to be a couple of hours work in digging out none binding documentation etc and yet by the time it gets passed back and forth and sat on desks 4 bloody months have passed.
And NatWest can gtf as well, they've got an online only mortgage app thing but you need to ring them to see if there anything you need to do because they don't put actions on the app. Or tell you that that's the case.
I would love to know why it takes so long, there appears to be a couple of hours work in digging out none binding documentation etc and yet by the time it gets passed back and forth and sat on desks 4 bloody months have passed.
Why admit it takes a couple of hours of moving paperwork around when they can have people convinced it takes months and charge them accordingly I guess...
Currently under offer but can't find anything else as there is such little on the market. I have had a previous buyer lose their buyer. Considering currently throwing in the UK towel and moving overseas.
We are buying a house we dont really want in an area we dont particularly want to live in - because its the only way we can get out of renting and keep my job! Plodding along slowly, the vendors solicitors took nearly a month to get the draft contract to our solicitor after we'd agreed the deal! Christmas got in the way so or Solicitor has only just applied for the searches! It needs to be done by the 31st March but I'm not packing boxes just yet!
It's clearly a good time to own a removals firm. We've had two quotes so far, and they were both three times what we paid for a similar move five years ago.
Been quoted 950 plus vat for 2x Lutons 190mile one way trip.
Cant decide if just to do it myself but I've then got 4 trips to do instead of 1 as I'll need to come back to drop the Van's off...
@duncancallum it's not just the vans, it's the blokes plus their experience in the logistics of a house move! £950 is a bargain for the amount of stress/work/time it will save you (assuming they're decent). I wouldn't move myself if you paid me 🙂
Oh, and the solicitor tried to charge us stamp duty despite the stamp duty holiday so watch out for that.
I know 950s not bad I'm just tight.
Plus the money saved goes into my garage build😅
We viewed last day before the second Welsh lockdown and moved into the new property seven weeks later.
Our solicitor was just AweSoMe, he was on it from minute one, our buyers solicitor must have been cut from the same cloth!! We would have moved in five weeks if it weren't for the wait for our local search.