Awaiting contracts from vendors solicitor....

ciarang85

joleen100 wrote: »

I am in the same situation but have being told by estate agent on many occasions that the vendors are in a rush to sell and want a quick sale (the house is currently empty).

Sale agreed and deposit paid the 30th June. Vendors said they have met with their solicitor and contracts are on the way - nothing yet. Very frustrating as I have handed in my notice to my landlord and he is keen for me to give a move out date!!!

Should I keep at the estate agent? I am ready to go my side with mortgage (everything with my solicitor) so just waiting on their contracts to get moving.

Anyone know how long it would take from getting vendors contracts to closing and getting the keys? Trying to not sorry too much.

Thanks

We went sale agreed in November, took us till March to get contracts which we signed straight away and it took the Vendor two months to sign the contracts, Finally got the keys the following June, all the while being told "the vendor wants a quick sale"

Hang in there and make sure you have all your stuff together! It's a really headwrecking time but you will get there!

Once you and the vendor have both signed the contracts it should fly from there. it took us about a month after the contracts were exchanged as the vendors were slow at singing the deeds, as far as i know it should have been quicker

Wesser

Thank you all for your posts. Very reassure g.

I understand that it takes time. But to not even have requested the title deeds at 6 weeks, to me is appalling .
I mean that means the contracts will arrive at probably 11 weeks at minimum.
I don't mean that we will close at 11 or 12 weeks. I mean the contracts only arriving at 11 weeks!!

LirW

Which is still absolutely normal.
A purchase can take up to a year for various reasons.
People often don't think or see how very slow this process is.

Jake2

I just got my contracts 6 weeks after sale agreed and that was with alot of pushing from me from the get go.I was promised a quick sale and they said they would work to an 8 week timeline...probably wont meet that but this is my second time around and first sale fell through it took 8 weeks for those contracts to appear and I couldnt sign for about 13 weeks as my solcitor wasnt happy with them. Anyway the vendor ended up pulling out when it came down to them having to sign so that was a waste of 16 weeks!!!!!

In the 6 weeks I have been waiting I have had my valuation done with the bank got approval from bank and contracts sitting in my solcitors office waiting. I have gone in and provisionally sorted out life insurance as this required visit in person. So I just have to call up and tell them to start it when I have a date. Surveys have been done as I know the bank needed boundary confirmation etc.

My solictor is reviewing contracts now and I hope Im called in to sign this week with any bit of luck....please god I can't take anymore waiting!!!!!! I feel your pain op. Just keep on everyone, I actually found the EA great for getting information on where the vendor is at and she hassled the vendors a bit for me to go in and hassle their solictor to hurry the hell up. She was also able to tell me what they were waiting for ...I find the solictors not great at giving info...so slow. But my solcitor is brilliant he has one day turn around

Out of curiousity, once the contracts arrive with your solicitor, what's next?


(all hypothetical, of course: my solicitor has got my contracts, but is away on holiday, so i have an appointment with her in early september. im wondering what comes next? Assuming i sign on the day at the meeting, how much else is there to do before i can call on the bank to pay out and get the keys?)

LirW

When you sign, you should get a closing date. Once you have that you need to set up life insurance or mortgage protection and house insurance. Also you need to make sure that the bank issues the money in time, that can take a bit so get that done too.
If you haven't done a survey, now is the time.
And for your own sake, take care of water and electricity immediately, depending on how careful the vendor was it can be a real mess and requires calls and waiting times. Same goes for broadband.

TJJP

Keep your bank in the loop too (unless you're a cash buyer). Check your mortgage approval as you don't want that to run out while you're waiting on contracts. Keep everything your side straight and just wait out the various checks needed before the contracts are finally agreed. It's a frustrating process but all you can do is have your parts ready to go as soon as needed.

juke

Deleted User wrote: »

Out of curiousity, once the contracts arrive with your solicitor, what's next?


(all hypothetical, of course: my solicitor has got my contracts, but is away on holiday, so i have an appointment with her in early september. im wondering what comes next? Assuming i sign on the day at the meeting, how much else is there to do before i can call on the bank to pay out and get the keys?)

Does your solicitor have your loan offer?

If no - talk to you bank;
If yes - your solicitor reviews contact/title and raises pre-contractual queries and advises you (before and/or after response from other solicitor - varies);

If responses are ok, you meet solicitor to sign contracts and loan papers;
Closing dated set, you work on your stuff to drawdown your loan cheque (eg house insurance/mortgage protection)
Close - you get keys in exchange for money/loan.

If responses not ok - how long is a piece of string.

juke

juke wrote: »

Does your solicitor have your loan offer?

If no - talk to you bank;
If yes - your solicitor reviews contact/title and raises pre-contractual queries and advises you (before and/or after response from other solicitor - varies);

If responses are ok, you meet solicitor to sign contracts and loan papers;
Closing dated set, you work on your stuff to drawdown your loan cheque (eg house insurance/mortgage protection)
Close - you get keys in exchange for money/loan.

If responses not ok - how long is a piece of string.

My solicitor has my loan offer. The house has had a survey done, i have house insurance on it already (I already live in it).

So it sounds like im nearing the end of the process, so. Things have just taken so, so long of late that I am worried about things lasting forever again after i sign the contract.


Hopefully when I meet the solicitor it'll be all quick from there and a date will be set, as ye guys say. I feel a little more optimistic having read this thread, now.

Jake2

Deleted User wrote: »

Out of curiousity, once the contracts arrive with your solicitor, what's next?


(all hypothetical, of course: my solicitor has got my contracts, but is away on holiday, so i have an appointment with her in early september. im wondering what comes next? Assuming i sign on the day at the meeting, how much else is there to do before i can call on the bank to pay out and get the keys?)

I dont think your solcitor would call you in unless it was to sign the contract I would take that as a good sign. Maybe im wrong and they havent reviewed them yet but I dont see the point of you having to take time off work to have a chat about the contracts its a waste of all your time.

It should be quick once you have signed though

Fingers crossed. I'll update here anyway once it happens. Supposed to be on the 6th september.

Jake2

Deleted User wrote: »

My solicitor has my loan offer. The house has had a survey done, i have house insurance on it already (I already live in it).

So it sounds like im nearing the end of the process, so. Things have just taken so, so long of late that I am worried about things lasting forever again after i sign the contract.


Hopefully when I meet the solicitor it'll be all quick from there and a date will be set, as ye guys say. I feel a little more optimistic having read this thread, now.

How are you living there already sure thats half the battle

Jake2

Jake2 wrote: »

How are you living there already sure thats half the battle

I'm the enemy on boards. I'm buying a council house.

(so naturally I have never worked a day in my life, have a new BMW, 8 holidays a year, free travel, getting the house for free, I'm a single mother, etc.)

LirW

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm the enemy on boards. I'm buying a council house.

(so naturally I have never worked a day in my life, have a new BMW, 8 holidays a year, free travel, getting the house for free, I'm a single mother, etc.)

How dare you :pac:

On a more serious note, once the contracts are signed, you're almost done, you can close once your solicitor is satisfied with all the documents he received and you are good to transfer the money then.
Ask him for the exact closing date, some solicitors won't give you one until they are fully satisfied with the papertrail (like ours, we then received a call to transfer the money and it was closed within days).

Askthe EA

Deleted User wrote: »

A builder I know is of the opinion that the buyers solicitor deliberately holds things up as they get the money from the bank straight away, and by taking long to do it, it gathers interest sitting in the bank, but im not sure if thats really true or not?

Not true. Moneys are held in client accounts which do not get interest.

Solicitor (or her secretary) contacted me today,to let me know there is no map with my stuff from the sellers solicitors. I hope this won't be yet another delay in the process. :mad:

Jake2

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Solicitor (or her secretary) contacted me today,to let me know there is no map with my stuff from the sellers solicitors. I hope this won't be yet another delay in the process. :mad:

Oh god how basic is that...obviously they need to give you that. Hassle them big time every little thing seems to take weeks

liam7831

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Solicitor (or her secretary) contacted me today,to let me know there is no map with my stuff from the sellers solicitors. I hope this won't be yet another delay in the process. :mad:

Min a month to sort this I would estimate

Jake2

Jake2 wrote: »

Oh god how basic is that...obviously they need to give you that. Hassle them big time every little thing seems to take weeks

The solicitors I'm using have two branches. One in Drogheda and one in Ashbourne. One branch represents me, and the other represent the council/seller.

I was lead to believe that by using two branches of the same name, where they often office-share and know each other, it would speed things up.

So far their incompetence has been insane. My initial meeting was in drogheda, when i was advised i could use Ashbourne (couldnt use drogheda as I am not allowed use the same solicitor as the council). So they signed me up with the council, gave me the details of my ashbourne solicitor and said get the stuff sent to ashbourne, they'd be informed.

My stuff arrived in Ashbourne and the solicitor there hadn't a clue what it was. Wasn't expecting it and didn't know who i was as a client. The drogheda office hadn't contacted them at all.

Then when the council sent out their files to their own solicitor (same people in drogheda i talked to initially), they addressed them to the wrong solicitor in the office. You'd think that'd be an easy mistake and would be sorted in 5 minutes and handed to the right solicitor.

Nope.. it took THREE WEEKS to get the file from one solicitor to the other - inside the SAME building. And that only happened because i hounded them over it. (I rang asking for an update and they said they hadn't received anything, but when i rang the council complaining, the council were adamant they had sent the file out).

If I wasn't ringing and ringing them I have no doubt my file would still be sitting on a table somewhere being ignored.

Then when they eventually get their act together and send the file over, they haven't got a map.



If anyone here can figure out what solicitor I'm using, I certainly wouldn't recommend them. It's outright incompetence at this stage. They're a well known and big firm in the area, so I anticipated a much more professional approach to this. They rarely return my calls and have never voluntarily provided any updates (except to say there was no map).


Truth be told, I think the girl in the council dealing with this has a pain in her ass with them too. She didn't sound impressed when I told her about the map thing.

Hopefully she'll rear up on them and move things along a bit.

liam7831 wrote: »

Min a month to sort this I would estimate

I hope not! I still want my appointment to go ahead. Can I still sign contracts and such under the presumption that the council and myself know what is for sale and should there be any issues with the maps, sort it out at a later date? My garden is sandwiched by two others, both privately owned, so there is obviously no issues with boundaries etc.


I'll tell you, i know how the T-1000 felt!

LirW

Well the thing is once you signed contracts there is no turning back. This could potentially be a make it or break it for a bank. If you sign and it turns out the maps are a mess or anything else along the lines and you can't proceed because the bank won't lend you money on this particular house you'll lose your deposit. Better safe than sorry with the biggest purchase in your life.

Jake2

LirW wrote: »

Well the thing is once you signed contracts there is no turning back. This could potentially be a make it or break it for a bank. If you sign and it turns out the maps are a mess or anything else along the lines and you can't proceed because the bank won't lend you money on this particular house you'll lose your deposit. Better safe than sorry with the biggest purchase in your life.

Are you buying using mortgage cause I know one of the conditions I had on mine was the boundary is as shown in the map. Surveyor had to complete boundary check before my solicitor would proceed with signing. I'm buying a detached house in the country so might be a bit different.

Can't get over the incompetence of all that. To think you are paying these people money. Thank god my solicitor is amazing and totally on the ball everything through his door he has response for the next day

I know I've kinda hijacked this thread, but I'll keep updating with my own progress as it's a similar situation and at least gives a bit of real-time insight to someone in the process (i guess?).


Anyway, I met my solicitor, and thy had a map. They said they wanted a more detailed map but this is all they could get. It was a bit of a zoomed-back map and showed a fair few of the surrounding houses (i'd say 100 houses are on the map, at a guess). But it clearly showed my house, and my boundary so ive no idea what a more detailed map will bring.

Anyway, asked was I happy to sign, and i said yes. We spent about an hour all in all going through paperwork, signing documents, over and over. At this point I think I began to appreciate more the sheer level of paperwork involved. The countless signatures for different things. It all seems a little over the top cautious to me.

I can kinda see now why it takes ages to get things moving, but there's no reason i can see as to why house-buying in general needs to be so cumbersome and cluttered. Way too much nonsense involved.


I genuinely believe selling a house and selling a car should be the same process. If you want your car to be more attractive, then you, as the seller, go and get the NCT done, pay the tax, fix the exhaust, polish it, etc. so i genuinely think it should be down to the seller to organise BERs, get maps, have a survey done, etc. and then a buyer can decide to buy based on the info the seller has provided. Or alternatively the seller can do nothing and the buyer can do all that messing, but it makes the house a less attractive purchase as the buyer has to get maps etc. (much like a car with no NCT).


No reason that I can see to have it so cumbersome and difficult with months of paperwork being sorted and solicitors talking to other solicitors. Ludicrous situation clearly designed to generate work and income for certain professions.



But.. anyway.. apologies for my rant..


So my solicitor rang my bank's solicitor (well, Credit Union in my case) and asked, if the paperwork is posted today, what turnaround would their be on the money being released, and they (the CU's solicitor) said about 3-4 weeks maximum.


So although I have been conditioned to not believe a word out of any of the solictor's mouths, we'll see what happens.

Theoretically, I should be a home-owner a month from now. (my meeting was on the 5th).

surrender monkey

Hey KKV, I'm making a guess here but the big scaled map is a file plan map which is attached to the land registry folio. When councils own houses in large groups they will be registered on one big folio.. this is known as a parent folio. Your solicitor will have asked you to identify the property you are purchasing within this map and folio.

The "smaller" map your solicitor is referring to is the map of your actual property Which will be outlined in red and meet the mapping requirements of the land registry. This map is required as a portion of a folio is being transferred as it is used by the land registry to "carve" the land from the parent folio.The Council will generate this map and probably already have done so. This map will be attached to the Transer Order you will sign on completion. It is an absolute requirement to have the map in order to register your ownership in the Land Reg.

Surprised that you say that your solicitor is acting on both sides of the transaction as the Law Society has issued a practice direction advising against this. I'm not sure of the position through when there are two branches if it is allowed or not.

No, no, two separate solicitors, from two separate branches, but operating under the same company name and all know each other and office-share, etc. if that makes sense.

Although truth be told, i can't see why a single solicitor couldn't handle both sides. It makes sense to have separate solicitors in a legal case where I'm putting a claim in against the council cos i fell in a pothole or something, but surely for amicable situations like this, a single solicitor should be able to do it.

Graham

Deleted User wrote: »

but surely for amicable situations like this, a single solicitor should be able to do it.

Sounds good in theory but if something goes wrong on either side.......

Well on Monday I got an email with a more detailed map (pretty much the same exact map but zoomed in, to be honest) and asked if I could confirm that the property outlined on the map matches the property on the ground, and if i am happy to proceed.

I emailed back saying it's accurate and happy to go ahead with it.


At the meeting i had on the 5th they had requested additional info (forms of ID, bills, proof of addresses, etc.) and they got them all a week later (had to wait for Bord Gais to get older bills re-issued to me).


So can I ask ye wise folk of boards.. what's next? As far as I am aware, the process is done now? Maps have been looked at and confirmed as accurate, all IDs and forms have been sent in, BER carried out, survey carried out, valuation carried out, and most importantly a deposit of 10% has been paid and contracts have been signed.


I plan to ring the solicitor later on just to ask. At this point I'm not aggressively chasing things, but just more curious to see what happens next. As far as I am aware I practically own the house now? (but i need the money to be released to me because I am getting extra money as part of the loan, to do some home improvements, and I want to proceed with that, so kinda want to have the cash in my pocket).

Jake2

Deleted User wrote: »

Well on Monday I got an email with a more detailed map (pretty much the same exact map but zoomed in, to be honest) and asked if I could confirm that the property outlined on the map matches the property on the ground, and if i am happy to proceed.

I emailed back saying it's accurate and happy to go ahead with it.


At the meeting i had on the 5th they had requested additional info (forms of ID, bills, proof of addresses, etc.) and they got them all a week later (had to wait for Bord Gais to get older bills re-issued to me).


So can I ask ye wise folk of boards.. what's next? As far as I am aware, the process is done now? Maps have been looked at and confirmed as accurate, all IDs and forms have been sent in, BER carried out, survey carried out, valuation carried out, and most importantly a deposit of 10% has been paid and contracts have been signed.


I plan to ring the solicitor later on just to ask. At this point I'm not aggressively chasing things, but just more curious to see what happens next. As far as I am aware I practically own the house now? (but i need the money to be released to me because I am getting extra money as part of the loan, to do some home improvements, and I want to proceed with that, so kinda want to have the cash in my pocket).

Your solicitor submits everything required to the bank- usually anything listed in the preconditions of the mortgage and the cheque requisition . I assume you have your home insurance and mortgage protection/life insurance in place and once thats all done the bank will issue the money to your solicitor

Jake2

Jake2 wrote: »

Your solicitor submits everything required to the bank- usually anything listed in the preconditions of the mortgage and the cheque requisition . I assume you have your home insurance and mortgage protection/life insurance in place and once thats all done the bank will issue the money to your solicitor

Everything is in order, yeah. All done and dusted (as far as I am aware, anyway).

Is there a general rough idea on the turnaround time for this lark? Rang solicitor earlier but it was their lunch time. Tried to ring this evening but missed their closing time

Jake2

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Everything is in order, yeah. All done and dusted (as far as I am aware, anyway).

Is there a general rough idea on the turnaround time for this lark? Rang solicitor earlier but it was their lunch time. Tried to ring this evening but missed their closing time

Your solicitor should be sorting this out for u. Mine submitted all documents to bank on Monday had money and keys in hand in couple of days . You are just wasting time at this point go get your house if everything is signed and in order I would be looking to close ASAP tell your solicitor it's urgent and u need to be out of your current house by end of next week say anything to hurry them up

Well I'm already in the house as it's a council house I'm buying.

This is the latest from my solicitor today:

I am just responding to some small queries raised by the solicitors acting for the Credit Union and note that the solicitors acting for Louth County Council have sent documents to them for execution. The have told me that as soon as they have those documents back they will be in touch with us to arrange closing.

So from the sounds of that it should be this week or next that i get sorted out I hope. Doesn't seem like, at this stage, there's any point in continuing to harass them.

Although I could be wrong of course. Hopefully by the end of next week I'll be posting here with a big smile on my face.