Currently buying/selling a house? How is it going? READ MOD NOTE POST #1

woodchuck

Just before the pandemic we received approval from principle from Ulster Bank and had started viewing houses. That all went on hold during the lockdown of course, but we plan to start viewing houses again (think it's allowed now under phase 3?).

However our AIP was only for 3 months and that has now expired. Would we be better off reapplying for AIP now or wait until we find a property we're seriously interested in? Realistically I'm surely it will take longer than 3 months to find somewhere.

We're lucky that we both have well paying, secure jobs that haven't been badly affected by Covid. The only impact is that my partners bonus isn't guaranteed anymore and he'll have to wait longer for a pay rise, but that's it. We have pretty decent savings; ~20% deposit and a fair bit left over for renovations and a rainy day. I'd like to think we're still ideal candidates for a mortgage, but have we any reason to be concerned now that the landscape has changed? We were even granted an exemption to the 3.5 lending rule before the pandemic, but we can manage without that.

Rhythmics

Do banks check up with previous landlords / agencies for rent payments in an application, or would they get that info mainly from bank statements?

My share of the rent is sent to my housemate on the first of every month, but he's paid it late a few times.
I found out last week that he was withholding the rent because we have a broken washing machine. Everyone in the house told him to stop doing that, and withhold only his share of the rent if he wants to go on this crusade.

Would a few late payments from another person in the household (when he pays the full amount to the agency) affect the application?

Graham

Rhythmics wrote: »

Do banks check up with previous landlords / agencies for rent payments

no

NearlyForty

Giggles90 wrote: »

We are drawing down our mortgage on friday, all going according to plan. Just got an email today from our broker saying file has been sent to final checks. Just wondering does anyone know what is involved in this process, can they look for anymore documents..I've never been as stressed in my life, just reading all the horror stories about banks pulling out before drawdown

Yup, we’re in the same boat as you! We are drawing down next week and the bank asked us for more recent payslips, bank statements and salary cert/letter from employers to say our circumstances haven’t changed during covid etc.. Our broker came back today to say they are just going through the last checks and should be issuing cheque soon. My nerves waiting!! They have turned down so many people that were so close

Giggles90

NearlyForty wrote: »

Yup, we’re in the same boat as you! We are drawing down next week and the bank asked us for more recent payslips, bank statements and salary cert/letter from employers to say our circumstances haven’t changed during covid etc.. Our broker came back today to say they are just going through the last checks and should be issuing cheque soon. My nerves waiting!! They have turned down so many people that were so close

Yes it is so nerve wrecking, I wont sleep until it is drawn down..we have submitted up to date payslips for may, just wondering can they come back and look for more documents in the next 2 days

DaraDali

NearlyForty wrote: »

Yup, we’re in the same boat as you! We are drawing down next week and the bank asked us for more recent payslips, bank statements and salary cert/letter from employers to say our circumstances haven’t changed during covid etc.. Our broker came back today to say they are just going through the last checks and should be issuing cheque soon. My nerves waiting!! They have turned down so many people that were so close

What bank are you with and which bank are you getting the mortage from if you dont mind me asking?

Hoping to close in two weeks here and signing contracts on thurs

DaraDali

Giggles90 wrote: »

Yes it is so nerve wrecking, I wont sleep until it is drawn down..we have submitted up to date payslips for may, just wondering can they come back and look for more documents in the next 2 days

I submitted a 1 new payslip around 1 week ago and they seems very happy, did they ask yuo for a declaration from your work? if so which bank, sorry for the questions very nervous

Giggles90

DaraDali wrote: »

I submitted a 1 new payslip around 1 week ago and they seems very happy, did they ask yuo for a declaration from your work? if so which bank, sorry for the questions very nervous

We are with finance ireland, no they didnt look for a declaration from work, and hoping they dont as it will be impossible to get by friday

ladystardust

Contracts signed today! Deposit paid. Feels very good I have to say!

dowhatyoulove

Unbelievably - I think Ulsterbank are trying to worm their way out of our drawdown. We requested drawdown early last week (signed papers, everything handed in) and their mortgage team have been appalling - we had so much bother with the help to buy scheme that it’s actually unbelievable that this is happening as well. They didn’t bother chasing up our life insurance policy to get the documents for mortgage which we bought through Ulsterbank. Our valuation runs out on Friday - we thought we’d have loads of time (2 weeks!) to get this done.
Solicitor has been pressuring them as there isn’t anything we can do.

We’ve already given notice on our rental and have 2 weeks until we have to move out - we still don’t even have floors in our new build. Feel sick to my stomach at this point.

Canyon86

Engineer came back with a few major issues he spotted,

In two minds

mimimcmc

Canyon86 wrote: »

Engineer came back with a few major issues he spotted,

In two minds

How major?

lfen

dowhatyoulove wrote: »

Unbelievably - I think Ulsterbank are trying to worm their way out of our drawdown. We requested drawdown early last week (signed papers, everything handed in) and their mortgage team have been appalling - we had so much bother with the help to buy scheme that it’s actually unbelievable that this is happening as well. They didn’t bother chasing up our life insurance policy to get the documents for mortgage which we bought through Ulsterbank. Our valuation runs out on Friday - we thought we’d have loads of time (2 weeks!) to get this done.
Solicitor has been pressuring them as there isn’t anything we can do.

We’ve already given notice on our rental and have 2 weeks until we have to move out - we still don’t even have floors in our new build. Feel sick to my stomach at this point.

I’m not one bit surprised. We’ve paid about 70k deposit, insurances in places, contracts exchanged and once drawdown was requested they wanted to do covid checks. Gave them what they wanted which actually shows business is in a better position than previously. Took them 2 weeks to review and they’ve come back to advise that they’ve put our application on hold?? We’ve lodged an appeal. Absolutely sick!
If I were you I’d have somewhere lined up to stay/rent temporarily.

coughdrops

dowhatyoulove wrote: »

Unbelievably - I think Ulsterbank are trying to worm their way out of our drawdown. We requested drawdown early last week (signed papers, everything handed in) and their mortgage team have been appalling - we had so much bother with the help to buy scheme that it’s actually unbelievable that this is happening as well. They didn’t bother chasing up our life insurance policy to get the documents for mortgage which we bought through Ulsterbank. Our valuation runs out on Friday - we thought we’d have loads of time (2 weeks!) to get this done.
Solicitor has been pressuring them as there isn’t anything we can do.

We’ve already given notice on our rental and have 2 weeks until we have to move out - we still don’t even have floors in our new build. Feel sick to my stomach at this point.

lfen wrote: »

I’m not one bit surprised. We’ve paid about 70k deposit, insurances in places, contracts exchanged and once drawdown was requested they wanted to do covid checks. Gave them what they wanted which actually shows business is in a better position than previously. Took them 2 weeks to review and they’ve come back to advise that they’ve put our application on hold?? We’ve lodged an appeal. Absolutely sick!
If I were you I’d have somewhere lined up to stay/rent temporarily.

Oh jeez, I hope you all get on ok. The stress is unreal.

If you can, maybe extend your let by a month? Even if everything was going smoothly, I would prefer to have a bit of an overlap between the 2 places for breathing room. Of course that is an added cost of rent, appreciate it's not an option for everyone.

TheSheriff

Canyon86 wrote: »

Engineer came back with a few major issues he spotted,

In two minds

What type of issues ? Can you negotiate?

Canyon86

mimimcmc wrote: »

How major?

Heating system needs replacing, poor insulation,boiler, pipes poor

Converted bedroom previously a garage there is problems with insulation and roof and a crack at the side of this also

I m awaiting the full report but these are the two main ones, hopefully not as bad as on phone

Not sure what I ll do from here,

ladystardust

Canyon86 wrote: »

Heating system needs replacing, poor insulation,boiler, pipes poor

Converted bedroom previously a garage there is problems with insulation and roof and a crack at the side of this also

I m awaiting the full report but these are the two main ones, hopefully not as bad as on phone

Not sure what I ll do from here,

I mean really its up to you whether you ste willing to take it on. But heating systems replacement is no joke. Lots of buildings have cracks but it depends if the 3engineer thinks it's a problem. You could get quotes for repair costs and use these figures as basis for renegotia. But really only you know if you are bothered with the hassle of it

TheSheriff

Canyon86 wrote: »

Heating system needs replacing, poor insulation,boiler, pipes poor

Converted bedroom previously a garage there is problems with insulation and roof and a crack at the side of this also

I m awaiting the full report but these are the two main ones, hopefully not as bad as on phone

Not sure what I ll do from here,

Doesn't sound like the worst tbh... if the price is reasonable?

We bought a place knowing it needed a new boiler etc.

dowhatyoulove

lfen wrote: »

I’m not one bit surprised. We’ve paid about 70k deposit, insurances in places, contracts exchanged and once drawdown was requested they wanted to do covid checks. Gave them what they wanted which actually shows business is in a better position than previously. Took them 2 weeks to review and they’ve come back to advise that they’ve put our application on hold?? We’ve lodged an appeal. Absolutely sick!
If I were you I’d have somewhere lined up to stay/rent temporarily.

Oh Christ I’ll have to get something organized in that case. Our landlord isn’t keen to keep us on and we aren’t in a position to stay where we are as we don’t live near any family.
Same, we’d provided everything for Covid etc as well, nothing has changed in our finances at all - except maybe we got to save a bit more as we weren’t going out.
It is the worst stress we’ve ever had - we would have pulled out if it was only at the start but we’ve also paid all our deposit, solicitors, paid for floors Etc and would be out a fortune.

JimmiesRustled

Just an update on our situation. Paid deposit in full in January, Signed contracts early Feb and snagged the house in early Feb. It's a new build. Minor items came up during the snag. Doors not hung correclty, TRV's missing from radiators. That kind of stuff.

Fast forward a couple of months and we finally get notification that the snags from Feb have been completed. At this stage, it's now May. So, walk around the house again ad about 40% of the snags have yet to be completed. Issue an updated report across to the developers solicitor and everything goes quite. After 3 weeks I contact the builder directly and he says they haven't heard anything.

I issue him the report directly and he says all snags will be closed out by the end of the day. Happy days. I pop down to site and sure enough everything is grand.

During this process I'd been put on the Covid subsidy. I got in contact with both my broker and Ulster Bank. They asked for 2 months bank statements for myself and my partner. They also asked that we sign a letter stating that our position hadn't changed.

All grand. Broker and UB are adamant that there's no issue with me drawing down.

We get in touch with our solicitor and ask them to drawdown and close. UB come back to us and ask that we now have to sign that same letter as before, submit 2 months bank statements AND 2 months payslips.

As soon as they saw the payslip and Covid-19 subsidy they came back and said they would not be proceeding or allowing us to drawdown until I could show a payslip without the subsidy.

This after I've emails from both our broker and UB stating that being on the Covid-19 subsidy is no issue and won't effect the drawdown process.

Also, on another note while I remember and it might be useful for others here. I had stated previously that, under advice from our solicitor, we had signed a contract not subject to finance. This basically means that our deposit is forfeit should we not be able to drawdown. Interestingly the HTB will be refunded to revenue but you are liable for the funds that the developer has refunded.

So if you're house price is €350,000 you're deposit is €35,000. €17,500 from yourself and €17,500 from revenue should you be able to claim the HTB. In this case the developer refunds the €17,500 back to Revenue, keeps your €17,500 and chases you for the additional €17,500. In a lot of situations, most first time buyers will have a little over the 5% saved and might not have anywhere near a full 10% saved. It's another cautionary tale I guess, but just be careful.

8-10

Why did the solicitor advise signing not subject to finance? Was there a perceived benefit to that advice?

Graham

Good question. I'd expect the opposite from a solicitor.

I would have expected the solicitor to get the purchaser to sign a statement to say they were signing without subject to finance against the advice of the solicitor.

lfen

JimmiesRustled wrote: »

Just an update on our situation. Paid deposit in full in January, Signed contracts early Feb and snagged the house in early Feb. It's a new build. Minor items came up during the snag. Doors not hung correclty, TRV's missing from radiators. That kind of stuff.

Fast forward a couple of months and we finally get notification that the snags from Feb have been completed. At this stage, it's now May. So, walk around the house again ad about 40% of the snags have yet to be completed. Issue an updated report across to the developers solicitor and everything goes quite. After 3 weeks I contact the builder directly and he says they haven't heard anything.

I issue him the report directly and he says all snags will be closed out by the end of the day. Happy days. I pop down to site and sure enough everything is grand.

During this process I'd been put on the Covid subsidy. I got in contact with both my broker and Ulster Bank. They asked for 2 months bank statements for myself and my partner. They also asked that we sign a letter stating that our position hadn't changed.

All grand. Broker and UB are adamant that there's no issue with me drawing down.

We get in touch with our solicitor and ask them to drawdown and close. UB come back to us and ask that we now have to sign that same letter as before, submit 2 months bank statements AND 2 months payslips.

As soon as they saw the payslip and Covid-19 subsidy they came back and said they would not be proceeding or allowing us to drawdown until I could show a payslip without the subsidy.

This after I've emails from both our broker and UB stating that being on the Covid-19 subsidy is no issue and won't effect the drawdown process.

Also, on another note while I remember and it might be useful for others here. I had stated previously that, under advice from our solicitor, we had signed a contract not subject to finance. This basically means that our deposit is forfeit should we not be able to drawdown. Interestingly the HTB will be refunded to revenue but you are liable for the funds that the developer has refunded.

So if you're house price is €350,000 you're deposit is €35,000. €17,500 from yourself and €17,500 from revenue should you be able to claim the HTB. In this case the developer refunds the €17,500 back to Revenue, keeps your €17,500 and chases you for the additional €17,500. In a lot of situations, most first time buyers will have a little over the 5% saved and might not have anywhere near a full 10% saved. It's another cautionary tale I guess, but just be careful.

I wonder do you have a better case given that you have in writing that your drawdown will not be impacted by covid. Have you run that by your solicitor?
UB had reassured us of the same but on a call so we’ve nothing to fall back on. Our contracts are subject to finance though so at least our deposit is protected. Floors etc in the region ok 5k bought though. Absolutely sick over it.

JimmiesRustled

lfen wrote: »

I wonder do you have a better case given that you have in writing that your drawdown will not be impacted by covid. Have you run that by your solicitor?
UB had reassured us of the same but on a call so we’ve nothing to fall back on. Our contracts are subject to finance though so at least our deposit is protected. Floors etc in the region ok 5k bought though. Absolutely sick over it.

I don't believe so. The statement we've received is basically just times are currently uncertain and we or any lender can change policies.

ELM327

8-10 wrote: »

Why did the solicitor advise signing not subject to finance? Was there a perceived benefit to that advice?

Agree.
I would pursue the solicitor for that cost, as contracts should be subject to mortgage as standard.

JimmiesRustled

8-10 wrote: »

Why did the solicitor advise signing not subject to finance? Was there a perceived benefit to that advice?

Probably unfairly worded. I mean, ultimately it was our choice to proceed with the purchase but we were advised that we'd be extremely hard pushed to find a developer that would accept a contract that was subject to finance and that while subject to finance usually existed in contracts pre 2008, it's no longer normal to see or expect them within contracts now.

awec

ELM327 wrote: »

Agree.
I would pursue the solicitor for that cost, as contracts should be subject to mortgage as standard.

What makes you think this?

Sometimes it'll be there, sometimes it won't, both solicitors need to mutually agree on having it there, and it is not hard to see why vendor solicitors would refuse.

His solicitor should have at least tried to get it put in, but "should be there as standard" is not reality.

harvindhillon

JimmiesRustled wrote: »

Probably unfairly worded. I mean, ultimately it was our choice to proceed with the purchase but we were advised that we'd be extremely hard pushed to find a developer that would accept a contract that was subject to finance and that while subject to finance usually existed in contracts pre 2008, it's no longer normal to see or expect them within contracts now.

Hi Jimmies,

I think that was bad advice, I am in the process of reviewing my contracts as well with my solicitor and this was the first question my solicitor sent back to the builder even before I brought it up. My solicitor got them to insert this clause "subject to finance" into the contract.

My solicitor was a little on the pricey side but was recommended to me by a colleague. A good solicitor is the most important aspect when buying a property.

JL555

Canyon86 wrote: »

Heating system needs replacing, poor insulation,boiler, pipes poor

Converted bedroom previously a garage there is problems with insulation and roof and a crack at the side of this also

I m awaiting the full report but these are the two main ones, hopefully not as bad as on phone

Not sure what I ll do from here,

If these items only came to light after the Engineer's survey and not disclosed by the EA, you should be able to negotiate down if you have no budget for remediation. Get an estimate of remediation costs bring it to your solicitor and see how far it can be pushed.

Bluefoam

Need some advice...

I put a deposit on a house in Feb 2019, completion at the time was to be July 2019.
House is still being built and in Feb 2020 I got a notice to be prepared for draw down.

Now in June, the house is still not finished, and no communication from the developer as to when that might be.... It is now 16 months and no significant communication from the developer whatsoever. I have had to make three separate mortgage applications in that time, including to the central bank for my exemption.

I am in a good financial position with a reasonable salary and almost 30% deposit. However, I am currently on the covid subsidy and a top up from my employer to 85% of my salary. My job is secure though and I have just been added to a life policy as a perk...

Yesterday I got an email from the mortgage broker stating that drawdown with require two pay slips, a guarantee from my employer that I am on full salary and that i am not on the covid subsidy. There is no mention of negotiation, or alternative arrangements...

Can anyone let me know if there is anything I can do, anyone I can contact or whether anyone in a similar circumstance has managed their way through?

I would consider setting aside a sum of money to guarantee mortgage payments, if the bank would accept it.

I have worked hard for the past 10 years to get this house and have literally given up the past two years to dedicate myself to completing this purchase.

Any advice or help would be appreciated