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

Is it not normal for things to get a bit quiet at this time of year?

I drew down on maternity leave but was very fortunate that I was getting my full salary and the maternity benefit wasn’t on my payslip so it didn’t impact their calculations. If we’d been delayed I knew I might have to go back without taking unpaid leave so that I could show a normal payslip.

If you could get the mortgage on your income alone then you should be ok. E.g. it’s less then 3.5 times your own income. Otherwise they might want to wait until your wife is back at work before they let you draw down. I think the policies vary by bank. Bear in mind, banks include your children in their calculations of how much money you need left over each month. I believe it’s an additional €250 per child. They will also take account of your childcare costs if you have any when your wife goes back to work.

It’s worth talking to your loan officer/broker. They want to get you the money - perhaps unlike the underwriters - and should be able to give some clarity on their policies.

Thanks. You were right. Hounded the bank all week. Finally got the right person who got it escalated and the money was in the solicitors account within hours. So should be closing tomorrow afternoon. Yippee!

Sorry house we were buying I ment to say.

It hasn't even been lodged?

A friend bought a probate house, documents lodged in January. Probate didn't clear until September.

Every application takes 8-12 weeks after lodgement but if theres any queries at all it goes back to the end of the line and it's another 8-12 weeks. Queries can be as simple as a typo.

We're now confident enough in our purchase going through to serve notice to end our lease. I'm just wondering, does anyone know what notice is required for us? We are still under a 1-year fixed contract which was due to end in December. I was under the impression that you generally needed to give 1 month's notice to end even a fixed term contract, but we didn't quite get in early enough to do this. Now that we haven't, does a part 4 tenancy kick in for the last month and now we need to give 42 days notice instead?

That's a great surprise to get on a Friday morning! Congratulations.

Yep, should be in with enough time to set up decorations and the tree and everything. The sellers have kids so I imagine they were pretty keen to get it all done in time for that too.

I know normally there are special terms like the 35 or 42 days that have to be given, but I thought that for fixed leases the rules might be different. I've sent notice to the LL anyway, and we've generally had a good relationship so hopefully we can work something out. I'm sure on their end it would be a lot easier to fill an apartment in early December instead of on the 17th.

Just started this "journey" of buying one house whilst selling our own. The house we're buying is in Donegal whilst we are selling ours here in Dublin. Does anyone know a decent surveyor based in the Letterkenny to Dungloe area? We were recommended one but apparently the company no longer does them.

Yeah you just go into your bank. Bring ID. If your solicitor is the same bank as you it will go in same day once you go in before 3pm or so.

Has anyone who's purchased an apartment run into this situation before? About to close on buying the apartment I'm renting from the landlord and finalised all the necessary bits for the mortgage drawdown, and then at the last second the bank has suddenly decided that the block insurance policy schedule, which I provided to them months ago and they were previously happy with, is now "unacceptable" because it doesn't explicitly list my unit number on it (which of course is true, as it's a block policy and covers the entire development, which is clearly named and specified on the policy documents...), and so they are now demanding documentation that the insurance covers my unit specifically. I have my solicitor checking with the seller's solicitor to see what we can get, but the management company has historically been very slow and unresponsive to queries (which is part of why this has been dragging on for months), so there's no telling. Is what the bank is asking for normal and reasonable, or has my application just ended up in the hands of some clueless rep who doesn't understand the concept of a block policy? Is it worth trying to escalate this at the bank, or am I going to need to hope my solicitor can convince the seller's solicitor to get the management company to contact their insurance provider to get this documentation and somehow have that done before my mortgage offer expires in a couple months?

We're selling in Dublin 16 and enquiries have been slow. Estate Agent said the market has slowed a bit in the last week or 2.

ANyone I know who has been selling or or looking have basically put themselves ob hild til after Christmas. Noone want to be having viewings coming up to Christmas so i think less new supply will be available then too.

I was going to viewings up until Dec 15th or so last year. I dont think you'd need to take it off the market tbh.