Moving house

[CXRAndy]

It's just belt and braces, but Nationwide have been atrocious in not getting this sorted much earlier.

It really is last minute with banks/solicitors. .

Re the bedroom, just because it's classed as not a bedroom doesn't mean you can't use it as such. The hiccup is valuation, more bedrooms usually equates to more value

 

[Electric_Andy]

It's just belt and braces, but Nationwide have been atrocious in not getting this sorted much earlier.

It really is last minute with banks/solicitors. .

Re the bedroom, just because it's classed as not a bedroom doesn't mean you can't use it as such. The hiccup is valuation, more bedrooms usually equates to more value

Yes that's right. But they can condemn the bedroom and say it's not fit for use as a bedroom, but can be used as a storage space. But it's looking positive so far, waiting to heat more tomorrow

 

[Electric_Andy]

Well partially good news; Nationwide have accepted the surveyor's report so our buyer has been urging them to confirm the mortgage transfer so we can complete and move tomorrow. Our ever-annoying person at the solicitors put a hold on it saying that she has to have confirmation that the owner of our new house is happy for us to move in. We told her that he was and that he had moved out 2 weeks ago. My anxiety is through the roof, we still don't know for certain if it will all go through. I still cannot book a van (last time I did and had to return it 5 minutes later and I lost £138). Luckily my boss is very understanding so if needed I can take leave tomorrow and Friday.

it is just so frustrating how at least one person, at every stage of the proposed move, has not done their job properly without my partner or our buyer badgering them constantly. And I mean 5/6 times a day. They have all been told about our situation i.e. our buyer has to move on a certain day as she's doing it on her own with 4 young kids, 2 of which are autistic so it's not just a case of throwing a sofa into a van.

I can now see why people say moving house is one of the most stressful things you can do, apart from the death of a loved one. Hopefully the next update will be from our new home where I am relaxing with a sherry

 

[wiggydiggy]

Glad it's moving (punk intended) forward for you. When I moved last year (1st time buyer, deposit and mortgage offer secured) I was shocked at how long (about 4 months) it took to complete given I was buying an empty property with no chain. My issue was my conveyancer who was useless and uncommunicative, found out later my mortgage broker stopped using them for future sales.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Glad it's moving (punk intended) forward for you. When I moved last year (1st time buyer, deposit and mortgage offer secured) I was shocked at how long (about 4 months) it took to complete given I was buying an empty property with no chain. My issue was my conveyancer who was useless and uncommunicative, found out later my mortgage broker stopped using them for future sales.

Yes a friend of mine had the same. His estate agent recommended an online solicitor based 400 miles away. He did not know any better so ended up using them. They were useless at getting back to him, then sent him a contract to sign with the pages of someone else's contract inside so he had to send it back, then they sent a contract in his name only (no mention of his wife) which again had to be sent back. Then they told him due to their delays, if he wanted the money transferred within 5 working days it would be an extra £120 + VAT.

Our Agents who are local, now refuse to work with these national online chain solicitors for that very reason. They say it's just not worth the hassle as there are always problems every time.

 

[wiggydiggy]

Yes a friend of mine had the same. His estate agent recommended an online solicitor based 400 miles away. He did not know any better so ended up using them. They were useless at getting back to him, then sent him a contract to sign with the pages of someone else's contract inside so he had to send it back, then they sent a contract in his name only (no mention of his wife) which again had to be sent back. Then they told him due to their delays, if he wanted the money transferred within 5 working days it would be an extra £120 + VAT.

Our Agents who are local, now refuse to work with these national online chain solicitors for that very reason. They say it's just not worth the hassle as there are always problems every time.

I mean mine was remote but it wasn't a chain, and as a FTB I didn't question it. They just seemed incompetant. Next time I'll be using the local solicitor if I can. The only positive was as I'd gone through a broker it was fees upfront and nothing further so they didn't come with the begging cap later.

 

[SpokeyDokey]

Yes a friend of mine had the same. His estate agent recommended an online solicitor based 400 miles away. He did not know any better so ended up using them. They were useless at getting back to him, then sent him a contract to sign with the pages of someone else's contract inside so he had to send it back, then they sent a contract in his name only (no mention of his wife) which again had to be sent back. Then they told him due to their delays, if he wanted the money transferred within 5 working days it would be an extra £120 + VAT.

Our Agents who are local, now refuse to work with these national online chain solicitors for that very reason. They say it's just not worth the hassle as there are always problems every time.

My last career outpost was in the legal sector albeit nothing to do with conveyancing.

Tardy business tbh. They basically just shove everything into a case management system with date waypoints for different stages of the process. They then react to these as stages become due.

Very difficult to get them to step outside of the system and use some bloody initiative.

 

[Hicky]

My inlaws(specifically FiL) is digging heels in not to move because of the many many horror stories despite it being the best thing that could happen to them(moving closer to us). We had a move 5 yrs ago, no chain., mortgage sorted long before finding the house ZERO issue with the survey....4.5 months!

 

[Electric_Andy]

Well good news, we were informed last Wednesday that we could move 2 days later on the Friday. We loaded a van up on Thursday so we were all ready. The owner kindly gave us the keys on Thursday night so we were able to get half of the moving done. Quite a few issues in the new place (broken hob, bath leaked into downstairs kitchen, downstairs shower not draining, previous owners' junk still in the garden). But the previous owner has been very good, he came around today with a new induction hob and fitted it, plus has trasnferred us £500 to get the shower drainage fixed, and also is coming back on the 27th with his van to remove all of his rubbish and any of ours we want gone.

I'm still stressed out by the whole affair but glad we have the house 80% straight in time for Christmas. I've neevr worked so hard in my life - we've had about a week of 15 hour days lifting, shifting, cleaning and decorating.

 

[Alex321]

My inlaws(specifically FiL) is digging heels in not to move because of the many many horror stories despite it being the best thing that could happen to them(moving closer to us). We had a move 5 yrs ago, no chain., mortgage sorted long before finding the house ZERO issue with the survey....4.5 months!

We moved in 2020, and surprisingly, it only took about the same time as that., though it would have been significantly less without COVID.

We had the offer accepted mid January. There was no chain (Sellers were divorced couple who had already moved out, we were in rented accommodation after selling our previous house), no mortgage requirements, and it all progressed smoothly enough to start. Was looking like about 10 days to completion in mid-March, then the first lockdown hit

But we still actually managed top complete in the last week of May, even with lockdown. A lot of documents got posted, and were witnessed from 2m away by next door neighbours, and when we completed, rather than picking up keys from the Estate Agent branch, they were left under a bin in the back garden.

 

[postman]

We have a plan now to move 2024,this place is too big and the garden and extra land will be a chore.Now the cancer has been set back it's a good time to start.Mrs P has a sister near York so a two bed bungalow around Acomb is the plan.

 

[CXRAndy]

Daughter and her boyfriend have just completed on their new home near us. They have moved from renting in London.

Projects are take out new kitchen units, lay under floor electric heating, tile kitchen/dining area and have rest of house floor in oak flooring. Outside fit sub main to garage, installation of EV charger, fit garage personnel door and rewire garage with future project of solar and batteries

 

[simongt]

Reminds me of the first house I bought back in the 70s. The building society wouldn't approve the mortgage until, among other things, I'd repointed the entire length of the COVERED ginnel between our house and the one next door. As the ginnel was under our prospective property, I was responsible for what was a completely unnecessary job which took several days as I was also working full time.
I was not impressed with the pettiness of the demand.

 

[Dave7]

Reminds me of the first house I bought back in the 70s. The building society wouldn't approve the mortgage until, among other things, I'd repointed the entire length of the COVERED ginnel between our house and the one next door. As the ginnel was under our prospective property, I was responsible for what was a completely unnecessary job which took several days as I was also working full time.
I was not impressed with the pettiness of the demand.

We bought this house in 1982 and the mortgage people said we had to repoint the full back section.
40+ years later and it's never been done.
I suppose some people have to justify having that job.

 

[Electric_Andy]

We are still waiting for various things to be done in the house. I am a cynical person but still I cannot believe how long it takes to do things in this country, and how some simple things result in monumental c0ck ups.

We bought a new sofa on interest free credit. The creditors' website has a known fault so wouldn't let sign the contract. Even DFS couldn't get through to them to sort it out, and they couldn't start our order until this was done. So I had to march in and pay in full out of my savings.

The plumbers who fixed our leaking bath were supposed to come back and re-fit the bath side panel, and also change the taps. That was 3 weeks ago and we can't even get hold of them now.

The downstairs shower fills up when it rains heavily. British Gas Homecare appointed Dyno-rod to sort it out. They have been here 3 times, and have now lied to us; claiming that they have replaced a faulty pipe but I've looked in there and it's still the same dirty old one. We can't tell if they've even fixed the issue yet until we have torrential rain.

We are still finding crap in the garden which the previous owner should have removed. It's too late now, but it's still annoying. There must be half a ton of rotting wood under the decking, a load of rusty tools in the toolshed which we now have to dispose of, and various other garden ornaments that have been covered in grass. Luckily we have a recyling centre nearby, we've done about 8 trips so far.

But hooray, house move done. Never again! We are now chomping at the bit for the weather to improve so we can spend endless weekends getting the garden straight, whilst saving up for the next big purchase which will be a new conservatory roof