Come tell me your buying/selling disaster stories to cheer me up

[maswera]

We put an offer in on a house in DECEMBER last year. No chain either side so should have been simple. Then the legal wranglings started and found all kinds of lease issues that needed sorting out which took MONTHS. Once they were finally sorted we had to get a structural engineer in to look at something - which fortunately turned out not to be too big a deal so it looked like we were on the home straight. Now, at the final hurdle, another issue has come up that will take weeks to get sorted out, so we are better off starting again. I am most :(

Now I know it's not the worst disaster to befall humankind, but I am proper fed up as we have a 7m old DS (who wasn't even born when the offer went in!), are living in a tiny house in a grotty area, and still have DS in our room as the spare room smells of fag smoke that comes through from our shouty alcoholic neighbours...

So come and tell me your buying/selling horror stories so that when the next person helpfully says to me "Oooh I've never known a house puchase to take that long" I can smile serenely and know I'm not the only one...

[Poledra]

For the house we're currently in, we put the offer in in August and finally moved in in February. There was a problem with the land registry documents - as they were drawn up, the utility room on our house was standing on next door's property! We had to pay for a surveyor to go in and survey the property to show that the documents were wrong. Then the house seller tried to brow-beat us into buying the house as it stood, and he'd 'get it sorted out later'. We refused. He then threatened to put the house back on the market so DH said 'Go ahead, mate, I'm not buying it with those documents.' Finally, they gave in and realised that DH is as stubborn as a mule pigheaded very strong on these matters. The Land Registry admitted they had drawn up the docs from an old map, came out and properly surveyed it, and redrew the docs.

Our solicitor told DH that he was to be admired, she was not sure she would have been so insistent if she had been the buyer. Mind you, she was pretty useless......

The happy ending is that we have been in this house for 9 years now, all three of our DDs have been born while we've been here and it's been a very happy home for us (though we may have to leave it in a few years as DD3 was a little extra addition we hadn't originally planned on and we've only got 3 bedrooms ).

[Gonzo33]

The house I own now, which was a fabulous family home until a couple of years ago when hubby's job took us abroad and we acquired another child, took over 7 months to complete. Originally I had sold my house (divorce proceeding) and moved in with my Mum. This was supposed to be only a month. Until the vendors found a bankruptcy order on the house that they were buying and to complicate matters it was a probate case. Took just over 7 months to sort, and by then I was pulling my hair out because I also had a baby - he was 14 mths when we eventually moved in!

[maswera]

There we go. It is entirely possible to have a house purchase take months and the world not to end as a result. I must try to bear that in mind..... Thanks for the stories and glad all turned out well in the end!

[notcitrus]

We had an offer accepted on an ex-council place, at the top end of our budget.
The survey valuation came back: great condition, overlooks a nice park, excellent location for shops and transport etc, lovely - but ugh! There's council tenants within 100 metres!
Get new mortgage and valuation, no problem. Eventually get to day of exchange. When seller decides he's changed his mind and isn't going to sell.

However - the next day a local estate agent phones to say there's two flats going at the nicer end of the estate (better park views, no bin views!), 20 and 30k cheaper than the last one. So get down there today and meet the owners!
The cheapest one was snapped up by a cash buyer but the other was offered to us, for £23k less than the one we missed out on. And the sale went very smoothly.
And, as it turned out, had much nicer neighbours!

Selling it 5 years later and buying a house was a nightmare - we moved in 5 months after original completion date, having exchanged on the new house despite our buyer pulling out (his mortgage company decided to increase the offered rate by 2% - on the day of exchange!). The highlight was when our new buyers' deposit went missing. Turned out the buyers gave their solicitor a cheque which he refused to cash as 'bank transfer would be quicker', Mr Buyer overseas had done internet banking which doesn't allow suchbig transfers but he couldn't access his email telling him so. Eventually we phoned Mrs Buyer, explained Telegraphic Transfer in words of one syllable, looked up her nearest bank open that Saturday, and told her to get down there in the next hour or else! And we'd pay the £20 fee to avoid us missing our movers deadline (they'd been really patient for months!)

When our solicitor found out their solicitor had in fact had a cheque for the last 2 months, he used a lot of words I didn't expect to hear from a chap in a 3-piece suit!

Been here 5 years now, very happy, not moving ever again!

[notquitenormal]

We put out hours on the market beginning of Feb, had an offer within a day, found somewhere within 2 weeks...all fab.

It took until the end of June to get an exchange date from our sellers and then on the day their solicitor was on holiday and the cover claimed to have to no knowledge of it. Then we find they haven't answered any of the queries they were sent. Then we find out that our buyer's mortgage offer was due to run out in two days time.

Cue DH driving all over the midlands collecting and delviering documents that they'd had months to deal with themselves.

We got it done though.


A freind bought a week later a house which he thought was in pristine condition. Hates DIY, just wanted a simple move in jobby. Walked in on the day to find that it had been wrecked since we first viewed it and had to spend the first week there scrubbing everything & repainting.