I originally put something about this down in another thread to help cheer up taztastic under the guise that there is always somebody worse off than you! I didn't want to hijack his thread so - here goes!

We live in a rented house and eventually (even this is convoluted) we decide to buy our own place. The house we want to buy has been without occupants since Novemebr 2010 although it is fully furnished. The owners have fallen on hard times and need the money so you'd think there would be some urgency in selling (not a repossesion but I feel it was getting close). I beleive they live wih in-laws somewhere down south.

I guess with no chain in either direction and a need for money this is about as simple as it gets.

We put an offer in April, bit of usual haggling and the offer is accepted. We already had a mortgage in principle agreed with a building society.

Couple of weeks pass with finding solicitor etc. Formally apply for mortgage, survey in operation. That brought us to our holiday in May. Good, we thought, come back from holiday and things will get rolling. Wrong. £4000 retained pending certain repairs to be undertaken. Electrical report and roof report are necessary (hardly surprising on a property built in 1896) but that wasn't causing the retention... that was "sub-floor ventilation needs improving". Ho-hum. Builder now involved who furnishes a report stating the only way the ventilation could be improved was the addition of an extra air brick - he issued an estimate - £30 Actually, after this was submitted the retention was removed (FAIL 1 surveyor)

I think I'll skip loads more for the sake of brevity!

Come to the beginning of August now and we receive an email on a Saturday evening (yes - I know) informing us the vendor would like to exchange contracts this Friday (12.8 ) with a completion date of 19th August. Can we do this ... yes we can but it's a bit tight. Exchange was right down to the wire last week - the vendor couldn't be found 16:50 no response from him... but 17:10 exchange took place. Excellent - things are finally happening.

Come to yesterday (19.8 ). I enquire of my solicitor as to what was happening. She had just contacted the building society and the money was released at 11:00 and should be in account within the hour. Good - nearly ours then!

THIS NEXT BIT IS THE MOST UNBELEIVABLE PART

We exercised extreme patience (I guess you are too if you've got this far) and didn't bother a soul until 15:30... then patience wore thin so I phoned the solicitor.... READY FOR THIS.

"Your money has been transferred to the wrong account. We can't find it nor can the banks involved - I'm afraid we will not be able to complete today - maybe Monday or Tuesday".... speechless.

There is much more to this - trust me when I say it has been a saga.

I wish I'd have asked where shall we live now? We still have 4 weeks rent left on this place so I felt confident for a roof over our heads hence I never raised the question.

Every step of the way through this sorry mess we have been compliant and (I think) very pleasant people but we're now at our wits end. It would seem "The Professionals" are just bumbling, incompetent idiots. No wonder the UK is going to the dogs. Just need something to give us a bit of confidence in human nature again. Freelander 1 TD4 HSE - gone, 2 weeks after the Cat.Converter!
Freelander 2 TD4 SE Auto MY08 - Santorini black

Good Luck Razmabaz, you will soon be in, feet up with a glass of wine and a big grin

Set the Ombudsman on them, they have been negligent with your money, wasn't it their sorry profession that invented the phrase " were there's blame, there's a claim"?

I absolutely despair of each and every, yes EVERY, meeting, phone call, letter, appointment or just general dealing with every solicitor, estate agent etc I have ever had.
The last time we moved it ended with me having to go into the estate agents office, catching him there, and virtually threaten him with violence to get a straight answer. A simple '2 week thing' (his words) had dragged out over 4 years and left me tearing my already thinning hair out.

it was only when in his office he admitted his staff had been simply placing our problem 'back to the bottom of the pile very time it got to the top because it was such a trivial matter, no-one could be bothered to do it!"

How do you answer that??!?

Good luck with your problem. I certainly hope to never move again!

If you want a more complete story, try my blog ...

Razmabaz's Blog

Maybe I should've posted it in installments but I was on a roll! Warning - it's a 12 minute read and you could lose the will to live  Freelander 1 TD4 HSE - gone, 2 weeks after the Cat.Converter!
Freelander 2 TD4 SE Auto MY08 - Santorini black

snappa wrote:

I absolutely despair of each and every, yes EVERY, meeting, phone call, letter, appointment or just general dealing with every solicitor, estate agent etc I have ever had.
The last time we moved it ended with me having to go into the estate agents office, catching him there, and virtually threaten him with violence to get a straight answer. A simple '2 week thing' (his words) had dragged out over 4 years and left me tearing my already thinning hair out.

it was only when in his office he admitted his staff had been simply placing our problem 'back to the bottom of the pile very time it got to the top because it was such a trivial matter, no-one could be bothered to do it!"

How do you answer that??!?

Good luck with your problem. I certainly hope to never move again!

we don't have these problems in Scotland, our legal/conveyencing system is much more efficient.

just like our education system

Iain

iain cooper wrote:

we don't have these problems in Scotland, our legal/conveyencing system is much more efficient.

just like our education system

Iain

You won't get an argument from me! As for education? Dunno....

.... thistles that tall and men wearing skirts doesn't seem too clever to me!  Freelander 1 TD4 HSE - gone, 2 weeks after the Cat.Converter!
Freelander 2 TD4 SE Auto MY08 - Santorini black

Quote:

we don't have these problems in Scotland, our legal/conveyencing system is much more efficient.

snappa wrote:

Quote:

we don't have these problems in Scotland, our legal/conveyencing system is much more efficient.

I am in Scotland and it was a scottish firm with scottish solicitors that gave me all my problems!

I wasn't going to say a word  Freelander 1 TD4 HSE - gone, 2 weeks after the Cat.Converter!
Freelander 2 TD4 SE Auto MY08 - Santorini black

Solicitors ha - Charge anything from £150 -£300/hour and never give advice but options for you to choose from.  MY 09 GS manual in Lago Grey, Wood Co arm rest and side bumper strips - now sold.

MY 15 SD4 SE Auto Orkney Grey with colour coded Bumper Door Mouldings

snappa wrote:

Quote:

we don't have these problems in Scotland, our legal/conveyencing system is much more efficient.

I am in Scotland and it was a scottish firm with scottish solicitors that gave me all my problems!

tenet wrote:

Solicitors ha - Charge anything from £150 -£300/hour and never give advice but options for you to choose from.

tenet wrote:

Solicitors ha - Charge anything from £150 -£300/hour and never give advice but options for you to choose from.

Isn't that why the say "to instruct a solictor" as they represent YOU.  2002 Honda VFR800
2002 Toyota Celica 140 Silver (mid life crisis - again!)
2007 FL2 GS Manual Army Reconnaissance Green + freel2.com sticker
2004 Toyota Celica 140 Black - Gone
2000 Toyota Celica 140 Silver - Gone
1998 Toyota Celica ST Pearl Green - Gone
1996 Nissan Primera 1.6 - Gone
1994 Rover Montego 1.6 Auto - Gone

[quote="iain cooper"]we don't have these problems in Scotland, our legal/conveyencing system is much more efficient.

just like our education system

Do you mean the one we pay for?

Just an update on our "situation"...

Money has been found - although the Partnership had that covered. Too bliimmin' right!

Now the vendor had failed to keep his side of the contract which was the property will be cleared of all rubbish (there was LOADS). So, our solicitor has gone overboard to make good the damage they caused... they've managed to secure the completion today (we have keys - YAY) but have retained £1000 until the property is fully cleared. (I have to add the mess was confined to the garden and garage so the house is clear and ok).

Thanks for the comments and support.

The garage at 6:30 this morning - there was a skip and other stuff outside.

 Freelander 1 TD4 HSE - gone, 2 weeks after the Cat.Converter!
Freelander 2 TD4 SE Auto MY08 - Santorini black