The solicitors are doing their job. They anticipate the worst at every turn; they envision disaster and bad behaviour from the other side at every opportunity; they attempt to protect us from our own naive, trusting, impulsive, easily-cheated selves. No doubt this suspicion and caution is built on decades of experience of how dreadfully badly their clients can behave.
The vendor and I - in reality two sensible women with 112 years between us and a shared wish to get this buying and selling over - get to the end of our respective tethers with the slowness and caution, and trust each other not to renege on either the sale or the purchase. We email, and have even spoken today, when it all looked like it would collapse because of extreme solicitorial* caution. And we took action. If the Land Registry doesn't explain the flying freehold situation in time for completion on Monday, a tenancy agreement that I had to race to sign at the solicitors' office late this afternoon (a 32-mile round trip! on a Friday! the first day of the school holidays! imagine the traffic thundering up the A1!) has been prepared at last, although it was the first suggestion that I made right at the start of this process.
It has been emailed to the other side, a copy going by post to the estate agent, in the hope that the vendor can call in to sign it in time for midday office-closing tomorrow, when she will be in the area to finish emptying the cottage. And of course it is very possible that it won't arrive in time, or that she won't make the 3-hour journey in a hired van in time.
So she has instructed the estate agent that no matter what, signature obtained in time or not, I can have the keys released to me (or rather my proxy, Lizzie, as I will still be on the road) on Monday. The solicitors do not need to know this; they would suck their teeth in disapproval. But tonight I can sleep easy, knowing that in theory at least, I can move on Monday, and can get into my new home.
And the Lovely Son is here to help. All will be well. Probably.
*yes, I made that word up
17 comments:
Again I'm glad you have a sensible vendor, together you two will outlast the attorney's meddlings. I hope for no traffic delays on Monday, that you and your gang are able to reach your destination quickly and reasonably quietly.
All WILL be well Rachel. In the meantime enjoy the weekend with your lovely son.
The last weekend in your old home!
And, come Monday, the first week in your new home, how wonderful!
The very best of luck for moving day, I know it's stressful (really??), but you will be there!
All will be well.
Definitely.
Well done you...nearly there..... and then you can maybe relax a bit ( after you have unpacked!!!) Good luck for the move I shall be thinking of you on Monday. It took 2 days for our removal van to travel from Morpeth to Herts in a very cold January 32years ago ( many of my house plants perished ) Looking forward to photos of your new abode and surroundings. X
It'll go like a dream .
L.S. will be the perfect companion , strong , resourceful and at home with the menagerie . You've prepared everything and planned for every eventuality ....
All you've got to do now is put up with motorway cafe coffee for the duration .
God speed !
Not long to go now and all WILL be well.
Well done you and your Lady Vendor (who deserves capital letters, don't you think?). Unless a house has never been sold before, there should be no need for the sort of delays you've experienced.
I once had a a nice Lady Vendor. She hung on for over 3 months for us to sell our house, turning down offers of more money, because she liked us and what we proposed to do to her 1660 house, which was to repair and put right, not knock down. It had every rising, falling, growing damp and infestation problem you could name, but after the treatments it was absolutely fine - like living in a new house, just with wonky walls and ceilings. Your cottage looks beautiful - it has obviously been done up with care and love, and you are exactly the right person to take it over. Your Lady Vendor knows this, as do we! You are nearly there!!!
Keep breathing - in, out, in, out...
Hope it all goes well.
Thank goodness you have a sensible vendor and manly help with the move. Kisses to Hamish - Arthurxxx
Dear Team,
A very Bonne Voyage & tres smooth sailing. We'll be thinking of you ... lots !! xoxox les Gang
As a solicitor myself (property no less) I must dmit to doing something similar behind the back of MY solicitor when selling the house before last!! Perhaps I missed the teeth-sucking class in college!!?
Well done for taking action - all will be well I'm sure.
Lesley xx
We have a similar class of bottom-feeding parasites here in the States--lawyers. Astonishingly, they're perfectly legal.
marci
Two more sleeps! Thinking of you and eagerly awaiting word that you have arrived. Thank goodness for your Lady Vendor and your Lovely Son. You so deserve this happy ending. And you're almost there. xo
Now, normally the kettle is the last thing to be packed but in your case I must insist that the computer is up and ready for the first post in the New House as soon as is humanly possible (or at least a word from the cats that all is well).
The veg artist has very eloquently told the same story I would have offered, give or take a decade or so on the age of the house! Good for you and your vendor for relying on trust and common sense. All will indeed be well.
Excellent! Sleep well - or try to - and I'm so glad the Lovely Son will be there with you for the long journey South and West - or is it West and then South?
What a lovely lady your vendor is - she must be so happy to know that her much-loved home is going to a kindred spirit.
Post a Comment