just when you thought it was done
We signed the last bit of paperwork a couple of weeks ago now, and pretty much haven’t spoken to our mortgage broker, solicitor, or anyone about the house stuff since. We’ve all just been sitting back waiting for settlement to roll around. And the only worry of Debbie and me was that we needed to start packing.
And we did. Most of the weekend. The house looks empty, and messy, with boxes absolutely everywhere! But it feels good to have most things packed now. There’s just bits and pieces that need to be packed up as the week goes on. And we were both excitedly just waiting for Friday to roll around so we could start moving!
And then I got a call from our solicitor this morning…
The vendor (seller)’s solicitor needs to delay settlement until next Monday. They apparently didn’t book it with their bank early enough, and their bank needs 7 days notice to arrange settlement. So we have done everything 100% correct, and everyone on our side (including ANZ) is ready to go… even early! And a huge oversight on their side has stuffed things up big time.
I made it known to our solicitor how inconvenient this was, and that it not only caused us grief with moving removalists, and changing dates of leave with both our workplaces, but that it also leaves a very narrow window for being out of our rental property. She went back to the other solicitor, but the Monday date stays and there’s nothing that can be done about it. I mean, we’ve been told we can issue them with a notice to complete, but if they don’t meet that, all we can do is take them to court and try and get some compensation – more effort than it’s worth.
So I’ve got our solicitor pushing them very hard to get early entry to the property as compensation for stuffing us around. If that happens, we’ll still be able to move in on the Friday… we just won’t be able to put any holes in the walls, or repaint any pink walls until Monday. And the other solicitor is still being really slow and non-responsive about getting that happening. So now we’re patiently waiting…
Just goes to show that you definitely need to expect the unexpected in a mortgage/house purchase… even when everything has been so perfect for 5 and a half out of the six weeks!
My one happiness of today has been that there is a cafe in Parramatta that uses Campos beans! Finally. I think I might go have a second coffee of the day to relieve my nerves/frustration/stress…
edit: So eventually the seller’s solicitor decided to return some phone calls, and we’re able to get early occupancy of our house. We should pick up the keys on Friday morning! Settlement will still be Monday afternoon, but at least we can still move in on time and have the weekend to settle down. But my goodness, the last 30 hours have just slightly exhausted us.