How long for contracts to be returned

I went sale agreed towards the middle of October and the contracts were issued near the end of the month. I was told that the purchaser was signing on 3rd November and my solicitor was told this by the purchasers solicitor and the EA was told this by the purchaser directly. The contracts were to be returned in a day or so.

My solicitor was chasing up the contracts towards the end of last week as they had not been returned. A query was raised would I wait until after the Budget to complete. (He is an investor, so dont know what he is hoping for) I told my Solicitor yes and this was put to them in writing last Friday. I got onto my Solicitor today and no contracts returned yet. Their Solicitor said they will be returned "in a day or so".

This is the third time we have been told "in a day or so" and it does not look like it is happening, just stalling for time. I have a deposit on a new build for which I have to sign contracts in the next week, and it does not seem I am getting anywhere with this purchaser. How long realisticall should it take for signed contracts to reach my solicitor.

At this stage, I am sick to the back teeth of the whole buying and selling thing, and if I cant sign for the new house, I think I will stay put.

Anything else I could do?

I have requested the EA to contact the purchaser directly and ask is he buying or not.

I think there is little that you can do except to ask exactly what is the cause for the delay in signing the contract.

You should also confirm that your buyer already has the 10% available for transfer to your solicitor on signing.

If I were you, I would not sign the contract for the new property until your own is signed by both parties. Otherwise your exposure to any 'correction' in prices will have doubled.

Mandac, this is how it works ultimately - make a decision. Make it in your own mind, assess your time limit and believe it. Ultimately if you sold in three months time, you'd get more money and that's the reality. Ring the auctioneer and say this is what I WANT or transaction nulled. Think about it if somebody wants your house, and I am a buyer at the moment I'll stick to an ultimatum no matter what game is being played, if I want the property... the power is with sellers at the mometvbmenu_register("postmenu_316548", true

This has still dragged on this week. On Tuesday I my Solicitor phoned me to say she had just chased the other side to be told the same "the contracts will be returned in the next day or so" - fourth time for this, so I called the EA and requested they contact the buyer. They called me back to say there is no problem, the buyer told them he signed on 3rd November. I told the EA, there is a problem, no use contracts sitting in their solicitors office, need them back. She said wait a day or so and then follow up.

I waited till Friday, then called my Solicitor twice, she did not call me back. I reckon she was chasing the buyers solicitor and was waiting on her calls returned before getting back to me. Monday will be into the third week that they are sitting on the contacts, so am going to tell the Auctioneer on Monday to take sale agreed off the sign. I am going to ask that they contact the buyer/buyers solicitor to get the contracts returned by Courier. If they are unable to do that, I am going accept that he is a time waster and pull the sale and wait till next year.

I feel sorry for the Auctioneer, as they have worked hard to get the sale in a difficult market, but there is no point in me hanging about with someone who is quite honestly, messing, at this stage and could drag this on indefinitely without committing. Going to put it to them to ask straight up, is he returning the contracts or not, and if not , and I'll take it from there. I know its a buyers market and all that, but am still not going to take any messing around. Must be by snail mail.

Will make sure that if the contracts are returned, that the deposit is paid too. Thanks for that.

I suppose early on I was desperate to move, but now I am really not bothered, so if it works out, well and good, but if not, will have to rethink my options.

Thanks for the advices.