Week 3

Just when I was thinking black thoughts about my solicitor and her apparent inability to answer e-mails inside of a week, an envelope arrived with an inch thick stack of paper.

Leaving aside the dubious means of delivery, it was all quite impressive: the search results on the place I’m buying were all there. To pull that off within four weeks in the middle of a pandemic is not bad going.

The original transfer of the freehold from the house builder sadly precludes keeping pigs or chickens (unless they’re domestic pets … oops, I turned my pet into bacon) but is otherwise reasonably free from anything surprising.

One pleasant surprise was an EICR (Electrical Installation Condition Report) carried out last year and claiming the place to be in good shape electrically. I was intending to get my own report done, but having checked the bonafides of this report’s authoring electrician and quizzed him about it on the phone, I’ve decided I can save that cost.

With all that sorted, it’s my homebuyer’s report next week, then assuming it comes back clean, I’ll be on the phone to my solicitor talking about exchange dates.

With the potential blockage from local authority searches not having materialized, I’m now confident we should be able to get this exchanged by the end of the month. Tune in next week to see what pops the optimisim bubble!