I now own a flat :-)

Estate agent phones to congratulate me on exchanging contracts. Completion next Tuesday.

I'd rather have heard about it from my conveyancers, but still. :-)

Now talking about exchange of contracts today, completion next Tuesday.

Estate agent keeps phoning to prod me into action.

Phoned conveyancer, she said she was busy handling five days worth of post but would phone me back in half an hour. That was about three hours ago.

My phone battery had better not run out.

Bad news: Minor fuck up, no exchange of contracts today.

Good news: Only a minor fuck up, exchange of contracts on Tuesday, completion next Friday.

Do any non-Christians actually send Easter cards? I mean, apart from my dad.

Easter is the one remaining reason why I might not be able to buy my flat this month.

Apparantly my conveyancer is now happy with all the pieces of paper she’s received. But I hear this from the estate agent, so who knows?

Remaining barriers to exchange of contracts:

• conveyancer has not received my deposit (“telegraphic transfer can take up to twenty-four hours”)
• people I’m buying from have not signed the contract

So hopefully it will happen tomorrow.

I have eaten too much chocolate this afternoon.

Completion has to take place by Friday week, otherwise the people at the other end of the chain can’t do anything until the end of May.

This is a deadline we can meet. In theory.

Lots of money has been moved.

Now I get an e-mail saying my conveyancer’s sent me a letter asking for my deposit and talking about completion dates.

Progress but meh.

My bank love me! My mortgage offer has been extended for another three months without them even sending me any forms. It would have been nice if they’d told me, rather than waiting for me to phone up, but hey.

My conveyancer is elusive. I’ve not heard from her in over a week. Sent her an e-mail earlier this week, left a message on her answer machine this morning. No response.

The estate agent has been hitting the phone. Keeps trying to get in touch with my conveyancer. Then phones me to find out what I’ve heard from my conveyancer. Happens to mention that the sellers are wondering why it’s taking so long.

First paragraph is making me relieved, at least until the estate agent phones again.

I want someone who knows what’s going on to tell me that everything’s going to work out fine.

There are council elections in London on 4th May, for which I received my polling card today. I'd like to have moved well before voting day.

Estate agent just phoned. My conveyancer should receive the last of the important documents tomorrow. Then we could have exchange of contracts on Thursday, and completion next Thursday.

Estate agent is putting lots of effort in.

Turns out my conveyancer asked their solicitor 19 questions, of which 3 have not been answered.

Conveyancer appears not to have provided me with the questions, only the answers given. How amusing.

I’ve received a copy of the stuff the conveyancer was waiting for.

Unfortunately, it appears the conveyancer is waiting for another three documents.

I no longer believe exchange of contracts will happen next week.

The threshold for stamp duty went up in the budget, but only to £125k, so I have no reason to delay until the new tax year.

Sellers’ solicitors have admitted that they didn’t actually send some papers they thought they’d sent to my conveyancers. That goes in the post tonight.

I should get copies on Friday/Monday.

If there’s nothing dodgy, we should have exchange of contracts next week.

Estate agent phoned to complain that the sellers’ solicitors can’t get in touch with my conveyancers. As it happens, I’d been expecting post showing what documents they’ve managed to procure recently. Have sent an e-mail, as I can’t really face phoning them right now.

Also I am pissed off because Sainsbury’s only had one carton of soya milk in stock.

My bank phones to ask whether I've got a completion date yet. And I do know the mortgage offer I've got is only valid until 8th April?

They'll extend it if need be, but this would require more form-filling.

The nearer I get to buying this flat, the more stressed I get about it.

Right now, it’s uncertainty about when I’m moving. Best guess is in about a fortnight. Conceivably in a week. More likely in three. Maybe four.

That’s a large margin of uncertainty. And it’s about where I’m living, which is a reasonably fundamental thing for me to know about myself.

Logically, there’s nothing there worth stressing over. But I am, anyway.

Been intermittantly distracting myself by trying to come up with a name for my flat. So far I have produced Bagsem and Geranium. Must do better.

Estate agent phones to give me:

Good news:

• Management company has answered questions.

Bad news:

• They didn’t pay enough postage and Royal Mail are holding the answers hostage.

Good news:

• Seller’s solicitors are going to pay the ransom fee.
• My conveyancers should receive it on Monday.
• This is the only thing holding the chain up.

So when do I move? Next week? Week after? *shrug*

Conveyancer has again asked their solicitor for answers. Their solicitor will presumably then hassle the management company for answers. Should have had them a fortnight ago.

I am not amused.