Owning your own home

Streatham is vibrant.
Their solicitor has proved to be an utter dick. Unable to ask questions of Lambeth Living, unable to provide answers. I'm fairly certain it's deliberate. We've been told the seller would "knock 2k off the price if we can complete by the end of feb". Which would require me signing something without having all the information about a 17k bill on the property, whether Lambeth will transfer the land registry details etc etc.

The estate agents (haart streatham) have said "there's clarity and there's clarity" to which my next answer will be "if it's not clear, then it's opaque". I've had the estate agent say "if they don't complete by the end of the month, then they'll just unpack and stay there".

I'm utterly fucked off with the situation, "you look, you touch, you buy" and there's a very real possibility that if it doesn't happen then it'll be "adios London".

This is how I see it

What you have uncovered re. Lambeth Living is probably an estimate of the property's share of estate-wide improvements over the foreseeable future, which could be why it's difficult to get a straight answer. I have a projection from them of £5k costs later this year for things like estate lighting, which I will have to pay, but can arrange a payment plan if I don't want to stump up in one go. Lambeth Living have to consult residents (social and private) and have to give a detailed break down of the costs. In your case, they may not have this yet and so the £17k is just an estimate.

If this is costs for future works then, unfortunately the vendor is right in not offering to pay them and doesn't really need to discount the property, as the property hasn't yet benefitted from the improvements. BUT, their solicitor should be able to confirm in writing that all past and existing charges have been met and should be able to indemnify you against any arrears. It's a pain, but buying ex-council does come with estate management and improvement charges, even if you buy freehold.

Regarding the threat that the vendor will stay if you don't complete by the end of the month, it is probably agency bullshit because they want their commission this month. I had this, but went back through emails and saw that I had been copied in on one that included the vendor's email address. I told the estate agent that I was happy to contact them directly to explain my situation and confirm that I was serious about completing. The agent started backtracking quickly. Try something similar and see if it flushes out a lie. Agents do this all the time, they know you've incurred significant costs, they know your fear of it falling through at the last minute, so they wind everyone up to rush things through to secure their commission. They are scum, but you know that.

Gimme a shout if you want to discuss, I've been there recently...