Melissa Kite Melissa Kite

Real life | 11 May 2017

We thought we were five but it turns out we were seven: suddenly, it all became clear why contracts refused to be exchanged

issue 13 May 2017

Well, there were seven of us in this chain, so it was a bit crowded, to paraphrase a princess.

We didn’t know there were seven. We thought there were five. Imagine my confusion, therefore, when my house sale and purchase didn’t go through day after day, despite all five lawyers being on the phone to each other in conference calls trying to exchange contracts, and the contracts just refusing to be exchanged.

Every day, at 5.30 p.m., my solicitor would call me and tell me it was no go. And the next morning I would ring the estate agents and say I couldn’t understand it.

I’ve been under offer since March 2016. My house has been packed up for more than a month. We sent for the mortgage funds twice, and had to send them back, losing them at one stage in the ether of a New Delhi call centre.

And then I worked it out.

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