To think that 15 weeks for completion is ridiculous when neither party is in a chain?

[greenapplesplatter]

My DGran is buying a ground floor flat. It was 15 weeks ago last Friday when she had her offer accepted.

The flat is empty, the owner had it as part of a portfolio but is now selling as he comes to retirement age. My Gran owns her house that she lives in now but hasn't marketed it as yet. She is buying the flat in cash so it's not like she's waiting for a mortgage. She took her bank statements to the solicitors several weeks ago presumably to prove she had the funds available.

Every time we speak to the solicitors or estate agents they say they are waiting for some searches to come back.

It just seems a ridiculous amount of time when there is no chain. I'm sure they used to say that completion took 6-8 weeks??

I can't remember or last move but I'm sure it didn't take as long as this & both sides had ongoing chains.

If anybody has moved recently can you tell me how long you waited please?

I suspect it will be issues on the lease or length of the lease.

Your Gran can actually ask the solicitor what is holding things up you know.

I thought the searches were supposed to be done before the house was marketed or at the very least whilst the house was on the market by the vendor.

The whole thing is going backwards and getting slower than moving forward and getting quicker.

I think it I New Zealand that have the system where everything is in place before you market the house. The vendor has a contract and if someone decides they like the place they sign and give a cheque made payable to the solicitor for a %tage then it is a legally binding contract. The seller can't back out and the only way a buyer can is if the seller has fudged the documents or the surveyor finds a problem.

I have had on more than one occasion my mortgage agreement run out the mortgage company had taken so long to complete its checks.