The house buying process just sucks any joy there is out of buying a new home.

[flashbac]

Yes I know renting can be dire and buying a house in this crazy market is increasingly becoming like something for the privileged but can I just have a moan about how flipping joy-sucking the bloody English process is?
I want a pack I can view that has a survey report, the land registry stuff, the epc, the search reports and any other relevant documents relating to the property and its condition, before I make an offer. Is that too much to ask for?

The house buying process is an absolute shower. It needs reform, completely agree the onus should be on the seller to provide the pack of stuff after which people can make a legally binding formal offer with all the info available to them. I can't think of a more complicated, longwinded, ineffective process which humans still put up with on a regular basis assuming fortunate enough for circumstances to allow

I thought that through the long tedious six months between Offering and Completion. We ad almost forgotten what the house looked like inside!

We are in the process of buying and selling.

The person buying ours has no house to sell and is free to move anytime.

The house we are buying is empty, so we can move in ASAP.

This process started in April.

The hold ups are so fucking frustrating.

We want to move before stamp duty holiday expires.

The solicitors on all sides are an absolute shower of shite.

it's shit

I want a pack I can view that has a survey report, the land registry stuff, the epc, the search reports and any other relevant documents relating to the property and its condition, before I make an offer.

This would make such a difference & far more time efficient

Totally agree OP.

I completely agree, so much so that I’ve actively put off moving for several years. I just don’t have the mental energy.

I wish people voting yabu would say why. The current system is torturous!
In which other world would you verbally agree to purchase something, start forking out money and getting excited about it and then something crops up so your hopes are dashed?

@Phyllis321

I completely agree, so much so that I’ve actively put off moving for several years. I just don’t have the mental energy.

It really is draining, I was on the phone to the solicitor everyday. If I hadn't been on their back, I'd still be waiting.

Like a Home Information Pack?

Scrapped by the Tories in 2010, never really given a chance 😕

Agree completely! We moved into our forever home six months ago this weekend. The buying/selling process took seven months from us accepting an offer on our old house to finally moving into the new one and it was stressful and horrible for the entire time. Even on moving day (which saw us sitting outside the estate agents for FOUR HOURS waiting for the funds to be confirmed as paid for the new house) the feeling wasn't of joy but just of blessed blessed relief.

The English home buying process is shocking. And the really annoying thing is you think it's stressful as a first time buyer and then when you do it a second time so you're simultaneously buying and selling you realise that was actually easy and you should have chilled about the process then!

I used to be an estate agent, a long time ago, so knew how awful the process was but I started trying to sell last year and I can honestly say it's been the worst year of my life! If it's not for the spectacularly awful solicitors, buyers changing their minds at the last minute and sellers suddenly deciding they want and extra £10,000 a week before exchange of contracts, it's the idiotic estate agents who lie through through their back teeth constantly. We've completed on our sale and gone into rented now for a break before we buy again..... my mental health is pieces 😢

It s a dreadful system and I cannot understand why it takes so long. I was amazed when I moved to NZ and you can get a house sale through in about 10 days, which includes all due diligence. You make an offer in writing which has the clauses in which you want, such as searches and getting finance etc, the seller agrees or amends and then you both sign - usually this is on the same day as the offer. You then have around 10-14 days to get everything in place and you complete as per the agreed date. It is fantastic.

YANBU! I have experience buying houses in England and the Netherlands and it's so much better in the Netherlands.

Signed a contract with a concrete date after we made an offer and the seller couldn't cancel the sale after that (we had a get out clauses if we couldn't get a mortgage or if the survey was really bad). It made planning our life so much easier

I must and that I sold my property in the UK in March and we are due exchange shortly - that is one property no chain, no mortgage needed by the buyer. I have no idea how that can take so long.

@CuteOrangeElephant

YANBU! I have experience buying houses in England and the Netherlands and it's so much better in the Netherlands.

Signed a contract with a concrete date after we made an offer and the seller couldn't cancel the sale after that (we had a get out clauses if we couldn't get a mortgage or if the survey was really bad). It made planning our life so much easier

Sounds fantastic. How does it work if you have a chain? Do you all sync with that completion date from the outset?

It's a horrible system made much worse by the incredibly low work standards of solicitors and conveyancers. Every single one I have ever had dealings with, professionally and personally, has been torturously slow and inefficient. Several have been downright dishonest. The first person to set up a chain offering efficient, speedy conveyancing will make a fortune.

@Confusedandshaken

It's a horrible system made much worse by the incredibly low work standards of solicitors and conveyancers. Every single one I have ever had dealings with, professionally and personally, has been torturously slow and inefficient. Several have been downright dishonest. The first person to set up a chain offering efficient, speedy conveyancing will make a fortune.

This too. My solicitor has seriously pissed me off! Vendor's solicitor no better. They are so dire.

Yes it absolutely does, it is horrendous each and every time.
I'm moving with my Ds and DiL in spring and dreading every second.

@flashbac there are no chains.
If you sell your house you need to be out by the agreed date, the person buying your house has no knowledge of any further transactions!

Usually here people sell their house before buying a new one and it is common to spend a couple of weeks/months doing a place up before moving in. Bridging credit is very usual.

Sorry that's meant to say people buy a new house before selling the old one!

We're 8 weeks in with no end date in sight and cannot understand why it takes so long? We've been returning all requested paperwork within 24hrs. We're all packed and ready to go but need a date to plan moving out.

From what I can see, it seems to be all the searches that take ages then the buyer to Solicitor to solicitor to Seller and back again is so time consuming, it takes a week to confirm anything.

I'm remortgaging and that's bad enough! I thought they were going to ask for my measurements and dress size next and what vaccines I've had

@flashbac

Yes I know renting can be dire and buying a house in this crazy market is increasingly becoming like something for the privileged but can I just have a moan about how flipping joy-sucking the bloody English process is? I want a pack I can view that has a survey report, the land registry stuff, the epc, the search reports and any other relevant documents relating to the property and its condition, before I make an offer. Is that too much to ask for?

Wasn’t that trialled a few years ago and abandoned as an epic failure?

It was never properly tried. Vested interests and short term thinking kiboshed it before it ever really started.

I linked to it above Home Information Pack