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?

Oh and there's also a questionnaire the sellers fill in with info on access rights, utility providers, etc.

@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.

I was abroad and selling a flat in England, which had been left empty, keys with the agent.

At 4.48pm on completion day, a Friday, my buyer's solicitor realised that although I had provided a copy of the communal building insurance policy, this had been done several months ago and the policy had now expired.

My solicitor forwarded me the email, which I received just before midnight where I was - the alert on my phone woke me up. I was able to provide it for them by the 5pm UK deadline and we exchanged. We weren't part of a chain. Imagine if we were!

I wouldn't expect conveyancing fees for a freehold purchase to be less than around £1,100 plus VAT and disbursements

That's interesting... We've frequently paid around a third to a quarter of that per transaction on a no completion/fee basis. We've had no problems with the skills of the conveyancer apart from one search which was missed but the firm rectified this straight away.

Franz Kafka is the Patron Saint of house buying in England.

(House = home)

I totally agree .

there needs to be a better system and it does take the joy out of it .

we were after one house which had been built but there was a problem with connection to main water . We were ready to buy had a chain and then the lies started - so in the end in desperation we dropped out went for another house - end of chain - I year old - we were cah buyers as ours had been sold and we were on licence to occupy for 10 weeks . Guess what it has taken 10 weeks to get through and even then we have had to take a risk as some documentation is missing .

It is stressful - expensive and surely there must be an answer .

how do they do it in other countries? . Sellers must be more prepared with what they need . Also we had apparently a good solicitor but we had to chase ALL the time . they would ask the sellers for info but then not chase it .

people keep asking me if we are excited about our move next week . TBH we are exhausted and stressed and it has really taken the edge off it all .

Yeah it’s a nightmare.

We bought in June and overall the process was pretty speedy because everyone wanted to meet the stamp duty holiday deadline - until we got to the end, getting everything to line up was a nightmare. We were told we were ready to exchange, but then it turned out the top of the chain hadn’t actually signed their contract. And another date we were ‘ready’ and all had agreed to exchange by end of day - but one of the solicitors had a half day after lunch and didn’t tell anyone, so the others were just waiting for them to come back and obviously they just didn’t. I know most conveyancers work extremely hard under a lot of pressure and do everything they can for their clients, but we just kept hitting dead ends.

And then at the final hour the top of the chain decided they wanted to link in their onward purchase rather than vacate to live in a rental property inbetween as previously agreed, so we all had to change the completion date.

We managed to get it over the line in time but I’ve learnt now that being ready to exchange is meaningless until everything is actually signed and formalised - so don’t get excited thinking today will be the day!

I think perhaps if people stopped expecting to move from one house to another then the process would be far quicker. The chain is what holds it up 50 % of the time- marrying up 7 different sets of expectations and requirements Lender requirements are also v stringent and response times from lenders can be ridiculous when something is reported for approval.

Totally agree !! We tried to buy a house off an older couple who were downsizing. Paid for all the surveys etc then spent £1000 fixing some that came up as an urgent repair needed. Day of exchange the vendors pulled out, no reason given. So we lost our chance to buy during the stamp duty break, lost thousands in surveys etc and ended up having to move home with parents (appreciate we were lucky to have this as an option)

The process is soo complicated and made so much more stressful by the fact that people are perfectly within their rights to pull out up until exchange so there is just no certainty there are all.

I always thought the hard part was saving up an extortionate amount of money for a deposit, but then realised the buying process is just as hard ! Sadly we have given up on the dream of owning a house now, it’s list too expensive and complicated.

My son exchanged in 17 days from instructing our solicitor last December. It was fast because 1. no chain and no mortgage 2. solicitors on both sides were quick 3. no survey. Our solicitor said it was his quickest for about 17 years. Solicitor cost about £2000 including VAT plus we paid about £500 search fees.

So the 17 days in part was because of no waiting for a mortgage, no waiting for a chain, no waiting for a solicitor and buyer and seller replying within about an hour of every email from the solicitors and estate agents. Also no complications and it is freehold (leases are more complex) and straight forward registered title. Only complication was seller had married since she bought so we needed her marriage cert but that was quick to come.

As the conveyancing person above says a lot of issues are caused by legal or lender requirements such as you want to be sure the searches are up to date otherwise you might buy and find something awful was affecting the property not showing up on a seller's pack obtained 7 months before.

In Scotland once you offer I think you are bound so you pay for things like a survey at your own cost in advance before you know if the offer will be accepted - there are pros and cons to both systems.

No chain and no mortgage doesn’t mean a fast purchase. I know of someone who moved from a rental to an empty probate property (probate already granted), cash sale and the conveyancing took three months. The solicitor had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do everything.

@Blossomtoes

No chain and no mortgage doesn’t mean a fast purchase. I know of someone who moved from a rental to an empty probate property (probate already granted), cash sale and the conveyancing took three months. The solicitor had to be dragged kicking and screaming to do everything.

This is very true. We recently bought a small flat from a developer. We paid cash so no mortgage and no chain. We had a flat buyers report done three days after making the offer so after that it was 100% down to our solicitor. It took 4 months to complete. Even then it was nearly delayed because the solicitor forgot to get proof of our identities. I had to do a 120 mile round trip on the day of completion to show him our passports. The only thing he didn't drag his feet over was billing us. Wanker.

It such a simply simply solution

The vendor needs to have financial skin in the game BEFORE exchange. The buyer has to spend on survey and solicitor fees. Let’s say average or £1000 before exchange

So the vendor accept liability of costs In the event the vendor pulls out before exchange

No, the billing from everyone is always on time ( plus VAT)
The rest can be a luck of the draw as to who you get to do it all.

Going the the buying process currently and it’s draining. I wonder why the home buying pack never took off in England?

YANBU. Every part of the moving process is so beyond stressful :(

The home I'm in now from offer to keys was only three weeks. I'm so glad I'm in Scotland.

Why cant England adopt the Scottish system ?
Seems to work ok?

@Ooof

Going the the buying process currently and it’s draining. I wonder why the home buying pack never took off in England?

Canned by the incoming Tory/Lib dem govenment in 2010 because it was "too much red tape".

We could start by having a standard contract instead of one full of utter bollocks jargon - it's buying a house not the fucking magna carta.

The reason this won't change is the same reason they won't simplify tax - too many people are making money and being employed to do pointless things under the current system.

I see the conveyancer bashing didn’t take long to start

Some of us chose to go into it because it’s interesting and satisfying that you can achieve something concrete (metaphorically and physically) for the client.

I agree the process doesn’t work but the Law Society is pretty toothless really.

Another thing that needs improving is the speed at which management companies, both leasehold and freehold, send out their information packs. We’ll often get them and discover we need an extra pack from the landlord too.

There are standard conditions of sale @DynamoKev that really shouldn’t need changing much.

My house is under offer & I've seen a wonderful property to move to. But I just don't know if I can be arsed. I have a cousin who is also moving & she's had no end of drama with the buyer & the solicitors, that I'm actually questioning whether to move at all 🤷🏼‍♀️

Oh it is awful. And I've always had a relatively straightforward time of it. I cannot imagine what it is like when things REALLY go wrong. I'd lose my tiny little mind.