To think buying and selling homes could be made much much simpler..

[Hungrycaterpillarsmummy]

If there was a sort of "legal database" where only solicitors can access and it would show all previous documents relating to a property so there is no faff of going back and forth between solicitors.
I'm having to provide building warrants and applications, affadavits for road access etc which was obviously already done when we bought the property. Now we are going through it all again using a different solicitor for the sale.

Also the jargon ..surely the jargon could be modernised?! I just had an email saying "I see that you have emailed further requesting a mandate, I will get my colleague to prepare same and forward onto you."

Prepare the same! Honestly..

Maybe I am being unreasonable but it's such a fucking fafffffff.

Houses here are even more unaffordable here (as a comparison of average prices to average income) than in the UK or were until recently.

Lenders here expect to give a decision quickly. If they don't, the buyer would need to cancel the contract and the lender would lose business. So they just get on with it.

I occasionally have to deal with UK businesses and, tbh, they are often just very slow and unbusinesslike.

Especially banks! UK banks are horrendous!!

Well you thought wrong and clearly haven't read the thread. They're usually on a fixed fee which will get invoiced post-completion. So delays/complications make the job less profitable, not more.

Just to add, that I'm well aware that a contract for the sale of land must be in writing. We inherited that rule.

But I really, genuinely (and I don't think I'm uninformed or slow) do not understand the 'exchange of contracts' parlance. It looks like a form of jargon to me but I'm happy to be proved wrong.

When we bought and sold it was normal for exchange and completion to be a month apart.

It gave time for notice on rentals and also arrangements to be made with removal companies etc. Our deposit cheque had time "to clear", and I think mortgage monies were a transfer still but I suspect nowhere near as fast.

Amy communication was by post or popping into see the solicitor. Post was reliable and delivered twice a day, but there was still a lot that needed to be posted.

Since we bought in 1994 we now have email, Internet, fast transfers. Often exchange and completion is the same day or very close too. So there have been changes to speed up. I suspect technology also causes slower transactions as there is simply more data available to check and record.

Next time you are buying a chocolate bar for half a million with a term of 25 years and you want it to still be in one piece in 25 years time, let me know.

One month later and the kiddies are still not concluded.

Things do take a lot of time in the UK for very obscure reasons!