How long for buyers to receive a written mortgage offer?

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Any property gurus in Scotland? We accepted an offer on our flat at the beginning of April from first time buyers. At the time they checked with their mortgage advisor who said our home report valuation was OK and could proceed on that basis. Our solicitor sent off the qualified acceptance over two weeks ago with everything they need to conclude.

The buyer then texted me to say they were just waiting on their written mortgage offer coming through from the bank but that it would take about a week to 10 days, after which missives could conclude.

Our qualified acceptance expires at noon tomorrow and they haven't received the offer yet.

Is it reasonable to give them a bit more time to get the mortgage offer sorted? On one hand I realise that banks are slower than they used to be and so it may not be their fault. On the other hand, I am somewhat concerned that they are a bit clueless (buyer has said things like "oh I didn't realise it was such a drawn out process"!) and I'd like them to start lighting a rocket under their mortgage advisor and their bank pronto- or at least give me some assurance that the offer is definitely going to issue in the very near future. I'd hate to have to stick the flat back on the market but we had 2 offers within 4 days of it going on last time and we are working within a finite window to get sold and get moved so I don't want to piss about too long here.

WWYD?

I can answer this. Yes, it can take a few weeks for loan papers to come through I'm afraid. Banks are quite slow. Although HR are acceptable, many banks, particularly English ones prefer the survey element to be re-written into a format for their computers.

Although your QA has a time limit it is just a guide so that your solicitor can chase up. Time limits pass all the time. Just ask your solicitor to get and update on the loan papers. What is your date of entry?

Solicitors in Scotland are usually pretty good so your buyers solicitor should say if there is a problem and they are changing lender etc. that is what we do.

You also have to remember that the buyers solicitor would have had to meet with your buyers after your QA was issued - was it a full offer or standard clauses based? That meeting could have taken a few days to set up.

Thanks Crutchlow. It was a standard clauses offer. I had actually forgotten about them needing to meet to go through it because I can't remember the last time I did that when buying, it all was done over the phone in every case. But I can see why as ftb they would really want to go through it in detail.

I know we probably have enough time- proposed date of entry is not until June but we are trying to tie up dates with another place we want to buy and I get nervous about slippage. I guess I had been under the impression their finance was all sorted when obviously they only had their agreement in principle so it's partly my fault for making assumptions. Must relax. Deep breathing.

It is hard bit yes, relax. Your solicitor does need to check after the time limit though. You are right to get missives concluded well in advance of your June try. Good luck.