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Original poster

How long from offer accepted to moving in

17 replies

Littlejayx · 05/04/2017 16:07

I have recently bought my first house with my Boyfriend and am over the moon with how everything has turned out.

The only thing bothering me is how long it is taking to get all the paperwork, approvals and everything else sorted out! I am currently rather impatient due to being 26 weeks pregnant and living at my OH's parents house.

Can anyone give me a realistic time scale?

We have had the mortgage accepted, surveys done and paper work signed on our end plus the people living there at the moment have found a house with no chain so they are wanting move asap!

Any answers would be so helpful.

Thank you

OP posts:
Lilmisskittykat · 05/04/2017 16:09

Think start to finish 6/8 weeks with no complications is often quoted.

IAmAPaleontologist · 05/04/2017 16:11

I'd say 6-8 weeks if you don't hit any snags and nobody sits on your paperwork/moves it to the bottom of their to do pile. Just takes time for all the searches and sometimes searches throw up something else that needs investigating. Homebuyer surveys can take time, for example our buyer submitted his mortgage approval and instructed his solicitor yesterday and today the survey company rang me to make an appointment which is nice and speedy but the appointment isn't for a couple of weeks and is the first available. The mortgage won't be finalised without the survey so you can see how these things might all have knock on effects and mean the whole process takes time.

kizzle · 05/04/2017 16:12

Myself & OH bought our first house last year, the sellers had no chain and neither did we.
All paperwork went through smoothly and we had the keys in our hand exactly 5 weeks after the offer was accepted.
The 'norm' is 6-8 weeks providing everything goes smoothly.

Good luck and congratulations!

Rebeccajane14 · 05/04/2017 16:15

Congratulations! Me and my partner bought our first home last year. We put the offer in and got it accepted in July and we moved into the house in November. We thought it took ages from offer to completion all I can say is chase everything. Everyday no matter how many calls etc. I felt like I was annoying the solicitor ridiculously but if I hadn't emailed and phoned every day I think we would still be waiting now. We did say in the end we would have to pull out if it took much longer and suddenly completion date was given to us. Good luck!!! :D

Flowerydems · 05/04/2017 16:16

We'll be 6 weeks when we get the keys next week, I'm impatient aswell so I understand your pain

Iamcheeseman · 05/04/2017 16:17

How long is a piece of string? I often read 12 weeks is normal.
We're at the top of a chain of 5 so theoretically everyone should be waiting for us. I got survey and mortgage done at the same time to speed things up and we are currently on week 5 since we accepted the offer on our house and week 4 since the offer was accepted in the one we are buying.
Call your solicitor up and ask them.

Reow · 05/04/2017 16:17

Took our sellers 6 months to clear off Angry

Original poster
Littlejayx · 05/04/2017 16:29

Well we have had the survey back with a few minor faults which we have the price slightly knocked down by the sellers so that has made our lives easier.

I just want to shake people and tell them I need to be in the house before the baby comes!

I have spoken to my Solicitor and as the sellers are with the same solicitor (different office) they said it should be smooth sailing but will not give a direct time scale.

OP posts:
sweetheart · 05/04/2017 16:35

It's a how long is a piece of string question. Our last purchase took over 9 months due to various chain complications along the way.

PuntCuffin · 05/04/2017 16:38

They won't be able to if the people above you in the chain are further behind you for getting their surveys etc done.

As others have said, 6-8 weeks is normal. Ours was 12 weeks last time round as the couple at the bottom of the chain messes everyone around with not giving adequate notice on their tenancy, (which in turn meant we had to extend ours by a month Angry) and then buggered off on holiday for 3 weeks so no one could exchange until the last minute. We ended up exchanging and completing on the same day.

LarrytheCucumber · 05/04/2017 17:32

We were in a chain of three. Our buyer was renting having completed a sale and had a mortgage arranged. We were cash buyers, buying from someone who already had a property to move into. It took from 2nd November to 21st March. Nothing is guaranteed, unfortunately.

Spickle · 05/04/2017 19:08

6-8 weeks from draft contracts being received NOT from offer accepted is the norm (for freehold property).

10-12 weeks for leasehold property.

Depends though on if there are problems which take time to resolve or if third parties are slow to respond.

I am a conveyancing assistant.

Harumff · 05/04/2017 21:08

We bought 3 years ago as part of a chain of 4 and it took 8 weeks from accepting offer on ours to moving into new one. Moving again on Friday, again in a chain of 4, and it will have been a couple of days short of 8 weeks again. However, both times we've done a lot of pushing to keep things moving and this time it has been really stressful!

Iamcheeseman · 06/04/2017 19:24

Doubt it's what you want to hear but the chain we are in- one local authority involved is taking 7 weeks to do searches! The other 2 authorities took a few days so that is going to massively hold any chain up!

Equimum · 06/04/2017 19:40

We bought our current house as fab and we're in within 8 weeks, even though there was a forwards chain.

We are now moving on and have a fab who has already waited 8+ weeks and things are only just starting to move. This has resulted from our vendors taking ages to put an offer on something else, so our ftb will probably wait around 5m in total.

Felyne · 07/04/2017 19:55

12 weeks for us and we had no chain either side, but Christmas got in the way so it took a bit longer than it could have

AnotherYellowBelly · 07/04/2017 20:06

Ours was getting on for 3 months! No chain should have been straight forward, but the mortgage company kept wanting more and more random info!

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