Speed of buying property

[caringcarer]

Can I ask what is the quickest time it takes for a property sale to complete if both seller and buyer are both pushing for a quick sale and complete all paperwork by return of post? Seller is going to live with daughter and not buying another property, so no chain and buyer does not have to sell property, so no chain either. Is 4 weeks unreasonable? What is your quickest sale/purchase?

Our offer was accepted on 31st August and we got the keys on 12th October - that was with one mortgage refusal that took 10 days to tell us about too!

I did complete in a month on my first flat. I had to get a mortgage, but had no issues on survey and it was vacant. Mortgage went through easily and quickly. In comparison, my recent remortgae of current place where I have been making the payments fine for years took a lot longer as they had a backlog. So with checking current processing time with the provider.

We did 7 weeks exactly this summer and we were buying an Estate sale ( previous owner had died and being sold by his estate) and we were full cash buyers. No chains at all and both wanted a quick sale, it dragged out a few more days due to us having additional searches but the time included full survey as the house had been empty 2 years and the family had very little history/knowledge of the property.

You need to keep on top of paperwork and have every single thing you need ready and investigate searches you want etc, local authority searches can slow things up.

Most people don't plan to though MillStone.

Searches take about 3 weeks here so that's most of your timeline gone just waiting for those. We've just remortgaged and it took about 10 days from submission to get the offer. Honestly I don't know many who have needed a mortgage who have done it under 8 weeks.

You still need final mortgage offer to be received. Signed witnessed, receive fixtures fittings searches etc, transfer deposit, exchange. It sounds right

Tight !

Bugger, we have hit problem already. When going through our mortgage application our lender noticed our solicitor was not on their approved panel so today I have been rushing around getting another solicitor who is on approved panel but they can't take my id, completed forms or even money on account until appointment on Monday. We have mortgage in principle and sent off formal application form with all proofs of income and id documents which has obviously been received and lender is sending valuer early next week. We have savings/deposit in place. I am still hopeful for early to mid December as I desperately want to be in for Christmas and i know solicitors will close over Christmas and New Year. I shall ask new solicitor about exchanging and completing on same day.

We are not cash buyer and do need mortgage. I was hoping for end of November or first week of December latest. Viewed house and put in offer and offer accepted on 19th October, and completed memorandum of sale same day, solicitor appointed by us and seller on 22nd, already had offer in principle but signed formal application and posted back 23rd, took in completed buyer questionnaire and proof of id and address on 23rd Oct. Building Society appointed firm to do valuation and they going on 26th Oct. We are on target for completion at beginning of December aren't we?

Everything you have written above is classed as "pre-legal". In other words all the above is merely the preparation work, done before and alongside the legal work that you are paying your solicitor to do.

Once the legal work starts and the solicitor can look at the information he has received (from the seller's solicitor/land registry/search provider/council/management company and other third parties), he will be able to give you a better idea how long it will take.

None of the steps you have accomplished so far have any bearing on how long it will be.

Since you are getting a mortgage, it is very unlikely you will be able to exchange and complete on the same day. Lenders like to have 5 working days notice before releasing the funds. While it can be done quicker, it places a lot of stress on the various professions and they are therefore not keen to do this, though a cash purchase means there is no lender to deal with, which then makes it possible.

I think that realistically you need to prepare to not be in for the end of the year. Solicitor will send off for searches once instructed, so next week earliest. These can easily take six weeks to come back then need to check no problem and then prepare final paperwork. So eight weeks is a realistic quick one.

Also is it leasehold

And agree about complete and exchange same day this is normally only feasible with no mortgage

Our searches only took about a week to come back (Hertfordshire). That was this month. They seem to be a lot quicker nowadays.

I really think you need to be more realistic. You're not going to be in before Christmas and putting yourself under pressure will just lead to disappointment.
With your time scales I would say late Jan is likely, I usually estimate 12-16 weeks from instructing solicitors.
We had our offer accepted about a month ago and still feel like we might be being optimistic hoping for a pre Christmas completion even though searches are back on our house and the property we're buying. Moving house is stressful enough without holding the process to unachievable time scales

Quickest we’ve done is 8 weeks and that was a house repossession and included time to advertise the property was under offer.

What we thought would be the simplest transaction was selling a flat to a first time buyer, no chain. No mortgages on either side. It turned out that between buying the flat and selling the flat the land registry had scanned a whole load of leases, ours amongst them, and had managed to shred in the scanner some pages of our lease, causing it to be defective. We had a copy fortunately but Land Registry took ages to accept it as a replacement - it wasted about three months! Total time was a torrid five months.

Why not aim to exchange before Christmas (it might be doable still) then complete in January?

I've never understood the need of clients to combine one very busy stressful event with a very busy time of year.

The local searches in our area are taking 5-6 weeks alone.

We were cash buyers our seller had already moved out so no chain.
Took 12 weeks! Our solicitor was good but had an issue with a grass verge opposite and across the road from our house because it is part of the property.
Our seller was so amazing that 6 weeks and having signed contract she gave us the keys!

I was just hoping not to have to put up Xmas lights and decorations in one house then have to take them down and put them up again in new house. Trying to save my dh a job really. Also a bit nervous about budget and wondering if Hammond will put Stamp Duty up from New Year as some news papers are suggesting. I am seeing new solicitor tomorrow I will ask for estimate of how long searches are taking on our area.

We were ftb in the same situation as you and it took 10 weeks, even if no additional enquires and the mortgage offer through in 5 days! We exchanged this week and put in the offer mid August

Cash buyer doesn’t make any difference ime. I’ve been a cash buyer a couple of times, still took 10-12 weeks.
Any mortgage admin would run alongside the searches etc.
I’d say you could be in by Christmas, but only if no problems and you keep on top of the solicitors.
Tell them now what date you are aiming for. Estate agents too.

I was just hoping not to have to put up Xmas lights and decorations in one house then have to take them down and put them up again in new house. Trying to save my dh a job really.

Really? We hear this lame excuse all the time from clients. You are spending shed loads of money so your solicitor needs to do his due diligence on the property you are buying. Put your tree up in your current property and look forward to a move next year.

You are now instructing a new solicitor tomorrow. Therefore your file will start from day 1 again because the new solicitor will have to obtain all the documents from the previous solicitor before any work can begin. The old solicitor will send over the forms you filled in plus title documents, not any other correspondence, and they will need these documents before they order the searches (so, at least another 5 working days). Are you selling a freehold or leasehold property?

Cannot comment regarding the stamp duty but am assuming you're not a first time buyer? It's always a risk obviously, but stamp could go down rather than up.

I hope the Xmas lights comment is a joke

Realistically I would say new year now

We put an offer in at the end of May and completed mid August although we could have completed beginning of August but the buyer asked if we'd mind waiting a couple of extra weeks as she'd been ill.
No chain either side.
Mortgage surprised me at how long it took. Our previous one was done in a day, this one took over three weeks to be approved although we took out two products and have an existing mortgage which had to be considered.

No chain either side here. Offer accepted 28th September, solicitor instructed 1st October & full mortgage application submitted ,building survey 5th October, valuation survey 13th October, mortgage confirmed 16th october. searches completed 26th oct, contract signed yesterday and posted back...awaiting exchange date - really hoping to be in for Xmas but my friends think I'm being optimistic. I've left the solicitor alone till now, might start phoning regularly to keep things moving. Good luck!