Can you sell and buy a house in current circumstances?

[Greenbutterlfy566]

Can you sell and buy a house in current circumstances?

Not really. Registers are closed except for emergencies.

Hi I moved into my new house on Wednesday, land registry in England is NOT closed. Solicitors and land registry in England can work digitally (I know there have been problems in Scotland as their land registry was more paper based, believe they have overcome these now.)

I did exchange before lock down however, I know those who haven't exchanged are being advised to wait. Also obviously house viewings cannot be done at present.

Yes, depending on your circumstances - if the house you're buying or selling is empty it's possible but it will depend on many other factors e.g. LTV ratio for mortgage, whether the property can be valued by lender - some are doing desktop valuations. Also, if the local authority and land searches can take place in your area. Can you get a surveyor to come out to the property?

Many other factors at play, e.g. removals.

Yes Misslemon is right, removals might be tricky. I had booked my removals/storage pre lockdown so they did complete my job, including delivering my stored stuff yesterday.

They are a big company but are only doing one job a day, most pre booked so don't think they are taking on new jobs. Man in a van/van hire still available though.

I'm not sure if you can start the process but if you're already in it you can complete & move. My sister moved today. All went very smoothly

Thanks everyone. We haven’t started the process at all and don’t know where to start. We are in Wales.

Not if you need a mortgage as i dont think mortgage companies are doing valuations at the moment.

How do you expect to sell a house when no one can view it though? We were about to sell and then this kicked off. Also most mortgage companies are only doing 60% LTV (as they can't do valuations) so that has screwed us up as well as we are needing about 80% LTV for our onward move. We are hoping once things settle we may get a higher LTV mortgage and this is just for the now. Who knows what will happen.

Weren’t many valuations being undertaken on a desktop/drive-by (street view) basis anyway? Mine was, 18 months ago.

I see on rightmove ‘virtual viewings’ are happening, maybe this relies on the seller being tech savvy.

The thing I think will be impossible will be chain transactions.

Whether the valuation is a desktop one or physical one often depends on LTV ratio and if the house is a period property or not. If it's a low LTV, more likely to be desktop valuation.

If people are struggling with lenders, I know HSBC are still doing higher LTV deals.

I see on rightmove ‘virtual viewings’ are happening, maybe this relies on the seller being tech savvy.

Would anyone spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a property done through a virtual viewing though? I certainly wouldn't. This is the most expensive item people will ever buy. I also go on the feelof a house so maybe I am odd.

I may do a virtual viewing to make me think yes I really want to view the house when lockdown is over but would never ever offer based on it.

The conveyancers I work for put 75% of us on furlough today. Our IT is good, the majority of us were WFH. We've only dealing with transactions that can and have to get through at the moment.

It's all expected to pick up again as soon as the lockdown is over but for now most transactions are on hold.

We were about to go on and EA said not to bother.

Our son is going ahead with his first time buy - hoping to exchange in a couple of weeks, completion sometime in May.

The property is empty, the valuation, searches and mortgage offer were all done before lockdown, now he's just waiting to sign the contract. On completion he'll use his own van to move.

I know some people will think him mad to buy at the moment when property prices are likely to drop significantly but when I think of all the rent he's paid over the last few years he could have already bought it almost, so a roof of his own with his own garden seems cheap at any price these days.

Also it looks like low deposit mortgage deals won't be around any more after the lockdown, so if he pulled out now he probably wouldn't be able to afford to buy at all for many years. So the money he'll save on rent alone makes it still worth it.