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Original poster

How long to complete with no chain?

32 replies

SheldonSaysSo1 · 06/07/2020 18:17

How long can we expect things to take to purchase a house without a chain? We agreed on a quick sale but things seem to have slowed down a few weeks in. Is this to be expected or a sign of delays?

OP posts:
AppleTree16 · 06/07/2020 18:21

It took us just under three months from start to finish, no chain. This was end of last year so pre-covid. No issues throughout. What stage are you stuck at?

whiteblue · 06/07/2020 18:24

It's been nearly 4 months now, but agreed sale in mid March which was the beginning of Covid. Hoping to complete by late July. No chain.

MissSmiley · 06/07/2020 18:25

I sold a flat in London years ago and it took four weeks from viewing to completion so it is possible

TeaMeBasil · 06/07/2020 18:26

3 months for us, FTBs with no chain - almost to the day.

Hmmph · 06/07/2020 18:29

6 weeks.

We had a ftb who was ready to go (we’d been buying a different property which had fallen through, but our buyer waited for us) and the house we were buying was empty. We were also fairly prepped having just done a lot of stuff for the old house and buying through a very good estate agent.

itsureis · 06/07/2020 18:31

I have just had an offer accepted on a house, no chains either side, so am about to start this process.
3 months should give me enough time to empty the shite from my garage 😂
Good luck OP x

Bells3032 · 06/07/2020 18:31

We were chain free and no complications. Took three months

DramaAlpaca · 06/07/2020 18:34

We managed it in less than six weeks when we were chain free.

Lonecatwithkitten · 06/07/2020 20:41

To date 14 months and we have still not completed! We are cash buyers, they have already moved to a new property, but they had tenants. Then our solicitor contracted coronavirus and the file had to be passed on, oh and we're a diplomatic family so our money is coming from abroad so DC's rejig of the civil service is now causing hold ups!

mumwon · 06/07/2020 21:05

3 times no chain - no mortgage either on one - still 3 months
Why?
Ask the two solicitors - one or the other took to long to answer questions
& I think if they are busy things just get delayed although I would rather have a thorough solicitor who does checks everything & I don't like online because you cant drop in & check/ask questions

PurplePansy05 · 06/07/2020 22:14

4 months for us, no chain either way at the time.

kazza446 · 06/07/2020 22:18

We managed to complete a sale and sell our own house in 4 weeks! We were at risk of losing our sale if we couldn’t move quickly. Our solicitor was fab.

sangrias · 06/07/2020 22:20

It's taken us 4 and a half months.

mummabubs · 06/07/2020 22:39

Took us 10 weeks when we bought 6 years ago, but that was with me calling and pushing solicitors a heck of a lot to get things moving.

Nokita · 07/07/2020 23:29

We gave up after 5 months in a free chain house. The seller could move out on the first month but we agreed to move after 3 months. After this time our solicitors were still waiting from paperwork from seller solicitor, we got a moving date after 5 months, planned everything ahead and two weeks before the dates still waiting for one paper for the solicitor seller that stopped responding as well as the state agent. We decided to pull out and on the next day EA called us offering a reduction on price. Still, we decided not go ahead.

ElinoristhenewEnid · 08/07/2020 08:04

7 weeks when we bought chain free but did not sell - we were cash buyers.

18 weeks when we sold chain free - did not buy (buyer had useless solicitor - did not complete on due date because buyers solicitor forgot to ask for mortgage funds )

BarrelOfOtters · 08/07/2020 08:47

6 months. The owners had forgotten to get planning for a new roof in a conservation area. Then solicitors on holiday and Christmas and new year.

Then our mortgage offer ran out.

Toddlerteaplease · 08/07/2020 09:11

I bought the house I was already renting, my landlady offered it to me on 26th April and we completed on 1st August.

Bumpinthenight · 08/07/2020 09:18

In 2004 when we bought our first house it took 5 weeks from offer accepted to moving in.

In 2012 from offer being accepted to movin in was 7 weeks because the vendors delayed it by a week.

Both times there was no downward or upward chain.

It depends on your solicitor and how quick they are and if they get the searches done ASAP.

NotQuiteUsual · 08/07/2020 15:04

We're exactly one month in on an empty, chain free property as cash buyers. Our solicitor has a big backlog due to Covid so it's taking a lot longer to get anything done at the minute. We're hoping it'll only be one more month, but it's hard to tell. We're in such uncharted times.

Moomin12345 · 08/07/2020 15:07

How long is a piece of string? Those two questions probably have the same number of correct answers.

Dogsandbabies · 08/07/2020 19:16

The things that holds up most no chain purchases are local searches. Our council takes around 8weeks to complete the local searches. They have no incentive to be quick.

Last area I purchased the council was quick and I completed in 4weeks.

GorgeousLadyofWrestling · 08/07/2020 19:42

We were FTB buying an empty property and it took nearly SIX MONTHS, six long awful months where there were no issues, no problems, no reason for the delay other than our god awful solicitors.

We completed in Feb after having our offer accepted in August. If it hadn’t been for us raising a huge complaint and insisting our solicitor was taken off our case after she lied about work being done, we might not even have completed before lockdown - and potentially had our mortgage offer withdrawn 😡

Original poster
SheldonSaysSo1 · 10/07/2020 17:22

Thank you for all the replies, it makes interesting reading. Everything is so delayed and slow which is my reason for asking. We were told 6 weeks, so I thought it may be more like 8-10 weeks. Currently even that is looking unachievable.

OP posts:
augustusglupe · 11/07/2020 00:30

In 2018 it took us exactly 4 months from the offer on our property to completion. No Chain. Halfway through it became clear that they were having a few problems securing the mortgage, hence the delay. Everything worked out though.