Buying without mortgage

[Midlifephoenix]

I'm in a chain of four, potentially more. My buyers are buying with proceeds of their sale (no mortgage) as am I, I'm not sure about my seller but believe she may be without a mortgage too. As valuations seems to be one major factor in delays how long did the mortgage add to your timescale (or if no mortgage how much time did it take) to complete your purchase?
Also, which of the searches would you say are a complete and utter waste of time (pretty darn sure the flood levels haven't changed nor have the drains or possibility of being built on contaminated land since the last few times any of these terraced properties have sold ad they are over 100 years old).

my mortgage did not take long at all...neither did my buyers. what took the longest was the searches as they are having big back logs. I don't tend to find it holds things up unless someone has a very LTV ratio. but just means less likely to fall through

Cant help you here, but just to say we bought a 100+ yr old terrace which was built for miners on the coal mine which was 500m from our back door, the house had been bought and sold 4 times over the past 20 years and we STILL had to have a search done on mine shafts! Something tells me that there have been NO new mine shafts built near my house in the last 60 years - when the mines were closed down. Common sense doesn’t always prevail in the world of house buying.

I’d have a search done on any applications for development in the locality if they might affect your house.

After my mortgage was sorted, the rest of the process only took about two months: I think searches are very authority dependent - I applied for mine mid-Covid and was braced for them to take several weeks - but they were back in 8 days.

Unless you’re doing your own conveyencing, most conveyancers will usually insist that all standard searches are carried out, because it covers them against potential later redress from you. And I think most LAs are used to providing search packages and just bundle it all up, rather than offering the ability to purchase only certain ones.

Thanks. I've only asked for some searches before, but different authority. I can do the development and planning searches myself- they are only good up to the day you do them anyway (crossrail 2 is - supposedly - coming to the area but luckily not that near).
I feel it's the council fundraising- in the dozen or so properties i have bought and sold in the last 20 years I have not been informed by any search, other than one which had an old church tie.

Many firms would just make you sign an “I don’t want searches and if it goes tits up I won’t sue you” letter.

I’d generally do a local authority search if possible. Most LA’s don’t have building regulations things searchable on their websites for example.

My fils was a cash purchase and took as long as our mortgage purchase due to searches.