Why do searches take so long?

[CoconutChair]

I really can’t understand why the house buying process takes so long in the UK?

Last purchase, our mortgage offer came through in 1 day (very low LTV with our regular bank, so they had all of our financial info already). No chain behind or in front. Survey done with no issues in a week. Vendor wanted a quick sale, so he was really quick with answering queries and hand delivering documents to his solicitor.

So why did the process take 11 weeks? Before covid.

Could a cash buyer move forward and say they don’t want to wait for searches etc? Presumably they’d indemnify their solicitor?

Depends on your council , some will still everything on paper , some will still be feeling the cuts from a few years ago . It's a back office function that is easy to get rid of people out of because not that many people will notice.

I was a cash buyer, clean survey, seller very motivated. Still took four months (pre covid)!
I have no idea why it can take so long. When I was buying in the 80s, hot market, you could still see a property on Saturday, get offer accepted, instruct solicitors, get mortgage valuation and survey done, pay extra for a personal search and be ready to exchange following Friday.
It's an awful system in this country, full of uncertainty.