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Property/DIY

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Original poster

Anyone cash buyers with no survey/legal work?

14 replies

Minimalme · 16/07/2022 13:06

Just wondered if anyone had experience of buying a property without going through the protracted process of getting a survey and back and forth legal enquiries?

We would be cash buyers.

We are sort of desperate but understand it is risky.

How long could it theoretically take?

OP posts:

PastMyBestBeforeDate · 16/07/2022 13:12

Could you buy at auction? That would be pretty quick.

Florence4170 · 16/07/2022 13:13

I have bought cash several times. Don’t bother with a survey. I have bought fairly new houses and assume that neighbours would have had all the searches done as conditions of the mortgage. It’s taking a chance though.
Your solicitor may be able to fast track your end - I paid a further £1,000 for this to be done in September. Obviously, you are dependent on the other side’s solicitor though and the vendor’s willingness to chase them up, as well as both solicitors communicating well with each other. I think my last purchase took 5 weeks, but there as no upward chain.

Florence4170 · 16/07/2022 13:14

I mean I don’t bother with a survey - not instructing you not to!

Original poster

Minimalme · 16/07/2022 13:18

Would love to buy at auction but nothing in our price range coming up.

We are looking at a flat which is rented but the landlord is selling up.

Our sale is good to go (for the last couple of months) but the seller's conveyancer on the place we are trying to buy are shit.

If we didn't need to satisfy our lender we could just crack on but as it is it is taking a bloody age...

OP posts:

Original poster

Minimalme · 16/07/2022 13:19

That's good advice about paying extra to speed it up - would be happy to do that.

OP posts:

MarmiteCoriander · 16/07/2022 13:21

When you say not bothering with surveys, do you mean the one you pay for yourself, or whatever surveys, flood risk etc the solicitor provides in the documents? (which I assumed was required legally?)

We were cash buyers 18mths ago- just as one of the lockdowns eased. No chains on either side as it was a derelict, probate property. We didn't get our own survey, as knew it would need complete gutting, new roof, plumbing, electrics etc. We did, however, get a relative who is a builder look around.

It took 3mths to get the keys- which considering it was completely chain free on both sides and cash buyers- much longer that I was expecting. Apparently that was quick though!

Nerdippy · 16/07/2022 13:41

Minimalme · 16/07/2022 13:18

Would love to buy at auction but nothing in our price range coming up.

We are looking at a flat which is rented but the landlord is selling up.

Our sale is good to go (for the last couple of months) but the seller's conveyancer on the place we are trying to buy are shit.

If we didn't need to satisfy our lender we could just crack on but as it is it is taking a bloody age...

Where are the tenants going? It is important to know what the seller is doing about them because the seller cannot offer vacant possession on completion if the tenants haven't vacated.

mindutopia · 16/07/2022 14:16

We’ve never had a survey done, but I can’t see the motivation for not having proper conveyancing done. Ours took 6 weeks. I’d gladly wait 6 weeks rather than end up accidentally buying something you would struggle to re-sell due to some massive legal/planning/flood issue.

Florence4170 · 16/07/2022 15:52

You can look up flood information online.

Plantstrees · 16/07/2022 15:57

I have bought houses without a survey and without the searches. I know the area well and my experience of searches is that they have been totally wrong so I end up doing the due diligence myself anyway.

I had two bad experiences with conveyancing solicitors who would have each had me buy properties with the wrong boundaries - very significant errors in both cases that were pointed out by me. I now feel safer doing it myself!

RidingMyBike · 16/07/2022 16:04

It is possible to buy and go faster but still do survey etc. We sold to cash buyers end of last year and got from offer to completion in 30 days.

What you do need is to have everything lined up ready to go so solicitor on the ball, knows you want to go fast and has the capacity to respond immediately to anything that comes up. And no holiday booked. That will cost more than a pile them high conveyancer. Have a surveyor available immediately and ready to prioritise your report - that'll cost more. Our buyers managed to get a survey done and back within 10 days. The one we've just done on the house we've bought the surveyor had no availability for 3.5 weeks, then 10 days to send us survey. So that added more than a month to the process.

Have all your paperwork ready to go - you could complete ID checks with the solicitor in advance (these are valid for six months, I think?), have scans of bank statements etc ready to send. Be available to respond to phone calls.

user1481837070 · 16/07/2022 16:16

We bought a house for cash last year and the sale needed to be completed quickly so we bought ‘no search indemnity insurance’ as we wouldn’t have got the searches back in time.

FinallyHere · 16/07/2022 16:31

paying extra to speed it up

When you exchange, you can make a condition of the sale going through that you have completed by a certain date.

Mosaic123 · 16/07/2022 19:35

If you are buying a flat, rather than a house, I think you need extra thorough legal work as every lease is different and you don't know what you are signing up to.

There may be works planned that you have to pay a huge about for.

Or the block could be having another floor put on the top.

Anything really!

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