How long has your house purchase taken [so far]??

[dubyalass]

I had an offer accepted in mid-June; no chain. I've had my mortgage offer through and the survey done. There is an issue with ownership of an outbuilding so the vendors are sorting that out with the Land Registry. Searches not done yet but unlikely to be anything tricky there.

I'm hoping that I might be in by the end of October but realistically who knows. I've no idea how long the LR are taking to process casework at the moment. Once that's sorted it should all be pretty quick.

That sounds horrible and so stressful @RM2013

Oh gosh @pavillion1 that is a fast chain of events and exciting!!!!

There’s joint agents on the sale of this house.. . One called Leaders who are a local traditional agent and another who are an online auction site (Iamsold) which charges a £6k fee to the buyer. The iamsold lot have been awful. Somewhere between ignoring, fobbing off and lying. I’ve been chasing them. I put in a call to Leaders yesterday to see what they could do… lo and behold, my sol (who has been wonderful) has had a message to suggest completion of Weds 23rd!!! I’ll believe it when I see it.

We're in!
Yesterday was exhausting but it all ran pretty smoothly ( for house selling/ buying) and we got the keys just after 2.30pm.
The removal men were great, really cheerful and helpful.

It was exactly 4 months to the day from when we put our house on the market.

This post is not to gloat, but to say, despite all the awful stress and huge amount of work, it has happened for us...and just to hang on in there.

How lovely well done 🏡, I'm hoping to exchange today after the madness yesterday.
Let's hope we all get progress in the next 2 days . I can't wait to stop waking in the night wondering if we will ever move 🤪

I'm not much further on. My solicitors don't think completion by Christmas is possible because searches have only just gone out and we're still waiting for the remaining title plan, plus vendors'solicitors aren't responding to mine. I have to say, I don't understand why, with more than four weeks before Christmas, we can't achieve this, but I'm at the mercy of solicitors who don't talk to each other. If I worked like that I'd be sacked.

PS congratulations to all who've exchanged or moved! I am deeply envious 😁

@FuzzyPuffling yay!!! I’m so pleased for you enjoy your new 🏡 home

@pavillion1 fingers crossed for exchange today

@dubyalass i think I’ve also resigned myself to the fact that it will be in the new year now. You never know maybe they will pull the rabbit out of the hat and surprise us with some new found speediness!!

@RM2013 I live in hope!

No exchange yet for us 😑

@pavillion1 any news on your exchange?

we’ve just had the contract and TR1 form sent to us to sign for our sale so looks like we are almost there but we can’t exchange yet as we don’t have a date for our purchase because of the conveyencing error made on previous sale. Very frustrating as we would have been able to move before Christmas but now looks unlikely

Yes we exchanged around 3pm today .. I do wish they would do these things with abit of warning .. I'm not in a job where I carry my phone .. so yesterday I knew things were moving but I was a rota so couldn't just drop everything. I managed to drop a client and get away early, then today I'd assumed we wouldn't hear when it hit about 2pm . Around 3pm my watch started going mad but I was tied up .. eventually got it sorted by 4pm .
Complete on the 9th prob move in around the 14th .. but the tree will go up on the 9th

Any joy for you ???

Do your sellers know when your offer is up ? Are the pushing as much as they can ?

@pavillion1 brilliant news on the exchange.

Apart from getting the contract paperwork for our sale it’s radio silence from the solicitors about the purchase. I held off chasing them because DH says I am overthinking.
i spent all of my lunch break googling how long these issues take. Other people have stories that have ranges from a couple of weeks to a year and a half 😳
I might chase again tomorrow afternoon to see if any progress otherwise I will spend the whole weekend stressing

Hurrah pavillion. Get filling those boxes!

And lots of positive vibes for the rest of you. You have my sympathies and my prayers.

Yaay! congratulations @pavillion1 have an amazing time packing!!!

Fingers crossed you're in the short term camp @RM2013

I truly hope you're is quick too @dubyalass

And fingers crossed for everyone else!!

My purchase should exchange early next week, vendors solicitor is just confirming with mine that our monies are ready.

Anyone else tried to contact British Gas. I've been trying them all week but all "none emergency" lines are closed. I managed to speak to someone today, but had to go through the complaints line, he tried transferring me, but after 20 minutes on hold I had to go back to work 🤦‍♀️ I just want to close our account with them.

Thanks all xxx decluttering starting Saturday ... wishing you all some clarity soon xxx

I’ve no idea to be honest - all contact is through the estate agents. Asked agents to chase their solicitor earlier this week but have heard nothing back. If I were the vendors I’d have been putting pressure on ages ago but all I’ve heard from them is a suggested completion date which passed last week.

I think it’s time for an email to all concerned to say that if completion isn’t possible by Christmas, I will pull out and start looking again next year. I can’t continue spending money with no end in sight and my mortgage offer due to expire in early January, it’s insane. There’s a horrible irony in me having started this thread yet being barely any further on, while other posters have exchanged, completed and moved in!

Anyway, congratulations on exchanging! That must be a relief.

@dubyalass

I think that's a very good idea , I had to turn into dick mode to get things moving . It does work .. good luck

Dick mode engaged 😂

I drafted an email late last night so will review it this morning to take out anything emotional. It feels like the nuclear option and they may well call my bluff but for my own sanity I need some sort of resolution, even if it means losing this house.

No they won't , I had to tell a lie and say my DH is starting to rethink if now is the right time to buy under the current cost of living crisis . I also enquired about a cheaper property.. it got things moving ..
just use yesterday's announcement of the new budget .

Good idea - thanks. I'm also going to check what interest rate would be available to me now if I had to apply for a new mortgage and calculate the difference in cost over the fixed term. I'm already paying over the lender's valuation (they downvalued it by £30k from my original offer so we met halfway) and I'm not prepared to continue at the agreed price if my existing deal expires.

I suspect the vendors' solicitors will lay some blame at my and my solicitors' door for not accepting the retention offer they made to speed things up but it just didn't make sense for my circumstances.

Email sent to all concerned saying I'll pull out if not completed by Christmas. Such fun! Let's see what they say.