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Original poster

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

966 replies

dubyalass · 27/08/2022 15:15

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.

OP posts:
RM2013 · 06/01/2023 15:42

Copied and pasted from
other selling thread but think we might be actually doing this!!!

Lots of activity here today and I don’t want to get too excited but think this might just happen. If you remember I threatened to pull out today if things weren’t sorted with the outstanding transfer form.

first thing I had a call from estate agents to say that they now had the signed transfer form signed by both parties and they would get it to our solicitor today

then email from solicitor to say she’d received a copy of the form was just waiting on original but would get in touch with sellers solicitor to see if they could agree completion 18th

then another email form solicitor asking our sale solicitor to confirm money would be sent to them for purchase on completion so they can exchange (eek)

emailed solicitor dealing with sale - she confirmed they can complete 18th needs to get a new redemption statement and confirm with buyers solicitor that date ok for them

so that’s my solicitor for purchase and sale
that have said yes to the 18th just my vendor and buyers solicitors to confirm the same (can’t see they will say no as buyer had been waiting for. a month already and they’ve Already said happy for us to pick date and they will go with it)

fingers tightly crossed

Original poster
dubyalass · 06/01/2023 17:46

I am tentatively hopeful on your behalf! It sounds very positive...

OP posts:
RM2013 · 06/01/2023 18:42

@dubyalass thank you feed like it might happen. Hope you’re settling in well to the new home

nellyelloe · 06/01/2023 19:09

@RM2013 that's great news, it sounds really hopeful. Sounds like the pressure and threat of pulling out was helpful.

So our whole chain is still waiting on our buyers mortgage offer. I literally do not understand why it is taking so long. The valuation survey was beginning of November. I am also really angry we have all invested money into it all and are basically held to ransom like this. Normally the mortgage offers should be in the bag right near the start of the process, before people have put money in. Apparently our buyer had to send more paperwork to their lender which they were slow to do and then they went to the back of the queue again. I don't know, it just feels dodgy at this point when everyone is sat waiting to exchange. What do you all think?

RM2013 · 06/01/2023 19:16

@nellyelloe
i completely agree with you. We applied
for our mortgage the day after our offer was accepted and we had our offer within a week. Mind you DH is a mortgage advisor and he went with a lender who have really good customer service. Ours buyers offer took a couple
of weeks as there was a delay in sending a surveyor out but o certainly wouldn’t have expected it to be so late down the line.

sounds like they either didn’t apply very quickly or someone has cocked up with the application

Really hope you get some news Monday

Fiddie · 06/01/2023 20:14

nellyelloe · 06/01/2023 19:09

@RM2013 that's great news, it sounds really hopeful. Sounds like the pressure and threat of pulling out was helpful.

So our whole chain is still waiting on our buyers mortgage offer. I literally do not understand why it is taking so long. The valuation survey was beginning of November. I am also really angry we have all invested money into it all and are basically held to ransom like this. Normally the mortgage offers should be in the bag right near the start of the process, before people have put money in. Apparently our buyer had to send more paperwork to their lender which they were slow to do and then they went to the back of the queue again. I don't know, it just feels dodgy at this point when everyone is sat waiting to exchange. What do you all think?

We got a mortgage with Barclays recently. Their current offer time is 59 days from application.

Ours was about 30 as v simple but anything else is taking ages, so if it's with someone like that it could be just a very annoying legit thing.

CurlyClairey · 06/01/2023 20:49

I’m confused because our mortgage offer took a matter of days??? We are existing customers of that bank, is that why? 60 days seems like an age.

Our searches are ongoing, no dates for us yet. Hope everyone gets good news soon!

nellyelloe · 06/01/2023 21:38

Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better @Fiddie
I guess the fact our buyers were asked for more paperwork from their lender, are slow with getting anything back and Christmas, maybe it really is torturously slow. I just hope they chase continuously now as lots of people are depending on them

flummingbird · 06/01/2023 22:07

That's brilliant news @RM2013, hopefully you can get it pushed on again next week and completed the next!!

My solicitor has confirmed we should exchange next Monday or Tuesday and complete on Thursday. This weekend will mostly be spent furiously packing as I'm working the first 3 days of next week.

SquashSqueezee · 06/01/2023 23:05

Great reading these updates of things moving forwards and completions, shows it’s not impossible!

@nellyelloe we had a similar situation in our first chain at the start of last year, buyer at the bottom didn’t realise their offer had expired, like you I had no idea how this wasn’t spotted by their solicitor! It took almost 2 months for their new offer to come through, I was convinced something dodgy was going on but it came through. The bad news was that during this two months our vendor had a change in circumstance and pulled out at exchange.

weve also had an update today and there is talk of exchange next week. It’s so infuriating with all these different takes from the EA, the solicitor and the buyer but pleased it’s not dead in the water. We’ve had two other failed purchases and both times found another property we loved so although this third one is our dream forever home we know if it doesn’t happen will be others.

hang in there everyone and look forward to some completion updates next week!

MissTangerine · 06/01/2023 23:06

Great news OP, hope everything goes well.
We’ve already exchanged before Christmas and completing in 10 days.
We need a new thread now with tips on packing, and what to renovate around the house. My soon to be property is dated but kept in good condition. We’re thinking of doing the upstairs while still being in rental accommodation then move in and deal with the downstairs at a later stage.

Original poster
dubyalass · 06/01/2023 23:43

Thanks! Movers booked for a week on Thursday. It's on my way to/from work so I can drop bits and bobs off when I'm going into the office. Had my first visitors today and they really liked it.

Glad to hear progress is happening for folks.

OP posts:
Fiddie · 07/01/2023 13:35

nellyelloe · 06/01/2023 21:38

Thanks, that makes me feel a lot better @Fiddie
I guess the fact our buyers were asked for more paperwork from their lender, are slow with getting anything back and Christmas, maybe it really is torturously slow. I just hope they chase continuously now as lots of people are depending on them

Barclays have a current turnaround rate of 5 days for questions etc too. So if they asked for paperwork, It'll be 5 days til it's assessed and replied to. Then another 5 days if anything else needs to be submitted etc. it's so annoying but they are so busy with everyone scrabbling to remortgage etc.

RidingMyBike · 07/01/2023 14:06

We've just remortgaged with Barclays and it's taken 3.5 weeks from initial chat with mortgage advisor to money being available. That includes all the Christmas and NY bank hols.

nellyelloe · 07/01/2023 20:16

Thanks again. It feels like maybe it's a possibility then if they've been really slow getting things back to them a couple of times. Self employed as well.

nellyelloe · 09/01/2023 16:41

No update today on our buyer's mortgage offer (or lack of). I've chased solicitors and estate agents and no one has got back to me. At what point do I really get shitty and issue an ultimatum? I can't understand this anymore. They applied for the mortgage in October....... How can it possibly take this long? Does anyone have any advice?

RM2013 · 09/01/2023 19:13

@nellyelloe I was the same after waiting weeks for the transfer form
to be sorted. DH wanted me to give them. But more time but in the end I lost my shit and threatened pulling out by the end of the week of it wasn’t sorted and surprise they got it sorted!! Just frustrating that you end you having to rant!!

are your buyers proactive in chasing it up. I think maybe it’s time to suggest you may pull out of not sorted by x date. Really feel for you it’s so frustrating

RM2013 · 09/01/2023 19:15

Well all looks good to go here. All parties have agreed that completion on 18th is possible. Moving company booked and I’ve requested the time off work. We have had the redemption statement and final invoices through. Just hoping we can exchange by the end of the week to give me more security that it’s actually going to happen!!

FuzzyPuffling · 09/01/2023 19:30

Oooh ooh ooh RM Sounding very good indeed!

Original poster
dubyalass · 09/01/2023 20:39

That does sound positive! Sending more 🍷🍫 just in case...

I met both sets of neighbours at the weekend and they're really nice. Friends have been round to see the house and everyone loves it. Really pleased.

OP posts:
Original poster
dubyalass · 09/01/2023 20:39

That does sound positive! Sending more 🍷🍫 just in case...

I met both sets of neighbours at the weekend and they're really nice. Friends have been round to see the house and everyone loves it. Really pleased.

OP posts:
Original poster
dubyalass · 09/01/2023 22:57

Gah, gremlins in the system 🙄

OP posts:
RM2013 · 10/01/2023 00:02

@dubyalass thank you. Glad to hear so far all your visitors have loved your new place

@FuzzyPuffling thank you! Hope you’re settling in ok and getting some of those jobs ticked off your list

flummingbird · 10/01/2023 15:13

Well we are meant to exchange today but my buyers solicitor can't get hold of her to get authority to exchange... supposed to be completing on Thursday.

Plus I've had my completion statement and the solicitors haven't counted a £250 payment I made, so check the numbers carefully folks, I'd have been paying more unneccesarily if I hadn't spotted that!

flummingbird · 10/01/2023 18:54

We've completed, woohoo! No word on the missing payment yet, but that can wait for tomorrow. For now it's 🍷