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.

@Karmatime im not convinced we will exchange today. My solicitor has said buyers solicitor not ready to exchange as they are waiting confirmation of fund release from lender (offer was received ages ago) - guess this is just final stage?

solicitor seemed ok about it all and said exchange and completion on same day is fine - terrifies me a little though!!

I’ve booked next week off work and arranged removals for weds. Need to start packing. We have decluttered and put some things into suitcases but not actually filling any packing boxes. We do plan to move in to my parents house for a couple of nights next week as they are away at the moment so said we could move there so that we can literally pack everything up in our house - just take overnight bags with us with what we need for the last couple of days before the move

hope everything works out

We got confirmation of receiving funds too. We’ll get the keys next week. Just wondering what to look for when we get the keys as we will not be moving straight away. How long would you keep the old keys before changing the locks? If you should that is digressing from the thread pls let me know and will start a new one.

@RM2013 I hope all goes well! We had to exchange and complete on the same day a couple of months ago, and while I wish we had had more time between exchange and completion, it was OK in the end. A bit stressful waiting by the phone and having everything in removal vans, but once you get the call you can start moving. I would recommend not packing the kettle and coffees and teas because the removal guys (and yourselves) may need some beverages whilst the solicitors sort their stuff.

You still have a few days to exchange before Wednesday too, so fingers crossed. Good luck!

Hoping you get some good news soon @RM2013 .

Good question about the locks, @MissTangerine - I was wondering about that, but my predecessor is deceased and her family live abroad. I suppose I could get them changed but it doesn't feel like a priority. That said, I only have one key so need to get some spares cut anyway.

@MissTangerine this time we bought we changed the locks asap (8am on day after completion, having rung locksmith at 7am!). We had strong suspicions the vendor still had keys and didn't trust him an inch.

Previous time within 3 months, when we had front door replaced as part of a home renovation.

First time I purchased I didn't bother. Had no problems.

Sounds like we may have just exchanged...

Which is great apart from the fact my consultant had just told me my cancer isn't responding to treatment and I need surgery. 6 - 12 weeks off work and as a self employed carer I won't have a penny in income. So fuck knows how I'm going to pay the mortgage or indeed anything else!

Oh no @justgettingthroughtheday so sorry to hear that.

I hadn’t thought about changing locks. We’ve never done it on our 2 previous houses. Mind you we will change the front door at some point because the current owners have a cat flap i the door and we don’t have a cat so will probably just replace the door at some point.
we have so many sets of keys for our current house - my parents have given us back their copies, our teens have a set each and DH and o have a set each 🤣

@justgettingthroughtheday i am
pleased to hear you managed to exchange but sorry about the news from your consultant.
are you still managing to work at the moment? One of my best friends is currently having chemo but hasn’t been able to work - unfortunately she’d only just started a new job before her diagnosis - it’s really hard isn’t it - sending you positive thoughts and strength

Yes I'm working at the moment. I'm on hormone treatment (I have endometrial cancer) rather than chemo or radiotherapy. So I have been able to work although it's exhausting at times. I've been plunged into medical menopause so that's fun too!

🤞all goes smoothly from here on. Was beginning to get very panicked by the whole situation but I think we may be ok.

Can’t sleep. Worried about the fact we haven’t exchanged yet but aiming to complete Weds. solicitors dealing with sale and sellers solicitor don’t seem to think it’s an issue even if we have to exchange and complete on same
day but the solicitor dealing with our purchase seems to think it’s more risky and is pushing us to try and get our solicitors to put pressure on the buyers solicitor.
everyone else ready but buyers solicitor still waiting for confirmation of funds from lender. Really hope we have enough time as I booked time off work and removals for weds

starrted packing today - really don’t fancy having to un pack again if this all falls through

Thinking of you RM.

I know the feeling @RM2013 - weekends are so frustrating as you can’t even check progress! Still waiting for a search from the bottom of the chain and we are moving on Tuesday 250 miles away into rented. I can’t leave the house totally empty as if it all falls apart at the last minute I’ll have to come back to sort things out so not exchanging has really complicated things! Hopefully all will be sorted for you by Wednesday 🤞. I can’t wait to lose the constant feeling of anxiety!

I feel for you both, it's so unnecessarily stressful.

Thanks for all your good wishes @dubyalass and @FuzzyPuffling - keep everything crossed!!

@Karmatime its so stressful. I feel like I’ve just been in this constant state of anxiety since we offered in August. I think losing our first buyer made me realise just have precarious the whole process is. Good luck for your move into rented and hope that you get some more updates that things are progressing this week

Monday tomorrow - come on everyone let’s get moving!!

Tell your buyer's solicitor that I will come and kick them up the bum if they haven't exchanged tomorrow. Everything crossed for you.

@RM2013 I can fully understand why you are so stressed the process is awful but it sounds like everything is on track.

we are due to complete on 24th, picking on 23rd yet we haven’t exchanged as bottom of the chain isn’t ready. Their solicitor says they are still working towards the 25th - do you think they will believe the outstanding issue will be resolved to say this or just telling the chain what we want to hear? Issue is with accessing funds but we don’t know the specifics.

We were in a similar position last summer before our chain collapsed and we lost the full cost of the removals. Everyone else is the chain is making booking for the 24th so we’re feeing pressured to do the same but really don’t want to risk another 2k down the drain. Just hoping we will get a positive update that ready to exchange either tomorrow or Tuesday.

@SquashSqueezee thank you! Yes we are in a similar position that all
solicitors and parties have agreed completion 18th but waiting for buyers solicitors to be ready to exchange - solicitors tend to use wording such as “working towards completion on 18th” still feel very nervous that a last minute hiccup will hold things up though!!

fingers crossed you get some news in the next couple of days that everyone ready to exchange

It’s a new week so hoping those of you waiting for news get some positive movement this week.

I’ve got this week off work and today we are spending the day packing. We are supposed to complete Weds but still haven’t exchanged snits slightly terrifying because I always said I wouldn’t pack until we had exchanged but never thought we’d have to wait so long to exchange. We have to start packing otherwise we won’t be ready for weds if all goes ahead.

we are staying at my parents for the next couple
of days as they’re away at the moment so at least we have somewhere to sleep/cook/eat if any major delays

feel very emotional and overwhelmed

RM I went to church yesterday and threw you a prayer. Hope that's ok? It's an awful time, uncertainty like that is terrifying. Here's hoping very much it all comes good.

Fingers crossed for you @RM2013. Hopefully it'll all just fall into place!

Hang in there @RM2013

I've also said the same about packing but will probably be in the exact same position at the end of the week unless the chain has officially collapsed by then.

I know it’s hard but try to stay positive and visualise being in that new lovely home!

Can I join? We're at 10 months so far since our offer was accepted, and now the top of the chain may or may not be going back on their promise to go into rented. Trying to stay positive but it's so frustrating.

@spidershavetoomanyknees that sounds like a nightmare, have top of the chain found a property?

Our original chain completed November 2021 but our vendor withdrew in May 2022 just as we were ready to exchange. We should have exchanged before that time but buyer at the bottom mortgage expired and they couldn’t get it renewed so had to find another lender so added months on.

We found another property in July 2022 but by then out buyers were fed up of waiting so we lost our purchase and back to square one.

Sold again in Aug 2022 to a cash buyer and we found our onward property with a completed chain in September 2022. Due to exchange week before Christmas but buyer has a legal problem, we don’t know the specifics but the chain won’t wait so stress levels through the roof. Really upsetting as few like there is nothing we can do but wait for bad news to arrive and go back to square one.

@RM2013any updates on exchange??

@SquashSqueezee top of chain initially were waiting on a newbuild, so they said they'd rent to break the chain. Seems they offered on something else in January (no idea if there's even more chain after that) and they want to add it in to this chain - which was at the "one last bit of paperwork before exchange" stage before Christmas. EA seems to be on our side at the "you said you'd go into rented, now go into rented, we have it in writing" but ultimately I think it's up to them to follow through.