Buying/Selling - when to pay for searches

[Safd]

Hi all. We are currently in the process of buying and selling. We accepted an offer mid April. Our buyers surveyor came around and told us that he would get the report done that afternoon. Our offer on a property was accepted just before the coronation and our mortgage just got approved and we wanted to start the process. We asked our estate agent for an update to see if the buyer got their mortgage approved but there has been no news from the agent yet. I was wondering if it was ok to pay for the searches, but in the back of my mind, if the buyer has any issues with getting a mortgage and decides to pull out then we would lose that money, any advice would be much appreciated.

After your buyer's mortgage has been approved.

Are you sure it was a survey and not a valuation by the lender that happened? I find estate agents and vendors often get these things confused; the valuation survey usually happens pretty quickly.

Thank you for replying. It was just the mortgage valuation survey that's why I am a bit worried because our offer was accepted, a few days after that, the valuation survey was done and we were approved so was just wondering what was going on. I also heard that if it was bad news we would have heard sooner, so taking a while might be nothing to worry about, I just don't like being in this unsure moment.

They might just be waiting for appointment with mortgage advisor to go through finances and get the formal approval

Our mortgage just got approved today, four weeks after the valuation survey. In the current climate it is normal to be taking six weeks.

I had a btl mortgage through a limited company and our broker has our business accounts but he put in our application one day, the mortgage company valuation done at the end of the same week and mortgage offer issued the following week, so 12 days after application. Things you could check 1. Check the purchaser has appointed a solicitor and paid the deposit to the solicitor otherwise they won't do anything. 2. Have purchasers completed the initial purchase pack and got their signed documents including ID back to their solicitor. You should not get searches done, and most solicitors won't do them until the purchasers have done all their initial bits and their mortgage offer is in.

Four weeks seems like a long time to me. It just seems like a waste of time, as we're all ready to go and just waiting for the other side, no wonder the selling/buying process takes a long time and I am already stressing out.

That approval took twice as long as last year.

It's the underwriters causing hold ups. They are dealing with much more risk than last year.

The lenders have quietly doubled the cost of living in the affordability sums for the applicant and each dependent, so they have a lot more work to do to see if the maths work, I guess.

I am just in the process of moving and am porting my mortgage, have been told up to 8 weeks by the underwriters. Spoke to EA today and they have advised conveyancing is taking around 16 weeks these days and thats on a good run.

Our mortgage offer took 10 days.