Is 4 months too long for a sale?

[SugarandSpiceLatte]

I have agreed to buy a house in mid December, my side of the agreement has been completed since February and there is a delay on the side of the sellers onward purchase due to a boundary issue which has delayed the whole purchase. When we first agreed the sale we told them that it needed to be completed by the end of March due to our lease ending then- everyone assured me it would 100% be completed, however it is now mid April and I have had to move in with family and put all my things in storage due to this delay.. we have now went to the estate agent and said we would like a date by next Friday or else we may pull out as we haven’t heard anything in two weeks and no clue on what’s going on as well as being in a very hard living situation… was this the wrong thing to do?

Well presumably you don't want to have to start again as it will take even longer

Is the issue resolvable with time is the question to ask

Tip for life: Don't threaten to pull out unless you are actually prepared to pull out. People may take you at your word.

Our estate agent told us the national average from draft contract issued to completion is 22 weeks.

Of course some people have a quick easy run, but it only takes an issue in one part of the chain to slow things right down. I think the original timescale in this case was exceedingly optimistic!

Threatening to pull out seems like cutting your nose off to spite your face here as you don’t have any control of how long the next purchase would take either, but in best case scenario by the time you’ve found somewhere and started the whole process again it would likely be as long/longer as the extra wait you’re currently facing.

I hate buying and selling houses, it’s so hard when things are out of your control. You have my sympathies OP and I hope it starts moving soon.

4 months is perfectly normal and end of March was optimistic.

I went from offer to completion in four weeks. So it can be done.

4 months is probably about right/the minimum at the moment, especially if there are complications somewhere in the chain (eg a boundary issue). March was optimistic if you had an offer accepted in December.

As PP said you should only threaten to pull out if you're actually willing to do it- it doesn't sound like the chain is ready to exchange so there isn't much that can be done about that, no matter how many threats are made.

If you do pull out, you'll have to start over and may end up in an even longer chain. The house buying/selling process in this country is painful, but in your shoes I'd grit my teeth and wait it out.

As @OldTinHat says, shorter periods can be done, but it depends on so many different variables- the size of the chain, the type of properties within it, the financial situation of all buyers, the solicitors used, the fact that everyone in it is a person with their own life.

Yes but it’s extremely rare.

we have now went to the estate agent and said we would like a date by next Friday or else we may pull out as we haven’t heard anything in two weeks and no clue on what’s going on as well as being in a very hard living situation… was this the wrong thing to do?

Well, that depends. It was the wrong thing to do if you were only saying it and didn't intend to follow through. We recently had a house purchase that was dragging on and told our agent similar, but we fully intended to cut our losses and walk away if we didn't get the response we wanted. In our case, we were lucky that it had the desired effect and got people moving and after months of stalling we completed 10 days later. You might find it has the opposite effect though, so be prepared for that.

I did not say that we had to pull out. I stated that we may need to consider other options as the process is taking far too long and we are now technically homeless with a young child due to their delay. The sellers solicitors are the ones delaying everything and we wanted to make it clear that our patience is wearing thin due to the fact they said we could move in on the 22nd March then changed their minds two weeks later.

They can say what they like but until contracts are exchanged it’s always subject to change

the boundary issue needs sorting before you exchange

4 months is relatively normal / quick for a house purchase

There is nothing stopping you from looking elsewhere but there is a high chance your current purchase will go through quicker than a new one - but it's just chances

Sometimes the chain being aware that people are starting to look elsewhere can motivate people to act a bit faster but often there is little to be sone of things are getting complicated

The whole process is grim and expensive

4 months is pretty normal. If you pull out and start again, it won't be any quicker! You can say whatever you want, but if they have an issue with their new place, it needs resolving.

Honestly OP I don't think that "we are pulling out" is much different from "we may have to pull out" in threat terms.

Agree you need to find out what the boundary issue is- if it's something that is being held up with eg the Land Registry, you could have a bit more of a wait on your hands. But in that case its out of the hands of anyone in the chain, so threats won't really change much.

They told me that the boundary agreement has been approved over two weeks ago and just needs signed and my estate agent has now informed me that the delay is due to the solicitors bickering over the agreement… I would just like a rough time frame instead of not knowing anything and being completely lost.

It is very frustrating but they could give you a rough time frame, it doesn't mean anything. My chain targeted 4 different exchange dates before we actually exchanged.

My sympathies, it's a horrible process!

As others have said starting a new purchase from scratch will likely take longer, but if this boundary issue is going to drag on for a long time, then you may be better off cutting your losses.

I do think sometimes it can be worth giving the sellers a deadline to work towards e.g. say a month, but then you do have to be prepared to actually walk away.

Are there other comparable properties on the market?

Yes there is a house a few doors down that is slightly dearer but still in price range that i am considering!

That sounds really stressful for you, but 4 months isn't at all unusual, unfortunately. It took 5 months from having our offer accepted to completion (6 months for our buyers as it took us a month to find the onward purchase). I would ask for an urgent response/update rather than giving a deadline for completion as this may be simply impossible to do.

Nobody should have told you any specific timescale was possible. That’s just not how these things work.

You didn’t need to move just because your lease ended, if it was a normal AST.

Similar for me, 8 weeks. I was a first time buyer and we were living with DH's family and while we would have waited longer as they were far from wanting us gone, we wanted our own space and I didn't want to wait around a long time.

I did have to move as I couldn’t extend the lease.

Your estate agent should be chasing it up for you as if your sale doesn’t complete they don’t get paid so would ask them to chase it up for you as they can speak to the solicitors either side of you in a chain and other estate agents at any position in a chain

The majority of tenancy agreements don't need to be extended, they just roll on at the end, as legally, only a tenant or a court can end it. However, you may have had a non-standard tenancy.