Very rough timeline?

[Violetandpurple]

Hi everyone,
we have accepted an offer on our property & had an offer accepted on the one we wanted.
Our buyers are in no chain & the property we are purchasing is also in no chain (was rented out selling to fund retirement nobody currently living in it.

I know its like asking how long is a piece of string but roughly when should we expect to be moving in ..
6 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months?

thanks

"I know its like asking how long is a piece of string but roughly when should we expect to be moving in ..
6 weeks, 8 weeks, 12 weeks, 6 months?"

Sadly all of the above timeframes are possible. I would like to think 8-12 weeks is more than enough time with it being the lower end of this timeframe, but my solicitor was hung up on a single enquiry (something in the deeds from 1913 that is no longer relevant) that dragged on for just over 5 weeks so it can go on and on over the silliest of things sadly.

We sold in August, purchased mid September and completed 1st December - good luck hope everything goes well!

Two to three months is average but it entirely depends on what turns up in the deeds and searches, whether it’s a leasehold, and the timescale that everyone else in your chain is working to. You might also find that the big conveyancing firms are often slower, presumably because of the volume of work they are dealing with.
Having been a conveyancer for many years (although thankfully no longer!), I’ve never come across anyone to unnecessarily drag out a sale for “the silliest” of enquiries - but they will make sure that everything is in order, and rightly so because that’s what you’re paying them for.

You say they they hold it up over the silliest of enquiries but our solicitor sent an enquiry adamant that a document had not been sent to them by the sellers solicitor for nearly 5 weeks then suddenly found it.

At no point did the sellers solicitor actually go 'its was sent on x date but here it is again' or ours ask for it again, they both just dug their heels in saying 'it has been sent' and 'no it hasn't' a few times before it was located.

I'd say comfortably 4 months if straight forward freehold houses - any potential survey issues add 1-2 months, as any further specialist survey, drains etc may be booked up. Our was a similar scenario plus a drains survey - 4 months, everyone was committed to making it happen EA, solicitor's, surveyors, mortgage broker, so pushed it along.

How long is a piece of string?

A couple of years ago we were selling a probate property to FTB so no chain or any other complications.
Seemed to be dragging on but we had no real timescale to worry about. Then the buyers solicitor started getting difficult about the deed plan which we had to sort but after a while they were satisfied. Still it lingered on but as I say, no real issue on our side (think it was about 4-months by now).
Came to a head when they asked if they could have the new kitchen and other materials delivered to the house at the end of the week. We said no and suddenly, exchange & completion occured 2-days later!

We were in a similar position when we bought ours - first time buyers so no chain on our side, and the property was already vacant after owners had moved abroad and been renting it out for a few years. We had our offer accepted around about this time of year and finally completed on 7th September.

There were a couple of big holdups for us: the seller’s financial position was not what they originally declared to their solicitor, and there was a lot more debt tied to the house than the sale could actually cover. Also their solicitors were incredibly slow - we almost went with the same ones (through the estate agent) but when they didn’t get back to us about something really simple in a decent timeframe we paid out more for a solicitor a family member recommended. Best decision we ever made because she was an absolute rottweiler at chasing them for everything needed - at one point she even went to their offices in person to get a signature because it was taking so long.

So it might be lovely and simple, and it might be more complex, but I’d say hopefully if yours is simpler than ours turned out to be then you’ll hopefully be in for about August!

I sold a house in 8 weeks last year. The other one is still going through, so far 14 months...

Both chain free.

Congratulations 🥂

We did an exchange of houses. So literally they downsized to ours and we moved up (paying more).

The whole process was an utter nightmare of 6 months from the offer going in mainly because the buyers were slack, kept literally changing agreed moving dates.

This is not the norm though I’m sure. I would imagine it’s just the searches that take the longest time.

I did ring the council and asked for their search lead time and they were super helpful, none of it mattered for us due to the buyers but that might be worth a quick call.

Congratulations and how exciting for you.

We bought with no chain either side, and it took a good few months. I would plan on about 4 months and be prepared to call solicitors weekly "to find out if there is anything they need from you" to keep it ticking along.

We sold in a private sale to first time buyer and bought an empty house with no chain on the other.

We put the offer in end of June and moved in end of January.

There was an issue with the owners finding the guarantee for the roof on the house we were buying (not helped by the fact they'd gone on a month long cruise) that had a new roof and also the mortgage provider demanded we got one loose tile fixed before they'd give us the money.

So hard to say.

We were chain free, had a solicitor who would jump through hoops for us (worked for them), large deposit, definitely no mortgage problem, knowing this we put an offer in telling them we'd 100% be ready in a month as long as their solicitor was on top of things - they already had a new house ready to move in, which they did the following month.

What they didn't tell us they couldn't sell for four months without a large penalty.

@Violetandpurple did you move?! Would love to know how long it ended up taking. In a similar position myself