Do we keep fingers crossed or go for a new property

[Hortonhearsawhat]

We had an offer accepted on a property end-March. The vendor had already had an offer accepted on their onward purchase, and we were led to believe by the agents that, with our offer accepted, the chain was complete. However, we later found out that this wasn't the case—the top of the chain hadn't yet found their onward purchase.

Twelve weeks later, there has still been no movement at the top of the chain. We've also learned that the property we're buying is unregistered, and the vendor is reluctant to start the registration process in case the chain collapses.

We need to move out by the end of September at the latest due to our buyer’s timeline. Additionally, we really need more suitable accommodation. DP has mobility issues, and we're struggling in our current house.

The market for suitable properties has been fairly slow, but a property has recently come up that, at least online, looks ideal. The issue is the location.
Both properties are in the same town.

Property 1 is on a lane, two minutes from open countryside and ten minutes into town.

Property 2 is on a road that leads to a small housing estate and is twenty minutes from town, though still only a couple of minutes from open countryside. The estate has a bit of a reputation for low-level anti-social behaviour, although I think the property is far enough from the centre of the estate that it may not be a significant issue.

We're really not sure if we should keep with the current property and hope that the chain starts to move, or consider the other property.

What’s the process for registering an unregistered property? Does it affect the mortgage, if you have one?

Twelve weeks is long enough surely, to resolve issues and it doesn’t sound as though that is happening. If you want to keep your buyer, I’d look elsewhere.

Is there no other house that would suit your needs? I ask because we moved into a lovely house on an estate on the very edge of a town that we never went to. For a few years there was no problem, but then anti social behaviour started creeping nearer and nearer. Not on the road we were in, but close enough to be concerned. I was glad to move.

I'm not sure about the registering process, as we don't need a mortgage I've never looked into it. But a quick Google says several months to a year - this has made me very worried as the agents made it sound like it would take a few weeks and our solicitor never raised any concerns.

The issue with suitable properties is DP's mobility. None of the other properties in the area we need would be suitable from an access point of view. Internally, we could make them work, but parking and access would cause issues.

The estate is putting me off, but it's been there for several years, and I don't think the anti-social behaviour has gotten any worse. I've just had a quick look at the stats, and there are actually only two more reported crimes in that area this year compared to where we live now. Although, none of the reports in our current area are for anti-social behaviour.

Other property is chain free as the vendor is relocating for work - should have included that before as it's pretty important.