When would you realistically expect to complete on this house purchase?

[livingwithparents]

We are chain free FTB, the sellers of house we are buying haven’t found their onward purchase yet. Our offer has just been accepted and estate agent will change it to sold STC this week. I guess it will depend on whether they have a chain or not, but when approx would you expect to move? Do you think it’s more likely to be start of 2027 now?

Will add its leasehold and shared ownership

If the sellers dont have an onward purchase yet then there is no guarantee they will even move at all. Even if they do, chains collapse a lot at the moment. I would just try to ignore it till the chain is complete and dont get too over excited. Dont count your chickens till you are sat in the hosuse with the front door keys surrounded by your boxes.

Property lawyer here: Average time from making an offer to moving in is 10-12 weeks. Longer for leasehold and definitely longer for shares ownership which is just painful to deal with, from a legal point of view

Impossible to answer as they could take 2 weeks to find a property or 6 months. The market is very slow at the moment, not a huge amount of new properties so I suspect you'll need to be very patient!

No one is going to be able to answer. It may take your sellers 2, 10 or 14 weeks to find a property they like and have an offer accepted. Then that seller may take 2, 10 or 14 weeks to find a property the like and have an offer accepted…..rinse and repeat. When a chain is complete average conveyancing time is about 14 weeks - obviously some go quicker, some take a lot longer.

I was on the side of longer - approx 50 weeks from viewing to completing (including one collapsed chain).

Buckle up for the ride and stay patient!! And if you can’t stay patient or are in a rush, then find a chain free property!!

Just coming to the end of our journey, 1 below, 2 above. Has taken six months. Started Feb, finally move in 10th August (all exchanged).

I think that’s probably a minimum timescale, and based on everybody being in a position to move. If the seller hasn’t even found anywhere, what you’re really asking is “ how long is a piece of string?”
As Whitstable Pearl says, the shared ownership aspect adds an extra layer of time consuming complexity. The seller needs to jump through a series of hoops because of the shared ownership aspect, and you could judge their commitment by their willingness to set the ball in motion now as far as that is concerned. Shared ownership is a nightmare in terms of logistics and always delays things so it would be helpful if they could start organising that aspect now.

The chain isn't even complete so it's impossible to say. You don't know yet if they'll find a vacant property or if you'll end up in a huge chain.

We've moved three times and completed in 28 days, 12 weeks and 5 months from the dates of the chains completing.

I would say you would be extremely lucky to move before 2027 now though

I'd say 2027 now.

I have just brought a house which was being staircased to 100 per cent as the HA were selling their share as well as the Vendor. It took 5 months - I was chain free and the Vendor was moving to to rented. The HA were excruciatingly slow - 10 working days to respond to emails. 7 weeks to produce the LPE1 - it's going to be slow!

Could be ages.
You are FTB and very desirable as a buyer. Can you not find somewhere else with no chain and make a low offer? My house is on the market now and I would snap you up. Not London unfortunately.