How long does it take to buy a house?

Cissi · 18 July 2009 at 4:00PM

boo80 wrote: »

Thanks for all the responses, I had in my mind it would take 6 weeks to complete, so we should give our 2 months notice on our rented house as soon as (or I should say IF) our offer is accepted, now I'm not so sure!

Boo80, given that there is always a strong risk, not only of serious delays but of things falling apart, vendor pulling out etc, I wouldn't give notice on your rented house until contracts have been exchanged or you could easily end up homeless! With 2 months notice you probably need to budget for at least a month's overlap of rent and mortgage, unless you can get the vendors to agree to a 2-month gap between exchange and completion (but that carries risks too as seen on a couple of current threads on here).

To answer your question, we managed to exchange in just over 3 weeks, with no chain or mortgage at either end. It was still incredibly stressful and only happened because we pushed everything to the max all the time. The house we're buying is Victorian and the initial survey raised a number of questions so we had to get some specialist surveys done which added delays, but we managed to get them all done within days and reports back within 24 hours each time - it wasn't cheap though!

We exchanged 2 weeks ago and will complete in another 2 weeks. The vendors insisted on 4 weeks to get their move sorted out, and this allowed us to give our 1 month's notice on our rented house. We managed to exchange on the day before our rent date so were able to give notice right away. If we'd missed it we'd have had to pay an additional month's rent - that's just the way it is. There is no way we'd have given notice before exchange happened - up to the last day there was always a risk we'd be gezumped!

Soot2006 · 18 July 2009 at 5:21PM

Ours just took just under 6 weeks from offer to completion.
We are FTB and house was empty.

house_hunter_2 · 18 July 2009 at 6:01PM

Hi boo80

Going off the subject a minute I see at the bottom of message that you earn £5 a day could you please let me know how you do this please. If you dont want to dont worry or if you prefer not to tell me her u can tell me in private. Im in the middle of purchasing a house at the moment and its taken 6 weeks so far but it shouldn't be long now. I agree with Cissi I wouldn't hand your notice in until at least exchange of contracts. Im going to wait until we actually have the keys because even though its very unlikely something could happen. Hope your offer gets accepted

Beardmidget · 18 July 2009 at 9:19PM

chickmug wrote: »

Crazy how long it can take.

What do you feel were the reasons it took so long?

Well... to begin with, we agreed that we'd go slow with it because the Mrs. vendor was JUST about to have another child (and therefore wasn't exactly in house viewing mood...), and we still had time to run on our AST.

Eventually it came down to the fact that their solicitor is terrible! My guy was 'ready to exchange mid-may', but their guy hadn't sent things like fixtures/fittings, or even the information about the property (e.g. neighbor disputes) until last week, after I had called all concerned and said we need contracts NOW, because otherwise my mortgage offer will run out (which I only applied for AFTER putting offer in!).

Fortunately, I had already forewarned the EA that it was looking like we would need a rapid completion after exchange because I had given notice on my flat and would be away from the 25th July (and I knew the vendors were away in August).

So in a nutshell; one rubbish solicitor.

OP: Are you sure you have to give 2 months notice? Those terms are usually unenforceable and if you don't then you could breathe more easily knowing that you need only give notice after discussing timescale with your solicitor...

boo80 · 19 July 2009 at 10:42PM

Beardmidget wrote: »

OP: Are you sure you have to give 2 months notice? Those terms are usually unenforceable and if you don't then you could breathe more easily knowing that you need only give notice after discussing timescale with your solicitor...

We've signed a contract until February and it says if we leave early we have to give 2 months notice, do you think we may be able to get out of that notice period then? I really don't have a clue when it comes to stuff like this

Thanks for your help

boo80 · 19 July 2009 at 10:45PM

house_hunter wrote: »

Hi boo80

Going off the subject a minute I see at the bottom of message that you earn £5 a day could you please let me know how you do this please.

Hey House Hunter, there is a thread, I think its on debt free wannabe called 'make £10 a day challenge' you can set your target as £5, £10, £20 a day, whatever you're comfortable with, and then make money doing mystery shops, market research, surveys, ebay etc... Surprisingly easy!!

Found the link: http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1781165

sarah_elton · 20 July 2009 at 10:44AM

I sold in February to a cash buyer (no mortgage). He did his own conveyancing and I was going into rented so no chain. We completed in less than four weeks from offer being accepted, but I did have to be organised and chase my solicitor regularly to get that done.

When I bought the place, I was a FTB with a mortgage agreed in principle, and the seller was moving in with his OH so no onward chain. That took almost three months, but we had Christmas in the middle and both I and the seller were very chilled, filled in stuff as required but never really chased it, just sat back and let it happen.

boo80 · 20 July 2009 at 1:11PM

Thanks Sarah, we're in almost the same situation as you were, FTB's, mortgage in principle, and seller moving in with OH. Just had our offer accepted but more than we wanted/thought we could afford to pay so we're going to have to time the move really well (if thats possible) to avoid a month of rent and mortgage. Otherwise we'll be back with my parents for a few weeks which will be a nightmare!!

wyldeflower · 4 August 2010 at 7:13PM

I am still waiting after 9 weeks and its a cash buyer who bought my house and the one i am buying is moving into a empty house i have naff solicitors and they need a rocket up their backsides..I am so fed up of waiting and we are all packed living out of bags..

vet8 · 4 August 2010 at 7:42PM

We accepted an offer 13 weeks ago and wanted a quick sale Ha HA HA. We are just selling and moving out, to speed things up, or so we thought.

We have been ready for months, the buyer has their mortgage and surveys done, but the useless solicitor - theirs, seems to want to take forever. What is so frustrating is that you cannot seem to speed them up, no amount of chasing makes them move faster and no-one has ever said if there is a problem causing the delay.

I have aged 20 years in 3 months.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

How long does it take to buy a house?

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free