How long from offer to completion?

abi113

I realise each move is different but I was wondering if its possible to be in before christmas. We have FTB buying our property and the survey is being done today. We just put an offer in for a property and the survey will be arranged shortly. The property we are moving too is vacant possesion

Thankyou!

black-saturn

I moved from a rented house to here and the guy that was living here was moving to pensioners accomodation. So therefore there was no chain at all. It took about 3 and a half months in total. Solicitors don't rush themselves!!

bunking_off

I'd say it's just about possible, but you'll need to keep the pressure on your solicitors.

Ember999

abi113 wrote:

I realise each move is different but I was wondering if its possible to be in before christmas. We have FTB buying our property and the survey is being done today. We just put an offer in for a property and the survey will be arranged shortly. The property we are moving too is vacant possesion

Thankyou!

I purchased a 'vacant posession' property and wasn't selling mine (buying second home) and the whole process took only 6 weeks from offer being accepted to moving in date so it is possible to get in before Christmas if there are no complications that hold things up.

Edinburghlass_2

If you are in Scotland, under the Scottish legal system you can complete in a month with a good solicitor

AndrewSmith

Hi,

It really depends on the solicitors involved and how quickly the local Council are returning the required searches.

With such a short chain and vacant property I would expect the whole process to take somewhere between 6-8 weeks from the time the solicitors were first instructed.

I would expect your buyer's mortgage offer to be produced within the next 10-15 days if the valuation is being done today (subject to there being no problems with the valuation). If your buyers do not have their offer within the next, certainly, 3 weeks I would begin to ask your selling agent to start appying pressure on their Lender / Broker.

Once all parties involved have a mortgage offer to hand I would then begin chasing your solicitor to begin planning an exchange and subsequent completion date.

It's good to have a timescale in mind right now, but bear in mind that a lot can go wrong between now and getting the keys to your new home. (Don't mean to sound pesamistic, just being realistic having seen this so many times.)

Cheers

Andy

cattie

It's always taken me between 3 & 3.5 months from offer to completion, with both my previous properties selling to FTB.

You just can't tell how long it's going to take, as you are so dependent on so many other people & how quickly get their finger out.

Best to have it in mind you won't be in before Christmas, then if you find after all that you will be, it will come as a pleasant surprise & make you feel that the whole process worked really fast.

morwenna_macro

The answer is to push your Solicitors, ask the other parties to move quickly and push their Solicitors, keep on top of all the paperwork your end and you could do it in as little as 5 or 6 weeks. Make sure the searches are off already as these take at least 2 weeks. Essentially, the steps through conveyancing are not that difficult for seasoned practitioners and delays tend to come about because Solicitors and the parties themselves don't keep on top of things (plus miscommunications where everyone thinks they are waiting for everyone else). So long as surveys go ok and a completion date can be agreed (and barring any other hitch - our last minute hitch was that the vendor could not get their heirloom piano out of the house, delaying things for a further 2 weeks until they agreed to leave it with the house - we had been ready to exchange after 3 weeks) xmas is perfectly feasible. I suggest you set a goal of eg a week and a half before xmas now and keep on top of it. Good luck!

Doozergirl

We've accepted an offer this week and, of course, the buyers want to be in for Christmas. Our solicitor is very good, but still says that Christmas would be pushing it. We've said no and are aiming for the second week of Jan.

Reason being, house sales are *stressful*, and Christmas is *stressful*. Put the two together and I predict misery. I've got 2 children, wouldn't be able to put decorations up and the Christmas presents will get crushed in the move. I just don't fancy having the buyers constantly on my back because they want to sit in a pile of boxes, drinking champagne on Christmas day. I'd rather be realistic.

Good Luck with your move!

black-saturn

I always have found that pushing solicitors doesnt get you anywhere. Or at least it didnt with me. It seemed like they were working slower because I was pushing them, or it may have been my imagination. I wanted to be moved into my house by a certain date because new tenants were moving in to the house I was leaving on that date. It kept getting nearer and nearer and I thought I was going to end up putting everything in storage and going in a B&B. It completed 3 days before that date and I moved the day before that date so it was a mad rush. Perhaps I made a mistake by telling them I needed to be moved by that date so they thought they could rest on their laurels for a bit.

rizla01

My OH's daughter has today accepted an offer on her house and the new buyers (Non dependant, apparantly have expressed trheir wish to be in by Xmas.

no surveys or B/Society valuatins yet.

Personally I think that they are dreaming but I do know that some solicitors will pull their fingers out for an added fee!! (Bleed yer dry, why don't they) About £100.00 more. Try asking.

Depending on the area that you live searches can take a good 4 weeks but I have purchased TWO homes so far without a search being carried out. Not compulsory.

6 weeks is about the miminum it can take to complete on a sale after acceptance.