BS survey done, how much longer?

booey_2

The building society did their survey on the flat I'm (hoping) to buy on Tuesday and the EA has taken the flat off it's website.

I spoke to EA this morning , they said flat was now off the market and everything was going well.

Any idea of how much longer it will all take until it's mine?

cally1_2

How long is a piece of string.

Can be a few weeks or could be months?????

xela_17

The next thing that can take a while is the searches. Has your solicitor requested these yet? (I'm guessing not as you've just had the survey done). Also, the length of time depends upon the length of the chain. Longer chain (can) equal longer time as more people have to get their acts together.

booey_2

Have paid solicter £300 so far for the searches (bill will be approx £1015 by the end according to him)

He sent me a copy of the enviromental search last week.

I'm a FTB getting a 95% mortgage with Nationwide.

There is no chain, the flat used to be rented out and now the seller wants shot ASAP.

It's been almost 5 weeks since my offer was accepted and it feels as though it's taking forever Nationwide have been a nightmare.

Surely it can't take any longer than another 4 weeks?

dander

From the date of my survey to the day I moved in was about 9 weeks. It took about 12 weeks from offer to completion but that included Christmas.
If the solicitor has indeed started requesting the searches I would think it is possible for it to be done in another 4 weeks, but I wouldn't count on it!

This of course all assumes that the survey doesn't throw up any problems - that's usually when the negotiatating and questions to the other solicitor etc start. Especially with flats, there could be some debate over terms of the lease etc. I really would set too many hopes on 4 weeks - it can be a slow old process!

never_enough

The sale of my last flat took 15 weeks from offer to completion. Both the buyers & I were chain free & had hoped for a quick(er) sale. They also used the Nationwide who had a backlog of surveys to do, so took 6 weeks to do the survey. There were hassles with leasehold queries too. When I bought the flat it only took about 8 weeks from start to finish, despite being in a long chain. Was just very lucky I think.

I've heard that 12/14 weeks is not unreasonable, but there are so many variables. A friend recently sold a flat (again chain free on both sides) which took nearly six months from the offer to completion. That is unusual though! It was surveyed about three weeks in.

I think much depends on your solicitor. The one I used to sell my last flat was hopeless & I was continually chasing stuff for him. My own fault for using one the EA recommended, I thought it would help speed things up! :rolleyes: The one I used when I bought my house was super, much cheaper & totally on the ball at all times.

I'd keep on top of your solicitor & EA to check all is being done to push things forward ASAP. Try not to stress too much, it'll take as long as it takes.

Malky

As mentioned, it could be any length of time. However, I had a survey done on a house I was buying last Wednesday and the sale was completed yesterday so only 8 days. On the other hand, a survey was done on my flat for the purchaser last Friday and the sale completed yesterday also so only 6 days. It all depends how quick both the BS and your solicitor work.

cally1_2

it has always taken about 3 months from offer to completion for me but that does ninclude problems both times that delayed it!