how long till exchange

secla

ok bit of info first. we are selling out house and we are going to rent. we had an offer on our house last saturday (13th feb) which we accepted. the buyers are first time buyers.
there mortgage surveyor came round tuesday to go over the house (its a reasonably new build so it wasnt particually in depth) am i right in thinking that if a surveyor has come round they already have a mortgage organised ?
today we recieved paperwork from out conveyancer which we have filled in and will be sent back with relevant documents tommorrow. assuming the buyers are equally on the ball what would a rough guess of time till exchange be ? be handy to know so we can arrange a house to rent etc.

we were told roughly 6-8 weeks for a no chain sale but im hoping it may be a bit quicker

Dom3663

I'm on the other side of your situation, ish, we're about 4/5 days behind you.

I've been told by my mortgage advisor that it will be the end of Feb if the sellers are as eager as we are to move, but most probably mid to end March

barrybarryr

Mine is driving me up the wall.

I'm a buyer. Made an offer which was accepted on 8 January. We have still not exchanged yet.

We had a mortgage in place within 3 days of making an offer, survey has been done, mortgage valuation has been done, searches have been done.

Seller is buying a vacant retirement property.

God knows what we are waiting for. It is ridiculous.

secla

im just hoping it doesnt drag on for long. we are looking to rent in a particular area and the rentals seem to get snapped up quick. theres a couple on the market but i dont expect them to be there for long, im going to view this weekend but cant really agree to rent when i dont have a date or an idea when we will exchange or i may be lumbered with a 12 month lease and a mortgage to pay

Kittenonthekeys

barrybarryr wrote: »

Mine is driving me up the wall.

I'm a buyer. Made an offer which was accepted on 8 January. We have still not exchanged yet.

We had a mortgage in place within 3 days of making an offer, survey has been done, mortgage valuation has been done, searches have been done.

Seller is buying a vacant retirement property.

God knows what we are waiting for. It is ridiculous.

We are in much the same position. Three sets of solicitors fannying around, and clearly dragging out a straightforward procedure for as long as they possibly can and because they can, completely oblivious to 6 people whose lives are in limbo.
All are blaming each other for the delay, all have made mistakes and every time one issue is sorted out, up pops yet another stupid question to cause further delay. Add to the mix no communication from anyone, plus an estate agent who couldn't care less and you have a recipe for an indefinite wait, lots of angry frustration and untold stress. :mad:
Oh but we DO have the wonderful HIPS which will enable us to all breathe as sigh of relief because it has really helped to speed up the process. Yeah right.
Only hope you have better luck, but that would be unusual.

secla

my ea`s actually seem generally quite helpful, im taking all my solicitors paperwork in tommorrow just to go over with them to make sure i havnt missed anything that may slow things down.

im assuming that as a surveyor has been out they have an approved mortgage and funds should be available pretty quickly after his report has been put back in ? after that all i can see that holds things up is searchs.

i just dont want to see a good property up for rent and agree to sign the tennancy in xx number of weeks only to find its going to be twice as long as i thought etc. i cant reallly afford to pay mortgage and rent at the same time

Kittenonthekeys

Yes, these days the mortgage offer seems to come in pretty quickly after the survey report. In my experience, it has usually taken around a week.
Local authority searches *should* be included as part of the HIPS package, but if they are out of date (ie if the property you are buying has been on the market for some time) then your sol. will get new ones - and charge you for them.
Also, the HIPS don't always include searches such as environmental, chancel, drainage, etc. so these would be chargeable extras too so check with your solicitor.
Searches can be carried out online, so these probably needn't hold things up.

In my experience it's usually the endless to-ing and fro-ing of daft questions relating to things like covenants that probably no one has ever known the answers to, contained in the Enquiries and Additional Enquiries (as if the original Enquiries weren't stupid and useless enough) that are the bane of every buyer's / seller's life and the cause of all the delays.
A copy of the Enquiries and the seller's replies should form part of the HIPS but of course your solicitor and lender will probably raise an untold number of extra questions for the seller which will drive them - and you - round the bend.

As long as all the solicitors are on the ball (and it will all only move at the pace of the slowest) it may well be done and dusted in a month or so - but I wouldn't bank on it.

Kittenonthekeys

Sorry, I was thinking you were the buyer (DOH!)
And of course, it will your buyer who has to pay for any new additional searches, not you.

secla

house only went on market mid december so no searchs should be out of date

delmar39

Valuation means they're well on the way with their mortgage offer, so a good sign (valuation results permitting). Re exchange, we're in a frustrating situation. Our buyer is ready to exchange as we are, but their buyer is not. They're a first time buyer so gosh only knows what the delay is. Accepted the offer 2nd week in Dec so it's dragging on now and we go off on holiday for 2 weeks 14th March and completion is on 12th March all being well so tight! So, re exchange, it all depends what position the whole of your chain is in. Plus, all things need to be complete before they should exchange such as searches etc etc. Would you want to exchange without being fully briefed on what you're buying? Good luck with it.

verytricky69

When I bought my 1st flat in 2005 I was an eager 1st time buyer- the process from offer to completing took exactly 2 months

In 2006 when I sold the flat from offer to completion (with another 1st time buyer) took 5 months! (not even sure why it took so look- many searches or something- a dispute about the right to drive across an area to park)

Unfortunately it can vary tremendously! I think the shortest it is likely be is 6-8 weeks.

Good luck!

We are selling up our 2nd flat now and planning on renting a house so will be in the same boat soon (hopefully)