How to buy a house when locked into a rental contract?

thelem

idkwhattosay wrote: »

I've searched for "how long does it take for a mortgage application to get approved" and I've read some comments that quite frankly frightened me. General opinion on this matter (from start of application to exchange of keys) is that it takes anywhere between a month and a year with a lot of people saying it took months for them, with no chain.

Your question is slightly wrong. It's not the mortgage application that is time consuming, rather it's the whole process of buying a property.


Once you've viewed a property you like, you will need to:
- Put in an offer
- Demonstrate to the vendor that you can afford your offer (which may require a mortgage agreement in principle)

- Wait for it to be accepted (which may require a bit of negotiation to come to a price that you agree)
- Appoint a solicitor to act for you
- Wait for their solicitor to send over the initial legal papers
- Wait for your solicitor to check them, and raise any questions with the vendor's solicitor, who will then raise them with the vendor. This can go back and forth a few times and each questions can be held up by all parties involved (you, your solicitor, their solicitor, the vendor, any third parties they vendor needs to check with).
- Wait for the results of checks that your solicitor will run with third parties such as the land registry and local council. These third parties may have no reason to respond promptly.

- Agree a completion date that works for everyone, which may mean working around school holiday or rental notice periods.
- etc, etc.


And after all of that they vendor may change their mind and you're back at square one.