[B]How much longer?!!![/B]

sfell

Ok, I know this is a 'how long is a piece of string question' but here goes... On April 5th had offer accepted on our first house, seller already moved out and therefore no chain either end. Couple of weeks later mortgage sorted, then survey . Now 3 1/2 weeks ago money went out of account for searches. So it's been almost 2 months and still no date. Any ideas how much longer? What expreiences have you guys had? Any ideas how to hurry it up, I really want to move into my first house. :rolleyes: Cheers

deemy2004

I think you have a lazy solicitors, perhaps he has buggered off on holiday wihout tell you ?

2 months given the circumstances is more than enough time to exchange contracts. Call the solicitor up and ask them about the delay.. why ?

kamaran

Have you had your mortgage approved on the property - this is not your generic mortgage offer, but a willingness from the mortgage company to buy the specific property you had valued/surveyed?

If so take the matter into your own hands:

Call your estate agent and ask how quickly the vendor is willing to exchange, try to move this as far forward as possible - assuming agreement on both sides.

Then call your solicitor and say we would like to exchange on THIS date. This will force your solicitors to get their act togethor. They should write to you to request the deposit and set a completion date, some mortgage companies need a gap between exchange of around 5 days, whilst other allow it the same day.

In my experience buying with no chain can be done as fast as 3 weeks from the date of survey - sometimes even faster! On average house completion takes longer but thats usually because of the delay throughout the chain.

I generally make a rule when buying/selling of setting target completion dates when instructing the solicitor. This sets the expectations on all sides, which you should follow up on in all your correspondance.

garysletters

As has been said, it should not take anything more than 2 months start to finish. could be done in 1 month.

Solicitors and estate agents like to get things finished at end of months, so Friday just gone would have been ideal. If you dont hurry your solicitor it may be end of June before things move.

Speak to your solicitor ASAP to find out why the delay, and ask for exchange ASAP too.
Try to get completion on a Tuesday or something to make moving costs less!!!(everyone wants removals on a friday!!)

dougk_2

It depends if there are any questiosn that need answers. Are both properties Freehold? (leasehold is a bit more complicated and takes more time to sort out). Were there any elements on the survey that were highlighted?
I think you just need to chat with your solicitor and explain you are anxious to get things moving and find out exactly what the position is.
We were in a similar situation to you but it took several weeks to get answers to the questions as there was communial grounds etc which needed extra clarifying from the managment company (i.e. the local residents). This took about 4 weeks as the guy was on holiday. So from start to finish it took about 12 weeks.

sfell

Thanks for all of your ideas/suggestions. Will let you know how i get on.
Steph :beer: