Property purchase timeline in the UK ridiculously log winded.

Comms69

cooltt said:

Comms69 said:

cooltt said:

Comms69 said:

cooltt said:

Here me out here folks my head is about to explode.

Does anyone else just want to scream  at the length of time it takes to purchase a property in the UK?
Every time i purchase a property i promise myself that i will lobby my MP to radically overhaul the legal process involved which simply seems to be designed to line the pockets of the legal profession. Now don't get me wrong, i fully appreciate the due diligence involved but now that email and almost all necessary documents are in electric format, why does the process still take forever!

I often feel that the legal profession needs to maintain the air of complexity around the process just to continue to charge their exorbitant fees. But come on, lots of us work in very complex industries with lots of queries and docs flying around. In the 21st century does it really need to take as long as it did back in the 19th century! 

"Can i have an update please?" Hello stupid pheasant, rest assured we're doing everything we can to push your purchase along and we've even sent a couple of emails today, despite the fact you instructed us 4 weeks ago.
Obviously we'll need to wait a minimum of 2 weeks for a reply before we even consider sending a chaser, but rest assured we'll contact you as soon as we can be bothered too. 

Buying property in almost every other EU country is an absolute breeze in comparison and that's saying something about the bureaucratic French!
Seriously we should all just stay put until the government get their a*s in gear and simplify the whole process. Annoyed as hell i am.

Have a nice weekend.  

Are you buying in cash? If not, then you have no say on it.

If you are buying in cash, it's simple.

Irrelevant 

No, it's 100% relevant. 

If you want to use someone else's money to buy the property, then the framework is there to protect them.

If you're buying in cash, you can do so with-in a couple of hours. 

Which is unnecessarily long winded and complex. 

And funnily enough no-one is forcing you to do so. It's part of the conditions of the loan. Dont like it, dont borrow the money. 

You're opinion is irrelevant, because it's not your money at risk

cooltt

csgohan4 said:

OP no-one forced you to buy a house in UK, you can of course spend your hard earned money somewhere else.  Or you are welcome to do the Conveyancing yourself if you think you can do it quicker

Yes and i could change my car engine myself too but i choose to pay someone else to do it for me who does it for a living, it does not follow that the process should be overtly complex or long winded and i get may car back after 4 months of it being sat in the garage. 

p.s. i said nothing about being forced to buy a property here.  

cooltt

Comms69 said:

cooltt said:

Comms69 said:

cooltt said:

Comms69 said:

cooltt said:

Here me out here folks my head is about to explode.

Does anyone else just want to scream  at the length of time it takes to purchase a property in the UK?
Every time i purchase a property i promise myself that i will lobby my MP to radically overhaul the legal process involved which simply seems to be designed to line the pockets of the legal profession. Now don't get me wrong, i fully appreciate the due diligence involved but now that email and almost all necessary documents are in electric format, why does the process still take forever!

I often feel that the legal profession needs to maintain the air of complexity around the process just to continue to charge their exorbitant fees. But come on, lots of us work in very complex industries with lots of queries and docs flying around. In the 21st century does it really need to take as long as it did back in the 19th century! 

"Can i have an update please?" Hello stupid pheasant, rest assured we're doing everything we can to push your purchase along and we've even sent a couple of emails today, despite the fact you instructed us 4 weeks ago.
Obviously we'll need to wait a minimum of 2 weeks for a reply before we even consider sending a chaser, but rest assured we'll contact you as soon as we can be bothered too. 

Buying property in almost every other EU country is an absolute breeze in comparison and that's saying something about the bureaucratic French!
Seriously we should all just stay put until the government get their a*s in gear and simplify the whole process. Annoyed as hell i am.

Have a nice weekend.  

Are you buying in cash? If not, then you have no say on it.

If you are buying in cash, it's simple.

Irrelevant 

No, it's 100% relevant. 

If you want to use someone else's money to buy the property, then the framework is there to protect them.

If you're buying in cash, you can do so with-in a couple of hours. 

Which is unnecessarily long winded and complex. 

And funnily enough no-one is forcing you to do so. It's part of the conditions of the loan. Dont like it, dont borrow the money. 

You're opinion is irrelevant, because it's not your money at risk

Can you point me the direction of a lender who gives me free money to buy my house which i don't have to pay back over 25 years please. 

ChewyyBacca

While OP does seem extremely frustrated over the protracted house buying process, (he seems to be on the receiving end hence the bias), I really expected many forum members here to chime in and moan about the complexities. 
Not sure, how many people in the thread suggesting OP- no one forced you to buy etc are conveyancer/Estate Agents/ In the trade?

davidmcn

steve866 said:

I have heard the Scottish process is better, is that true?

Main differences in Scotland:

• Home Reports mean survey / valuation / sellers questionnaire all available to buyers before they even make a viewing, so no waiting for weeks into the process before getting surprises out of the survey
• solicitors involved from prior to offer being made, rather than brought in at a later stage and only then telling their clients about problems which could have been spotted at day one
• no waiting for a draft contract, as the initial offer effectively is the draft contract
• completion date generally agreed in principle at the start, with everyone then working towards it, rather than being a mystery until months down the line
• gazumping/gazundering majorly deterred by solicitors' rules which prohibit them from getting involved
• everything is freehold tenure, so no leasehold complications about duration / rent / freeholders demanding fees
• local searches available from private searchers pretty much by return rather than after weeks of backlogs
• contracts generally in a form which can be concluded weeks or months prior to completion rather than everything being up in the air until the last minute
• no contractual deposits payable on exchange

Comms69

cooltt said:

Comms69 said:

cooltt said:

Comms69 said:

cooltt said:

Comms69 said:

cooltt said:

Here me out here folks my head is about to explode.

Does anyone else just want to scream  at the length of time it takes to purchase a property in the UK?
Every time i purchase a property i promise myself that i will lobby my MP to radically overhaul the legal process involved which simply seems to be designed to line the pockets of the legal profession. Now don't get me wrong, i fully appreciate the due diligence involved but now that email and almost all necessary documents are in electric format, why does the process still take forever!

I often feel that the legal profession needs to maintain the air of complexity around the process just to continue to charge their exorbitant fees. But come on, lots of us work in very complex industries with lots of queries and docs flying around. In the 21st century does it really need to take as long as it did back in the 19th century! 

"Can i have an update please?" Hello stupid pheasant, rest assured we're doing everything we can to push your purchase along and we've even sent a couple of emails today, despite the fact you instructed us 4 weeks ago.
Obviously we'll need to wait a minimum of 2 weeks for a reply before we even consider sending a chaser, but rest assured we'll contact you as soon as we can be bothered too. 

Buying property in almost every other EU country is an absolute breeze in comparison and that's saying something about the bureaucratic French!
Seriously we should all just stay put until the government get their a*s in gear and simplify the whole process. Annoyed as hell i am.

Have a nice weekend.  

Are you buying in cash? If not, then you have no say on it.

If you are buying in cash, it's simple.

Irrelevant 

No, it's 100% relevant. 

If you want to use someone else's money to buy the property, then the framework is there to protect them.

If you're buying in cash, you can do so with-in a couple of hours. 

Which is unnecessarily long winded and complex. 

And funnily enough no-one is forcing you to do so. It's part of the conditions of the loan. Dont like it, dont borrow the money. 

You're opinion is irrelevant, because it's not your money at risk

Can you point me the direction of a lender who gives me free money to buy my house which i don't have to pay back over 25 years please. 

Not sure how that’s relevant. Save for 25 years and buy in cash if you wish. 

seradane

Why do people get so defensive about a cumbersome and difficult system, just because it's the one they are familiar with?

Like it's clearly a frustrating and lengthy process, for people on here to blithely go 'Oh well if you have a problem don't buy then' is just inane. Even Scotland does it better and they have all the same rules as we do here. People in European countries buy with mortgages too. There's no reason why the English system couldn't be better than it is.

Comms69

seradane said:

Why do people get so defensive about a cumbersome and difficult system, just because it's the one they are familiar with?

Like it's clearly a frustrating and lengthy process, for people on here to blithely go 'Oh well if you have a problem don't buy then' is just inane. Even Scotland does it better and they have all the same rules as we do here. People in European countries buy with mortgages too. There's no reason why the English system couldn't be better than it is.

Even Scotland does it better and they have all the same rules as we do here. - no they dont. Thats the point. 

csgohan4

seradane said:

Why do people get so defensive about a cumbersome and difficult system, just because it's the one they are familiar with?

Like it's clearly a frustrating and lengthy process, for people on here to blithely go 'Oh well if you have a problem don't buy then' is just inane. Even Scotland does it better and they have all the same rules as we do here. People in European countries buy with mortgages too. There's no reason why the English system couldn't be better than it is.

Sadly it's reality and nothing you can do unless your a cash buyer or buying an auction house, in which case 28 days and jobs done. 

We all go through it, no stamping your feet will get your buyer's solicitor to pull their finger out of their behind just for you will they? Everything has to follow due process, I'm sure you don't want to buy a house and find out later the covenant in the lease is problematic for you

Look at buying a flat with cladding now, a real PITA now, so many reports you need to get before a lender will touch it. Do you want to forgo this and risk your house being worthless? By all means buy with cash then

Op has options, but if they need a mortgage, they need to wait like every other mortgaged purchase

seradane

csgohan4 said:

seradane said:

Why do people get so defensive about a cumbersome and difficult system, just because it's the one they are familiar with?

Like it's clearly a frustrating and lengthy process, for people on here to blithely go 'Oh well if you have a problem don't buy then' is just inane. Even Scotland does it better and they have all the same rules as we do here. People in European countries buy with mortgages too. There's no reason why the English system couldn't be better than it is.

Sadly it's reality and nothing you can do unless your a cash buyer or buying an auction house, in which case 28 days and jobs done. 

We all go through it, no stamping your feet will get your buyer's solicitor to pull their finger out of their behind just for you will they? Everything has to follow due process, I'm sure you don't want to buy a house and find out later the covenant in the lease is problematic for you

Look at buying a flat with cladding now, a real PITA now, so many reports you need to get before a lender will touch it. Do you want to forgo this and risk your house being worthless? By all means buy with cash then

Op has options, but if they need a mortgage, they need to wait like every other mortgaged purchase

Yes, everyone here is aware that it's "how things are" in England, and obviously if you want to buy a house you have to deal with it.

But I assume what OP is saying is WHY, why does it have to be like this? It's so unneccessary! Other countries have all the same issues and restrictions we do. People buy houses in Germany which were built years before planning and building regs. People buy apartments in Australia that have cladding (and its a very flammable country). People buy houses with mortgages in France. People buy houses with restrictive covenants in the USA. People buy leasehold properties in Scotland.

Nothing about houses in England are particularly unique or difficult, and yet for some reason it takes us three times as long to complete a property sale as it does anywhere else. Well, that I'm familiar with.... I'm sure there must be somewhere on earth that also does it as poorly, but that's hardly something to be celebrated.

Just saying 'that's the way it is' and 'due dilligence' isn't a very good excuse, is it?