How long could it take to move into house?

imamutant

Hi all,

We're first time buyers so we're chain free, and had our offer accepted on a house a few months ago now. Nothing has happened since then (No Memorandum of Sale yet) because the sellers couldn't find anywhere to move into. Finally the seller have found somewhere (no onward chain) and their offer has been accepted. How long could we expect to move in? We have our solictor ready on standby. I have read a lot of posts about this and seems most people say about 6-12 weeks is normal? Does this sound right? Has it been slowed down because of covid/new 5% deposit scheme etc?

RelievedSheff

How long is a piece of string?

Our first chain free purchase took 12 weeks due to our inept solicitors.

Our sale and purchase last year took 3.5 weeks from reserving the new build house, part exchanging our old house and moving in.

There is no set timescale.

badger09

Impossible to say, but even in normal ie non COVID times, 6 weeks would be ambitious for most sales & purchases to complete. I would prepare myself for a move sometime in February, assuming no major glitches.

Good luck and keep updating.  

Drawingaline

Our chain was complete end of July. Might get in before Xmas 🙄 we are selling to investors and buying a property that will be empty shortly as vendors going abroad. Endless delays, and I have decided anything before mid December will be good!

Jadek

6 - 12 weeks seems incredibly optimistic for the current climate. We're FTB, had our offer accepted back in March, our seller didn't find anywhere until end of July due to lockdown, we are now on week 12 and despite being ready to exchange on our end we are still waiting with no end date in sight yet due to delays from the seller. I have a few friends / family members going through house purchases at the moment, and even those without chains are looking at 12 weeks as an absolute minimum. You have no idea what the searches and surveys might throw up (or how long they will take to be returned / scheduled) and what kind of delays the results may cause. I would recommend assuming you won't be in before Christmas and, if you are, then that will be a nice surprise.