Experiences for how long selling/buying currently takes

firstbuyer

Purchase sale agreed with seller (freehold) - 26/09
Flat sale agreed with my buyer - 01/09

Hurdles
- We need our EWS1 to sell, its due to come back end of Sept - I'm being optimistic that it will provide a B1 or better rating which will enable a sell
- Our flat is leasehold, so there are a few packs my solicitor needs to order and these take 15 working days, but i will give them 20-25 to be safe

Both the seller we're buying from and my buyer want to move ASAP... They think they'll be in, in October which I think is a little optimistic.

I've never bought and sold at the same time, so any expertise on roughly how long things are taking at the moment would be appreciated.

Thanks!

Bookgal88

This always has been, and still is, a "how long is a piece of string?" question. Everything depends on how quickly parties respond when asked for things, how efficient the EA/conveyancers/block freeholders/lenders are and, in this case, the results of the EWS1 (which could possibly be the biggest spanner in your works). I think October is looking very optimistic.

MaryNB

Average time for a purchase to go through is 3 months so they are being ambitious. I know one person who got it done in 6 weeks but there was no chain, a very straightforward purchase, pre covid and he said he put a huge amount of effort into driving it to completion. 

Tiglet2

MaryNB said:

Average time for a purchase to go through is 3 months so they are being ambitious. I know one person who got it done in 6 weeks but there was no chain, a very straightforward purchase, pre covid and he said he put a huge amount of effort into driving it to completion. 

Probably wasn't leasehold either!

Buster2021

Our sale failed 3x so it's been over a year process so far! 
They say 12 weeks but who knows 😏 

longtimelurker2020

firstbuyer said:

Purchase sale agreed with seller (freehold) - 26/09
Flat sale agreed with my buyer - 01/09

Hurdles
- We need our EWS1 to sell, its due to come back end of Sept - I'm being optimistic that it will provide a B1 or better rating which will enable a sell
- Our flat is leasehold, so there are a few packs my solicitor needs to order and these take 15 working days, but i will give them 20-25 to be safe

Both the seller we're buying from and my buyer want to move ASAP... They think they'll be in, in October which I think is a little optimistic.

I've never bought and sold at the same time, so any expertise on roughly how long things are taking at the moment would be appreciated.

Thanks!

My sister is in the same position as you, her sale and purchase were agreed around the start of June I believe. 

Their solicitor dropped the ball re the leasehold management pack; apparently it should’ve been asked for right at the start of the process but this was only done recently and it’s holding things up. I can’t remember how long my sis said this is meant to take but you’re sensible to make allowance for it to take longer. 

3 months after offers were accepted on both sides there’s nothing everyone can do but wait, because the managing agent won’t expedite the pack. 

My sis is worried the buyer might get fed up of waiting and look elsewhere but I think it’s unlikely since the buyer has invested time and money getting this far. I’m being optimistic for my sister’s sake! 

firstbuyer

longtimelurker2020 said:

firstbuyer said:

Purchase sale agreed with seller (freehold) - 26/09
Flat sale agreed with my buyer - 01/09

Hurdles
- We need our EWS1 to sell, its due to come back end of Sept - I'm being optimistic that it will provide a B1 or better rating which will enable a sell
- Our flat is leasehold, so there are a few packs my solicitor needs to order and these take 15 working days, but i will give them 20-25 to be safe

Both the seller we're buying from and my buyer want to move ASAP... They think they'll be in, in October which I think is a little optimistic.

I've never bought and sold at the same time, so any expertise on roughly how long things are taking at the moment would be appreciated.

Thanks!

My sister is in the same position as you, her sale and purchase were agreed around the start of June I believe. 

Their solicitor dropped the ball re the leasehold management pack; apparently it should’ve been asked for right at the start of the process but this was only done recently and it’s holding things up. I can’t remember how long my sis said this is meant to take but you’re sensible to make allowance for it to take longer. 

3 months after offers were accepted on both sides there’s nothing everyone can do but wait, because the managing agent won’t expedite the pack. 

My sis is worried the buyer might get fed up of waiting and look elsewhere but I think it’s unlikely since the buyer has invested time and money getting this far. I’m being optimistic for my sister’s sake! 

Yes - my solicitor has told me multiple times it will be a longer sale due to it being leasehold. We're not hoping to make stamp duty so I dont mind it taking a while.

I just worry as my buyer is a FTB and keen to get into our property, and the property we're buying is also keen to move out. They both have unrealistic expectations of moving dates so I'm feeling an unecessary amount of pressure.

I was more looking for things to be completed either Dec or January as it also means our mortgage redemption will be a little less too and we can claw back some pennies for rennovations.

Fingers crossed everyone will bide their time!

firstbuyer

MaryNB said:

Average time for a purchase to go through is 3 months so they are being ambitious. I know one person who got it done in 6 weeks but there was no chain, a very straightforward purchase, pre covid and he said he put a huge amount of effort into driving it to completion. 

Aware leasehold adds time complications. Frustrating, but we have requested the forms today so I'm hoping our management deliver them in a timely manor.

3 months at a minimum does sound more realistic, and I'm fine with that. As explained in my comment above I'm just worried we will lose our house seller / flat buyer because of their expectations of it happening quicker.

MaryNB

firstbuyer said:

MaryNB said:

Average time for a purchase to go through is 3 months so they are being ambitious. I know one person who got it done in 6 weeks but there was no chain, a very straightforward purchase, pre covid and he said he put a huge amount of effort into driving it to completion. 

Aware leasehold adds time complications. Frustrating, but we have requested the forms today so I'm hoping our management deliver them in a timely manor.

3 months at a minimum does sound more realistic, and I'm fine with that. As explained in my comment above I'm just worried we will lose our house seller / flat buyer because of their expectations of it happening quicker.

They'd both be total idiots to pull out. They then have to start the whole process again. It'll take time to find another property/buyer, then they're looking at 3 months on average to go through the process again (longer if they end up in a long chain). Just because they don't want to wait a month and a half or so. 

firstbuyer

MaryNB said:

firstbuyer said:

MaryNB said:

Average time for a purchase to go through is 3 months so they are being ambitious. I know one person who got it done in 6 weeks but there was no chain, a very straightforward purchase, pre covid and he said he put a huge amount of effort into driving it to completion. 

Aware leasehold adds time complications. Frustrating, but we have requested the forms today so I'm hoping our management deliver them in a timely manor.

3 months at a minimum does sound more realistic, and I'm fine with that. As explained in my comment above I'm just worried we will lose our house seller / flat buyer because of their expectations of it happening quicker.

They'd both be total idiots to pull out. They then have to start the whole process again. It'll take time to find another property/buyer, then they're looking at 3 months on average to go through the process again (longer if they end up in a long chain). Just because they don't want to wait a month and a half or so. 

Didnt think of it like that!

I'm naive to how this process works I suppose it's all a learning curve for me.

Thanks for the reassurance.

yllop1101

Their expectations will need to seriously adjust. These thigns just naturally take time and often can't be sped up just to meet an eager FTB. Of course they're keen to move in, aren't we all when we have something new, but that doesn't mean it will just happen when they stamp their feet. 
If they go elsewhere they will be very shortsighted.

I sold a leasehold flat (No EWS1 required) and purchased a chain free house. It took from Start of Feb 2021 to Mid April 2021, which was quick, however my flat sale had a 3 month head start due to me pulling out of the first house in January as the sellers took 3 months to even send a draft contract. My flat and the buyer weren't ready much before April anyway, and just waited a few extra weeks for my house to be ready.