How long is the process for no chain?

trailingspouse

I'm in a chain of 5 - I completed the chain by making an offer on a house that had been used as a rental.

My offer was accepted on 19th October, and we have a provisional completion date of 21st January. So, almost exactly three months.

phoebe1989seb

Our last purchase was a repossession bought for cash in 2018. We had already completed on our sale (to buyers who weren't selling their existing house and that took 12 weeks), so we managed to tie the whole thing up in just over 4 weeks 😃

Previous sale/purchase back in 2014 was a short chain (we were buying an empty house, again for cash, where the vendor had already bought somewhere/moved out, and our buyers were selling to a FTB) and that took 9 weeks from us accepting their offer to completion. It would have been quicker if the FTB hadn't been working overseas throughout the whole process.....

The time before that took 10 weeks (four in chain, we were cash buyers) from offer to completion and the one before that only 8 weeks - we were again buying an empty property (vendors had emigrated) - and both we and our buyer (who was keeping their existing house as a holiday home) were cash buyers.

I think our experience isn't typical though and that we've been particularly lucky 😉

spo2

Same as above - our current house was just over a month from offer acceptance to completion. However I know two people who have recently bought properties that have never been sold before and the timeframe has been surprisingly long. One had an offer accepted in June 2021 and it's only starting to look close to exchange now (so mostly likely new year)

kerrymxxx

1st house we brought from the bank took 14 days that was in 2018 we was cash buyers, now we are selling this house no chain and the buyers are first time buyers, we sold at beginning of September and still no date to complete.

Chocolatefund

It really is a 'how long is a piece of string' question.

My house sale with no chain (buy to let investors, me moving into temporary accommodation) took 8 months. 8 months with no chain!

That was an unfortunate combination of bad solicitors, (mine decided to quit thier job...) covid back log, and leasehold property in which nobody could get a hold of the management company for.

Now I finnaly sold that property with cash in the bank. I've had an offer accepted on a property that's a probate sale.  I'm still expecting it to takes months even with no chain.

I'd like to think that house karma owes me big time. Who am I kidding...

boldaslove

We’re currently in the process of buying a house with cash (FTBs), no chain above or below us. Offer was accepted on 12th October and we’re just waiting for some outstanding enquiries before we can exchange. We were originally given a date of 15th Feb by the EA - we’ve been told we can waiver the enquiries if we really wanted to complete by Xmas but we’re happy to wait a little to get them answered. So if we complete in mid-Jan, that’d make it 3 months. 

If the seller’s solicitor wasn’t so rubbish we could’ve potentially completed mid-December - they’re just ridiculously slow at answering enquiries whereas our solicitors have been amazing. Just shows the difference it can make!

TheJP

boldaslove said:

We’re currently in the process of buying a house with cash (FTBs), no chain above or below us. Offer was accepted on 12th October and we’re just waiting for some outstanding enquiries before we can exchange. We were originally given a date of 15th Feb by the EA - we’ve been told we can waiver the enquiries if we really wanted to complete by Xmas but we’re happy to wait a little to get them answered. So if we complete in mid-Jan, that’d make it 3 months. 

If the seller’s solicitor wasn’t so rubbish we could’ve potentially completed mid-December - they’re just ridiculously slow at answering enquiries whereas our solicitors have been amazing. Just shows the difference it can make!

This timeline doesn't make sense. I doubt the enquiries will take 3 months to answer and i doubt its due to the solicitor as even if you do complete in February that's not bad in this circumstance that we are in. I would say you'll be done by mid January.

TBG01

We were originally given a date of 15th Feb by the EA

Estate Agents don't get to dictate exchange and completion dates.

we’ve been told we can waiver the enquiries 

Are you a cash buyer?

sheffield_soldier

I have just completed on my house with no chain. 

Start to finish was a day under 2 months. Appreciate that it is unusual speed of purchase though, but shows it is possible.