Offer accepted Dec 2020 but no progress

[Deleted User]

Hi please bear with me as I’m new to the house buying process..

I had an offer accepted on a property at the beginning of December last year, I’ve done all the paperwork required my side - valuation completed, mortgage offered and life insurance setup as advised by my mortgage advisor. However I’ve heard nothing from the sellers’ solicitors. 

I’ve asked the EA if there were any delays their side (no chain) and I was told the sellers paperwork was completed and sent back to their solicitor. I’ve chased my solicitor about receiving contract packs etc but I was told the property isn’t registered with land registry so will take longer. 

I’m just hoping for a bit of advice, whether this is normal etc. Sorry if this is really obvious. 

Slithery

Do you meant last december or 2020?

bouicca21

Last year was 2021.  Is that what you mean?

[Deleted User]

Yes sorry. Offer put in 2021

Noneforit999

Sounds like the land registry issue is holding things up then from what you are saying. Its not unheard of for the buying process of a house to take 5/6 months, I think people say 3 months as a guide assuming its all straight forward.

If the seller has done their bit then its in the hands of the solicitors so hopefully things start to come along soon. Can your solicitor not advise whats being done in regards to the land registry and what the timescale normally is?

We are three weeks in now on ours since offer and our solicitor has already sent draft contracts to the buyers. We are keen to press on but the buyer is still waiting on their mortgage offer, valuation not even been instructed yet. 

tooldle

It can take longer. Having bought an unregistered property myself, the longest delay seemed to be in accessing / obtaining the paper deeds. Once these had been produced things moved reasonably quickly with searches and enquiries etc. Your solicitor will sent the contract when they are ready to report on the property. Your solicitor is the best person to ask as to how things stand.  

Loza2016

I bought an unregistered property December 2020. Cash purchase no survey & no enquiries raised by me. Still took just under 3 months 

canaldumidi

With unregistered property the key question is whether the seller has all the paper deeds and Conveyances, sufficient to satisfy your solicitor, and the Land Registry, that they actually own the property they are selling.

Sometimes people 'lose' their paperwork, esp if, as is likely here, they've bought/inheritted the property 20, 30 years ago....

The 2nd question is whether the seller is going to sell to you unregistered, and you/your solicitor will then dothe 1st Registration. This gets you to Completion quicker, but means some minimal uncertainty about whether the paperwork is sufficient for the LR.

The alternative is for the seller to register the property themselves before selling. This means the LR will check the paperwork so is a bit safer for you. But will add potentailly months to the process as the LR has backlogs.

jkrbec

I had this same issue, offer made September 2021 and my solicitor didn’t receive paperwork until December for this same reason, they had to request the registration to be expedited with the Land registry, it took around 3 weeks once they knew what the issue was.