How long to completion ?

Leeds_Fella

Hi,

Brief history, my offer was accepted on a house 2nd Jan. A property developer friend came with me a week later to advise if I needed a structural survey - and I do due to some external cracks.

The structural survey is booked for early next week and report should be with me by the end of the week..

If the survery is OK, I will be applying for a mortage (amount pre-approved) and asking my solicitor to start searches etc from Mon 4th Feb..

wanted to get my own survey prior to committing to a mortage valuation and searches from 4th Feb..

Appreciated advise pls - how long do you guys estimate to completion if the survey report comes back ok at the end of next week and I start on the mortgage and searches?.

Running_Horse

How long is a piece of string?

It will take as long as the laziest/slowest estate agent/solicitor/vendor/ buyer.

You might get lucky, but be prepared for delays and snags.

Leeds_Fella

Hi, thanks for the reply. Do you think end March early April is possible?

Running_Horse

It is possible with goodwill and cooperation on all sides. Ours should have been simple, but ended up taking twice as long, and would have been even longer if we didn't start making veiled threats to withdraw.

cattie

Is the house occupied or empty as this can make a difference. An empty house, no chain & a ftb makes for the quickest completion

Leeds_Fella

Hi, we completed 3 months ago and are in rented. The vendors have apparently bought a new build.</p>How long do searches generally take and all the red tape with legal stuff? I've been told the mortgage offer should be with me by 2 weeks following the valuation?

Advice for a novice pls

ginvzt

Our house buying was supposed to be easy and simple... Everything but...
Our offer accepted first days of December 2006 and when asked buyer said they will move out as soon as we need to rented or relatives (house was onthe market for more than half a year with no offers). Wishful thinking... By the end of December we learn that they are looking to buy and made an offer. We went away over Christmas, come back and get the papers were everything is tated and they marked the box that house sale is dependant on them finding a house to buy!!!!! With this and that, we waited for the exchange every week or so calling solicitors, estate agents, vendor, etc. Our morgage was ready by mid January and we were ready to move.

The best part - in the second half of February our vendor comes to us saying that if we want for them to move before March, we would have to pay them £700 to cover early repayment charges!!!!!!! I was mad. I was so ready to walk out. Didn't they know about the fees when they put the house on the market? He was an accountant of some sorts, for god's sake! He should have known about this all along.

We didn't walk out. We wrote them, their solicitors and EA a letter, saying that if they won't exchange within next few days we are dropping our offer by £2k. If it doesn't happen within next week or 10 days, the offer drops by £5k. Needless to say, exchange happened very soon and we got the keys a week later.

It just shows, that anything can happen - don't believe anything vendors say. Unless you have it is writing from the EA or solicitors... All in all, it took us 3 months (!!!!) to complete, what was supposed to be FTB buying a house with it being vacant as soon as all the paperwork is ready!

Sorry, still feel sour... A year later...

Nicki

Searches depend on where you live but usually take 1-2 weeks to come through. However, you can speed this up by paying a small premium to have personal searches done. The legal red tape is usually a matter of checking the searches, and all the title documents, and checking any missing title deeds, plus dealing with any structural issues and guarantees which come up. Provided your survey is OK, and their paperwork is in order, and that they respond quickly to enquiries from their solicitor, that side can be done quickly. We were able to get from offer to completion in 22 days last time, but that was quick.

On what you have posted, I would guess that the main issue will be whether the new build is finished or not. If it is finished and ready for occupation, then I would think your vendors will be keen to get a move on, and provided you also do your bit, then your hoped for time scale might well be do-able. If the new build isn't quite ready, then your vendors can easily drag their feet a little (in a way which might not be very apparent) and you could be looking at a summer date for completion rather than a spring one. Your best bet would be to ask the vendor what they would want as a completion date in an ideal world (without giving any indication as to what you are hoping for) so that you can get a clear picture as to what their position is. If you say you want March, then that's what they'll promise you even if they have no intention closer to the time of honouring this.

Claremac

Going through this myself at the moment. The only bit of advice I can offer is to make sure that all parties (buyers/vendors, solicitors, etate agents) know what date is being aimed at at the earliest possible stage and to keep checking with your solicitor and estate agent that all is going to plan.