How long did it take for you to complete?

[sc0tt]

Just had an offer accepted on a property with future Mrs. Sc0tt, having last owned a property 8 years ago how long has it taken you to complete recently?

[B17NNS]

For a straight purchase (no sale) it's always been around 4 weeks from exchange to completion for me.

[Badda]

I completed in less than 10 minutes last night. Not proud.

[Robertj21a]

Surely, the query has to be from when ? If it's from Exchange of contracts then about 4 weeks but that's variable if alternative dates are suitable to both/all parties. It's the time getting to Exchange that's the nightmare.

[sc0tt]

Robertj21a said:

Surely, the query has to be from when ? If it's from Exchange of contracts then about 4 weeks but that's variable if alternative dates are suitable to both/all parties. It's the time getting to Exchange that's the nightmare.

Offer to completion. I thought that would be clear from my post given my current position.

[CharlieH89]

Offer accepted 14th August.
Got the keys 29th September.

Would have been quicker but my solicitor couldn’t get hold of the sellers. No chain.

[Robertj21a]

sc0tt said:

Robertj21a said:

Surely, the query has to be from when ? If it's from Exchange of contracts then about 4 weeks but that's variable if alternative dates are suitable to both/all parties. It's the time getting to Exchange that's the nightmare.

Offer to completion. I thought that would be clear from my post given my current position.

Sorry. missed the key point !. From offer to completion has been about 3-4 months for each case I've known.

[hampshire-370z]

Sold to a first time buyer, took 18 weeks - try to avoid online conveyancers

[MrChips]

Where's the 12+ months box?

[quinny100]

Over 4 months. Buyer was FTB. I was already living somewhere else.

There were no specific delays. Nothing happened for the first 6 weeks after accepting the offer. Agent and solicitor just kept telling me this was normal timescales.

I personally see no reason why it should take any longer than 3 - 4 weeks tops, but nobody seems to have any interest is speeding the process up. It’s bizarre.

[Evanivitch]

We were first time buyers, they were seperated and had arrangements elsewhere so no chain.

6 weeks from first viewing to getting the keys. My wife persue both sets of solicitors, I hand delivered documents instead of by post, and even though I was on the road for weeks 4 and 5 I was still printing and scanning documents.

[Classy6]

Timely thread. I shall take the opportunity for a small rant!

We offered August on a house sold on behalf of deceased, chain collapsed mid October, only had a few weeks to go (our buyer's, buyer dropped out - who was a FTB), he resold his shared ownership flat in less than a week to another FTB.

New buyer decides they wanted to use their own solicitor so had to do all the conveyancing stuff again and obviously chose the worst firm in the world to carry this out as it's taking f**king MONTHS and they have zero communication skills!

Looked to exchange before Xmas - only to find out buyer's buyer still has NOT had a mortgage offer approved from housing association, WHAT!?! Now mid January I'm sick of asking whats going on and have taken the view of my current mortgage is half that of the new one, so at least I'm saving money.

[Edited by admin]

Hopefully we'll complete by the end of Jan.

Edited by pp15.mod on Wednesday 17th January 09:32

[Little Lofty]

When I'm buying its usually 3/4 weeks, when I'm selling it's 3/4 months. I've two sales on the go at the moment, one offer I accepted early October with estimated completion mid Feb, the other offer was accepted on Saturday with completion pencilled in for early March. The timescale for the October sale is the norm nowadays, the latest sale is completing quite quickly as the buyer is in rented and has to be out first week of March, so is pushing hard.

[Danm1les]

On the most recent house it took around 3 months, FTB buying ours and then we were buying an ex rental owned by a lady who worked for the estate agent selling it so she pushed it along we think which was great.

House before that took around 4 months, we were selling my flat to a cash buyer investor however the house we were buying, the owners were buying a B&B...

And my first flat, I was a FTB buying an ex rental, however the reason the ex-rental was being sold was because the owners were getting divorced and one of them disappeared to Australia for 2 months meaning nothing happened mid way through. That took around 6 months!

[PositronicRay]

TVR Moneypit said:

quinny100 said:

Over 4 months. Buyer was FTB.

I personally see no reason why it should take any longer than 3 - 4 weeks tops, but nobody seems to have any interest is speeding the process up. It’s bizarre.

Forgive my ignorance, but surely, especially with a first time buyer who, I assume, is either renting or living with family, would be very keen to hurry up and move in?

They may be waiting for some money, or just wanting to see the tenancy though on the rented place.

[PositronicRay]

About 10 weeks on the last one, should've been quicker, all our ducks in a row. Sellers dragging their heels.

[sidekickdmr]

In the last 5 years we have purchased 3 houses, all had some kind of complications and all took over 6 months!

[TheAngryDog]

Offered in Feb, completed May 19th. So around 3 months. Should have been quicker but the sellers dragged their heels massively. Nearly pulled out on a number of occasions after being messed around by them. All of our ducks were in a row bar one when the house was down valued, but that was sorted in a few days.

[MDMetal]

Someone somewhere always drags their heels, doing what is essentially the same job day in and day out. Never believe anything anyone tells you, chase people daily if you need to. It's always "waiting for the seller to send some documents" then if you contact the sellers solicitor seems they never had the request and are waiting for your solicitor to send something else instead.

[Herbs]

quinny100 said:

Over 4 months. Buyer was FTB. I was already living somewhere else.

There were no specific delays. Nothing happened for the first 6 weeks after accepting the offer. Agent and solicitor just kept telling me this was normal timescales.

I personally see no reason why it should take any longer than 3 - 4 weeks tops, but nobody seems to have any interest is speeding the process up. It’s bizarre.

Unfortunately for West Dorset - timescale for searches are laughable. Offer accepted 28th October, requested searches following week due to a 14 week lead time........................ not due back till 6th Feb!