Moving home is among life’s most stressful events.
From finding the perfect house to packing up and planning the move – there’s a mass of things to plan before you even get to organising the legalities of buying or selling a property.
And often what should be an exciting event is tempered by delays, adding even more pressure.
Indeed, the entire process can take between eight and 18 weeks. Because of the risk of unforeseen circumstances arising, it can be impossible to predict how long it will take between finding your new home and moving in.
Being realistic about the fact that it might take a while is the first part of the process of getting set to make your move.
But why can moving home be so prone to unexpected delays?
Access to the property for the mortgage survey to be carried out
When the seller is working full-time or shift work, it can be difficult to negotiate a suitable time to conduct the mortgage survey. This has a knock-on effect on how fast your mortgage can be confirmed.
If you’re selling your property, do keep in mind that providing access to the buyer for a survey will help speed things along for you too.
If the survey reveals any defects, then they should be dealt with quickly. Get a specialist report and then negotiate a possible price reduction.
Your mortgage application
It’s common to obtain pre-approval for your level of borrowing before viewing properties. However, for a formal offer to be issued and issued to your solicitor, a full mortgage application must be processed, alongside the mortgage survey and a risk analysis check.
Do also remember to advise your solicitors of where your deposit funds are currently invested in case you need to give notice to get them released to your current account.
Search results
Purchasers often decide not to pay for searches on properties until they have a satisfactory survey report and know their mortgage offer will be granted.
The majority of search results can be received electronically via the solicitors’ search agents. However, if this is not possible, a representative from the search agent has to make a personal visit to the local authority’s offices to obtain the results. That can mean another delay.
Similar to the mortgage survey, any issues must be acted upon quickly.
Title issues
It’s important to remember that your solicitors are instructed to act on behalf of your mortgage company as well as you. So the same title defects and any adverse search results must be reported to them and approved before matters can proceed.
When selling your property it could help if your title deeds are looked at before the property is placed on the market. That way if there are any problems that arise these can be sorted out earlier, for example: a piece of garden land is not registered to the seller.
Third-party delays
Many external factors can cause delays, and most are out of the buyer's and seller’s hands.
Delays in getting information from outside organisations such as planning authorities, NHBC, freeholder and managing agents if the property is leasehold and particularly if the property is an apartment, all add up.
To help head off the risk of delays, make sure you appoint a solicitor with a proven track record in conveyancing. Good communication and client satisfaction are key concerns for Wake Smith.
