Why you can't move house in two weeks

Contrary to popular belief it is not generally achievable to sell or buy a property in 2 weeks or less.

Buying a new home can be a stressful experience and as conveyancers, we often get asked ‘how long will this matter take to complete’. Our response, to a lot of clients’ surprise, is that we advise roughly 12 weeks or possibly more to complete a sale or purchase transaction and this can be quite alarming.

But here are the reasons why your transaction takes considerably longer than you perhaps would have hoped. Firstly, and most importantly, the quality of work is far more important than the speed. That is not to say conveyancers are not efficient however there are various steps that need to be considered within every transaction which takes time, and we are impacted by timescales offered by outside providers that we work alongside and other parties involved in the transaction.

Using an example of a purchase transaction, we would at the offset take your instructions, open a file for you and we would send to you a client care paperwork to complete and return to us. We would then process your returned client care whilst we await a contract pack from the seller’s solicitors.

Meanwhile, the seller’s solicitor is compiling the information necessary to issue the contract pack.

Once in receipt of the contract pack, we would use an outside provider to obtain searches, and the results of the same can take anywhere between a couple of days or a couple of weeks to be returned depending on the location of the property.

As conveyancers, we need to then review the title, the search results, and the mortgage offer (if applicable), raise enquiries and wait to hear from the seller’s solicitors those enquiries. We do this in your best interests but also as an obligation to your lender for whom we will also be acting if you are purchasing with a mortgage.

On some occasions, we need to liaise directly with your lender, or with management companies or with the council, as a few examples, to ensure we receive satisfactory replies to enquiries to ensure that whatever property you buy, you are buying with a full picture.

Some transactions are more complicated and can take longer than others, for example when the property in question is leasehold, as there is more information to review, usually more enquiries to raise and more outside providers we need to be in contact with.

Once all enquiries are satisfied, we would then report all of this information to you and at this stage be able to get you signed up in readiness for exchange and completion.

A sale transaction is as above simply in reverse, so our duty is to deal with those enquiries as efficiently and thoroughly as we can, but we can only proceed with a sale when the buyer’s solicitor has ensured that all steps are complete and that they are happy with the answers we provide before we proceed to completion.

So, although 2 months is longer than 2 weeks, it will all be well worth the wait when you are able to move into your home with no extra unwanted surprises. Plus, a guaranteed positive experience whilst moving is the best way to erase as much stress for you as possible.

How can we help?

Here at Symes Bains Broomer, our team of expert conveyancers ensure that the often emotional, and long-winded process of buying a house as stress-free as possible. We understand that it can be technical and confusing, so we keep all our support and advice as simple as we can, in order for you to stay fully in the loop.

If you would like to hear more about our conveyancing services, then head to our residential property page, or email the head of the department, jenny.musgrave@sbblaw.com