You’ve found your dream property, you’ve had your offer accepted, and you’re all ready to go. Just one thing left before the big move – conveyancing. Knowing how long conveyancing will take can be tricky, but you’ll likely be in for an easier ride if you aren’t buying in a chain.
Conveyancing is a complicated legal process, so you can never be certain of timescales – and if you’re buying in a chain, then unfortunately the chances of a problem arising and causing delays is a fair bit higher.
The conveyancing process in a chain might take anywhere between 6 to 12 weeks – whereas if your fate is not linked to other property transactions going smoothly, that wait could go down to around 4 weeks.
Only one in ten property transactions are chain-free, so they’re rare gems – but if you can find one, then it could save you a lot of time.
What slows down the conveyancing process?
There are a number of factors, mostly out of your control, which may push your move in date back by an extra few days or weeks. These may include:
- Incomplete information on a property’s title, leading to uncertainty on its ownership
- Issues with mortgages, for example if valuation is different than expected, or if the mortgage provider is slow to issue final approval
- Surveys (required by your lender) dragging on or revealing unexpected issues with a property
- Delays in in searches, which often occur during peak-demand times of the year
What is a chain, and how can it add delays?
A property is considered to be in a chain if neither the buyer or seller in one home-purchase transaction are relying on the completion of another transaction in order to go ahead.
For example, imagine if Susan is buying a property from Jake, who in turn is buying a property from Mary. Susan’s purchase is contingent on Mary selling her house to Jake, otherwise he has nowhere to live and won’t want to complete the sale of his current house!
This example is quite a short chain (the shortest you can get, in fact), but chains can often involve many more properties along the line. And as the chain gets longer, it gets more complex – increasing the chance of delay.
Each property involved in a chain will be at risk of one of the various factors listed above causing conveyancing to slow. If one property faces a delay, the whole chain will be slowed down. The likelihood of an issue cropping up is just that much higher with so many more moving parts caused by the extra properties in the mix.
How can you make sure conveyancing is as quick as it can be?
It is always hard to predict what might come up during conveyancing, as many common problems are impossible to foresee. However, there are some basic ‘best practices’ you can stick to which will increase your chances of having a speedy experience.
Our top tips to ensure things go as smoothly as possible: be organised with your paperwork; promptly respond to all messages and requests from your conveyancer; and make sure you do your research thoroughly before picking the right conveyancer for you.
Those aside, buying a house which isn’t involved in a chain is perhaps the best way to ensure a quicker purchase. The types of transactions that tend to be ‘chain-free’ are when buying new builds, purchasing from a property investor or from someone moving overseas.
In these scenarios, because the seller is not involved in an ‘onward transaction’ – i.e. they are not relying on buying a new house for themselves at the same time – you should be able to expect a simpler conveyancing period. With a bit of luck, you could even get it down to the magic 4 weeks. Fingers crossed…
