Ours were 3 weeks to the day, but it depends on a lot of things. We were told it's usually anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks!
The nervous wait to exchange....
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Ours were 3 weeks to the day, but it depends on a lot of things. We were told it's usually anywhere from 2 to 8 weeks!
6 weeks for me, this was back in March.
That is roughHow are you out by such a large amount, though? (If non personal to answer). Ive completed enough purchases including a very far from simple one which dragged on and on....but never been into any of them by "much".
Most of that is just the increase in the market in the intervening period, plus missing the end of the SDLT covid holiday. We are however also renting while between houses (forced due to personal/family circumstances) which adds insult to injury.
I have definitely spent the rent and the market has definitely risen enough to mean I am paying £15-20k more than I would have done in July, like for like, plus the extra SDLT. I fail to see how that isn't a cost...
@DRZ I can't begin to imagine how you feel. The whole house buying process is an absolute joke and there's far too many people ending up in your situation. All you can think is that it wasn't meant to be, fingers crossed something better comes up for you and it all goes smoothly.
Last time I spoke to the solicitor she told me she's waiting to hear about fixtures and fittings paperwork. Which is quite funny, seeing as it's basically empty. No fridge, cooker, furniture etc. The only thing that could potentially be removed now would be the ceiling fans and the air conditioning unit. It's empty, the woman is in care, clearly everything they wanted is gone already, so just sign the paperwork!
DRZ, that's really rough. We were gazumped after 2 weeks with our first go, then the sellers pulled out probably around 4 or 5 weeks in our 2nd attempt.
DRZ, that's really rough. We were gazumped after 2 weeks with our first go, then the sellers pulled out probably around 4 or 5 weeks in our 2nd attempt.
What's the difference? The delay means DRZ will be *spending* £20k more on a similar property than a few months ago. His mortgage will be bigger, the money will come from him and go to the bank / seller eventually. So it's an extra cost incurred.
Soldato
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I really do feel for anyone going through the house buying process I have been there recently and it was hell on earth. The whole system is unbelievably bad 
I have been there recently and it was hell on earth. The whole system is unbelievably bad 
Soldato
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Went and viewed a place that's up for auction today. Marks the first property me and my partner have checked out in person.
Can't get too hopeful about auction properties really as a first time buyer, but my head's screwed on and I know enough about building to check for visible issues. If we happen to get lucky, it'll make the difference between staying in London and being priced out.
Can't get too hopeful about auction properties really as a first time buyer, but my head's screwed on and I know enough about building to check for visible issues. If we happen to get lucky, it'll make the difference between staying in London and being priced out.
I live in Surrey and that’s frankly too close to London for me. Christ if I even had a sniff of a chance I would be as far away from London as physically possible and wouldn’t look back. My wife’s work prevents this. Sigh.
Soldato
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TBH I've not enjoyed "London" in general for a long time but I've lived here all my 34 years and I don't know anything else. I've now got 2 sisters with 4 of my nephews/niece on the south coast, so between there and London would work. Of course that's almost as expensive
So it looks like we'll end up in Essex or somewhere north.
So updates, solicitor tells us that the contracts are ready and will be posted to us today, so one step closer. We've already agreed with the vendor that the ideal completion date for us both is mid January so should hopefully be exchanged within the next couple of weeks
How bad was your damp issue?
I've had my report back today, approx 13k of 'remedials' but most of it is moot points, like damaged concrete outside, the house was built in 1910 it's not a new build I am expecting things lke that.... However...
Basically there is a lot of moisture in certain areas of the house, what do I do with this information? They are recommending an intrusive survey, however, I plan on extending off this side in a couple of years, the fact that the flooring is fairly fine, makes me slightly more optimistic it's an issue I can kick down the road and resolve when I extend? Do I ask for a couple of k off? A few k off?
These issues are among some others that I would need to resolve. I'm just a little bit stuck on where I go with the above, there are drainage 'issues', but I will be ripping down all existing guttering and installing new which will resolve a lot of the issues.
Damp has always seemed to me to be extremely vague at best, usually driven by people trying to sell you a solution to a problem that probably isn't an actual problem. At what height is the raised moisture levels and how were they checked? Often, already-rectified issues from decades ago might have left behind significant salt deposits which will fool a conductivity-based meter. Is there any other evidence indicating there is a current damp problem ie peeling wallpaper, staining, mould etc? Even if this is present, there could well be other things going on like poor ventilation. My parents were quoted thousands upon thousands to rectify a "rising damp" problem when all that was wrong was that someone had stuffed the ventilation bricks full of newspaper!
Assuming you're going into a 1910-built house with eyes wide open and pockets deep enough to remediate any of the many, many things which could be wrong which a basic survey is likely to miss then I'd be tempted to either pop round and have a look yourself and judge it or just try your hand at a bit of a discount.
The house which fell through on us (posted about earlier this week) had "a damp problem" at the side of one of the bay windows. Of course everyone contacted wanted to charge a fortune to even look but a cursory look by myself showed that it was likely caused by a combination of a climber and a blocked gutter ie easily rectified for almost zero cost.
if the general public had even a cursory knowledge of basic building pathology, many many of these damp companies would go out of business.
for example, timber suspended floor in a 1930s house.
blocked air bricks
Blocked gutters
External ground levels too high causing bridging
Salt deposits
Foliage
Damaged render or plinth
could be any of them and all are very easily rectified
dmap companies would have you strip all the plaster off up to 1.5 internally, inject one of these useless damp proof courses and then make good
Yeah basically they want to lift the carpets and the flooring to work out if it's causing issues, it's due to a lack of air bricks not providing a cross ventilation to the floor void, the measurements appear to be taken about 10" from the floor.
This is the excerpt that sort of worries me;
I would rather not do anything at this stage until the development work happens, what bad can a couple more years do in the grand scheme of things... Plus I'll be taking the carpets and floorboards up anyway and I may be able to have a poke myself and come up with a solution.
I guess my only concern is, they are finding raised moisture levels in more than one localised area, it's the whole side of the house in several rooms...