Caroline Murray

Once you’ve found the right place, you need to agree a mortgage.  It’s a good idea to do this before finding the right property if you want to be in a good place to get the transaction moving quickly.  You also need to instruct a conveyancing solicitor, make an offer, get searches and surveys done, agree a completion date, exchange contracts and move in. If everything goes to plan, this can take between 8 – 12 weeks.

Unfortunately, not all moves do go to plan and, although Graysons gets excellent feedback from its conveyancing clients, sometimes, there are delays that are out of our control.  Here, Caroline Murray, partner and head of Graysons’ conveyancing department, discusses some of the issues that can cause a delay when you are moving house.

The chain

The chain of people involved in a house move is usually the biggest cause of delays.  The more complex the chain, the more likely there is to be a delay. Even if you have everything in hand and are ready to go, someone else further down the chain might not be. They may be experiencing their own delays.

Even if you find out how long the chain is in the first instance, there is very little you can do to speed up issues when they arise, and it can be difficult to follow the chain to find out what the issue is. No one can move until the whole chain is ready.  Of course, you could pull out (or threaten to), but that means starting from the beginning again. Somewhere within that chain, there could be:

• disagreements about price
• financial issues
• a death or illness
• a divorce or separation
• a buyer pulling out
• someone using delaying tactics to get the price reduced
• someone on holiday when you want to move
• an expired mortgage offer

It may be that someone within the chain is simply on a different timescale than you and is not ready to move.

Missing documents

Missing documents are a frequent cause of delay.

Your conveyancer will need to obtain various documents to complete a house purchase for you.

They will need to obtain proof of legal title – which your mortgage lender will need too. There could be a delay here if the property you are buying was last sold before 1990 – when it became necessary for all title deeds to be registered with HM Land Registry.  If it is not registered, the paper title deeds may be required and if they are lost, there could be a delay as the owners will need to reconstitute the title.

Missing proof of planning permission or building regulations for any alterations carried out can also cause a problem.  If the planning documents are missing, depending on the works involved, the seller may be asked to get retrospective consent or, potentially proceed by way of indemnity insurance. However, insurance in these instances only protects against local authority enforcement action and does not guarantee the works themselves. As such, deciding how to deal with this is often a difficult decision, with the buyer and seller having different priorities or expectations, both of which need to be managed. A seller will usually want indemnity as it is often quicker and cheaper, but a buyer will usually prefer the works being properly signed off by the local authority retrospectively. Add into this the issue that, once the local authority is aware of an issue, indemnity insurance is no longer an option.

Much of the conveyancing system is still carried out manually and signed documents are required.  These may be delayed or even go missing.

Also, if you have been given money towards your deposit, the person giving it will need to sign documents confirming this, both to comply with money laundering regulations and the mortgage lender’s requirements.  Conveyancers need to ensure that the lender is happy with any gift and this sometimes involves referring the details to them.

Any ‘defects’ in the title, even if they are being remedied by insurance, will need referring to the lender for their approval, who will sometimes require sign off by their own valuer before a conveyancer can proceed.

There can be a delay in these various documents being returned.

Finance

Most financial issues relate to getting a mortgage offer, but it’s possible that the financial situation of someone within the chain changes, which means that they cannot proceed with their purchase. Frequent mortgage issues relating to finance include:

• The validity of a mortgage offer for someone within the chain expires before contracts are exchanged and a new offer has to be agreed.
• Redemption statements are delayed. Some lenders take longer than others to issue redemption statements. Some are only valid for one day, whilst others have a daily rate and can be used for a few days.
• The mortgage lender’s valuers value the property less than the estate agent and new offers need to be negotiated with the seller.
• Extra security checks required by banks when large amounts of money are being transferred.

Searches

Whilst searches are not compulsory on a blanket basis, most lenders will insist on them. Some lenders will accept search insurance, however, Graysons recommends that full searches are obtained on any purchase.

Searches are only valid for six months, so if the purchase of the property takes longer than that, new searches may be required, causing an additional delay. Searches can also be extended with insurance. Here at Graysons, we apply for these searches as soon as we receive the contract package to try to avoid any delays.

Surveys

As the results of these are relatively quick to obtain, as long as the survey is arranged as soon as possible, these do not usually cause many delays.  However, problems can arise when something crops up on the survey that worries the buyer and they need to make a decision about what to do.

If adverse results are revealed in the survey, the buyer or their agent may have to negotiate either a reduction of the price, or for works to be undertaken before completion.  Sometimes buyers walk away when problems are found, and this will of course hold up the whole chain.

It is also possible that a mortgage lender rejects the property and will not approve a mortgage offer.

Probate

If one of the sellers has died before the transaction can legally go ahead, there may be a delay whilst a grant of probate is received.  At present, whilst probate delays are reducing, it can still take around 16 weeks to receive the grant, so this can cause a distinct problem.

Removals

Removals companies are usually booked well in advance.  However, until contracts are exchanged and a completion date agreed, that date cannot be confirmed, so there could be some issues here. Also, if the completion date keeps changing, the removals company may find it difficult to meet your required date.  These firms are usually flexible, but they should be kept up to date so that they can accommodate changing requirements where possible.

Leasehold properties

Buying a leasehold property may add time to the transaction so completion may take longer than a freehold purchase.

It may take longer to secure a mortgage offer, as lenders usually require at least 70 years to be left on the lease, and if this is not the case, the buyer may need to ask the seller to extend it.

Also, the conveyancer is likely to have much more information to gather, including that on charges such as service, administration, ground rent and insurance.

Graysons’ experienced conveyancers will ensure that they keep you up to date on the process of buying your house, and you can be sure that they are doing everything possible to be sure it goes as smoothly as possible.  Where delay issues arise, we will keep on top of them to progress completion to as early a date as possible.

Author: Caroline Murray