You’ve found your dream property, you’ve had your offer accepted and you’re already to go! Just one thing left before the big move – conveyancing! Knowing how long conveyancing is going to take is tricky, but you might be in for an easier, shorter journey if you aren’t buying in a chain.

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Conveyancing is a complicated legal process, so you can never be sure how long it will take. If you’re buying in a chain, then the chances of a problem arising and causing a delay is higher.  Only one in ten property transactions are chain free, but if you can find one, then it might save you a lot of time. The conveyancing process when in a chain might take anywhere between 6 to 12 weeks, whereas if you are not in a chain that wait could go down to around 4 weeks! 

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What might slow things down?

 

There are a number of factors, mostly out of your control, which may push your move in date back an extra few days or weeks. Briefly, these might 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 nor seller in one home-purchase transaction are relying on the completion of another transaction in order to go ahead. 

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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. 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 to one of the various factors listed above causing conveyancing to slow. If one property faces a delay, the whole chain will! The likelihood of an issue cropping up is just that much higher with so many more moving parts from the extra properties in the mix.

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How can you make sure conveyancing is as quick as it can be?

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It is always hard to predict what might come up during conveyancing, as many common problems are impossible to foresee. However, it is possible to increase your chances of having a speedy experience!

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Tips to ensure things go as smoothly as possible include being organised with your paperwork, promptly responding to messages and requests from your conveyancer, and doing your research before picking the right conveyancer for you.

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Those tips aside, buying a house when you are not involved in a chain is a 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. 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!