# How long between signing contract and completing purchase?



## davey32 (7 Jun 2006)

First time poster so be gentle.

We are due to sign contracts on Friday and have everything in place, formal loan offer, insurance, survey done. We don't have a house to sell ourselves. The sellers are also super keen to get things done and have already moved out of their place. How long should it take between us signing contract and the loan paperwork and the deal being completed?

I thought it was simply a matter of getting the money transferred but our solicitor is saying that it will take 4-6 weeks, he can do it in 2 weeks he's said but he may have to charge us extra as he'll have to drop everything else. Our mortgage broker says it could be done in 4-5 days easy.

Am I confusing signing the contract and exchange or missing something here?

BTW, our solicitor is getting up my nose big time. They promised client based service but can't even seem to manage returning phone calls.


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## mf1 (7 Jun 2006)

There is an element of "how long is a piece of string?" 

The closing date should be agreed between the Vendor and Purchaser, should be realistic ( vendor to find somewhere else to live and purchaser to arrange finance) and can be anything from 1- 2 weeks ( very unusual & very tight with no room for any hiccup/disaster) or 4-6 weeks ( more normal).  

Between Contracts and closing, Purchasers solicitor deals with Mortgage documentation with lender and Title Requisitions with Vendor's solicitor. 

Solicitor should not charge extra for doing work speedily and mortgage broker is bang out of order with his "4-5 days easy"!

A lot of people engaged in the whole process could be a whole lot nicer ( to their clients and their colleagues) and a whole lot more client focussed  but low price and volume conveyancing tends to drive that out the window(IMO)

mf


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## davey32 (7 Jun 2006)

mf1 said:
			
		

> There is an element of "how long is a piece of string?"
> 
> The closing date should be agreed between the Vendor and Purchaser, should be realistic ( vendor to find somewhere else to live and purchaser to arrange finance) and can be anything from 1- 2 weeks ( very unusual & very tight with no room for any hiccup/disaster) or 4-6 weeks ( more normal).
> 
> ...


 
Thanks MF1. The seller has already moved out and we are good to go on finance so I'm thinking the 1-2 weeks might be achievable.

You're bang on about volume conveyancing. I think this is exactly why I'm not getting the level of service I've had for instance buying previously in the UK. I don't blame any professional for making hay while the sun shines but it's bound to lead to frustration for clients when someone takes on way too much.

Anyway, thanks again.


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## MOB (7 Jun 2006)

May I second MF1's comment about the mortgage broker.  What an idiot.

I have occasionally completed transactions on a 4-5 day timeframe, and it was always a hugely serious imposition.  No solicitor could hope to meet client expectations of this type on anything other than a really exceptional basis (by which I mean perhaps one or two such transactions in the year - not one or two a month)


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## budapest (7 Jun 2006)

1-2 weeks is a bit unrealistic in my opinion as e.g. Ulster Bank can take up to 2 weeks to issue a mortgage cheque even when they have received all of your documents. Unfortunately I think your solicitor's opinion of 4 weeks or so is more likely.


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## jccf2003 (7 Jun 2006)

Have you mortgage protection in place?  That's what we're waiting on - couldn't imagine that it would take as long as it has.  We signed contracts 2 weeks ago and were supposed to close this Friday, but if the mortgage protection paperwork doesn't arrive in this afternoon's post (and I'm losing hope) then there's absolutely no way the cheque will be drawn in time.  As it it I was hoping to go in to Dublin to ICS tomorrow and speed it along in one day, which as far as I know would be difficult enough.  We applied for mortgage protection about 4 weeks ago, so it's not necessarily fast ...


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## davey32 (7 Jun 2006)

jccf2003 said:
			
		

> Have you mortgage protection in place? That's what we're waiting on - couldn't imagine that it would take as long as it has. We signed contracts 2 weeks ago and were supposed to close this Friday, but if the mortgage protection paperwork doesn't arrive in this afternoon's post (and I'm losing hope) then there's absolutely no way the cheque will be drawn in time. As it it I was hoping to go in to Dublin to ICS tomorrow and speed it along in one day, which as far as I know would be difficult enough. We applied for mortgage protection about 4 weeks ago, so it's not necessarily fast ...


 
Yeah we had a previous deal fall through when the seller backed at the eleventh hour out so we have absolutely everything already in place. 

Thanks for all the valuable replies, good to get a bit of a reality check.


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## cappamj (10 Jun 2006)

any property I have bought takes around the 6 week mark or longer


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## ninsaga (13 Jun 2006)

Even though I've been through this a couple of times I am still not really clear on the diff stages in terms of what they mean. Am I correct in thinking the following?

- Sale Agreed & deposit paid: Buyer has intent to buy & seller has intent to sell
- Contracts signed - who signs first" seller or buyer: Does it mean that if contracts are signed then there is no reversing it. both buyer & seller now have obligations & that the process is not reversable (unless mutually agreed)
- Closing: then the money & title change hands

..... is this a correct summation?

ninsaga


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## jccf2003 (13 Jun 2006)

ninsaga said:
			
		

> - Contracts signed - who signs first" seller or buyer: Does it mean that if contracts are signed then there is no reversing it. both buyer & seller now have obligations & that the process is not reversable (unless mutually agreed)
> 
> 
> ninsaga


 
I don't think this is true - the buyer signs first and usually pays a hefty deposit (~10%) and at that point the *buyer* has obligations and will lose the deposit if (s)he backs out.  The seller (AFAIK) still has no obligations at this point, and doesn't sign contracts until just before closing.
That's my understanding - though I'm not 100% certain either so I stand to be corrected!


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## Newbie! (14 Jun 2006)

jccf2003 said:
			
		

> I don't think this is true - the buyer signs first and usually pays a hefty deposit (~10%) and at that point the *buyer* has obligations and will lose the deposit if (s)he backs out. The seller (AFAIK) still has no obligations at this point, and doesn't sign contracts until just before closing.
> That's my understanding - though I'm not 100% certain either so I stand to be corrected!


 
This is what happened in our case anyway. We signed a week and a half ago and the vendor still hasnt signed....had thought the two signings would be much closer together...


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