For people trying to make the deadline, some time consuming things I encountered near the end that might trip you up trying to close quickly
1. Solicitor getting deeds from existing bank. From AIB this took around 1 week for us.
2. Valuation can take a week to get the valuer to actually call to the house and then another few days to complete the paperwork.
3. House rebuild cost will be estimated with valuation, you may need to adjust your home insurance policy if it’s lower.
4. Any recent building work (extensions, attic conversion, etc.) needs a certificate of compliance or an opinion of compliance. Your solicitor will force this point. If an opinion of compliance is required it’s probably going to take up to 2 weeks, a week to get someone onsite and a few days for paperwork. In hindsight I would of said nothing, they were never going to check and it wasn’t mentioned in the valuation.
5. Mortgage protection insurance, must match (within €600) or exceed the outstanding mortgage. Due to a previous mortgage break ours was slightly off and needed to be corrected. Either with a new insurance policy or make up the difference with cash
There’ll also be some pressure to push the solicitor along with the deeds recall, organising the appointment for signing paperwork that suits both and then getting them to finalise the whole lot.