How long to move into new house? (Buy)

Congratulations on having the offer accepted...

In answer to your question, how long is a piece of string? There are so many factors to think about. For us, we have moved three times and never has it taken less than 4 months. The longest taking 6 months.

How many people are in the chain? It can depend on survey outcomes too. Sometimes things are flagged up that need rectifying or renegotiating on price. Often things pop up that are unexpected. For us, we were told we could exchange, then find out that there was a shared driveway without deeds so therefore we had to make a decision as to wether to proceed or not. Then our buyers mortgage expired so had to wait.

For our second to last house sale, it was all going swimmingly well and then BAM! the second buyers in a 7 house chain pulled out. Drama drama. That put things on hold for us too.

I mo hope that it goes smoothly for you, but I wouldn't hold your breath that you'll be in before xmas x

Our house was chain free & we were first time buyers - we put the offer in January and we completed on at the end of July.

Be prepared for it to take a while & when your solicitor/estate gives you a timescale take it with a pinch of salt!!

Congratulations! It took us 13 weeks with us both being chain free so l doubt it will happen before Christmas particularly if there are chains involved.

Forgot to add, they are chain free and our buyer is my mum who is a cash buyer.

i know it's a hard question but just wanted someone to give me some hope it was possible! Ha!

I agree with everyone else all varies. We put an offer middle of Aug and we had the keys end of Oct.

We were chain free but the lady we bought from was I'll and unfortunately has now passed away so there was a bit of hurry there

Definitely varies. We bought last August and were in mid-november. That was no chain both sides.

Sorry to cause confusion, my mum is buying our house we currently live in and is a cash buyer, we have a mortgage in place for new house.

We have completed both of our moves in six weeks. First, we were first time buyers moving in to a vacant property. Second, we were co-ordinating a buy and sell, and it was far trickier. Make it clear from the outset that you are working to an incredibly tight deadline, make sure your solicitor is on the ball, and look for an update about twice a week. If you keep the pressure on it can be done.

Our current house took a while to complete - we offered in late June and we were in second week of Sept - but I'm told 3 months is fairly standard by solicitors.

But there were complications involved, including the fact that the sellers were in 2 different countries, so my story needn't be yours.

It's possible you could be in by Christmas if your sellers have somewhere to go. Be upfront with your solicitor, and theirs, and state your ideal moving in date, ideally a few days before you absolutely need to be in - we completed on our first house in a month with no problems (although in our case it was the seller in a hurry not us).

It really varies. When i bought it took me 4 months to get in for various reasons. I think it might be best to assume you'll still be celebrating Christmas in your old place.

Don't forget that everyone wants to get in before Christmas, which means your mortgage surveyor will be busier as will the solicitors on both sides.

If you're lucky and your surveyor approves it all quickly you might have a chance.

It took 4 weeks for us when we bought our home.

The house was a vacant property though so no chain as such. And our solicitor was amazing and just kept pushing and pushing. It can be done!!

Think ours only took about 6 weeks (middle of January offer accepted to 22 February moved in) but it was a funny situation. OH had his own flat which we sold, I had my own house which I couldn't sell, and we bought a new build, so the builders part exchanged mine against the new house. Complicated but quick!

60 weeks... do I win?