What Is Difficult About Moving House?

We want you to understand why the conveyancing process can at times appear confusing and slow, so that we can work together to minimise any confusion and avoid the problems that excessive delays can cause.

The Textbook Move

In an ideal world moving house is a straightforward process that moves seamlessly from finding the house of your dreams, through to moving in and, if you are selling as well, finding a committed buyer able to fit in with your preferred time scale.

The Reality

More usually, at every stage of the transaction the nature of the conveyancing process means that there is the potential for disruption, confusion and delay.  At any point up to exchange of contracts things can go so wrong that the whole deal falls through.  What causes this?

Chains

Your move is likely to be dependent on any number of other transactions that all interrelate.  In order that your move can proceed, so too must all the others.  If any party pulls out of an established chain everything can grind to a halt.  A delay in receiving a mortgage offer, a problem on a survey or a query over a local authority search for example, can hold you and every other person in the chain up until such matters are sorted satisfactorily.

Uncertainty

The legal process for property ownership in England and Wales dates back in part as far as the Domesday Book making it one of the oldest and most complex systems of land law in the world.  Right up until the point at which contracts are exchanged, any party can pull out or attempt to renegotiate the basis on which they are buying and/or selling.

Although this principle is long established it does cause initial uncertainty.  At the point at which you agree to buy a home you are not in possession of all the relevant facts.  The property may suffer damp and timber decay, be next to a new road system, have an extension, that is in breach of planning or building regulations or be the subject of historic restrictions.  It is only when surveys, searches and title deeds are checked that these facts become apparent.

The introduction of Home Information Packs, that include both the local and drainage/water searches, and which have been compulsory since 14 December 2007, have reduced some of the uncertainty but they are not the complete answer to the problems of the long established conveyancing process.

At this stage any withdrawal by your seller or any renegotiation of the price that cannot be agreed will come after you have spent money on searches, surveys and mortgage applications – all of which will be irrevocable from that seller.  If you lose the property you hoped to buy you will have obvious problems in holding on to any buyer you had found for your current property.

Our Duties To Your Lender

We will need to involve your lenders in deciding what to do about any problems we discover during our consideration of the contract documentation.

How To Be A Smart Mover

The good news is that despite the tensions and uncertainties of the home moving process there are a number of ways in which you as a seller and/or buyer can minimise the stresses and strains involved in the process.Find out how to be a Smart Mover »

Home Movers Guide | The House Moving Process | Buying a House | Selling a House | Frequently Asked Questions | What is Difficult About Moving House | How to be a Smart Mover