Timing your home move

1 - 7 years

Save a deposit

Phase 1 involves saving for your deposit and searching for a property. The amount of time it takes for you to save a deposit will depend on your income, outgoings, lifestyle and target. Typically, a first time buyer will take on average seven years to save a deposit, so we recommend you start early and stick at it!

30 minutes

Find out how much you can borrow

Once you have saved your deposit, you will need to find out how much you can borrow. This is a quick and free process and can be done online via a mortgage provider’s website. The form takes roughly 15-30 minutes to complete and you will be provided with the amount you can borrow instantly.

3 months

Find a property

You have your deposit, and now you know how much you can borrow, let the search begin! When searching for a property we recommend you don’t rush. You’ll probably have a list of ‘musts’ and ‘must nots’ but finding that perferect property may be difficult, comprise may be key! Typically, finding a property will take around 3 months, however this may be extended depending on the type, size and location you are looking for.

1 week

Make an offer

Once you have found the property you are looking for, you will need to submit an offer to the seller through the estate agent. Most estate agents require written confirmation of your offer, and once submitted, it typically takes between 1-5 days to receive a response. See our advice page ‘different types of offers’ for further information.

4 weeks

Apply for a mortgage

Phase 2 centres around the legal aspect of buying a property. Once your offer is accepted, the estate agent will ask you to apply for a mortgage and appoint a conveyancer to start checking and preparing the legal paperwork.

Applying for a mortgage will take roughly an hour to fill in the paperwork, and once submitted, the mortgage lender will review the information and either confirm or refuse the request. On average, it takes around 4 weeks for the lender to complete their review

12 weeks

Appoint conveyancer

Whilst the mortgage is being reviewed, you will need to appoint a conveyancer.

Typically, it takes 1 week to appoint a conveyancer, which involves obtaining and accepting a quote.

We recommend you obtain at least three quotes to ensure you are obtaining the best value for money (obtain conveyancing quotes).

4 weeks

Book a survey

The conveyancing process typically takes around 12 weeks.

Whilst this is ongoing, we recommend a building survey is booked in to ensure the property is in good condition. Obtaining a building surveying quote will take 1-2 days. It is common for surveyors to have a lead in period of 1-2 weeks, but this may increase in the summer. It is therefore important to get the survey booked in a soon as possible.

Once the surveyor has undertaken the inspection, you can expect to receive the report within 1-2 weeks.

2 weeks

Review and exchange

Around the 10^th week of this phase, your conveyancer should get back in touch with the findings of their searches. They will provide you with a bundle of documents which you will need to carefully review and check.

We recommend you put aside 1-2 weeks to check the documents in detail. It is important you do not rush this stage as once you have signed the documents, there is little opportunity to pull out of the purchase.

2 weeks

Prepare to Move

When the contracts have been exchanged, you will need to prepare for your move. This will include arranging your belongings and booking in a removals company. We estimate packing your belongings and taking final meter readings will take around 2 weeks.

1 Day

Completion

Finally, once a date for completion has been agreed, you will be asked to collect the keys from the estate agent on that date. Most mortgage transfers take place in the morning and the estate agent cannot release the keys until the seller’s conveyancer has confirmed the money has been received (your conveyancer will do this for you). Collecting and signing for the keys will typically take 1 day.