Slightly under one third of buyers experience problems in the period between provisional acceptance of their offer and receiving a mortgage offer. Not surprisingly, these are to do with either delays in receiving the mortgage offer, valuations for less than the agreed price or conditions attached to the offer. Half of all buyers and sellers experience problems at the stage following the mortgage offer and prior to exchange of contracts. This is the most problematic time with problems associated with agreeing completion dates, the need for further surveys on the property, problems up and down the chain or delays caused by solicitors being the most common. About one in four buyers and sellers experience problems between exchange and completion.
Problems are mainly to do with renegotiating completion and moving dates.
Forty four per cent of purchasers go through a broker to obtain their mortgage. Although this prolongs the period up to receipt of the mortgage offer, it has no effect on the overall length of the transaction. Mortgage checks and references are completed very speedily. Most take only a couple of days with some, such as credit ratings, being done immediately. Some references can take far longer to obtain.