How Long to Sell a House with No Chain?

Time taken: 1-2 days

Staging a house is a way of preparing the home to be sold. You can do this yourself or you can hire professional stagers. This can include partially redecorating your home or simply moving furniture around.

The actual staging will take around 1-2 days to complete. You should also factor in the availability of professional stagers if needed. This can take a few weeks.

Time taken: 2-3 days

Having a property valuation is important when selling a home. It will help you to determine how much your house is worth and the value it can be sold on the property market. It ensures the property is being marketed at a fair price.

A property valuation will need to be carried out by a professional surveyor. It will typically cost around £452* based on the UK average house price of £292,000. The valuation survey will only take around 10-20 minutes to complete. The surveyor will then need to create a report based on these results which will take up to 3 days to complete.

If you need a valuation report to find out your home’s value, simply fill out our online form. We will connect with up to 6 trusted and verified property valuation surveyors in your local area, helping you to save money on the costs.

Time taken: A few weeks

While it’s not always useful to carry out large renovation work before selling a house, smaller repairs are important. They help to improve the property’s overall appearance. This will make the property more attractive to potential buyers when placed on the market.

The time taken to complete these repairs will vary significantly depending on what repairs need to be carried out. It could take a few hours or several weeks.

Time taken: A few days

You will need to hire an estate agent to help you with placing your home on the market. An estate agent will handle the admin, including listing and advertising the property and arranging viewings.

It doesn’t take long to find an estate agent. A few days should be enough time to carry out research and find the best estate agent to sell your property. You will want to check their fees and accreditations before making a final decision.

The average estate agent fee for selling a house is £5,840 based on the UK average house price of £292,000.

Read more on: Questions to Ask Estate Agents when Selling

Time taken: A few days

The time it takes to market the house will vary depending on the estate agent you choose. On average, it should only take a few days for the estate agent to carry out the admin tasks such as taking photos and placing the house on the market.

Time taken: 1-3 days

The house-selling process really begins with accepting an offer on a house. While it takes around 1-3 days for a seller to accept an offer, the average time for a house to be on the market before it’s sold is 125 days.

Read more on: How Long Does it Take to Sell a House Once Offer Accepted

Time taken: A few days

Once you have accepted an offer on your home it’s important to hire a conveyancing solicitor to help you with the house selling process. While you can do this yourself, it’s not recommended due to the legal steps and paperwork involved.

Hiring a solicitor should only take a few days based on their availability. It’s important to research the best solicitor for you before making your final decision. Reading reviews, checking accreditations, and asking about costs are essential. You can also use comparison sites to compare and contrast quotes.

Time taken: 2-6 weeks

Conveyancing searches are an essential part of the house-selling process. This includes local authority searches. While it’s the responsibility of the buyer’s solicitor to carry out these searches, the time they take to be completed will affect the house sale.

Read more on: How Long Do Conveyancing Searches Take?

Time Taken: 3-7 working days

A survey will take between 2-8 hours to complete depending on the type of survey being carried out. The surveyor will then take up to 7 days to write up their report and send it to the buyer. The cost of a house survey is £488 on average.

When a person buys a house, it’s recommended that a survey is carried out on the property. This helps to ensure that the home is in good structural condition. It helps the buyer to have a better understanding of the property’s condition and whether they want to buy it. If the buyer is happy with the survey results, they can then place a formal offer.

In Scotland, the surveying process varies from the rest of the UK, and legally the seller must have a Home Report carried out on the property. This report will cost around £585-£820.

Time taken: 8-12 weeks

Drafting the contract is a document created by the solicitor of the seller before the exchange of contracts. It details the information about the sale and the title deeds. This contract needs to be agreed by both the buyer and seller before completion.

While the contract can be drafted quickly, it can take 12 weeks or more from the drafting of the contract to the exchange of contracts. This is because changes may need to be made to the draft before it’s accepted as the final document.

Time Taken: A few hours

The exchange of contracts is an essential part of selling a house. Both the seller and the buyer must agree with the terms set out in the contract and sign their contract before it is exchanged.

The contract details everything about the sale including an agreed completion date. As this is a quick process and all the checks have already been made, this shouldn’t take long to complete.

Read more on: How Long Between Exchange and Completion

Time Taken: A few hours

After the contracts have been signed and exchanged, a day is chosen to transfer the deeds of the property to the new owner. This occurs after completion day but is decided before this.

Time taken: A few hours

Funds for the home, including your deposit and conveyancing fees will need to be sent on your completion day. Without the funds, completion cannot happen. This is typically done using a CHAPS system and will only take a few hours to complete.

Time Taken: 1 day

Completion day is the final step in the selling a house process and is when legally the sale of the house is complete. As the house is not part of a chain, delays on completion day are less likely. This is because the buyer or the seller isn’t relying on other people in the property chain to complete and pick up the keys to their home. This will typically happen within a few hours.

Time Taken: Around 8 weeks

After the completion day, the deeds and title documents will need to be changed and sent to the Land Registry. This is to confirm that the ownership of the property is being passed on to the buyer. This is a fairly straightforward process, but it may take longer depending on the government guidance on waiting times.

When it comes to no-chain sales, there is more flexibility in the process. As there are no other linked house purchases, you and the buyer can negotiate times that best suit you both. For example, you have more control over the exchange of contracts and your completion day.

You’re only relying on two parties to come to an agreement rather than a chain of people. This significantly cuts down the time it will take for the sale to complete. It allows your solicitor to work quickly to complete the conveyancing process. They aren't waiting or relying on other buyers and sellers.

Mortgage lenders may also approve mortgages quicker with no chain properties. If you are selling your property to cash buyers as they won’t need a mortgage you will have a faster sale.

Some property chains can have 10 or more people involved. It only takes one of these people to pull out of their purchase or sale for the chain to completely break down. This severely impacts everyone involved as it means the whole of the chain can collapse.

Around a third (35%) of all property purchases will fall through according to Quick Move Now. This is a significant number. When you consider how many people can be involved in a property chain, it’s clear to see why selling a house with no chain is more favourable. While a buyer can still pull out of a chain-free house sale, this is less likely.

There is less chance for there to be delays in selling your home if the sale is a simple one. Conveyancers can work quickly and efficiently to ensure the sale is completed promptly.

You don’t have to wait for multiple transactions to finish. In addition to this, if the buyer needs a mortgage, you are only waiting for one mortgage approval.

A home in a property chain can take 6 months or more. As you aren’t purchasing another property, you won’t have to wait to sell the house, it can be sold as soon as you and the buyer are ready. This can be completed in 4 weeks.

As a seller, negotiations over property prices are less common with no chain properties. This is because there isn’t a rush to sell the home if you’re not looking to buy another property.

This means you can accept the best offer, and don’t necessarily have to settle for a sale that is under your asking price. Buyers are less likely to request a change in the agreed sale price as there are no external factors relating to other properties.