Buying a house from the bank - Questions

[MichelleSinead]

Looking for some advice if anyone has any experience with buying a house from a bank.

Ex (still living with my hence my interest) had an offer accepted on a house on the 7th of November and paid the deposit that day.
He had his banks surveyor out the following week and all was fine, bank released letter to his solicitor that mortgage was ready to be drawn down.
Ex showed he has the down payment ready to go.

There has been no movement on it since, I know the Christmas break would delay things anyway but his solicitor have only had one letter from the banks solicitor to say they haven't received the files from the bank, that was approx 3 weeks ago, Ex called the banks solicitor this morning (should his own solicitor not be doing this?) and asked for an update, they said they do not have the file from the bank yet, they requested it weeks ago but haven't had it yet, he asked when he can expect a closing date and they said they cannot advise that until they have the file from the bank.

Is this normal? Does it drag on this long? At the start he was told it would take 4-6 weeks because bank sales are always quicker which I was hesitant to believe anyway but allowed him to stay living in my house so he could save money on renting. But now it is really dragging on and it doesn't seem like it's any closer to closing. My mam said this morning that it could still take 6 weeks when they do get the files as his solicitor has to do her own searches etc.

Does anyone have any knowledge on this? I bought my house from my sister and it was very straight forward so I've no experience myself.

 

[Housefund123]

We went sale agreed on a bank sale in late August 2016 and didn't get the keys until late June 2017. We knew going in it would be longer than normal as anything I had read said bank sales normally take longer than "regular" sales. We had everything ready to go and theres was no hold up on our end.

We almost lost the house at the last minute as the bank just refused to sign one peice of paper, we had to get everything in place and reapply for our mortgage again as our original offer was running out of time. It was an extremely stressful month before we finally got over the line.

Saying that though, our house was a great bargain and we would have struggled to afford the type of house in normal circumstances. But it did cause stress and tears....
Best of luck with the situation.

 

[MichelleSinead]

Thanks @Housefund123 definitely not what I was hoping to hear and sorry it took so long for you. This is a good price for the house though not much less than anything else in the estate, approx 5K in the difference it's just these houses do not come up often in the area so he really wants to stick with it.
Guess it's time to start talking about him renting a room somewhere else.

Thanks again for reply.

 

[Mapara]

Yes very similar to Housefund,,family member went sale agreed on sept 3rd 2016 and deal only closed in last week of March 2017 had been told it would be slower than normal.