Mortgage company have asked….

for a damp and timber survey to be completed?

This was after todays valuation, and yesterday we had the house buying survey completed but as yet no report has come our way, been told we will get this in the next couple of days.

This is normal, its £40 so no problem getting it done hopefully this will be completed tomorrow.

After this depending on if all is ok, whats the timescale from this to actually getting the keys? Would be great to move in before easter but guessing that might not be achievable?

Completion date – when you get the keys – is typically one month from exchange of contracts, but if both seller and buyer are agreed, this can be shortened to whatever suits both parties.
When I bought my first house, first time buyer and no upward chain, exchanged and completed on the same day. Boy was that a mistake!

We had a damp and timber survey because we were asked to, but it was a waste of time because they only look at what they can see without moving anything. So we got comments like “well we didn’t see any evidence of woodworm but that doesn’t mean there isn’t any in the places we didn’t look at.
Then we got a massive quote and a hard sell from the same company to do a something or other to the walls, that was inappropriate on an 1840s -built stone house.

I exchanged and moved the same day too. It was mental! Normally I wouldn’t have, but time was of the essence!

Mortgage companies can be a bit funny with damp. Our cottage was (and still is) pretty damp – par for the course when the house has no foundations, is built in an area with a high water table and the DPC is pretty basic. The survey we commissioned highlighted one damp wall as it was clearly visible – the mortgage company were still happy to lend us £240k-ish minus the £300 a repair would cost.