But haven't you noticed that applies to just about everything in Scandinavia, they don't have the 'nanny state' intervening to try and protect all the muppets and their legal system means they just take as long as it takes.

I have a theory that conveyancing solicitors in England deliberately take longer than necessary, then when you complain about the fees they can say "Yes, but we've been working on this for 3 months"

See my post above.

Yes, I'd go along with that, I've always thought they drag their heels to warrant their huge fees. Apparently, the need for all this new certification which we never needed before (well, not half as much of it) is because of a certain case (which I've forgotten now), whereby a solicitor was sued for £40K because he/she didn't get the certification for something, so now it's top priority for them. It's a very well known case, and if you mention it to any solicitor they will know about it - apparently! I was busy Googling when I was having difficulty with all the reems of paperwork to fill in for our sale, all 24 pages of boxes to be ticked!!!

The trouble with buyers now is, although there's not a lot to choose FROM on the market, if they see a similar house to yours, which hasn't had major works, or works which could be a "worry" then they either opt for the alternative, or just walk away, until another one comes up. Price doesn't really matter, in fact, even if we had reduced ours by another £20K the agents said it would have made no difference whatsoever so we stuck to our guns with the price. They just want what they want, they want it perfect, and they don't want anything that could end up a nightmare if it wasn't done properly, or maybe they talk to a builder mention what's been done and he's says to them "leave it alone" or "don't bother". Such a shame, but the housing market is far from bouyant atm and never will be again, not in my lifetime anyway.

Good luck Jules don't get despondent, everybody who viewed our house, had their own house on the market for almost a year too, some even longer!!!

It's getting ridiculous, so now a seller fills in loads of forms and ticks all the boxes and the solicitors can say "Nothing to do with me they ticked all the boxes and signed all the forms" sounds like protecting their backsides

Can I sue my solicitor because the house we bought in 1987 had some nice wall light fittings in the lounge and dining room when we viewed it but on the day we moved in there was just a dangly bit of wire hanging down

I've bought and sold on many houses in the UK - most of them in the lower affordable end of the market for where they were. Location is everything of course. I have to say that if your price is right your house will sell. I've never had any problems selling any of mine at realistic prices (had to be realistic because I was usually on a deadline to get into the next one).

The only thing I'd say about yours is that it is very small - if the floor area you put is correct, well my one bed apartment is bigger than that.

As an indicator of how the market is going - I sold my house in Devon 6+ yrs ago to a lady who has just managed to sell it on herself and she has sold it for 24K less than she bought it from me for. And they beat a path to my door to buy it at my price. I've always gone multi agency if not doing a private sale and always sold almost before the board went up outside. Sometimes it's worth dropping your price if it is going to save you money postponing your move. Another thing in my favour was that for the last few houses I was a cash buyer and you can always bargain a good price if you are a cash buyer with no chain involved.

One thing I'd ask you to bear in mind if looking at houses you can buy abroad for less than you paid in the UK is the possibility that you just might want to come back one day. If you don't have the extra in reserve to enable you to do that (having sold a house in the lower price bracket) you can find it impossible to be able to get back into the housing market.

Hmm very true.
We are not in a chain, and my future father in law ( ) has said we will give a refund if the agents can find us a cash buyer. The house isn't big, which is true. I think the things that are to our advantage is the spacious south facing garden area, pretty new kitchen and bathroom etc.
Doubt anyone with a kid would fit in this house, but it's an alright size for a couple or a single person.

Our plan is to use the money and put down all of it for a house in Norway. The area we want to live in is luckily for us, on the outside of the city and the prices are lower. If we find a house and everything goes to plan we will have a mortgage smaller than most people, a lot smaller. It's a very good opportunity for us!
Houses in Norway can be very pricey, thankfully we don't want to live anywhere where we will be bank slaves for the rest of our lives.

We don't have to move NOW - but we really, really want to. Money wise it makes no difference if we stay here one extra month or six extra months.
Patience, patience!

It's hard when you've set your heart on moving, but in the grand scheme of things one extra month, or even six, will be nothing. Just sit back and try to visualise whre you will be in five or ten years from now and you are looking back to today, you'll wonder why you even worried about an extra month or two as the Victorians used to say 'Patience is a virtue'

Wise words Losos. I had to defer my plan to move to Cyprus when my daughter decided to take a year out before Uni. She also wanted to work for 6 months first to save some money - then she stretched her 'year' out into 2yrs out!

Turned out well for me - the Cyprus housing market started going into a downward spiral during that time. I also had the extra time to come over more and do more research. Resulting in my NOT buying but taking a 1yr lease on a cheap apartment so I could look once living here (a very good idea - you can't really decide based on holidays or quick visits).

This ended up with me deciding not to buy at all in the end. I still rent now and always will do. In fact the advice given to anyone coming out here is usually 'rent before you buy' you might find you continue to rent.

But renting here is much cheaper than buying for those who require a mortgage (I didn't require one). Unlike the UK and some other countries where rents are sky high.

I've now worked out that even if someone GAVE ME a property for about 40K it is still cheaper for me to continue to rent for what is left of my lifetime! I was offered the flat I live in now for 50K a couple of years ago - I turned it down.

Renting I can choose between town and countryside, beach or mountains, if neighbours drive me nuts I can move and all that.

You don't get a 'feel' for a place until you live there.

Very true Losos. We've got sooo many years ahead of us. A few months shouldn't matter that much!

Maybe it was fate Tangutica! (..I don't believe in fate really, but maybe, just maybe, sometimes things happen for a reason!).
Sounds like you have found the ultimate solution though!

I thought rental prices would be lower than what they are in the UK. It feels crazy that they are almost as much as the Norwegian ones, when most average jobs pay so much less It makes living hard for so many people and excludes them from ever being able to save up for their own place when everything goes to rent and bills.

And you can sell and buy a house in the UK in a matter of weeks, not months, if you use a tried and trusted solicitor and keep kicking the EAs up the bum but mostly if you insist on cash or first time buyer no chain for your own and make it clear you want a seller who is not dependent on a chain too - preferably a deceased estate or someone who isn't going to buy another house. It can be done and I've done it three times in succession.