Mortgage and timing: how long it actually takes
The pace of a purchase is not set by the buyer: it is set by the bank's underwriting. Knowing the order things happen in heads off almost every surprise.
Approval before the offer, not after
This is the first advice we give and the least often taken. Before house-hunting it is worth going to the bank for an assessment of your borrowing capacity: how much they would lend, on what terms, at what monthly payment. Half an hour, and it changes the whole search.
Somebody arriving with their position already underwritten makes a credible offer, and where several buyers are interested credibility counts as much as the figure. Arriving without risks the opposite: offer accepted, deposit paid, and then an underwriting that says no.
What the bank checks besides you
Income and credit history are half the underwriting. The other half is the property: the bank sends a valuer and checks its position — ownership, charges, whether the floor plan matches the property as it stands. An uncorrected cadastral discrepancy is the commonest reason a loan stalls days before completion.
In this province there is one check more than elsewhere: the mortgage has to be entered in the land register, and the bank wants a clean registry position. One more reason to have the extract in hand before the offer rather than mid-underwriting.
The mortgage condition, properly written
If you are buying with a mortgage, the offer has to be conditional on it. But “subject to obtaining a mortgage” is too vague a formula to protect you: it needs the minimum amount you require, the deadline by which the bank must answer, and what happens to the deposit if the answer is no.
Written that way the clause is a net. Written halfway, it is an argument — and the argument arrives at the worst possible moment, when the seller has already turned other offers down and you have already paid. This is the point worth having the notary read before you sign, not after.
The timeline, in order
First the offer and its acceptance; then the preliminary contract, which sets the deadlines; in parallel the mortgage underwriting, with the valuation of the property; then the deed before the notary, where the mortgage is signed and the balance paid; finally registration, which makes you the owner.
Each step takes as long as third parties need — the bank, the valuer, the registry office — which is why we do not promise a number of weeks: it would be an invented number. What can be done is to remove the causes of delay that are ours to remove, and they are almost all documentary.
In short
- Get assessed by the bank before house-hunting
- Ask for the land register extract before the offer
- Check that the floor plan matches the property
- Word the mortgage condition with an amount and a deadline
- Agree in writing what happens to the deposit if the loan fails
- Allow for the bank's valuation in the timeline
- Remember that registration still follows the deed
The questions we are asked most
The bank said yes verbally: is that enough?
No, and the difference is not a formality. A verbal indication comes before the real underwriting, which includes the valuation and the check on the property's position — precisely the stages where a loan can stop. Until written approval, the condition in your offer remains your only protection.
Do I choose the bank, or does the agency?
You do, always. An agency can point you to lenders whose timings it knows, and that is real help, but the choice and the comparison of terms are yours. Getting two or three quotes and comparing the APR, not just the headline rate, is half an hour that can be worth several thousand euro.
Can the mortgage cover the taxes and the notary too?
It depends on the lender and on the ratio between the amount requested and the valuation: some banks finance a share of the incidental costs, others do not. Ask at the initial assessment stage, because it shifts considerably how much cash you need on completion day.
Official sources
Note
This guide is general information written by an estate agency. It does not replace advice from a notary, an accountant or the surveyor handling the property. The rules cited are those in force at the date of publication.
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