Fun? Fun?!! What an optimist I was.
That was 5 months of awful. Lies, incompetence, delays and throw in some more lies and incompetence for good measure. Contracts exchanged and SHOULD BE moving next week.
Need to order some garden furniture so I can sit in the garden with a cider and relax. Ahhhhhhh
Don’t jinx yourself again 
Plenty can still go wrong 
Edited 
You know it’ll rain for the rest of the year now
I have started this process, offered 20K over asking for a place - it went for over 25 above asking.
Just insane round here but in no rush, what is annoying is I refuse to get a flat and pay the ridiculous service charges and ground rent otherwise I would be in somewhere tomorrow.
The search continues.
Sounds like that asking price was an absolute bargain, but then you’ll never likely know what the survey throws up. Good luck with the search.
This has always baffled me about the English system. Up here (Scotland) the seller has to have a survey undertaken prior to marketing the property, meaning all buyers have an understanding of the value and any issues they might be buying into. We’ve just sold our flat, well, in the process of selling (offer accepted) and we accepted 15% above the home report value, which was waaaaay more than we expected. Market really is ridiculous here. Thankfully we’re not buying right away, hoping the market calms down and we can find something that we can afford 
This was proposed here in England and Wales too, but the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors, sensing a collapse in their “press print” business model (where a local surveyor could potentially be engaged to survey – and charge for – the same property multiple times for the same sale) lobbied the government and plans were dropped.
Or, as my learned friend succinctly sums it up above: Money.
Cause buying a property isn’t expensive enough already (or selling for that matter).
Ugh.
How long have you been looking?
I found the searching quite easy. On rightmove you can draw a radius on a map, tick in all your requirements and it will email you each day with a list that you can skim through.
Message a few local estate agents and they’ll do all the work for you as well
Payment made and drained my account 
I know people have had success doing it with Monzo, but for me the main bonus of doing it with Lloyds was that I handed over the letter from the solicitors and the lady typed in the numbers so I didn’t have to worry I’d send all our money to someone else
(With confirmation of payee I suppose this is less of a worry)
Did mine by card payment, so didn’t have to go through any raising limits etc etc. Also meant I could just send it over in batches as and when way in advance. Less stress and hassle at least
What a day! We’re in 
When I bought my first house I remember receiving a hamper from Halifax who I had my mortgage with.
It had a bottle of wine, crisps, chocolate, coffee all the way down to mini tool kit, picture hooks and all sorts of other really useful stuff. Someone took a lot of time and effort to provide every little thing you could possibly need or want when you move into a new property - it blew me away.
The alcohol was very much needed after the move, then all the other bits were used over the coming weeks while sorting out all the boxes.
I got a key 
Neither did I. I got a front door key. Literally.
But that was back in the late 80’s when I bought my first house.
Since then, I’ve bought… 4 UK houses and… rented 3 New York apartments & 1 Manchester apartment. No alcohol or gifts given by sellers/landlords. Unacceptably shocking behavior.
I had a welcome box from Nationwide, not as comprehensive as Ordogs but still had a handy few bits in it.
Congratulations!!
I was about to moan about Halifax not sending me anything, but then I remembered they sent me £250 cashback for buying a ‘green’ home, so I can’t complain really.
Well it’s finally happening - leaving Norwich next week after 20 years for Bradford. Life’s next great adventure. 
Ps I offered the asking price 22nd December after one viewing on the 21st so yes, it has taken a long time!