A British buyer has asked a fictional conveyancing firm whether its estimated completion time allows for the possibility that the property could physically arrive before the solicitor replies.
The question followed reports of a Japanese castle being moved by hand. The buyer noted that an entire historic structure had progressed across the ground while his purchase remained somewhere between an automated acknowledgement and a request to resend the acknowledgement.
His solicitor explained that moving a building was relatively straightforward because everybody involved knew which direction to pull. A residential transaction requires several professionals to establish whose turn it is to say they are waiting for somebody else.
The estate agent has described the delay as encouraging. Searches are progressing, the chain is stable and the seller has only threatened to withdraw twice this week.
A suggestion that volunteers could pull the transaction forward with ropes was rejected on the grounds that nobody could confirm where the transaction currently was.
The buyer's mortgage offer expires on Friday. He has been assured this deadline is being treated with the utmost seriousness by an out-of-office message returning on Monday.
The castle, meanwhile, has reached its destination. A British surveyor would still like to know whether anybody obtained the appropriate consent before it became near something else.
