To be a first time buyer and shitting myself already... what does this mean?!

[WillIEverGetThere]

Had an offer accepted and MB is appointing his recommended Solicitor. I'm meeting him to go through paperwork on Friday. The people who lived in the house I'm buying have part exchanged it with a new build so house is technically now in the hands of the building company (so I got it pretty cheap).

I've now had a memo from the estate agents saying their conditions are "35 day exchange deadline and May 2019 completion date to be confirmed".

What does this mean?! Will I lose my deposit if it's not all wrapped up in 35 days, which I very much doubt it will be as these things take time? I'm just living with a mate at the minute so I'm not bothered about moving in until May...

Please help thanks. Have a feeling this is going to be very stressful x

"35 day exchange" refers to exchange of contracts. It means that you will need your mortgage agreed , any survey and all the legals done, plus hand over your deposit, in 35 days time.

Once the contracts are exchanged, you are legally committed to buy and the vendor is legally committed to sell to you. 35 days should be doable, but you might want to discuss this with the solicitor on Friday.

The completion date is the date you become the owner, the mortgage money is released and the vendor has to move out. By the time you exchange contracts, you will know what that date will be (completion date generally goes in the contracts).

You need to get your solicitor to negotiate the exchange and completion dates. That’s what you pay them for.
The Vendor, building company, will want a quick exchange to keep their cash flow moving.
Very important, don’t agree anything without going through your solicitor.

If you buy the house late there may be a fine, so you need to find out if there is and how much. If you need to get everything done in 35 days, you need to get everything in order eg solicitor fees, mortgage, house and contents insurance, survey, mail redirection, moving van, other unexpected fees, transfer of utilities into your name, council tax etc

But what if the Solicitor agrees to the 35 day thing and something gets delayed and the deadline gets missed? It's taken me years to save my deposit 😢 only been one day since my offer was accepted and I'm stressed already

You don’t pay your deposit until you exchange. And all you need to do before exchange is instruct your solicitor, most of the things on Someday’s list are done between exchange and completion. Don’t worry, you’re paying your solicitor to keep you safe.

New build companys always do this - i think it is negotiable though. Its their way of getting the sale/purchase through asap. You probably will be able to do it in this time but check with your solicitor. I think you will find they can be flexible with the dates as they won't want to lose the sale in the end.

You don't pay the deposit until you exchange contracts so the only money you would lose prior to that would be for survey and solicitors.
You need mortgage offer asap so you can arrange survey. (We were with Nat west and they arranged the survey themselves and cost was added to mortgage)

Assuming they have somewhere to move to and you are not in a chain you have time so stop worrying. As long as you have decent solicitors to do all searches and keep chasing you should be fine, depending on survey results/valuation.

You won’t loose your deposit before you’ve exchanged (as long you don’t sign anything crazy agreeing to it). The worst that will happen is they can threaten to remarket the house, but it’s quite unlikely they’ll pull out as ten they’d be back to square one and it would take even longer to get a new buyer.

You really need to speak to your solicitor and have them explain everything.

You wont lose your deposit. Solicitors are very good at pushing these ones through. You need to make sure you do everything you can. Return things asap etc.

And to be fair if there is a small legitimate delay, that's usually ok

I bought and exchanged in 30 days (new build in the chain) and exchanged a week later

Insurance should be in place by exchange.
Mail redirection takes a few minutes online and can be done in advance but not until contracts are exchanged.
The rest you can do when you are in.

No deposit exchanges hands until you exchange, please rest easy. Do get your mortgage sorted pronto though, they will wait for you as long as you don't drag your feet. Typically it's 3 months min in the U.K. btw. My lender calls you back to arrange the mortgage within 2-3 days of you contacting them

Thanks everyone. My IBS has gone through the roof 🙈 I never thought I'd be buying a house

Also I don't intend to actually meet the Solicitor (based miles away) as my mortgage broker said he will "carry me" once I've found a house until I collect the keys... I've had him recommended to me by several friends so I am confident he's capable etc

Also the 35 days won't be enforced if you miss the deadline slightly, its more to motivate all parties to move quickly so don't worry if it goes to like 42 days!

I’ve been FTB and it is stressful (and I have a legal background). There are a number of websites that can take you through the process, but actually it is part of the reason you pay a solicitor is to explain the process. The process is the same I’m England and Wales but different in Scotland so make sure you are looking at things for the correct country. I don’t know about Northern Ireland, but there is info on government website

www.nidirect.gov.uk/articles/buying-a-home-step-by-step-guide

www.mygov.scot/buying-a-home/

The gov.uk one England and Wales isn’t very good buy there are lots

www.which.co.uk/money/mortgages-and-property/first-time-buyers/buying-a-home/how-to-buy-a-house-alm0r9l4yf5x#headline_9

You can do all the legaks over the phone. Completion by the end of may is totally possible. Completion at the beginning of may might be right but is doable.
You won’t lose the deposit until you’ve exchanged. Speak to your broker/solicitor who should guide you through it.
Congratulations. You’re buying a house

Thank you xx