Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Protection built in.

Meet the Other Phone.
Protection built in.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Money to vender sent before exchange and completion

10 replies

Hence · 23/02/2023 07:01

I am buying a plot of land. It is a cash purchase and no chain. Yesterday we were meant to exchange and complete but something went wrong at the vendor's end and they couldn't exchange or complete. Fair enough these things happen. But all the funds have already been sent to their solicitors already even though we are not sure when exchange or complete will happen.

AIBU to think it is odd to send all the funds before exchange? My solicitor is saying to just leave the funds with vendor's solicitor now until we are ready to proceed and it is normal to send the funds before exchange when you are exchange and completing at the same time. If I want the funds back I will have to pay all the CHAPS fees to get it back and then send it all again when the vendors are ready again. Just feels odd to have sent the funds but neither party are actually legally committed to the sale yet as exchange hasn't happened.

My solicitor has been a bit shit until now (rubbish communication and trying to bill me for services I have not used which took the senior partner getting involved to rectify) so I don't actually trust them now, but maybe this is just the way it works when you exchange and complete on the same day?

OP posts:
watchfulwishes · 23/02/2023 07:04

I would say that is unusual, but you are not at risk as the solicitor would have to reimburse if the funds were sent incorrectly. You have done nothing wrong, your solicitor is handling this.

Is there a more senior solicitor at the practice you can ask to check all is ok - that's what I'd do I think.

ASimpleLobsterHat · 23/02/2023 07:12

Solicitor here; that's not unusual at all and entirely standard practice. You have to send the monies in advance as you can't exchange without the vendor's solicitor holding the deposit and can't complete without them holding the balance. Your solicitor should have sent the funds to be held to his/her order, which means that the vendor's solicitor cannot do anything with the funds and must return them to your solicitor if asked. If exchange and completion is going to happen soon then it makes sense for the vendor's solicitor to carry on holding the funds.

Original poster
Hence · 23/02/2023 07:15

The vendor is a lovely person and they actually contacted us before our solicitors did to break the news and apologise about the delay, so I am sure it will all work out and they won't just pull out at the last moment. I am just quite distrusting of my solicitor now and I think I am just bundling this new issue with all the others I have experienced with them and getting more annoyed than is necessary. Not being a legal expert I just presumed exchange would happen before all the funds were sent over.

OP posts:
Original poster
Hence · 23/02/2023 07:15

Thanks @ASimpleLobsterHat that is good to know.

OP posts:
Original poster
Hence · 23/02/2023 07:19

The only reason we are exchanging and completing on the same day is that our solicitors dropped the ball with it all and went radio silence for 2 weeks and by the time they started responding on Monday evening it was the only way to arrange things to complete on the agreed date. I have never done both on the same day before so a new experience for me and clearly I didn't understand the process.

OP posts:
NameChangeFor2023 · 23/02/2023 07:19

Just curious, if this was a mortgage and OP is then playing interest per day without having exchanged etc. then is this fair?

Sorry to jump on, it's just what would annoy me in this situation.

Chickenly · 23/02/2023 07:21

Very normal. They weren’t sent to the vendor, they were sent to the vendor’s solicitors.

Chickenly · 23/02/2023 07:21

NameChangeFor2023 · 23/02/2023 07:19

Just curious, if this was a mortgage and OP is then playing interest per day without having exchanged etc. then is this fair?

Sorry to jump on, it's just what would annoy me in this situation.

That’s not how it works, she wouldn’t be paying interest at this point if it were on a mortgage.

FeinCuroxiVooz · 23/02/2023 07:30

sounds fine to me so long as the solicitors acting for the vendor do their job right. they are supposed to have possession of the funds before they advise their client that it's safe to sign the documentation. the vendor doesn't have the money and if the sale falls through then the money will come back to you. are you sure there would be CHAPS fees if that happens? these fees are due when you send the money as you are paying for instant transfer of cleared funds rather than accepting the normal lag in the banking system, but surely if the money is going to come back to you then you can just have a normal (and usually free) BACS transfer rather than CHAPS?

Original poster
Hence · 23/02/2023 07:39

My solicitor said it would cost £37.50 for a chaps back and then another £37.50 to send it back again when we were ready to proceed again.

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page