exchange and completion

[mummynumnum]

Buying/selling property and solicitors not communicating esp well. Person who is buying ours said we are exchanging on Fri. We will be talking to our solicitor first thing tomorrow as not been told, but just wanted to clarify when you exchange-do you pay deposit and when do you pay the estate agents and the solcitors-on completion or on exchange.

Any advice from people in the know would be gratefully received/

you pay deposit on exchange i am almost sure. You pay your estate agents and solicitors on completion. You will get a completion statement setting out what they have received and what they have paid out and then any balance due to you/from you together with a their bill (which is included in your completion statement). i think the solicitors will pay the estate agents as well.

So clearly explained-thankyou.

Agree - well stated. Do check your solicitors completion statement as IME they often include errors.

Financial ones-typical?

Ime, you tend to pay estate agents on exchange (from the 10% deposit your buyer pays you) and solicitors on completion (along with stamp duty, land registry fees etc). If your solicitor hasn't told you that you are exchanging tomorrow, you probably aren't. There always seem to be a lot of false starts before you get there - good luck.

deposit on exchange, estate agents on completion, solicitors, depends on your agreement, but I have never paid up front, ie only ever on completion.

V confused now. Exchangin tomorrow, but said dont need money-will get bill etc on completion. Said there is money coming up through chain. But I know there is not enough to cover deposit and we have to add extra-will it be a prob? surely solicitors know there is a shortfall. just wondering why nobody is asking us for the money.

perhaps your sellers have agreed to accept reduced deposit
perhaps your solicitors have not done the work and have not noticed the shortfall
perhaps

did you agree a 5% or 10% dep? used to be 10% always but when i was conveyancing (yuck yuck yuck) the deposits were more often than not 5%.

Are you sure you are actually exchanging tomorrow and not just signing contracts in preparation for exchange? (Sorry if that sounds patronising but I know quite a few people who thought once they had signed, they had exchanged and it's not that straightforward.) If you are exchanging, sometimes mortgages include the shortfall between the deposit you receive and the one that you will pay so the extra money could be coming from there.

what northernlurker on the duplicate thread said is right: sometimes in a chain the first purchaser's deposit just goes up the chain rather than a series of deposits being sent along. I'd forgotten about that.

and what lalalonglegs said is true - very often people get a bit confused with the terminology. your solicitor should phone you tomorrow in any event to confirm that you still want to proceed with exchange if it is taking place tomorrow.

I am bewildered and finding it hard to convey to husband that I think they will ask us to magic this deposit tomorrow up tomorrow when they see the shortfall. We have the money but in various places at the mo!!!

Solicitor said that exchanging papers tomorrow so not sure if that a formal exchange or not/

Dont know whether I am just panicking. DH prob thinks I should just do the talking to the solicitors!

I think what happens is the deposit from the bottom of the chain goes up through it. This will be less than the 10% for your exchange, but the difference is paid at completion. If you fail to complete then you would owe the difference, as you have contracted to pay that amount.

That would make alot of sense to me Cosette, and would explain the we dont need anything from you, but are sending you a bill with everything on. Will look fwd to receiving that bill-not!

Increasingly there is a tendency to exchange and complete on the same day. I find that annoying - you don't want to book removal vans until you know you've exchanged. So the other people could be signing the contract but you may not be formally exchanging.

If extra money is likely to be needed and your solicitor isn't already holding it then they aren't terribly competent!

Money will be due between exchange and completion. Did not exchange today. Some personal covenant on the property and cant clarify what it is and seller tricky to find????? Solicitors trying to chase ready for Monday. grrr!

Dh co also said has to have day unpaid off to move as no holiday left!