How long is the norm between exchange and completion

[FedupofTurkey]

Our sellers have delayed our date, is it possible to say we will delay but we still want exchange

One more thing. Estate agents are desperate to stop the chain falling apart so make sure you communicate with your seller's agent and make sure they know the chain will fail if the seller doesn't get their act together.

Agents do everything they can to stop chains falling apart but will not lift a finger to speed up a reluctant seller unless you put the pressure on.

I sold my house last year and had a 6 day gap between exchange and completion. We'd already moved out and it was empty but the 6 days were for the buyers to arrange their removals and for a few bits of paperwork to be done. My solicitor put an extra £100 on our bill at the last minute, saying that having less than 2 weeks between exchange and completion meant he had to put someone on our case to deal with it all speedily. I just wanted it sold asap.

But with our previous house, the buyers agreed to wait from the summer til the end of the year for us to try to find a house to buy, so we exchanged contracts at some time around July and sold in December. The agreement was that if we didn't find a house in time, we'd move out and rent, which is what we eventually did.