How much time is REALLY needed between exchange and completion?

[Mammy2Be]

Just that really. Thought we were all set to complete on a sale and a purchase on the 12th but as no contracts have been exchanged yet I'm told this is now not possible as the mortgage companies need 5 working days after exchange to release funds. However EA dealing with our sale has said she's seen it happen in 48 hrs. They LIKE to have 5 days but can do it quicker. I'm sure I've heard of people exchanging and completing on the same day. How does that work?
We're in a very complicated chain which has been extremely stressful and a very drawn out process and I'm at my wits end with it to be honest :(

I would have thought it would be possible if all the solicitors got their arses in gear.
We exchanged and completed on the same day for our last move, but Didn't know if everything had gone though until we had the keys in our hands and this was after the lorry was packed! So it ou des like you old do without that stress as well.
I would talk to your solicitor and anyone else you can get hold of.
Good luck!

I've exchanged and completed on the same day, but I've also had a lender that insisted on two weeks between the two. It's not a solicitor thing, it's a lender thing. It's worth contacting them and asking if they'll be flexible.

We exchanged 4pm on a Friday, completed 9am Saturday morning. That was after a massive hold-up by the trustees of the house we bought, so all the paperwork was likely in hand.

It really depends on the mortgage lenders and the buyers' attitude to risk. So if the lender insists on 5 days, the buyer can request draw down even though they haven't exchanged. All that happens if you don't exchange is that you pay interest o n the mortgage from the date of draw down and there will be a fee for returning the money if you don't actually complete. All! this can be quite an expensive gamble. Some mortgage lenders seem completely unable to send the money on short notice which I have never really understood.

I would not recommend a simultaneous exchange and completion unless you have no related sale. As turnip said, it is really stressful to sort out the removal men and pack up, not knowing whether you will unpack in the new house or in the old house at the end of the day - and that is often determined by how quickly the solicitors' banks are able to send funds through the system and whether lawyers are actually available to take calls. They tend to have more than one client.

We did 14 days between exchange and completion once and that was too short for me, not knowing where I would be living. This made it really tricky to plan my life, and the removal companies wanted a deposit.

I am a solicitor. Perhaps unsurprisingly I think there's a bit more to it than solicitors "getting their arse into gear". Hopefully this post shows you what else is required and why your solicitors might not recommend such a short period to completion in a long chain.

It would be so stressful to exchange and complete on the same day. You never know if you are definitely going to exchange until it happens. We were due to exchange last Tuesday until a little hiccup was discovered and we ended up exchanging Wednesday afternoon. Not sure that works if you are in a chain and other people are booking removal vans.

We had a tiny chain. The house we bought was unoccupied, sold by the late owner's daughter, and our buyers were renting. We hired a self-drive van and our buyers had a transit van.
It was a bit of a surprise when we arrived to find the house still furnished as the house clearance people didn't show up, so we had a house full of two households' stuff for a while, but it all worked out in the end.

We had just 6 days between exchange and completion when we sold our house last year. Our buyer was local and was selling to a FTB and presumably managed to find a removal company at short notice. We'd already moved out so we were happy for it to be quick. But at the last minute my solicitor added £100 to his charges because he said he'd have to have one person working on our case specifically to do the last things in 6 days. I think the only thing I had to do was post the house keys to the EA but they already had one set.