We have an exchange date but is this the norm??

[countingdowntobedtimeagain]

My solicitor called today; we have an exchange date of the 6th July .. brilliant.. but we don’t get the keys until the week after? Apparently it takes 5 days from exchange before completing .. is this right?

My last purchase we did it all on the same day but we were first time buyers?

Any advice?

wowfudge, yes of course. Blonde moment lol.

We were meant exchange on a Friday, everything sorted etc, just needed our buyer to transfer their deposit to be passed up the chain.
The buyer didn't transfer the money, turned off their phone and was uncontactable until the Monday (when they transferred the money and exchange went ahead; no explanation, no apology).
If we were completing on the same day we would have lost money as we paid for removals.
I will never exchange and complete on the same day; thinking we would lose the house was bad enough, doing so after loading all our earthly possessions into a van would have been much worse!
I've heard other people say about a solicitor suddenly being taken ill, finding a missing essential signature, or there being an issue with the bank transfer, delaying exchange. A gap means you have time to rectify these issues.