Buying a house- when should we have exchange/completion date?

[Pearlsofmadness]

Hi all,

I know all house sales are different etc but just wondering when we should be expecting our exchange/completion date - what’s normal?

We had our offer accepted in mid May, homebuyer’s report done by the end of May and received the list of contents being left behind by the owner 2 weeks ago. DH spoke to the solicitor at the beginning of the week who said there are one or two enquiries left but the searches are back and she wants us to go in to sign things next week.

However, we still haven’t been given any indication of an exchange/completion date. Should we know this by now? After signing documents, how much longer is this likely to drag on for?

Just excited and want to start packing up now!

Sounds like you are nearing exchange possibly. How many people are in the chain?

It took me six weeks to sell a flat from the time I accepted the purchaser's offer. Completion tomorrow, thank god. There was no chain, though, just a straightforward sale. Obviously it takes longer to get everything in place, the longer the chain is.

There is our buyer, is and our seller. So a short chain. Our buyer seems to have most thing arranged their end too. Our sellers are building another house so going to stay with family, therefore no chain above them.

@Single We’ve already been waiting 8 weeks so hopefully not much longer. I’m a teacher so ideally want to get everything done in the holidays. Would be the perfect time to move.

I think it’s on average around 3 months from offer accepted to exchange

Thanks @alpaca hopefully August then.

Just beginning to feel frustrated that no mention of a date in the even very distant future has been discussed yet. I appreciate the solicitors are busy sorting everything out but, when you can’t actually see what’s happening, it seems to just keep dragging on.

Ours went on for 15 weeks. No chain at all as the house we are buying is vacant, and we aren't selling.
The vendor got fed up last Monday and said they would rent it again if it didn't complete soon. The solicitor was adamant she still had loads to do. I had to get grumpy and we exchanged 3 days later and complete tomorrow.
I wish I had got grumpy weeks ago, I just assumed it was all ticking along.

Unfortunately the people you're buying off are in no hurry then -- unless they need the capital to pay bills from their build the longer they can delay the move the more comfortable they'll be.

I'm a property solicitor - just ask your solicitor what timescale they think is feasible in their experience and knowing the position of the other parties in the chain. They should be able to give you an indication.

From that you can then consider your ideal date and put it forward to the rest of the chain as a suggestion to aim for and negotiate further from there.

Your solicitor is bound to have different ways of running to my firm (and in our local area we very often have very short periods of a few days between exchange and completion) but I usually say if everybody else in the chain is completely ready, from the date of my appointment with my clients I could complete a week later at the absolute fastest if they're using a mortgage.

School holidays sounds absolutely realistic if you're being invited in to sign at this stage, assuming the other parties are at a similar stage

We accepted an offer on our house mid May and had an offer accepted on the one we're buying a week later. We've signed our sale contract tonight and the estate agent rang me yesterday to discuss exchange/completion dates. We're aiming for exchange in 3 weeks and completion two weeks later as we're on holiday in the middle.

I agree, I’d check what is left to resolve and then start pushing a bit for things to happen. Are you calling the estate agents etc regularly? Have you let them know that really you need an end of August completion at the latest? Have you called removal companies to scope out availability? You might have to be the people that drive this along I think.

Thanks everyone. And thanks @foxy , it gives me hope that the holidays sound realistic.

I think we haven’t really been pushing enough so will start nagging for a timescale now. Even though our sellers are building, they need money from the sale to continue, so they are just as keen as we are. Haven’t heard much from our buyer but have occasionally caught him loitering outside in the street, looking at the house from different angles/with different people (have tried to invite him in but he hides) - so I’m hoping that’s a sign he’s keen for it to be processed quickly

sounds very similar to us - we are renting so no chain, and buying from a lady who is going to a new build (which is ready) so no chain above her. We had the offer accepted on 18th May and everything is in place (mortgages, searches, surveys done etc) Ive just been sending 'casual' emails asking where we are at, and yesterday asked about a potential timescale for exchange/completion - to which to my surprise she suggested that we will exchange AND complete in the next 2 weeks!! so things are definitely happening behind the scenes OP. Lets hope we are both in for the school holidays!

Your solicitor should be talking to the others so they can suggest a completion date which will be confirmed on exchange day.

Ours will be 18 weeks from accepting offer to moving day: FTB, is, vendors buying two houses. That was with a LOT of chasing on my part and even then, one of the vendors at the top of the chain booked a holiday over the first completion date everyone in the chain had originally agreed to (I hope she’s had a shit week tbh, finding that out on the day of exchange made for an awful day.)

FTB, us....

Once you've signed contracts exchange is imminent just need to swap them and pay deposit then completion will follow shortly after maybe a week later unless someone wants longer. We are at the same stage due to exchange next week and hopefully complete around a week later.

@catandpanda
Not strictly true, contracts may be signed several weeks before exchange takes place, or they may be signed on the same day as exchange.

Some solicitors prefer to get the contract signed as soon as the contract has been agreed, and hold it on file until everything else is ready. Others wait until the last moment before getting the contract signed.

I think our solicitors seem to want everything in place before we sign. She hasn’t even called us in to sign our mortgage agreement yet as she said we’ll do everything together at the end.

We had a letter from our mortgage company today saying that a request had been made to release (don’t know if that’s the correct wording) our funds/ giving us a ‘Daily Fee’ from next Monday. Does this mean it’s close? Don’t really want to be paying a daily fee on top of our mortgage if it’s going to go on for another 2 months.

@twogirls Your situation sounds promising! Hope it is the same in our case. Fingers crossed for us both

• letter from our existing mortgage company (re: funds of house we’re selling)

That's the same situation we are in and exchange is next week. It's always been imminent for us each of the 3 times we've bought - I certainly wouldn't be signing a contract before checks had been done and survey done but maybe some people do.

I certainly wouldn't be signing a contract before checks had been done and survey done but maybe some people do.
Many people do, it's quite common, and does not commit you to anything.

It simply sits in the file held by your solicitor, and your solicitor will only act upon your instructions to exchange as and when you are happy to do so.

These dates are organised by you and your buyer/seller.
I swear solicitors would just go on forever if no-one suggested a date.
Go to solicitor with a suggested date and ask him to ask others in chain if this is acceptable. Could also go through estate agents, I found this more straightforward. If you have a date to work towards, people make it happen, if there's no deadline, there's no movement

Thanks @tomboy - will begin pushing.

Searches, surveys etc. have been completed for all parties so surely it can’t be much longer.

You need to pin your solicitor down - not literally. Tell them what suits you best and that you need to get this sorted as you can't plan your time otherwise and you want to book a holiday etc etc

Also a property solicitor here. To be honest it's easier if you go through the estate agent to discuss a completion date as they can speak directly to you, your sellers and your buyers. It will take longer through solicitors as they can only speak to the other party's solicitor. I'd email your solicitor and ask her when she thinks you might be in a position to exchange, but bear in mind that this can change. It's sometimes a "how long is a piece of string" question as exchange is dependent on so many other parties being ready.

The thing you mention about your mortgage sounds like your solicitor has requested a redemption statement for your existing mortgage. She will have picked a date in the future and the redemption statement will show what is needed to redeem the mortgage on that date. Statements are usually valid for longer than just the date she has requested it for, but you have to add a daily rate to the redemption amount to make the figure accurate. You aren't being charged extra, it's just how the mortgage company and solicitor work out what to pay on completion.

All solicitors work differently, I try to get documents signed as early as I can and then keep the client updated by email when replies to enquiries etc come in. If anything, having signed documents on file seems to keep the estate agents from hassling me

It sounds like you're getting quite close, fingers crossed you don't have to wait too much longer.