Simultaneous Exchange & Complete

[Bol87]

Our solicitor has advised us to do ... I’m not sure how I feel about it?! It seems a bit more risky to me yet it’s being sold as the least risky?! I’m not sure I perhaps fully understand my options or what it means 😐 We are selling & buying. Could anyone explain what’s the ‘norm’ & what’s changed because of Covid?! 🤔

Thanks!

There was a thread a few weeks ago from somebody who did this: she had her belongings packed up and ready to go in exchange/completion day and the buyers of her house had their mortgage withdrawn, meaning the chain collapsed.

I thought this was guidance at the beginning of the pandemic to protect against people being unable to move on completion day if they were required to self isolate but would imagine the risk is minimal now?

We are due to exchange on Friday and are doing the normal two weeks between exchange and completion. Our solicitor hasn't advised us otherwise?

You would normally exchange, then complete later - it’s been anything from ten days to six weeks for our purchases. Until exchange, there is no legal obligation to proceed - so if you do both on the same day, the buyer or seller could pull out at any point with no penalty up to exchange of contracts. So potentially on the morning of moving day.

Personally, I would want to exchange at least a few days before and would be asking my solicitor to explain why it is less risky to do everything on the same day than to leave a couple of days/a week to firm up moving arrangements in between exchange and completion.

If money doesn’t move on the expected day (which happened with my purchase last time) you may end up having to unpack a van and repack it the following day. Not much fun. And as said by previous posters, whole thing can fall apart on the day. Super stressful.

If it’s a covid risk thing, I’ve seen some people talk about a covid rider in the contract? Or ask for two days between, to minimise risk of covid but still give you wiggle room?

Thank you! I thought I’d read a story on here about someone’s chain falling through on moving date!

I think I’d much prefer to exchange a few days before at the very least!

I did exchange and completion on the same day on my first flat. Now, with more stuff and a child, I’d want a couple of weeks.

Our buyers want to exchange at least 4 weeks before completion so they can give notice on their rented flat. I hadn't really heard of it being so far beforehand but it seems like it may be a good idea.

The problem comes if you exchange, and then someone along the chain gets covid symptoms and cant move.

I did it when I was buying but not selling - I could, if the worst had come to the worst, just have stayed put in my rented flat. I'd be very reluctant to do it if I were also selling.

We exchanged today to complete Friday. Means we can't get to Friday with all our stuff in a van and it fall through. Definitely exchange at least a few days in advance.

I did this on my last house move. I had a tense half an hour in between moving out of the old house and arriving at the new house when the solicitors said the money might not make it on time. All sorted in the end though, we got the keys at 6pm! If I had a choice, I'd rather have a delay.

Like others have said, we did this with our first house as we were buying a chain free house where the owner had died. We had a two week overlap where we had our rental flat as well as our new home. They were about 10 mins walk apart so we moved most of our stuff in suitcases in a one way taxi.

Like someone else has said, with kids and a lot more stuff, I'd want more time as it'd be such a pain hanging around and being on the phone all day before you could actually get the keys. You'd also have to pay the removal people for their time even if they were just sat outside your new home for hours whereas if you can get the keys then go straight in, it's much more preferable!

I would prefer to have at least a week between exchange and completion.

We did this. It was a chain of 3 houses where buyer at bottom was also seller at top. (So effectively we moved into our buyers house.....)

The benefit was if they pulled out of our purchase after exchange for any reason our liability to them was larger than their liability to us.

Actually with covid it sounds very sensible and is no more difficult for you than exchange and completion on different days. As.long as the chain is short, all the solicitors agreed and have applied for the funds in time. Then the actual moving bit is the same to you.

As others say it's all about your risk tolerance and we Sonal situation. Personally I wouldn't do it if I was in the middle of the chain or had kids. The hassle and cost of moving/ not moving would be too much.

Depends on whether you or the buyer have a chain or not. Our buyers exchanged a week early which was great because it exposed how naive they were in terms of their finances (and how crap their solicitors were) as they didn’t realise what the deposit was and exchange was a few days late. So our solicitor then chased theirs constantly for a few days before completion to make sure everything was done correctly.

We exchanged & completed on the same day yesterday. All went smoothly but didn't get our keys while late on, but that was more because the date was arranged pretty last minute so removals were quite booked up. Hope you get sorted.

Please tell me I’m not the only one checking their emails compulsively every ten minutes for news?

Ah sorry wrong property thread! Waiting for exchange has addled my brain 😂