Did you have to book a date for exchange?

[GreyPaw]

In a chain of three people, two of us have got our contracts signed and returned to the solicitors with confirmation that they can exchange when ready. The third is expecting to receive their contract today and the solicitors will sign it on their behalf.

Everyone else in the chain (buyers/sellers rather than solicitors) are saying that this means we can exchange today, but they seem to be in the habit of saying things are going to happen as a fact before checking with the solicitors to see if things are possible. For my part, my solicitor hasn't yet confirmed the completion date with me, and I'd imagine that removals should be confirmed and mortgage providers (as well as buyers / sellers) should verify the completion dates before they can exchange.

Is it possible for exchange to happen that swiftly, or is it more likely that they will set a date for exchange once everyone in the chain plus the mortgage providers have confirmed completion dates?

@GreyPaw we moved in February and wasn't really given much notice at all that we were going to exchange! It was ummed and ahhed about for a few days and then I literally got a call on the day from the solicitor to say we'd be exchanging that day, which completely took me by surprise and we then set a date for completion following exchange for two weeks time.

I've never heard of exchange being an allocated date, only completion. Hope this helps!

You can’t exchange until all parties are agreed on the completion date. In each of the times I’ve bought and sold we were told when we expected to exchange.

It is only when all the work is done and a completion date is agreed by all parties that exchange can take place (that includes the solicitors/lenders). There is no such thing as an "exchange date". The completion date is set upon exchange.

For example, everyone (including all solicitors/lenders) agree on 14th June for completion. That means they are ready to exchange but cannot exchange until all the solicitors speak to each other on the same day and have all received their clients' authority. If a client has gone out for the day and cannot be contacted to confirm their authority, then the exchange process will fail and it will all start again the next day. Similarly if one of the solicitors is absent and no-one else has the authority to carry out the exchange, then exchange will fail and they will attempt it again the following day.