Completing two days before the stamp duty deadline ends?

[Kai1981]

My seller and I are all ready to go but we're in a chain and the person at the start of the chain refuses to move until 28th June as they're moving into rental.

This feels really tight to me (to benefit from the main stamp duty holiday), I've asked for it to be moved but they won't.

The entire chain is just about ready to exchange. How risky is completing so late?

Exchange contracts with completion date written in contract?
Speak to your solicitor.

As long as you exchange imminently with that date agreed then I wouldn't be concerned. Gives you 2 days to fix anything that could go wrong on completion day (rare anyway).

Thank you!

@notangelinajolie We would add the date anyway but that's not legally binding as such, as in the date can slip and sometimes does because completition fails for some reason. I wished the date could be locked in, would give me much more peace of mind.

Completion rarely fails in England and any additional costs are recoverable.

Completion dates don’t slip and if they do there is huge penalties.

Aim for exchange as soon as possible with completion on 28th. If there's nothing still to be done get them committed.

I wouldn't be worried. If you have exchanged then you could recover your stamp duty loses from down the chain if completion failed. It is very unlikely to happen. I would be pushing to exchange ASAP though.

Exchange now!!
We exchanged last Thursday for completion 25th June ...

Thank you, didn't realise breach of contract could occur as a result of the date slipping. That's reassuring. We are exchanging on Monday!

Completion dates don't slip - are you getting confused with exchange?

To secure the full stamp duty reduction you need to complete by 30 June 2021. If you have exchanged and set completion for 28 June, you and your chain will benefit from the full reduction.

Anyone who doesn't complete on the date stated having exchanged will lose their deposit, usually not an insignificant amount.

I'm completing my sale on 28 June, in fact have insisted on it as I've arranged to move that weekend, so can't complete on 25 June and not worried about completion slipping into he Monday.