Moving towards exchange? Advice please.

[Izitso]

Hello, as first time buyers we're unsure as to how close exchange must be. We have an online portal to use and it says that we're "moving towards exchange". All searches are complete and money is ready in place. Just out of curiosity (because we want to get excited!) is anyone happy to tell us their experience having reached this point please? And does completion tend to take long once we exchange. Getting someone on the phone is hopeless! We've sent emails but they're always late with replies and we feel as though we're in limbo. There's no chain at all and it's been about 12 weeks since our offer was accepted.

You agree completion date before exchange - we exchanged Friday and moved Monday but I think a week or two is normal. Our exchange was delayed for no real reason so we had already had leave from work and had to move in a day then back to work there next day because it was August and others in the department had leave booked. It was a case of move Monday or September (we were desperate to be in the new house with a garden for the summer holidays so we pushed).

Speak to your lawyer/ contact the portal and ask what the hold up is then push your lawyer to talk to their lawyer to get an exchange and completion date from them -maybe give a deadline - end of the month, mid-August etc. You can exchange and complete on the same day but its usual to have a week or so inbetween

Thank you both. m0therofdragons that must have been a nightmare for you! Yes perhaps it's time for us to push harder...been reading some of the threads and it's clear we're not the only ones who are stuck.

It depends I'm afraid, both you and your vendor need to be ready to exchange at the same time, so even if you've been ready to go for weeks and there's no chain, you can still find yourself waiting around for ages while your vendor or someone even further up the chain sorts themselves out. I appreciate that solicitors aren't always great with their communication but only they will know what's going on and the likely timescales (although don't be surprised if they won't commit, obviously if they've done all their parts they can't control what others e.g. your vendor are doing).

As per PP, you agree completion date prior to exchange - it can be as quick as simultaneous exchange and completion (probably not what you want as FTB) and many months gap, typical probably would be a couple of weeks in between to allow time for everyone to sort out removals etc. - but to some extent you are in control so think what would work for you (are you in rented at the moment, do you need to give notice) and where can you compromise (e.g. you may need to overlap rent and mortgage for a few weeks, obviously you'd want to avoid if poss but not always possible).

Thank you. Yes we are renting and need to give only a weeks notice as our landlady has a relative ready to move in when we leave. There's no chain with our vendor as the house we're buying from them is their holiday home which they are giving up. We've been reluctant to contact the vendors once we agreed everything with them but I feel we should do that now to see where they're at. Thanks again, this has clarified things somewhat. We are able to exchange and complete simultaneously if that's possible.

I'd hate to wait months and months when the solicitor indicated c12 - 14 weeks

‘Moving towards exchange’ is a meaningless status!

Would seek an actual status update from whoever is managing the transaction for you.

I'll keep trying! It certainly sounds meaningless to us when we bit used to all this. Think we need to aveiro its not going to be within a few weeks. Thank you.

Try speaking to the estate agents they have a vested interest in getting sales through (getting paid!!) and will be able to check in with the vendors to see what's happening from their side

My husband is going to give them a call tomorrow, thanks for the advice

Yes, the Estate Agent should be able to give you a detailed update, and your solicitor should be able to tell you of the outstanding issues that need to be sorted before exchange.

Have you got your buildings insurance set up and ready?