Exchange and completion gap timing?

Righty · 2021-10-31T13:45:26+00:00

Grateful for advice/experience please? I'd like about four weeks between exchange and completion, to allow for booking moving vans, booking time off work etc. Is this the 'norm'? I see some people do much faster, but realistically I need a few weeks notice for completion. Are others in the chain likely to object? I know I have to insure my onward purchase from date of exchange.

NoWordForFluffy · 31/10/2021 14:44

We did this as my FTB needed the extra month to save the SDLT (back when it was paid on much lower values), but wanted the chain to commit. I was happy for the certainty, so it wasn't an issue. Ask and find out.

Dougieowner · 31/10/2021 15:42

I think it is up to you to suggest a time-scale and see if the other party / parties will agree.
We exchanged back in June but set the completion date for the end of September, this date was non-negotiable and if the buyer didn't agree then they didn't buy our property (which they did).

Ohhgreat · 31/10/2021 15:48

I think it depends how many delays you come up against during the conveyancing. If that process goes on ages thanks to queries etc then people will be much less amenable to a long gap between exchange and completion.

EdgeOfTheSky · 31/10/2021 16:00

I think it’s fine.

The key thing is exchanging so that everyone is committed. The sooner you exchange the better, with a completion date that is convenient, within reason.

Original poster

Righty · 31/10/2021 19:57

@Dougieowner if you don't mind me asking, what reason did you give them for the delay? I'm the buyer in this case, that may leave me in a weaker position but ultimately I'd hope a seller wouldn't pull out and want to start all over again for the sake of a few extra weeks between exchange and completion...

OP posts:

Dougieowner · 31/10/2021 20:11

The reason was very simple.
We are buying a new build but the completion date was a year away and developers will not allow you to reserve if you are in a chain. We had temporary accomodation we could move into (my late parents house) but there were tenants in situ and we had to give them notice. This meant we wanted a buyer who would exchange but also be willing to wait several months to complete, this was stated by the estate agent in the listing so didn't come as a surprise to anyone.

TakeYourFinalPosition · 31/10/2021 20:19

If you need this; let people know EARLY in the process, so they can decide if it works for them. The standard is a week, so you need to let people know you’d be looking at longer.

It’d be a no-go for us, especially if it was sprung on us now after months of waiting… we’re all waiting to exchange and complete ASAP, and the five day wait for funds to clear feels awful 🙈

Some people won’t mind, but it’s best to be upfront. You’d be surprised at how many people would rather pull out than wait if they feel they’ve been taken for a ride.

Jasmine11 · 31/10/2021 20:33

I guess it depends if your buyers are willing to pay four weeks of house insurance for a place they can't move into for a month or so. A week is more usual, and I know some people exchange/complete on the same day. Can I ask why you need four weeks to sort removals etc? It's worth asking the chain and if no-one is in much of a rush they may agree. But I think because the house buying process takes so long in this country if I had waited however many weeks for the legal process to be over and we were ready to exchange I would not be massively happy if the vendor/buyer then said they wanted to delay by another month.

Jasmine11 · 31/10/2021 20:33

I guess it depends if your buyers are willing to pay four weeks of house insurance for a place they can't move into for a month or so. A week is more usual, and I know some people exchange/complete on the same day. Can I ask why you need four weeks to sort removals etc? It's worth asking the chain and if no-one is in much of a rush they may agree. But I think because the house buying process takes so long in this country if I had waited however many weeks for the legal process to be over and we were ready to exchange I would not be massively happy if the vendor/buyer then said they wanted to delay by another month.

Franklin12 · 31/10/2021 20:36

I had 1 month and the removal company said they could kiss me. They are messed around with dates ALL the time with people asked to be pencilled in on numerous dates for the same move.

Franklin12 · 31/10/2021 20:38

Three weeks house insurance is a drop in the ocean in the house buying process. Once you have exchanged you can relax. I do agree though that if you have been waiting months to get to exchange you might just want to get on with moving in!

TakeYourFinalPosition · 31/10/2021 20:50

Once you have exchanged you can relax.

It probably depends on your personality; I can’t relax until I’m in

maofteens · 31/10/2021 23:12

Four weeks used to be the norm! When I started buying n the 80s the banks wanted four weeks. Yes you could get it done sooner, and in fact the front end of the process was much quicker (I went from viewing a property on a Saturday to ready to exchange the following Friday), four weeks was standard between exchange and completion. Two weeks seems more the norm now, and I have done it in the same day but not a house I was physically moving in or out of.
By the way my completion didn't happen on the Friday scheduled- we'd exchanged two weeks before and I was packed and out of the house by noon - but the money never arrived from the bottom of the chain. Luckily I was not moving directly in to my new house, otherwise it would have been a disaster.

beautifullymad · 31/10/2021 23:19

All ours bar one have been 2 weeks. We've exchanged 6 times. The one that wasn't was 5 weeks as a delay took us right up to the week before Christmas. We ended up moving the end of January that year. But there wasn't a chain so that meant we could both agree a timescale without compromising the sale for others. In theory you can do both on the same day but it's not usual.
If you'd like longer ask for longer, but ask in good time so others in the chain can accommodate if possible.

Paranoidandroidmarvin · 01/11/2021 07:02

I’m going to ask a rude question here how old are you.

Every other time I have moved I have done a week between exchange and moving and have been fine. This time I am older and did the same. It was too much. I only had a week between and I was shattered. That and moving day I was beyond tired and stressed.

If I had to do it again I would have had two weeks. It was the packing it was all the cleaning and taking things apart etc. In a week that was a lot. And I’m fairly good at not hoarding things.
But on the flip side four weeks seems long.

TakeYourFinalPosition · 01/11/2021 12:20

The irony to me answering this that a week is the norm; and today when our solicitors are trying to set dates, nobody wants to wait a week and everyone is pushing for a couple of days at most

YouCanCallMeA1 · 01/11/2021 12:40

We are relocating 300 miles, in the middle of a short chain. Buyer moving from parents house in the same postcode, seller moving into another house they already own, also in the same area. No children involved in either.

We need 3-4 weeks between exchange and completion for 3 reasons:

Long distance movers get booked up further in advance (especially as moves happen over several days) so no guarantee we'd be able to find one in a week (also pet couriers are hard to schedule!)
The school application process for mainstream schools in a new county takes about two weeks to confirm place. Special schools (naming a new school on ECHP) takes longer because of all the paperwork reviewing and sending between LAs and schools and us. We can't start either process until we've exchanged (and in the case of some special schools, can't even go to see them until then!), but there's an expectation that children will be in school very soon after completion (within days) or we'll get fined. So we need a bit of a run up.
Aside from the logistical things above, moving house/schools/areas all at once needs a bit of tying up loose ends and a chance to say a proper goodbye to places/people, especially for the kids. That doesn't take 4 weeks, but with the logistics above needing a bit of time padding, it will give us space to leave properly and not in a rush. We've been obviously doing this quietly and gradually over several months, as well as decluttering and packing, but eg we can't officially tell the school or Brownies that they're leaving until they definitely are, and it would be healthier all round not to say "Surprise! We're leaving. Right, bye then we're off" one day.

We're hoping to exchange this week and have asked for 21 days gap. I hope the others on the chain will be understanding.

Bells3032 · 01/11/2021 13:08

think between 2-4 weeks is the norm. A week would be very short for packing up and arranging moving. my sister did two weeks and had a nightmare getting moving people. I ended up with a two month period cos the person at the top of the chain suddenly decided she wanted to buy somewhere and refused to move any sooner. We were living in accommodation owned by my in laws so they were flexible so it was fine. The insurance is very minimal in the grand scheme of the cost of moving to be honest and didn't even cross our minds.

If someone is renting they usually want 4 week completion to put their notice in anyway

starpatch · 01/11/2021 13:29

OP you won't get fined for not having a school place. Its pretty common for children to be out of school for several weeks when you move area. And not all councils will accept proof of exchange as evidence for a school place. It is a nightmare though in terms of needing childcare.

ISaidDontLickTheBin · 01/11/2021 13:40

OP I think if you can give reasons why you need four weeks, your chain should be understanding. Giving notice on a rental is a common one as pp have said. The reasons you describe in your OP are a bit woolly though.

For example, we managed to secure movers for 2 weeks after exchange at the height of the stamp duty deadline kerfuffle, so unless several removal companies have actually advised you four weeks is needed, it needs to be a better reason than that!

BlueMongoose · 01/11/2021 18:52

@maofteens

Four weeks used to be the norm! When I started buying n the 80s the banks wanted four weeks. Yes you could get it done sooner, and in fact the front end of the process was much quicker (I went from viewing a property on a Saturday to ready to exchange the following Friday), four weeks was standard between exchange and completion. Two weeks seems more the norm now, and I have done it in the same day but not a house I was physically moving in or out of. By the way my completion didn't happen on the Friday scheduled- we'd exchanged two weeks before and I was packed and out of the house by noon - but the money never arrived from the bottom of the chain. Luckily I was not moving directly in to my new house, otherwise it would have been a disaster.

4 weeks is nice and civilised. Allows people time to pack and arrange removals, etc. This business of doing it all on the same day is bonkers, IMO.

Aroundtheworldin80moves · 01/11/2021 19:01

I think we had two days in the end... it was supposed to be 10 but there was a last minute hold up and we wanted the agreed date. The completion date was set a few weeks before.

(As for schools... our application went through on the Thursday, got the offer for one on the Friday to start Wednesday, and the other on the Tuesday to also start the Wednesday. The time we moved before that though, it took half a term for the eldest as there were no places! The fines only kick in after they've been offered a place, not from when you move)

Flowers500 · 01/11/2021 20:41

Personally I would say no to 4 weeks, just as it adds lots of uncertainty and extra risk into the process. If something goes wrong (someone gets covid, someone loses a job, any kind of issue happens to the house, your mortgage might still have the ability to back out) then you can end up utterly fucked. I think moving is meant to be a bit chaotic (at best) and I'd accept this over any extra risk.

Depends what the rest of your chain thinks about this, but I can tell you categorically my lawyers would have advised against it. It's the extra covid uncertainty that just means you want to be safe.