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Original poster

Thoughts on exchange and completion on same day?

36 replies

RM2013 · 13/01/2023 10:24

We are currently waiting on exchange - whole house buying/selling has been incredibly stressful.

we’ve lived here 20 years so very rusty on a lot
of the processes.

anyway seems our solicitor and sellers solicitor are ready to exchange contracts but buyers solicitor not yet ready (waiting for confirmation of funds from lender)

they’ve suggested that exchange and completion on the same day is quite usual - I thought this wasn’t the case and makes me very nervous. I didn’t want start packing boxes until we had exchanged just in case it falls through and have to unpack them all again 😢

what are your experiences?

OP posts:
3peassuit · 13/01/2023 10:28

I’ve done this before though it was on a new build. It all went smoothly for us.

Mumsafan · 13/01/2023 10:28

We've done it before. It's not a problem. Also exchanged on a Monday and completed on a Wednesday. Fridays are usually because it's convenient to people having time off to move or the solicitor (which you don't need you can use a conveyancer) wants end of week transactions. Usually a cheaper rate from the removal companies if you can move on a midweek day as well.

There are a lot of myths around this whole thing. My husband has a friend who is convinced it's illegal to not have two weeks between one or the other. Nonsense of course but no one can change his mind.

thunderouslug · 13/01/2023 10:47

Completely depends on your situation. We've done it when we sold/bought in a very short chain. We were only moving very locally and didn't have any kids. Our jobs were also very flexible, so didn't have to worry about time off. Would definitely not be okay with it in our current sitation. Looong chain, moving across the country, small child, jobs that while remote require at least 2 weeks notice before time off. We would definitely now want the certainty of having exchanged and knowing it's truly going to happen.

Original poster
RM2013 · 13/01/2023 10:51

Short chain - 3 of us. FTB buying ours and our vendors moving in with family. We live locally less than a mile away and have 2 older teens. Have booked the time off work but we have booked removals for Weds as he was getting booked up so he booked for us as soon as all
the solicitors agreed the completion date was doable.
My solicitor seems quite blasé about it but I’m incredibly nervous.
we are fortunate as we planned to move into my parents house for a couple of nights before we move anyway as they are away so house is empty for us to use which allows us to pack everything up without rushing too much

guess it will be ok fingers crossed

OP posts:
milawops · 13/01/2023 10:55

I've bought 3 houses and all of them have exchanged and completed on the same day. All went perfectly smoothly.

Samanabanana · 13/01/2023 10:55

That happened to us on our previous purchase- our entire lives were loaded onto a lorry before we exchanged! A couple of hours later we had the keys to the new house and the previous occupants were still moving out. This move we exchanged the day before completion- again all our worldly possessions were on a lorry before we had exchanged. I'm sure each of the last house moves have aged me ten years.

Original poster
RM2013 · 13/01/2023 10:57

Thanks for all your replies. Given me some hope that it will happen!! Everyone I spoke to said this wasn’t usual and really risky 🙈

OP posts:
Raindancer411 · 13/01/2023 11:00

I worked in a solicitors doing conveyancing and we did do it. Found this for you to give you something to read on it.

www.nbmlaw.co.uk/conveyancing/guides/same-day-exchange-and-completion/

IsItaCowIsItaPlane · 13/01/2023 11:03

I did it and it worked perfectly. I am also doing it with a house I am selling on someone else's behalf

annonymousse · 13/01/2023 11:04

I have done it in the past without any problems. However we moved recently and exchanged at 4pm on the Friday before moving on the Monday. This time it had dragged on and on and if we hadn't exchanged and completed when we did we would have had to wait until after Christmas to move. Our solicitor advised us against exchange and completion on the same day as our buyers kept throwing in delays and we didn't really trust them not to try and drop the price when our belongings were all on the truck.

fdgdfgdfgdfg · 13/01/2023 11:11

It's hugely more common now than it was even 10 years ago, I've done it on both of my last 2 house sales. Both of them were no chain though, so very unlikely to go horribly wrong at the last minute

HesDeadBenYouCanStopNow · 13/01/2023 11:20

I've done it but it was very stressful. Everything in a lorry and on its way to a house that we hadn't yet exchanged on.

It happened in the day but I wouldn't choose to do it again

WednesdaysPlaits · 13/01/2023 11:22

It's common but we did have it go wrong once. The sellers turned around two days before we were due to move and said they wanted another £25k. The whole thing collapsed..

Original poster
RM2013 · 13/01/2023 11:25

@Raindancer411 thank you the article
is really helpful. I guess reassuring to read that it’s more common than it was years ago and generally works out fine. We will be fine im
sure would just have been nice to have the knowledge that we had exchanged and change to notify utilities etc

OP posts:
Bear2014 · 13/01/2023 11:52

We did it 7 years ago. I found it stressful as all our stuff was boxed up while our daughter was at nursery on moving day and we hadn't yet exchanged - we also didn't end up getting into our new house until quite late, but it was fine in the end.

Mildura · 13/01/2023 11:55

At the risk of going against the herd here, I've worked in estate agency for around 25 years, dealing directly with about 100 transactions each year. Out of all of them I reckon less than 5 have done a simultaneous exchange/complete.

Unless you are not selling anywhere and buying an empty property I really don't see the need for the added stress. Unless it is completely unavoidable, such as someone's mortgage offer expiring making a gap impossible.

Far, far better to have a couple of weeks between the two.

The two transactions that I have which will exchange today, one is going to complete on 24th Feb, the other on 10th March.

RidingMyBike · 13/01/2023 12:24

I've bought three times and never done exchange/completion on same day. One a fortnight apart, one 3 weeks, the last 4 weeks.

It looks too stressful to risk it - I prefer the near certainty of locking them in at exchange for the completion date. 2-3 weeks is my preference.

Our last purchase our vendor was chaotic and very disorganised and I would not have trusted him with it on the same day. Hence the 4 weeks!

HesDeadBenYouCanStopNow · 13/01/2023 12:24

Mildura · 13/01/2023 11:55

At the risk of going against the herd here, I've worked in estate agency for around 25 years, dealing directly with about 100 transactions each year. Out of all of them I reckon less than 5 have done a simultaneous exchange/complete.

Unless you are not selling anywhere and buying an empty property I really don't see the need for the added stress. Unless it is completely unavoidable, such as someone's mortgage offer expiring making a gap impossible.

Far, far better to have a couple of weeks between the two.

The two transactions that I have which will exchange today, one is going to complete on 24th Feb, the other on 10th March.

Great advice, I wouldn't do it again, the whole process took all the shine off moving into a new house, it was horrible.

Next time I'm having a nicely planned date, plenty of time for packing and getting into the new house at a nice sensible time of day 😊

DameCelia · 13/01/2023 12:32

@Mumsafan
I can absolutely categorically tell you that no solicitor or conveyancer wants Friday completions. In fact I'm tempted to give people reduced fees not to complete on Fridays!!

@RM2013 I prefer simultaneous exchange and completion because you know the mortgage money has arrived. It can only be ordered three days in advance and lenders are shit at confirming it is coming.

Spanielsarepainless · 13/01/2023 12:38

I have bought and sold four times and no way would I want exchange and completion on the same day. You could be all packed in the removal van and exchange doesn't happen. And never complete on Thursday or Friday as there's no one around over the weekend if there's a problem.

abbey44 · 13/01/2023 12:39

I agreed to this when I was selling a house a few years ago - the buyers were very keen to speed the process up as much as possible, which I was quite happy with. Exchange and completion was due on a Friday, so I’d booked the removal company to come in the Monday of that week to pack and load so the house could be cleaned on the Thursday ready for the new people to move in the following day. The weekend before they called me to check everything was ok, and said how much they were looking forward to their new home. Monday morning the removal people turned up just as I had a call from the agents - my buyers had left a voicemail on the Sunday evening saying they were pulling ou, no reason given. They knew the message wouldn’t be picked up until the Monday morning. They then switched their phones off and couldn’t be contacted for a week. I was left with a £4K removal bill and all my conveyancing costs and absolutely nothing I could do about it.

I think they’d just changed their minds, but they must have known that when they called me - what they did was cowardly and downright despicable, but completely legal. I’d be extremely wary of putting myself in that situation ever again - I know it’s probably ok 99% of the time, but when you’re on the receiving end of that other tiny percentage, it’s utter shit.

Mildura · 13/01/2023 12:56

I prefer simultaneous exchange and completion because you know the mortgage money has arrived. It can only be ordered three days in advance and lenders are shit at confirming it is coming

@DameCelia But with any sort of chain it's seriously impractical at best, and unnecessarily precarious.

superdupernova · 13/01/2023 13:56

We did exchange and completion on the same day. It was fine. I always wondered what happened with deposits if they were done separately. Does anyone know? Our next house will be more expensive so the deposit from our buyer wouldn't cover it.

DameCelia · 13/01/2023 14:10

@Mildura I'm coming at it from the angle of the solicitor.
@superdupernova you will need to give your solicitor the difference between the deposit coming up the chain to you and the deposit on the house you are buying. Or agree a reduced deposit with your seller.

pilates · 13/01/2023 14:15

I wouldn’t want to do it. I like at least 2 weeks.