Thoughts on exchange and completion on same day?

[RM2013]

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?

we did it once, but it was very very stressful.

and we needed to pay extra for the fast/instant bank transfer charges.

try not to do it on a friday/before a holiday so that you can stretch to the next day if exchange happens too late in the day to complete.

Thanks for all the feedback. Quite mixed views here!

we were supposed to complete before Christmas but a missing form held up our purchase.

we have tried to give ourselves time in between exchange and completion as completion dates were all agreed last Friday and we want to complete next weds 18th. We were a bit limited because our buyer has already waited an extra month for our purchase to be ready. I was hoping we’d exchange before now giving us more security but typically the solicitors were slow and said they weren’t ready.

The solicitor dealing with our sale seems happy but our purchase solicitor was more wary and said it can be done but it’s not ideal.

I’ve asked the solicitor to chase up the buyers solicitor as they’re the ones not ready.

weve still got 5 days before proposed completion date so hopefully exchange will come soon.

I am never moving again🤣🤣

@DameCelia yes, I gathered that. For the client, not so favourable tho.

If you do decide to exchange and complete on one day try not to do it on a Friday. I used to work as a conveyancing secretary and seen my fair share of sorry tales on Fridays. Fridays are a notoriously busy day for estate agents, banks and conveyancers and the movement of money up the chain and release of keys may be seriously delayed and there is a greater risk of delay of transfer of funds with more people in the chain.

Until the purchase funds are transferred to the seller's solicitor, completion cannot happen. If completion does not happen, you and your packed possessions could end up stranded until the purchase can be completed on the following Monday.

If something happens the day after your move your solicitor won't be available till Monday either. Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday are the best days to move as Mondays are notoriously busy too.

We are aiming to complete next weds - deliberately avoided a Friday or Monday!!

Well we didn’t exchange today so we are in limbo over the weekend. Going to plough on with packing over the next few days and hope that we can at least exchange Mon or Tues

thanks again for all your replies and experiences it really does help

Depends on the purchase, when we moved from our family home of nearly 20years when we downsized no way would we have considered exchange & completion the same day. We insisted on 14 days in between exchange & completion to allow time to pack etc. When we bought our vacant holiday home, exchange and completion the same day, suited us well. It doesn’t matter who says what, whether it’s the norm or not, do what suits you OP. Good luck for your move.

@Roselilly36 we’ve been in our current home 20 years but moving with 2 teens - slightly bigger house. We’ve already done a big de clutter so hopefully only taking with us what we need. Ideally I wanted at least week between exchange and completion but we had waited long enough and our buyers have been ready for over a month and waited patiently.

I had a family member who relocated 250 miles across the country. Their house sale exchanged and completed same day - touch and go really considering the removal vans had already left and on their way down the M6 prior to completion…

Sound similar to our move, it was stressful enough, waiting for the confirmation that we had the money from our sale to transfer to the vendors solicitors for our purchase, to exchange & purchase on the same day when you are relocating you must need nerves of steel, mine were already frazzled by the moving process. I also insisted on a Thursday completion, others in the chain wanted Friday, but again due to our relocation & during lockdown at the time. Pleased I did we didn’t get our keys till 4.10pm, removers kept ringing as they were outside our new address. It’s was dark, snow on the ground. Not sure I will be moving again in a hurry 😂

I’m a conveyancing solicitor but do technical support. Simultaneous exchange and completion became common during COVID and still happens a lot.