When do you send the solicitor the money?

[thoughtsofmoog3]

Things seem to be moving and I've been sent a completion statement from the solicitor which suggests I send them the money ready for exchange/completion (date yet to be arranged).
I phoned and the clerk said that this was the usual case and meant we were close to finishing up. She said some people preferred to just send the deposit and then the rest but it would need at least 3 clear days.
Is this normal? What happens if the seller suddenly pulls out etc or am I worrying over nothing.

Hopefully worrying about nothing but always good to be mindful of different scenarios.
Also, it's always best to ask any questions to your solicitor because they have a better all round understanding of your transaction compared to myself. I'm assuming you are in the midst of buying a property - congrats :)

The deposit is handed over by the solicitor on your behalf at exchange and the remainder is handed over upon completion.

Hold onto the deposit until closer to the time of exchange, especially if it's a large sum and currently in a savings account (better to earn some kind of interest in your account than theirs). But remember to ensure enough time for you to send the money to your solicitor ahead of time, when exchange and completion dates are set.

If the other party pulled out, you'd receive your money back. If you pull out post exchange, you'd lose your deposit.

I'm assuming the clerk means 3 working days as opposed to calendar days, so just be mindful of that! Good luck

I would send the money asap. The solicitor isn't going to send over your money until completion has been agreed on the phone on the day. If the seller pulls out the solicitor will return the money to you. I'd rather send it early than have it get held up in some sort of bank issue and have my purchase fall through as a result - which would be just my luck!

Hope you get the house and all goes well! x

I can't remember whether it is FCA CASS rules or solicitor specific regulations, but any interest earnt on money deposited for the purpose of your transaction is owed to you and you only. In my experience, a firm will choose an account which doesn't bear interest (and in return which charges lower fees) but if you think your solicitor earnt interest on your deposit, you should enquire and consider making a complaint.

Thanks so much - that's really good to know for the future

I worked in a solicitors office. Any money handed over early was placed in a 'client account ' and earned interest. But it's usually for such a short that the interest is irrelevant.

Bear in mind any restrictions your own bank have on transferring money out. From my savings account I can only do single transactions up to £50k. But can do up to a total of £100k out per day.

Most firms have a clause in the retainer letter that says that any interest will be so minimal that they won't pay it to you.

Do make sure that you call up the solicitors and verbally confirm the account details for the transfer. I'd also suggest transferring £100 first, and then phoning to confirm its receipt, before transferring any larger sums. The amount of hacking and fraud (3rd party intercepting email chains and changing bank account details) is enormous, so please take care.

Your solicitor will need the deposit amount for exchange. If you are a first time buyer they will need the whole deposit amount from you in advance. If you are in the middle of a chain the deposit is usually 10% so you will either need to top up the deposit you are receiving from your buyer or have your solicitor agree that the top up is not required and the deposit you receive can just be passed up the chain.

The rest of the purchase price is required at completion. Usually most of this will be coming from your mortgage provider and sale of your existing house if you are selling.

Bear in mind that there are limits on the amount you can transfer per day and fast transfers incur fees.

Solicitors hold amounts you send them in special client accounts. If not used sums will be returned to you.

I agree with checking the account details by a different method of communication (so if they email you call them in a number not taken from the email) and sending a small test amount.

Yes verifying that the transfer bank details are correct via second method is recommended. In fact the solicitor insisted handing me the details in person which was a pain - but I can see why they insisted.

Transferring the cash over was a bit scary and I checked that I had the details correct a few (not saying how many :) ) times.

Thank you for all the advice. I am worried about fraud - although have no reason to suspect anything as the solicitor himself told me the completion statement was on its way and it then arrived!
However, I am going to transfer over a nominal amount and phone their main switchboard to be put through and check.

The house purchase seemed to be lots of nothings (Update - we are requesting info. Update - we have received info etc etc) and then suddenly I got a big pack of stuff to sign and everything is moving quickly it seems. Quite nerve-wracking because I'm actually going to have to move (which is the whole point of buying a house I realise!) . It's bitter-sweet though, I love my rental and its in an area I could never afford to buy in and just beautiful, I've been so lucky to live here. Moving to somewhere also nice but in a different way - but the house will belong to me and so I am counting my blessings.

We always ring clients with our bank details.

We nearly lost a house because of the time taken to transfer the money across. Do allow time. We were panicking.

I will transfer a pound and then ring the solicitors on their letterhead number make sure they have it before any large amounts.

I'm happy to do it but may wait for an idea of an exchange date first.

Definitely wait until they are ready to talk exchange, and have some dates.
We were "all set to complete end june"
Actually simultaneously exchanged and completed at end of July.

Exchange on sale got held up by 3 days as our buyer couldn't transfer then money fast enough - but if it's all in one account, you can take ID into the bank, and pay to transfer it all in one go - about £20, iirc.

Everyone is saying to pay the deposit early/ asap and leave plenty of time for bank transfer issues which I agree with but I have just transferred my deposit today and my Sol is annoyed as she wasn't expecting the funds and wants to return them! My buyers have already transferred their deposit to their sols weeks ago and I have deadline to exchange on my purchase in 4 days time. And I am now being told it is too soon to be transferring a deposit?? Nothing is ever straightforward for me and this transaction. 😞The moral is though - if the sols say its time to transfer - it is time to transfer.

That would worry me. 4 days doesn't seem excessive at all.

I don't really know much about client accounts. Maybe they are only insured for example against bank collapse to a certain amount. Or maybe they have to start paying interest after a set number of days and don't want the admin. I also don't know about the relative positioning of client accounts wrt the solicitors main business - for example if the solicitor goes into liquidation is the client account ringfenced or form part of the solicitors main assets ?

Anyway agree the best time to transfter is when they tell you to !

The best thing to do is to send the money a few days in advance. The solicitor will hold the funds in their client account (all solicitors have separate bank accounts for client funds) and then on exchange day, the money is already with them, so they can send it to the vendor's solicitor, who will hold it in their client account until completion, when the rest of the money is transferred between all the buyers' and vendors' solicitors in the chain.

Another point, if you are a FTB and your deposit is in a LISA it takes a bit longer anyway. I can’t remember now the exact details but you have to fill in some paperwork with your LISA provider and then do a Chaps transfer. DD did it two years ago, can’t remember the exact details but it was a bit of a farce. Hence why the solicitors give you advance notice.

If your deposit is in a help-to-buy ISA then the solicitor should give you a form confirming you are a first-time buyer. You take that to the bank or building society, who will close the account for you, they then contact the solicitor, who applies for the additional bonus payment directly.

At least that's what happened with my DD's purchase very recently.

Seems normal process, our solicitor asked for top ups funds deposit for exchange but it wasn't needed in the end as they were happy with the deposit coming up th chain. As our completion transfer was seven figures, we were glad to have had a first transfer of £50k to ensure funds were going to the right place. For completion we transferred around a week before so we knew it was safely there and no hold ups on the day from our side.