Exchange - is it actually going to happen this week?!

[DinoEggs24]

Can anyone please share their experience of what actually happens when exchanging contracts? For info - our completion/moving date is set for Monday 2nd October. We’ve been told we legally have to exchange at least 1 week prior in order for mortgage to be sorted. It’s now Thursday, so we have today, tomorrow, and Monday, or the date falls through, resulting in removals nightmares and huge costs. We’re middle in a 3 person chain. All 3 solicitors have the signed contracts and everything they need, and are “trying to get exchange lined up asap” (according to the most recent update from estate agent). Solicitors throughout the whole process have been unbearably slow and non-responsive.

Will we just get a phone call to let us know exchange has happened, or will we be told in advance that it’s scheduled? Do we actually have a cat in hell’s chance of exchanging in time to make our completion date? Beyond stressed!

What you've been told sounds like absolute nonsense. We exchanged on a Friday, completed the Monday. Everything with the mortgage etc still went smoothly and that was the week before Christmas with a weekend thrown in! (Our solicitor was actually at her office Christmas party when exchange took place 😂)

Solicitors like Fridays, don't know why, so I'd say you stand a chance of exchanging tomorrow. You should receive a phone call or email from your solicitor to advise of the proposed exchange date and then again to advise that exchange has taken place. You should also receive a call on completion day to confirm that you all has gone smoothly.

Do you have a phone call for your solicitors so that you can just chase up that everything is on track?

I have no idea but solidarity in the anxious waiting!

We exchanged and completed simultaneously recently (July). Just needed to make sure that the relevant funds were all in place.

Our only issue was that it happened so late in the day that we couldn't pick up the keys until the next morning - wasn't an issue for us but appreciate that it might be if it's a long chain.

Is your mortgage all secured and ready to go?

This is making me feel a tiny bit better, thank you! I’m not sure why they’re saying there needs to be a week - mortgage is all lined up etc, I think they said that there would need to be a week minimum to ensure moneys are moved in time, or something like that, and definitely remember them saying it was a legal requirement! (This is the estate agent). Which I remember thinking was odd as I’m sure I’ve heard of people exchanging & completing much closer together, but wasn’t sure if they were possibly cash buyer / no chain scenarios! 🤷‍♀️

Planning on giving it another chase if we’ve heard nothing by lunchtime - making a nuisance of ourselves this week 🙈

Your solicitor should also call you on the morning of exchange just to check it's okay for them still to go ahead on your behalf - and then confirm afterwards that it's happened, as the pp said.

No legal requirements around the gap between exchange and completion in normal circumstances. I would be guided by your solicitor on stuff like that rather than the dippy 'sales progression' staff in the EA's office.

Fingers crossed for you. Don't be afraid to be the squeaky wheel.

We're coming up to exchange too, ut I find it odd that they set a completion date and work backwards from there. We want to exchange ASAP regardless of completion date so we can relax a bit. Once we've exchanged we can then sort a completion date that suits everyone. As I understand it completion can be days, weeks or even months after exchange. For us getting to exchange is the goal.

Exchange means it's definitely happening, so you need the certainty of a date (new build exchange / completion on notice excepted) at that point. That's just how the legal side works.

Not true. DD exchanged Tuesday completed Wednesday two years ago. DS exchanged Wednesday completed on Friday (4 weeks ago)

No input, but in exactly the same position. Moving date a few days later. We can't do anything about our daughter's schooling until we exchange either :/

You will get a call when everyone is ready to exchange to make sure you still want to go ahead. Answer the phone f you can - and at a minimium check it frequently, and respond to any calls from the Solicitors.
It can be done in less than a week (2 hours between exchange and completion here).
The 2nd of Oct date is just a plan at the moment. There is no guarantee that happens until exchange happens.

The five days is for them to request the money from mortgage companies etc. I think ready for completion. They don't have to do it after exchange, they can request money before the exchange date but I think if they then have to send it back because something fallen through or delays etc. it could incur costs/interest. Our solicitor explained this to us when we were going through, we exchanged Friday and completed Monday but we're happy to take the potential hit as we're so desperate to exchange! Maybe yours is being cautious and not requesting money without the certainty of exchange.

I was going to say similar.

When we bought last year we needed a clear week for the funds to come through from the mortgage company. We were told it wasn't possible to request them sooner - but we did have a spectacularly SHIT solicitor at the time. Also, Barclays were an absolutely bloody nightmare. We ended up completing without a mortgage and sorted out the borrowing after (we were in a lucky position to be able to do so!)

We didn't have the option to request funds sooner, but then again our exchange happened fairly suddenly after months of faffing around so that could have been why.

But depending on the circumstances, the week delay can sometimes be necessary...but not always.

this sounds like a v stressy situation. it is defo not a legal requirement. it is encouraged to exchange and complete on the same day but sometimes people don't because the seller might have a different move in day in mind etc. it is for your solicitor to arrange with the seller's solicitor, the EA can help too, but that EA saying it's a legal req is talking s. would love to know how it goes. good luck

We exchanged and completed within 24 hours no nonsense about waiting a week.

it is encouraged to exchange and complete on the same day.

No it's not. It's possible, yes. It's entirely between all parties as to the gap between.

Thanks everyone. Piecing this together from your replies and what we’ve been told, it’s starting to make more sense now. Evidently they misspoke when saying it was a ‘legal’ requirement (which was the bit I found most surprising), but yes it’s to allow sufficient time for the moneys to come through from the mortgage company. Ergo, if it’s slightly under a week, it’s not a definite date fail, but more likely that the funds won’t arrive in time. (One thing I’m still not clear on is they’ve given us the impression that you’re contractually locked into the agreed date from the moment you exchange - which is poss why they’re insisting on a week for the mortgage to move, to ensure it’s watertight - i.e. no changing dates permitted after exchange. Is this not the case?!)

The other thing that utterly baffles me is how on Earth people organise removals around all this?! Do companies just have that much availability at short notice? Or do people book and take the hit if the date falls through? I know our vendors have booked, and we have booked now as the company we wanted to use were already getting booked up for October. How do people book so far in advance with all this uncertainty? That’s about 75% of my stress right now - worrying this will fall through and we won’t find anyone in time. We had several quotes with £2.5k difference between the highest (almost £4.5k) and lowest… haven’t gone for the cheapest but really don’t want to spend £4+k on removals if our booking falls through!

Good luck to everyone else who’s in a similar boat right now. I’ll update when we have news. We’ve found out what’s blocking it now - hopefully minor issue at buyer’s end (but taking everything with a pinch of salt). Originally they said exchange likely today, now they’re saying more likely Monday… these waiting weekends will be the death of me!

Yes, you are absolutely obliged to complete as per contracts after exchange.

Before exchange, anything goes. After exchange there are massive penalties for not completing as agreed.

You are correct - the completion date is written into the contract and therefore fixed at exchange of contracts.

I may be speaking out of turn, but I would think the 7 days for drawing down the mortgage monies is actually administrative time that the lender has requested, and would have some flexibility if needed, though it would be less stressful for all if it were not needed obviously. But the monies themselves are transferred by CHAPS, which is same day if not exactly instantaneous, and which the borrower pays a fee for iirc.

As for removals, I think a great deal of uncertainty is built into removal companies' own planning model - they expect a certain amount of last-minute change, and as long as you communicate promptly, they ought to be able to absorb it. But it's many years since I used removers, so they may be less willing to accommodate change for no fee, for all I know - nothing seems to be quite so relaxed as it used to be.

hth

It's nonsense about a legal requirement to have a week before exchange and completion. My DD exchanged, completed and moved in on the same day.

The removals thing is mad isn’t it. Nearly everywhere near us is quoting 60% of the total removal cost due if you change the date with 5+ days notice. Even more due if it’s less notice. Or you can pay a couple of hundred pounds for the privilege of a ‘postponement’ waiver. So it’s been a total stressful waiting game trying not to book too soon/not waiting too long til they’re all booked.

in the end we’ve struck gold with a local firm who get great reviews and won’t charge us if it changes last minute and happen to have availability on our (popular) date. I could have cried happy tears when she came and gave me a competitive quote and told me just to keep her posted when we exchanged but she’d hold the date for us. It’s a waiting weekend for us too (with lots of hopeful packing). Hope yours passes not too stressfully!

Exchanged at 3:50pm and completed at 5:27pm with the removal men sat outside the new house!
was going into a new build but shows it can be done!

We exchanged yday - 3 working days before our completion date next Weds. The whole chain agreed on a completion date earlier in the week, ahead of exchange, so my (fab) solicitor did the groundwork before exchange with the lender for the funds.

As for removals, yeah, that's stressful. We didn't want to book anything until exchange, but I got some tentative quotes Monday - Friday before exchange, and luckily a well rated local guy had availability on our completion date. It was the first thing I booked!

Good luck - it's really, really stressful isn't it.

Thank you so much everyone - some really helpful advice here, and the solidarity helped keep me sane over the weekend! We have now exchanged contracts with a week to go, massive relief. Doesn’t feel real - I was convinced it was all going to fall through!

Yay! Congrats @DinoEggs24!