How long to exchange

[Stumpy54321]

My son is in the process of buying his first property. Found a house quickly had offer accepted. Had a mortgage broker help him obtain the mortgage and solicitors all sorted. no chain involved as he’s buying a new build. He paid the solicitor the deposit and their fees 2 weeks ago but then found out someone ( not sure who ) has the wrong postcode for the property although not sure that’s affected anything. I was expecting him to of at least exchanged contracts by now but seem no further forward. My son is just going with the flow and doesn’t want to keep asking the solicitor.
how long after paying everything would be expected to exchange?

Your son’s solicitor won’t allow Exchange on the property until all the legal paperwork is done so it’s more connected to that than all payments being up to date.

There will be things getting done behind the scenes, like searches being returned etc.

Once Exchange of contracts is done your son can’t back out without paying a hefty penalty so it’s right that it’s done late into the process and close to Completion. It would be bad if his solicitor to rush Exchange before being sure the flat is safe from a legal point of view for your son to purchase.