Exchange and Completion

salduck

Hi Guys,
Some of you may have read my thread on how lucky i was to sell my house!! Hurrah!!
Well the survey is done and the mortgage offer through for the buyers and we are now in a position to exchange. however heres my query having never having done this!!
I phoned my solicitor this morning and she said she has oto wait for the buyers solicitor to contact her. I spoke with the estate agent who has told the buyers to get their solicitor to phone mine!!
Can we exchange today ? My solicitor said it should all be ok if everything is in place. Or does this take time? And what actually happens at exchange?
We are looking for a date of friday to complete and buyers and me have bn working towards this all along. is this feasible??
Thanks for any advice!
Sal

Richard_Webster

First, has the buyer told his solicitor he wants to complete on Friday? The number of times I get told that a date has been agreed and the other side haven't contacted their solicitor about it - except perhaps 6 weeks ago!

Second, if the buyer is getting a mortgage, his solicitor will have to draw down the mortgage advance and this typically takes about a week, so it might be a bit tight to do this is the solicitor hasn't done anything about it.

The actual exchange is normally done by telephone. I'm assuming OP is not buying anything. Buyer's solicitor phones seller's solicitor and offers to exchange for completion on X date with a deposit of so much and a purchase price of so much. If this is agreed both solcitors write the details of the time of the exchange and the individuals who actually did it on the contracts and these are then sent out to the other solcitors and int he case of the buyer's solcitor he will also send a deposit or confirm he holds it to the seller's solicitor's order. Holding to order means that it is treated as being under the control of the seller's solicitor and he can demand it any time and the buyer's solicitor is not allowed to hand it back to his client. This is often done because if a client account cheque was sent it would often won't clear before completion - so all the money actually gets sent on completion.

salduck

Update on this!!
We now dont think its gonna happen until Monday!! Exchange and completion on the same day. Fingers are still crossed. The hold up is that the letter hasnt got from the mortgage company to the buyers solicitor to my solicitor!!
Buyers solicitor have said lenders are ok with getting funds thru on same day!
I am still holding my breath as i leave on hols next week!! and really really need it to go thru b4 i go!!!
Will keep you all informed!
x

PasturesNew

Exchange and completion on the same day is risky for you.

You will have to take it on trust, packing everything, booking a van, loading the van .... and hoping that you don't get a phone call at the last minute saying "buyer pulled out".

salduck

House is empy Ive already moved!! so not really much risk!!
Any other risks i should know about!!

GracieP

Be prepared for the possibility that they may try to gazunder you. Hopefully they won't, but it's pretty common right now. And they may feel that a same day exchange/completion puts them in a strong position.