Selling House - Buyers deposit

BenL · 19 January 2006 at 7:35PM

Hi

I wish I'd asked the solicitor earlier but I forgot.

We are selling our house and have already completed on the house we are buying.

The buyer for our house has signed the contract to buy our house but the solicitors have not exchanged yet.

This should happen wither tomorrow or early next week.

We will then complete on 3rd Feb.

The buyers solicitor has asked her for her deposit.

When we exchange is the deposit sent to my solicitor or do hers keep it until her mortgage is sorted and then send it all on completion date? or does my solicitor get the deposit on exchange??

If my solicitor gets the money I want it as we have a lot to pay out for work doing on the new house and it would come in handy - don't want it sitting in the solicitor account.

How does it usually work??

This is the 1st house we have sold and don't remember having to pay out the deposit at exchange when we bought it.

The house we have just bought we exchanged and completed same day.

Cheers

Ben

[Deleted User] · 19 January 2006 at 7:53PM

I believe the Buyer's solicitor keeps the deposit until completion.

Bossyboots · 19 January 2006 at 8:08PM

The deposit money is sent to the seller's solicitor BUT it is not handed over to the seller before completion. If the seller were to fail to complete, the deposit would be returned to the buyer so it stays in the solicitor's account until completion is effected.

galileo · 20 January 2006 at 12:32PM

Bossyboots is probably right, but it depends what the Special Conditions say. If they say that the deposit is held by the seller's solicitor 'as agent', then the seller is entitled upon exchange. If it says 'as stakeholder' then the position that Bossyboots states is correct. Indeed this is the ususal position.