exchange of contracts

mercedes125

I am one of those still waiting to hear from the abbey for offer of mortgage but just wondered how long it would be before exchange of contracts after the surveyer had been and then having the searches done.Also how long after exchange of contracts is it when you can move.
Thankyou

alm721

Would also be interested to hear the answer to this.

Robert_Sterling_3

Partial answer.

The length of time between exchange of contracts and completion ( I.e. Moving in ) is agreed between the buyer and the vendor. Tends to be about 4 week in many cases.

When I moved last year my buyer needed about six weeks and the person selling to me was in a great hurry. I was easy either way. I got the two Estate Agents involved to sort it out. It was agreed that it would be six weeks.

We also all agreed that the deposit would be 5% rather than 10%. My buyer paid 5% which was then used by me as my deposit.

alm721

Thanks for that, how long should it take from accepting an offer to exhange? Any ideas

Dan_1976

In my experience, the solicitor will say a few weeks from when they get the offer, this will actually be 4-5 weeks. Once you have exchanged you will normally complete 1-2 weeks but again this is subject tothe chain.

Debt_Free_Chick

It "depends" ... on too many things. I've completed within 7 weeks of viewing (in 2003) and others have done so even quicker than that.

There are too many variables - buyer, seller, buyer's solicitor, seller's solicitor, surveyor, LA (for searches), mortgage lender .......

Double that if there's a chain ... and maybe double it again, and again ...

There is no rule of thumb - each transaction is unique, due to the different parties involved.