exhange/completion date

goldengirl28

apologies if this seems like a stupid question, but how/who agrees the exchange completion date.

my buyers is having the electrical certificate finished later today, then thats all his paperwork in order to get his mortgage.

at what point do we agree the exchange and is that somethng i need to do or him?

we have only just seen a house so i don't think we can keep him waiting until we get a moving date (depends how long ours bits takes)

we are thinking about staying in a caravan for a couple of weeks.

iamana1ias

You do know that exchange and completion are different things, don't you?

Don't you remember what happened when you bought the place?

goldengirl28

iamana1ias wrote: »

You do know that exchange and completion are different things, don't you?

Don't you remember what happened when you bought the place?

Morning,

yes i think so about the first point (i think when you exchange contracts and then we we give them the keys completion bit) i could be wrong

the 2nd point, it was 16 years ago and my mum sorted everything out, sadly she is no longer here to advise me

CLAPTON

exchange of contracts usually takes place once your solicitor has everything ready. usually you sign without the completion date being agreed.
you need to have the deposit available at this stage


the completion date is arranged via the solicitors to suite everyone in the chain so you can all move on the same day and no-one needs to move into a caravan for a few days... so there is sometimes some to-ing and fro-ing until everyone is agreeable with the actual date

TrickyDicky

You exchange when everyone is happy with everything and you can all agree a completion date (ie. the whole chain agrees the date day). Completion then happens on the agreed date.

goldengirl28

thanks both.

i was just making sure it was me personally as the buyer keeps ringing me to ask when i'm going, and i keep telling him to speak to his solicitor, so i'll keep using the same responce

one less thing to worry about

p00hsticks

Whether you choose to communicate with your buyer directly or through your solicitor, you do need to let one or other know when you are prepared to move out as soon as you can.

I must admit I was surprised at CLAPTONs response about the completion date not being agreed when you exchange contracts (or have I misread it ?) . My understanding was that the completion date is usually agreed and written into the contract at the time that they are exchanged - certainly that's the way that I've always done it. Once you exchange contracts you are legally comitted to the sale / purchase. In the buyers position, I'd be very concerned about commiting to an open-ended purchase with no agreed date as to when I could actually take possession, although I am aware that can happen when buying off plan or on new builds.

But that's not the case here. You need to decide whether you want to delay the sale of your property until you have another property lined up and can all exchange / complete together, which might end up with you losing your buyer if he is anxious to move, or whether you are prepared to fix up a date to sell your house now and possibly move into temporary accomodation if you haven;t got anything permanent sorted out by the completion date.

Eric1

p00hsticks wrote: »

I must admit I was surprised at CLAPTONs response about the completion date not being agreed when you exchange contracts (or have I misread it ?) . My understanding was that the completion date is usually agreed and written into the contract at the time that they are exchanged

I'm surprised too. As a buyer, I'd never agree to exchange unless there's a reasonable completion deadline.

LandyAndy

CLAPTON said you sign without agreeing the completion date. That is generally correct. You return the signed contracts to your solicitor who holds them pending agreement of the completion date and exchange.

That's how I read it anyway.

dan.c_4

p00hsticks wrote: »

I must admit I was surprised at CLAPTONs response about the completion date not being agreed when you exchange contracts (or have I misread it ?) .

It was slightly misleading to read. What I think was meant is that you can ink the contract at your own solicitors with your signature before an exchange or completion date have been set or possibly even discussed. Indeed the completion date will then be informally agreed between all parties before the contracts are exchanged. The completion data becomes binding once the contracts are then exchanged.

G_M

CLAPTON wrote: »

exchange of contracts usually takes place once your solicitor has everything ready. usually you sign without the completion date being agreed.
you need to have the deposit available at this stage

What Clapton said was "you sign without the completion date..". This is correct. 'Signing' is not the same as 'Exchange'!

Your solicitor will send you the contract to sign leaving both the date of Exchange and date of Completion blank. He will then keep the document ready in his office while everything is finalised. Once all parties all the way up/down the chain are ready to proceed and agreed on Completion dates, all the solicitors involved will ring each other and agree the dates. THEY will then add both dates, and Exchange will take place.

You will need to advise your solicitor what date(s) you are happy to Exchange on, and/or how long a gap you want between Exchange and Completion, so that he can do the above.

ps - the alternative to the above process would involve a delay once all parties had agreed dates while the contracts were sent to all the buyers/sellers to sign and date. Doubtless one of them would be away, or slow, the date would be missed, and they'd all have to negotiate new dates again, and send out the contracts again and.......