Time between Exchange and Completion

pknottm

What is the average time between exchange of contracts and the completion date?

My solicitor has charged me an extra £41.13 when I sold my house because I exchanged on a Friday and completed the following Friday. I thought this was the average time length?!

Their terms and conditions state that they charge this for completions for "less than 7 days", but mine was in 7 days, not less than!
They whole process took 9 weeks, and I only agreed a completion date, not the exchange of contracts date, there was certainly no rush to complete so I feel this charge is a bit unfair!

JennyW_2

pknottm wrote:

What is the average time between exchange of contracts and the completion date?

My solicitor has charged me an extra £41.13 when I sold my house because I exchanged on a Friday and completed the following Friday. I thought this was the average time length?!

Their terms and conditions state that they charge this for completions for "less than 7 days", but mine was in 7 days, not less than!
They whole process took 9 weeks, and I only agreed a completion date, not the exchange of contracts date, there was certainly no rush to complete so I feel this charge is a bit unfair!

never heard of that before We exchanged on a Tuesday and completed on the Friday of the following week although we were trying to complete 7 days later but there was never a mention of it costing us more if we did!

dexters_mum_2

Some solicitors say exchange and completion should happen within 28 days of each other and yes, they can charge extra per day/per week that completion is 'delayed' although some won't,it'll just be charged in your normal fee.
I think quite a lot of people these days, in my experience, are having a gap between exchange and completion so to charge for these seems silly but unfortunately, solicitors are a law unto themselves!

Hope your move has gone well

mrsc_4

Our solicitor said we needed 5 days at least, we were aiming for a week but in the end went for 12 days due to my Hubby not being able to get last friday off work.

pknottm

dexters_mum wrote:

they can charge extra per day/per week that completion is 'delayed'
Hope your move has gone well

The solicitor's terms stated quite clearly that there was an additional charge for completions less than 7 days after exchange, but as mine was actually 7 days later, I don't think I should have to pay the charge, especially as I never requested a quick completion anyway!
If I'd exchanged and completed in say 3 days, then I would have happily paid the extra. I just think the solicitor is trying to bump the fees up!!

Apart from that, the sale went extrememly smoothly, and as we were moving into rented (to give us more time to find a house we like), we had a very stress free move over 3 days!!

silvercar

if you feel hard done by, mention it to the solicitor. If he doesn't respond to your liking there will be a complaints procedure within the practice that you can follow. If still not satisfied you can take up the matter with the Law Society. How far you want to take it for less than £50 is upto you.

Chances are it is a simple oversight that will be corrected when you mention it.

maninthestreet

pknottm wrote:

What is the average time between exchange of contracts and the completion date?

My solicitor has charged me an extra £41.13 when I sold my house because I exchanged on a Friday and completed the following Friday. I thought this was the average time length?!

Their terms and conditions state that they charge this for completions for "less than 7 days", but mine was in 7 days, not less than!
They whole process took 9 weeks, and I only agreed a completion date, not the exchange of contracts date, there was certainly no rush to complete so I feel this charge is a bit unfair!

It's not just unfair, it's outside the terms and conditions of the contract.
Get back to the solictor and point out that Friday of one week to Friday of the next is not less than 7 days, and you will not be paying the £41.43.

SayangAlly

Hello

On a related topic - I am trying to exchange soon as the whole process has started to drag... but the vendor wants to complete on 5 Jan. As I am currently in rented accommodation and need to give 4 weeks notice, would I be being silly to agree to this completion date and potentially be paying mortgage and rent in January...

Bit confused and getting nervy about this whole thing

Thanks

silvercar

The advantage is you could get any work done prior to moving in.

I would say you could negotiate for a bit longer, but don't lose the property over it.

fbrj

SayangAlly wrote:

Hello

On a related topic - I am trying to exchange soon as the whole process has started to drag... but the vendor wants to complete on 5 Jan. As I am currently in rented accommodation and need to give 4 weeks notice, would I be being silly to agree to this completion date and potentially be paying mortgage and rent in January...

Bit confused and getting nervy about this whole thing

Thanks

As has been noted before....the norm is 28 days between exchange and completion. In other words if you exchange on 22-23rd Dec, you would expect completion to be towards the end of January. There is no need for you to agree to the vendor's demands and I believe that as the purchaser you are probably in the stronger position - if you drop out there is no way the vendor will find another buyer who will complete before the date you want....and certainly not by 5th January. Completion date will, in the end, have to be mutually agreed - so go back through your solicitor and say that you are expecting to complete at the end of the usual 28 day period....I wouldn't agree to the vendor's demands without some negotiation/discussion.

pknottm

maninthestreet wrote:

It's not just unfair, it's outside the terms and conditions of the contract.
Get back to the solictor and point out that Friday of one week to Friday of the next is not less than 7 days, and you will not be paying the £41.43.

My solicitor has acknowledged the error as I have just received an email stating "I apologise for the error and will forward a cheque for the sum of £42.13 today by first class post." :T

Just goes to show...always check your bills!!

Note: the solicitor was Roberts Solicitors in Macclesfield (appointed via http://www.conveyancing-warehouse.com )
I would now highly recommend them and will be using them again in my house purchase within the next 6 months!