Getting everything in sync

dazeruk

I'm a FTB and have just had my offer accepted on a flat.

The estate agent has said she hopes the sale will go through and contracts exchanged in 6 weeks.

This property buying is all new to me so I don't know how optimistic that 6 week figure is.

I'm currently renting a council property and I have to give four weeks notice to end my tenancy. I also pay utilities and council tax etc there

Obviously I want to minimise my expenses and avoid paying costs on both properties.

How near to completion will I get an actual firm date?

Does anyone have any tips for getting things in sync and avoiding a large overlap?

iheartbristol

The one thing people have told me time and time again is never give notice on your rental property UNTIL contracts have been exchanged. you never know what could go wrong. Unfortunately it means paying extra rent but that's nothing compared to costs you could incur if it all fell through before exchange.

MacMickster

Estate agents always estimate about 6 weeks and are nearly always too optimistic. A lot depends on how fast your solicitor, the seller's solicitor, lenders etc work. Also, the survey may show something which requires further invstigation or negotiation. The biggest variable though is what happens up the chain above you - delays in your seller's purchase, or their seller's etc.

I would not give notice on your current property until contracts are exchanged and a completion date confirmed.

jonny_power

we've got the same issue, although we've gone against iheartbristol's (very sound) advice, purely because we want a small overlap but not weeks or potentially over a month (due to fact that we have to give 1 months notice which has to fall at the end of each month). Our vendor is moving into rented accom, so they are having to line up the same kind of thing, so we're trusting that they have the incentive to get it all sorted too.

Just to add, we've had survey done and just finalising a very small bit of negotiating about some work to be carried out (written into contract and done between exchange and completion). We hope to exchange in 2 weeks and complete 2 weeks after.

kingstreet

Agree on a completion date four weeks from exchange and give notice on the day exchange takes place. On that basis, you know you'll be moving on that day and overlaps are avoided.

iheartbristol

I concurr with kingstreet. I wish OH and I could do that but we were aware that the chain wanted to complete as quickly as possible when we made our offer. We have to give notice at the end of the month so dread to think how much overlap we're going to get