Exchange and completion on same day..good idea?

Soapn

If not, why not?



TIA

GAH

Are you purchasing cash or are you obtaining a mortgage?

Soapn

mortgage


I don't remember how these things work, it was years ago I bought the house I'm in

Richard_Webster

It will take solicitor 7-14 days to get the money from your lender so normally you would exchange before doing that. Sometimes if there is some small risk factor not yet resolved the money will be requested on the basis that it is most likely that the issue will be sorted before the anticipated completion date. Exchange then takes place when the issue has been sorted.

Another reason for exchanging and completing on the same day used to be when you were buying and selling and your buyer was getting 100% mortgage and had no deposit to put down on exchange. He might disappear leaving you stuck with having to complete your purchase with not enough funds to do so.


However in most cases there is no point in doing this as people like to have a week or two to make their last minute arrangements.

As I have explained, it doesn't speed things up because the money still has to got from the lender and it isn't requested until everything or nearly everything has been checked and is OK.

sonastin

It depends what needs to be done by/before completion that you might not want to start/commit to until the sale is definitely going to happen, i.e. at exchange. For example:

1) is there a long chain? To achieve exchange AND completion all the way through the chain on the same day can be challenging.
2) does anyone need to book removals and/or time off work to move on the day of completion? until you have exchanged, the date you book can keep changing.
3) is the party at the bottom of the chain in a rental? They need to give notice and they might want to minimise the overlap between paying rent and mortgage; notice shouldn't be given until exchange.
4) does the party at the top of the chain need to find somewhere to move to? They might not want to commit to a rental property until they know their sale won't fall through, i.e. at exchange.

If the person buying has somewhere they can stay until they are ready to move in and the person selling has somewhere they can go to before the sale is concluded then the date of completion isn't critical for either party and there is no reason why it can't be on the same day as exchange. In other situations, it depends on the circumstances of all involved.

zappahey

We exchanged and completed on the same day and it was the most stressful period of my life. In our case, the house had been emptied and loaded onto trucks to go to another country and we had no idea if it was actually sold.

Basically, if you actually need to make any sort of arrangements (movers, etc) that are dependent upon completion, then I would make every effort to avoid it.

dizziblonde

sonastin wrote: »

It depends what needs to be done by/before completion that you might not want to start/commit to until the sale is definitely going to happen, i.e. at exchange. For example:

1) is there a long chain? To achieve exchange AND completion all the way through the chain on the same day can be challenging.
2) does anyone need to book removals and/or time off work to move on the day of completion? until you have exchanged, the date you book can keep changing.
3) is the party at the bottom of the chain in a rental? They need to give notice and they might want to minimise the overlap between paying rent and mortgage; notice shouldn't be given until exchange.
4) does the party at the top of the chain need to find somewhere to move to? They might not want to commit to a rental property until they know their sale won't fall through, i.e. at exchange.

If the person buying has somewhere they can stay until they are ready to move in and the person selling has somewhere they can go to before the sale is concluded then the date of completion isn't critical for either party and there is no reason why it can't be on the same day as exchange. In other situations, it depends on the circumstances of all involved.

We did it - not by plan but by a "ok the funds are all in place - do you want to push throught to complete this this afternoon" type phonecall. Like mentioned though - it was chain-free, the vendors didn't need to move OUT as such (the property had stood empty for 2 years), and we were renting with a planned overlap to allow us to do some DIY/decorating/move at leisure (does such a thing exist) so didn't have the pressure on of if it didn't go through we'd be in a hotel that evening. Would I do it now, in a chain, without those fall-backs in place? No way!

Sugared-frog

We did it - but mainly because we weren't in a chain and I guess it was less work for our solicitor to wrap it all up in one day. However I did find that because it suddenly happened that I didn't really have enough time to organise everything that I wanted to get done such as the electrician and I'm still working my way through people to inform. I guess I didn't trust the date to move, whereas if I had exchanged then presumably I might have been more confident.

Gonzo33

I have done it a couple of times personally, and found it incredibly stressful. If I can help it I will never do it again. Although next time we buy we won't be in any rush, so can move at our own leisure as opposed to being in a chain like we have been the last few moves.

Errata

I've never done it, too many things to go wrong, not least the vendor changing their mind and deciding not to proceed, which leaves the prospecive purchaser with their worldly goods in the removal van and them with only a car to live in.

InkZ

I'd put a week or two in-between. Personally I did four weeks when I bought because I was moving out of a flat and needed to sort somewhere to go etc. You don't want to have a van etc ready only to find that exchange hasn't happened for whatever reason.