Attending exchange of contracts

leereni

I'm a FTB and was wondering if both my partner and I will need to attend anywhere to exchange contracts?

Thanks

hawk30

No, it would be unusual to be there at actual exchange, as this is usually done by telephone rather than in person. You may be required to attend your solicitor's/conveyancer's/legal exec's office to sign (depending on the firm) but again it's not necessary as our legal exec sent us the contract in the post, we signed it and sent it back to him prior to exchange.

leereni

Thanks. The mortgage advisor stated he had to see my partner as he was bond by law/procedure. As we live about 60 miles away it would have been very awkward to attend the office on two occasions.

Building_Surveyor

i had to attend my solicitors office in person which was about an hours drive. So it probably depends on the solicitor and how fast you want things done.

guesswho2000

Interesting, this would seem to differ according to which firm you use - when we bought our house, my OH never attended the solicitor's at all - solicitor's office was where we were buying, and where I worked, so it was easy for me to attend, but OH worked 25 miles in the opposite direction and we lived out of the area, so it never made sense for her to attend.

As for exchange, that was a case of me confirming over the phone that we agreed to exchange. The only time I attended even the EA after putting an offer in was when I collected the keys.

leereni

Yes, seems to depend. Thanks.