Can you have an open ended Completion Date?

CPS

I am due to exchange contracts on a house approx next month. My rental lease is not up until 30th November. I dont want to alert my letting agent to me leaving until I exchange contracts. Once I exchange I intend to speak to the LA to see if (a) I can get out of my contract early meaning completion September / October; or (b) have to stay in my rental until end of November meaning Completion end of November. Vendor is aware that completion might be a while after exchange.

Can we exchange contracts with no firm completion date?

G_M

No. What ifyouleft it for6months?Ormore?

Exchange is legally binding between buyer/seller on what will be sold, for how much,and when.

The only exceptionis New Builds, where the property is not yet finished, but there is always a time-frame, with penalties for lateCompletion.

ValHaller

CPS wrote: »

.... Can we exchange contracts with no firm completion date?

Yes, but.

It leaves everyone vulnerable to the other side hitting issues which scupper the deal or delay it interminably - how would you feel if this were still running in 30 years time? How would the vendor feel if it were running in 5 years time and your contract prevented them selling to anyone else?

Rather than mess around on this as the first resort, you should speak to the agent and to the LL and see what scope you have to terminate by mutual agreement. Once you have sorted that, try to make the contract fit.

Whatever you do, set an end date on the contract by which completion must occur.

dj.boz

I exchanged on the property I was selling with a completion date set "or earlier by mutual agreement". This was set for 4-5 weeks after we exchanged and was to give the seller security that I was selling and me a chance to complete on the property that I was trying to buy.

CPS

dj.boz wrote: »

I exchanged on the property I was selling with a completion date set "or earlier by mutual agreement". This was set for 4-5 weeks after we exchanged and was to give the seller security that I was selling and me a chance to complete on the property that I was trying to buy.

That sounds like what I would be after .....exchange on xx November or earlier by mutual agreement ..... giveing me time to sort out my rental lease after exchange.

Will obviously talk it through with Solicitor and Vendor when it comes to signing but thanks

littlesparkles

I bought a new build and the buyer of my old property exchanged contracts on the basis of completion by x date or with 10 working days notice if before this. Worked fine!

agrinnall

CPS wrote: »

That sounds like what I would be after .....exchange on xx November or earlier by mutual agreement ..... giveing me time to sort out my rental lease after exchange.

Will obviously talk it through with Solicitor and Vendor when it comes to signing but thanks

Unless the seller is desperate and has no other interest in the property I think they would be mad to exchange now with a completion date in November. If a prospective buyer proposed that to me I'd tell them to come back in October and in the meantime put the property back on the market.

Strapped

agrinnall wrote: »

Unless the seller is desperate and has no other interest in the property I think they would be mad to exchange now with a completion date in November. If a prospective buyer proposed that to me I'd tell them to come back in October and in the meantime put the property back on the market.

I'd say, that's fine, but for a price...;)

highguyuk

I'd be livid if I were the seller and you were proposing to purchase in 5 months time.

The house would immediately return to the market.

InMyDreams

highguyuk wrote: »

I'd be livid if I were the seller and you were proposing to purchase in 5 months time.

Really? Surely you just wouldn't have accepted the offer in the first place. It sounds like the OP has been totally up front so I don't see the problem if the offer was accepted with that knowledge.

It is possible to complete earlier than your agreed date. We did. No chain and an issue the vendor thought she was going to have didn't transpire but we had already exchanged. She knew we had already completed on our house 3 weeks previously and were camping on parents' floor with stuff in storage, so could complete with no notice. The solicitors were happy to do it. In the end only 24 hours early, but I guess it reduced their Friday workload a bit that week.

Strapped

highguyuk wrote: »

I'd be livid if I were the seller and you were proposing to purchase in 5 months time.

The house would immediately return to the market.

I'd be totally livid if you couldn't count the number of months between August - when the OP is due to exchange - and November.