When to turn in the deposit, and to whom?

sjb2016

Hello All,

We're just starting down the road to buying our first house.

We have a 40% deposit, but some of that is tied up in long term ISAs. We will take a hit on these in forfeited interest, but it makes sense to have a bigger deposit. However, we're a bit confused as to when we need to actually have that money available. I understand that when contracts are exchanged, generally we must put down a 10% deposit. Fine. However, who do we give the rest of the money we've got saved to (the solicitor or the bank directly?) and when do they expect it (when we exchange contracts or upon completion)?

Any help, much appreciated.

Regards,
Sam

Flugelhorn

You need to make sure that the solicitor has 10% a few days before Exchange and then make sure that the solicitor again has the rest of your deposit a few days before completion.

they hold it in a clients' account and it gets electronically transferred to the solicitor of the vendors

dimbo61

How much deposit do you need?
What is the LTV of the deal you are taking 60% LTV?
If it is only 75% perhaps you can keep some of your ISA savings

Yorkie1

Flugelhorn wrote: »

You need to make sure that the solicitor has 10% a few days before [STRIKE]completion[/STRIKE] exchange and then make sure that the solicitor again has the rest of your deposit a few days before completion.

they hold it in a clients' account and it gets electronically transferred to the solicitor of the vendors

Fixed that for you

sjb2016

Thanks for the responses.

The total downpayment we have is £80,000 and we're looking to buy something about £200,000. So the LTV is about 60%. £24,000 of the deposit will mature in October, so that's fine, but most of the rest not until 2014, and some not until 2016. All told we'd be giving up about £1,400 in interest, which stinks, but having that money now will help with a much smaller mortgage at a better rate.

Thanks again.
Sam