What does signing the contracts mean?

roje

This is the first time I've sold a house as I still live in my first time buyer house!
The solicitor has phoned to ask me to go and sign the contract for the purchase next week. I'm still a bit confused about the time scale here, does this mean that exchange is imminent or not? The survey was only carried out today.

Voyager2002

Signing the contract means nothing, but is simply getting things ready. Exchange is what counts, and can only happen once the contract has been signed, so better to do it in advance rather than letting it hold things up if everything else is OK.

libf

Ask if you can have them posted to you to sign and post back if exchange is not imminent. No need to go in and do it, unless time scales are tight.

roje

Thank you! I wish they were clearer about things, I suppose they do it every day so it's part of their everyday language but I'm totally new to this and they're so non-committal if I ask what it means in terms of the sale.

eddddy

roje wrote: »

This is the first time I've sold a house as I still live in my first time buyer house!
The solicitor has phoned to ask me to go and sign the contract for the purchase next week.
...

Do you mean sign the contract for the sale?

Or are you purchasing another house at the same time as selling your current one?

If you are purchasing and selling at the same time, you should be signing both contracts.

(Hopefully, your solicitor is aware that you are both purchasing and selling, if that's the case!!)

roje

Yes sorry meant for the sale.

I am purchasing and selling but the sale and purchase are not linked. This is because I sold my house with 'no chain' and then decided to make an offer for a house after all, but my buyers are keen to move in as soon as the sale is completed. This does leave me in a dilemma but I don't think it's really fair to have sold without a chain and then to introduce a chain into the sale later on.

G_M

The contract cannot be Exchanged (the point at which it becomes binding) unless it has been signed.

So the solicitor gets you to sign it then stuffs it in his top draw out of harms way, ready to be taken out next week, next month, whenever Exchange happens.

Red-Squirrel_2

roje wrote: »

Yes sorry meant for the sale.

I am purchasing and selling but the sale and purchase are not linked. This is because I sold my house with 'no chain' and then decided to make an offer for a house after all, but my buyers are keen to move in as soon as the sale is completed. This does leave me in a dilemma but I don't think it's really fair to have sold without a chain and then to introduce a chain into the sale later on.

Be careful that you don't introduce problems into your mortgage application by moving address partway through!