What are the risks of exchanging/completing on same day?

alicewilliams

Hi,

We are in a chain and our bank is Halifax.

I was just wondering if someone could please advise, what are the risks of exchanging & completing on the same day?

Would it be better to exchange one day and complete on the next day?

Thanks

G_M

The biggest issue is that you cannot be sure it will happen, or when.

So you cannot book time off work; or a removal van; or give notice on your rental property; or arrange for your mates to come and help;

in fact you cannot really plan anything for sure.

By exchanging, say, a week before Completion, you know Completion will happen on that date and can plan for it.

alicewilliams

Thank you G_M.

Lets just assume that there are no issues with regards to work, removal vans or notices. What about banks or solicitors? Could they be an issue? For example one of the solicitors not managing to complete in a chain?

I'll be honest and say that I don't like the idea of waiting a week to complete after exchange. Would exchanging one day and completing the next day be a little bit more better because it gives buyers/sellers the reassurance that all should be fine?

eddddy

If there's a chain, the most likely problem is that others in the chain won't agree to exchange and complete on the same day.

Whilst you can be flexible, others higher up the chain might have housefuls of furniture to move and numerous things to finalise between exchange and completion.

Why don't you like the idea of a completing a week after exchange?

alicewilliams

Thanks eddddy. Just the fear of something going wrong in between and reading many horror stories such as this one:-

https://www.lovemoney.com/news/13230/this-scary-new-property-blunder-will-ruin-your-life

Plus the fact we want to move faster. My buyer as well as the vendors are eager to move out quickly and in the worse-case-scenario already have emergency accommodation. If you could please take out this factor of the equation, can things still get messy if all parties were to agree a same or even next day completion?

eddddy

The article you link to says:

First of all, despite this cautionary tale, it’s important to note that it is very rare for British property transactions to encounter problems at the completion stage. The chairman of the National Association of Estate Agents, Peter Bolton King, told me he had only seen two transactions fail at this stage in 38 years - once was because the owner dropped dead.

Is your buyer based abroad (as in the article)? If so perhaps you are right to be more cautious - because it would be hard to sue them for breach of contract.

But if, for example, they are UK residents who currently own a property - the vast majority of people would say the overall risk is tiny.

alicewilliams

Thanks edddy for somewhat easing my mind. I'm happy to leave out same day completion, but surely on agreement of all parties, it should be okay to complete 2-3 days later??

Hoploz

It would be better,but still not really enough time to get organised. A week is best as a minimum. Really, you should not be so impatient, think of the others in the chain for whom this is really inconvenient. In the big scheme of things, does a week really matter that much? It will be very quickly forgotten, whereas the stress of being made to move faster than its fair to ask a family to do, for example, won't.

giraffe69

completion used to routinely be 4 weeks although common for it to be shorter in more recent times. So many things to do a short period is good news for most.

Riggyman

When buying, I've always exchanged and completed on the same day. if everything is lined up and everyone's ready and happy, I suspect it's rarely a problem. And means that I can pull out at any moment...

alicewilliams

Firstly let me thank everyone for their advice.

To those whom keep on repeating over and over again that I need to think of the other parties and the inconvenience it will cause them, I've clearly stated that we are ALL ready! Kindly please forget the moving house and inconvenience bit... Lets just look at the legal point of view.

All I'm wanting to know is if we gave enough notice to our solicitors and banks to exchange/complete on same day or even the next day, could this be a problem? i. e banks causing delays in releasing funds etc or solicitors in a chain not being prepared with relevant paperwork.