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

melstar11

Okay - when we bought our current house, we didn't complete on the day we should have because either the solicitor or the bank messed up transferring funds to the vendor. If we had been in a chain that would have been even worse. We had planned to move the day after completion too so we didn't have all our possessions on a lorry clocking up fees from a removal firm. As it was, we didn't get sued because the vendor didn't have the money or appetite for it and hadn't been living in the house. My nerves wouldn't take exchange and completion on the same day! If you are going to go for it, choose a day which is midweek so that any issues can be resolved instead of being in limbo over a weekend.

alicewilliams

Thanks melstar11. So lets just say as an example if we all agreed to exchange on a Tuesday and complete on Wednesday, but worse-case scenario, if one of us didn't get the funds through in time, then we can still complete Thursday or Friday?

Have I got that right? If so, are there any repercussions or penalties if you delay in completing on an agreed day?

Bluebirdman_of_Alcathays

alicewilliams wrote: »

Thanks melstar11. So lets just say as an example if we all agreed to exchange on a Tuesday and complete on Wednesday, but worse-case scenario, if one of us didn't get the funds through in time, then we can still complete Thursday or Friday?

Have I got that right? If so, are there any repercussions or penalties if you delay in completing on an agreed day?

You can be sued for the financial loss that people will suffer.

BISCUIT1

Hi- just to say I have moved 4 times and always exchanged and completed on the same day and it has never been a problem...not sure if this helps

tiger_eyes

I was supposed to exchange and complete same day on my recent purchase, also with Halifax. It did not go well. The first time the lender revoked my mortgage funds and withdrew permission on the morning of exchange. They changed their minds and told us to go ahead, only to do the same thing twice more. Then when the lender finally let us exchange to complete same day, my solicitor somehow forgot to transfer the mortgage funds to the seller's solicitor and didn't realise until after the deadline to complete that day, so completion ran over to the next day. Safe to say it was a stressful experience for me and I imagine for the seller as well.

davidmcn

alicewilliams wrote: »

are there any repercussions or penalties if you delay in completing on an agreed day?

Of course - it would be pretty pointless having a contractual completion day if there weren't. If you doubt being able to complete on the proposed day then you shouldn't exchange.

Lioness_Twinkletoes

I've exchanged and completed on the many sales on the same day loads of times. As long as the money is lodged with the solicitors it's never been a problem. I've also exchanged and completed with a day to spare and in one case we exchanged in 2014 and are yet to complete - although it is now scheduled for June this year (very unusual case).

duchy

davidmcn wrote: »

Of course - it would be pretty pointless having a contractual completion day if there weren't. If you doubt being able to complete on the proposed day then you shouldn't exchange.

and a decent solicitor wouldn't allow you to anyway.

sam2015_2

Be super organised and make sure every body else involve too.

Our exchange and completion on the same day failed because one of the solicitor in the chain didn't give their lender enough time to release the funds. Their funds arrived two days later and then some one else in the chain had to send the fund back to their lender then re-request it again. Some lenders insist on 3 or 5 working days to release the fund and solicitors can hold on to them for 2-3 days if the completion doesn't happen in that time they will have to send it back to the lender. Luckily for the fault party that we didn't exchange.

My friend one failed because his vendor's solicitor couldn't get hold of the vendor to get his permission on the day. Turned out he couldn't move out on the completion day.

Good luck

alicewilliams

May I sincerely thank everyone for their input. Your advice and experience is greatly appreciated.

Those that say there's a chance we could be sued if completion did not go ahead on the same day... Isn't this the also the case if we exchanged one day abd completed a week later?? The risk is there whichever way we decide to go.

We are extremely well prepared and organised and so are the other parties. We've decided to speak to our solicitors and ask them if it's possible to exchange on a Monday and complete on a Wednesday.

We'll let you know what they think.