Exchanging contracts help

vfm

I haven't bought or sold a house for over 25 years and am therefore not familiar with the current process.
We are selling the property of a deceased family member. A buyer is in place and has had surveys carried out and we have agreed price. There is a chain of 3. We have signed draft contract and Transfer at solicitors and our buyer has informed us they have signed draft contract today. We initially both said we wanted to exchange by the end of April. Could someone please tell us what happens now?
Thankyou

PasturesNew

Is it empty already?

Once everybody's signed, the solicitors will each call their clients and ask "OK to exchange still? We can do it today" - and if you say "Yes" they'll then hang up and get in touch with the other solicitor/s in the chain.

They all get together on the phone and all ask "OK to do it then?" and if everybody says "Yes" then they agree on the phone it's done.

You will then get a phone call to say "You've exchanged".

Assuming the completion date is a different date, you've then got a few days/whatever to get the house cleared out and meter readings taken etc etc.

Also, think about the keys - are you going to drop them at the estate agent's? When? Needs to be on/before completion date.

On completion day you'll get a phone call from the solicitor to say it completed. That means the money's on its way and the house is no longer yours, it's your buyer's.

vfm

Thanks for your reply.
The property isn't completely empty, only large items of furniture left. We haven't emptied the house yet as no definite date has been given for completion and we are worried in case sale falls through (you hear that this happens at the last minute). Although we know our buyers definitely want it, we don't know the rest in the chain. We would however be able to remove remaining items quickly.
We will hand keys over to buyers once we are told that completion has taken place as we are selling privately.