The NEW waiting to exchange thread...

nicolanickynic

owenjt said:

Interested to hear how long people generally have between agreeing an exchange/completion date and actually completing?

I'm a FTB who had an offer accepted in May. Been waiting months for the chain to complete and heard last month that it had finally completed and our vendors and their vendors has spoken and agreed they want to move by Christmas, earlier if possible.

It's now only 6/7 weeks unti Christmas and we've still not heard anything. We really need to know this week if we're going to move by then to get prepared, give 1 months' notice on our flat and book time off work. 

I guess it depends on the individual transaction and the circumstances of all involved.

Myself and the vendor agreed our dates last Friday. Exchange this Friday 12th and completion 2 weeks later on the 26th.

I know some people agree dates and it takes way longer, but also agree and it be sorted  in a matter of days.

Good luck.

justcat01

Update - We've had the searches back from our solicitor and everything appears to be in order. There is a TPO on the property, so they are just confirming what that refers to. Interestingly, the vendor didn't realise there was one!

We were told on Friday that our solicitor had been sent the replies to her enquiries on the 25th. When I checked with them on Friday, they said that they would be looking at them over the weekend. Hopefully this means we can get confirmation on them being satisfied.

Our buyer has apparently received, signed and posted back the contract and TR1 (from Hong Kong) and they are keen to get a date.
Our vendor is just checking that their enquiries are completed and they are ready to go.

Fingers crossed, that it seems like we could be talking dates this week! As far as I'm concerned, I'd be happy to exchange next week with completion the week after!

esubbs

Edenbridge said:

esubbs said:

They are keen to be in by Christmas but we have the issue of school term, a long distance move and booking annual leave so we've suggested 21st December 😬

Double check with your solicitor that they will be willing to complete so close to Christmas.

From past experience some won’t as it leaves little wriggle room in the unlikely event of something going wrong.

My solicitor has set a deadline of the 17th this year as the office will be closing after the 22nd until January 3rd.I am told the last few days are used to wrap up the files which have completed the previous week.

We've checked with ours and she says anything up to 23rd is fine but it may not be the case for the other solicitors in the chain so we'll see. 
It may be the case that we complete the week before and have to stay in a bnb to keep the girls in school etc. which is doable though a bit of a nightmare so our estate agent told us to put forward our preferred date and go from there. I'm also aware its so close to Christmas it might not be convenient for the rest in the chain so I don't want to be unreasonable but I guess if you don't ask... 😊

greensalad

Enquiries all answered, finally! They were submitted by the solicitor in late August! All seem fine though, just some FENSA certificates and TPO documentation. 

Now discussing dates. Eek! I'm pushing for 6th January (we are doing a long time between exchange and complete) but I think the vendor wanted the 10th. Still exciting though. Once we have a completion date in mind I'll be much happier.

greensalad

owenjt said:

Interested to hear how long people generally have between agreeing an exchange/completion date and actually completing?

We're hoping to exchange early December and complete in early January, so 1 month. I think it being over christmas extends it from normal a little. 

owenjt

nicolanickynic said:

I guess it depends on the individual transaction and the circumstances of all involved.

Myself and the vendor agreed our dates last Friday. Exchange this Friday 12th and completion 2 weeks later on the 26th.

I know some people agree dates and it takes way longer, but also agree and it be sorted  in a matter of days.

Good luck.

Ok so not much time really with only three weeks between agreeing dates and completion. We just want to know now - we're really hoping to move before Christmas but less than 7 weeks isn't a lot of time!

bhhm3

@greensalad — congrats! how exciting!

It's now been 10 weeks since my offer was accepted and we still have not received a draft contract pack from the seller/their solicitor.

I've been chasing with the EA every 2-3 days and just keep getting told 'tomorrow', 'they're working on it'.

We can't do anything further our side until we receive the draft contract pack from the seller... all searches are back, survey is done, mortgage approved... 

Any thoughts/ideas on what I should do?

nicolanickynic

owenjt said:

nicolanickynic said:

I guess it depends on the individual transaction and the circumstances of all involved.

Myself and the vendor agreed our dates last Friday. Exchange this Friday 12th and completion 2 weeks later on the 26th.

I know some people agree dates and it takes way longer, but also agree and it be sorted  in a matter of days.

Good luck.

Ok so not much time really with only three weeks between agreeing dates and completion. We just want to know now - we're really hoping to move before Christmas but less than 7 weeks isn't a lot of time!

You’re right it isnt. 3 weeks between agreeing dates and completing is plenty for us as there is no chain either side, just me and the vendor but this wouldnt be much time at all if there was a larger chain.

I can understand you wanting to get everything confirmed asap and its not unreasonable at all to make your stance on dates as clear as possible now.

novelle

owenjt said:

Interested to hear how long people generally have between agreeing an exchange/completion date and actually completing?

For us, it's 10 days from proposing a completion date to actually completed. Could be shorter if my solicitor responded to my email more quicker. But we had a very simple transaction. Just us and the seller.  Everything was ready to go.

Hebblethwaite

@bhhm3, I wish I knew! My offer was accepted in May but I only got my first glimpse at the contract in mid-October, only to have to point out that I was listed as the seller and not the buyer. My solicitor requested a corrected version, but a month later and there's no sign of it...

I now have a new DIP and have submitted a new mortgage application so that it's in place before the current one expires. Bit annoyed that I have to pay £200 for a valuation for this one, when most lenders (like my original one) seem to do this without an extra charge. I'm sure it will just be a desktop valuation too, so £200 seems very steep. Still, the rate is going to be a little bit lower than before, I'm putting down a bigger deposit, and have shortened the term a bit, so the overall mortgage will be cheaper. Going to go with that being worth it overall!