How long after signing contracts can we exchange?

kilby_007

How long does it take after signing contracts to actually exchange? Both parties want to complete soonest, the vendors have signed their contracts and the paperwork seems to be in order. Last I heard we were just waiting on their solicitors to sort indemnity insurance and that was Tuesday so they've hopefully done that by now. So tomorrow when we sign our contract is it reasonable to request immediate exchange and then completion Monday/Tuesday of next week?

Fosterdog

Exchange is usually done on the day the contracts are signed unless it's late in the day so pushed back to the next day. There can be small hold ups, when our contract came through last year our solicitor didn't like they way the vendors solicitor had worded part of the contract, she took it upon herself to change the wording to something more standard and get us to sign the version she was happy with, she had already contacted the vendors solicitor and was waiting for a reply to confirm they would accept the change so we signed and she kept it for 48 hours until she had confirmation that it was acceptable and the amended contract had been signed by the vendor and that is the day the exchange took place. Completion was a week from us signing and five days from vendor signing and exchange taking place.

Surrey_EA

Fosterdog wrote: »

Exchange is usually done on the day the contracts are signed unless it's late in the day so pushed back to the next day.

May I respectfully disagree with this statement.

There is no particular correlation between when contracts are signed and when exchange of contracts take place.

The contracts may be signed several weeks before exchange, or they may be signed the same day as exchange takes place.

It is often considered a good idea for the contract to be signed once the terms of the contract have been agreed between the two respective solicitors, and then the signed contract is held on file by your solicitor until such time as all other elements associated with the sale/purchase are satisfactorily dealt with.

akal

I'm a first time buyer so only have one experience to share but we signed contracts on Tuesday of this week (01/08) then exchanged yesterday (03/08) for completion on 14/08. We wanted a week between exchange a completion for work reasons but if all parties are in agreement you should be able to do it next week! our lender also wanted 5 working days to release the funds so something to bear in mind. Good luck!

AnotherJoe

Fosterdog wrote: »

Exchange is usually done on the day the contracts are signed unless it's late in the day so pushed back to the next day.

That is just plain wrong.

Contracts are usually signed days and often weeks in advance of when exchange actually happens. The idea is that all solicitors then have a signed copy from their clients and then once ready to go, they exchange. But that can be some considerable time after you've signed, for example perhaps you've signed but another person in the chain hasn't.

And even when the last person signs, solicitors need to converse amongst themselves to agree all are ready (and often they will ask their clients to confirm they want to go ahead), so yet more delays.

Signing is just getting things lined up in advance so that once all other formalities are done, it can happen without then needing to chase people for signed bits of paper. It would be extremely unusual for exchange to happen the day you sign or the day after.

anto164

It also depends, you and your vendor could sign contracts but not yet agree exchange or completion dates as there could be a basic outstanding query held by someone further up or down the chain.

We signed our contract to buy our property, then it was 2 months before we even talked exchange date as we were waiting for a couple of very basic queries to be closed out.

cloo

When you sign the contracts has little to do with the rest of the timeline and doesn't indicate that everything is ready to go, IME. I've usually signed them a few weeks into the whole process, but then it's been another two months or so until actual exchange. My three purchases took, I think, 11 weeks, 11 weeks and 13 weeks and I probably signed the contracts with the first four weeks, before a lot of things had been ironed out.

mzace

I am buying first time and my solicitor has asked me to sign and return the contract. We are still waiting for the search results and a report on them by our solicitor. The contract sent by our solicitor for us to sign has no completion date or amount of deposit.
From the posts and suggestions above I gather that it is ok to sign and send the contract back to our solicitor, although we are yet to receive search results. Should I do so and send without any report and replies to queries? Will really appreciate some advice here. Thanks

JoJo1978

Us and our vendors signed 2 months before exchange - we had to wait for chain above and below us to reach the same point.

Nadeshkarine

We signed our contracts in Jan...and we're still waiting for some final paperwork. I don't think we'll be exchanging before April at this point. Completion can be same day as exchange or months later, whatever all parties agree too but I know some mortgages requires a few days gap (ours is 10 IIRC) for the funds to be drawn down.

carp1000

So if your a cash buyer and there is no ongoing chain how long after signing contracts can you exchange? the sellers want to complete asap and so do we so cant see any reason we cant exchange within a few days of signing contracts??????????