The logistics of exchanging contracts

dunroving

hb2 wrote: »

Dunroving, you have my sympathy!

We moved to this flat in April of last year, having waited the best part of 6 months for the vendors to find a property to buy. We (thought we) were all set to exchange contracts just before Easter - and then discovered that the vendors had not even signed theirs (and were not answering their phones).

We eventually got in on the very last day of our buyers mortgage offer (they had already extended it once) and still had to wait for someone to bring our keys to us as the vendors hadn't handed them over and were not answering their phones!

I really hope that the next time we move will be in a box, and that will be someone else's problem

Thanks, I realise my delay is small beans compared to some of the complicated situations people on here seem to find themselves.

I'm just confused as to how complicated the actual "exchange process can be if both vendor and buyer are saying "Go", and everything is in place and has been agreed by both parties for a while. Do they send the contracts by carrier pigeon or something?