Should we exchange?

AK1212

It is not in your best interest to exchange considering the exchange and completion date is so far apart. Although ultimately the final decision rests with you, it will put you in a high risk position from a financial perspective all things considered. 

greatcrested

Whty271 said:

Cheers everyone, 
Are we best telling our solicitor we would like a simulatenous exchange and completion or should we talk directly to the developer ourself?

Although we are concerned about redundancy, we are not worried about being able to afford the repayments.

your solitor. Discuss on the phone first and then follow up with a letter/email to confirm your instruction to him.

numbercruncher8

Whty271 said:

Cheers everyone, 
Are we best telling our solicitor we would like a simulatenous exchange and completion or should we talk directly to the developer ourself?

Although we are concerned about redundancy, we are not worried about being able to afford the repayments.

What are you gonna say if the solicitor asks why you would want/need a simultaneous exchange and completion? I am sure many would advise against it, if there is no requirement for it to happen. There doesn't seem to be a clear answer to me. Even the developers are not pushing for that.

Not exchanging with such a vast gap in between exchange and completion should be the priority here rather than whether completion happens on the same day. Considering the property isn't even complete yet, there is the possibility that it may not even finish in August. At the very least I would go to the development myself to check it out... you won't get a exact completion date by looking but you may be to make a vague guess.

The solicitors work for you, ultimately you can request what you want. The standard gap of two weeks allows you time to get things in order. It's there for a very good reason.

Whether the developers agree to that really depends on the local market. If you give more detail maybe someone may have more detail about that. But personally I believe many developers will have been starved for cashflow over these couple months and in their keenness to secure some commitments will rather over-egg their positions.

If you haven't exchanged, you don't lose your deposit, but you may lose your reservation fee. How much did you pay for this? It may be very small in the bigger scheme of things.

Whty271

Yes we'd be 100% happy with a 2 week period between exchange and completion, but understandably we don't want to exchange now with a 3 month gap before completion, as we all know a lot can happen during these times.

Reservation and legal fees are minimal at the moment, but we have a baby on the way so we would prefer to carry on with the purchase rather than start from scratch elsewhere.

Whty271

jonnym8083 said:

Speak to solicitor or developer about a rider. We have just exchanged on a new build and there is an additional rider form stating that should anything happen with our income, job security or the builder due to Covid 19 then we can terminate contract and get deposit money back

Thanks, we've just asked our solicitor whether we can get the same.

blue_max_3

Don't know if it will apply, but sometimes your mortgage offer is time limited. If it slipped, it could expire and you may not be offered another, especially if you lost your job meanwhile.