Completed on property but funds not received

Anniebelle1

I wonder if anyone can help. I completed on a house I'm selling today (it was vacant and not my main residence). It was rushed through this week at the buyer's request and we exchanged and completed today. I assumed that everything was in place as my solicitor was happy to complete today however, after completion, my solicitor told me that they still hadn't received the redemption figure from my mortgage provider so they couldn't send me the funds until they had this. So now, I no longer own the house and the buyer now has the keys, however I haven't received any payment! There was a significant amount of equity in the property and only a small mortgage to pay off. I'm annoyed at myself for not requesting the completion statement before completion but I'm also annoyed at the solicitor for not informing me that there would potentially be a delay in releasing funds. It is Friday evening so I assume I will need to wait until at least Monday now! My question is, were my solicitors in the wrong to complete without having recieved my mortgage redemption statement? Had I known this, I would not have agreed to complete today!

davidmcn

In the wrong yes, though it's more their risk as the redemption figure might exceed the money they've got (and they'll have given their undertaking to the buyers' solicitor to redeem your account). But why would you have wanted to postpone completion? You wouldn't have got the money any faster than next week anyway (and have relieved yourself of the overheads of owning the property a few days earlier).

AdrianC

Perhaps the question is more one for your lender... Why haven't they sent through the redemption statement?

John_

The money’s with your solicitor, in a client account, so there’s no need to worry.

greatcrested

You or your solicitor could/should have delayed Completion till the redemption figure was available.

That way you'd have got your money faster. still not have the money as Completion would have been next week.

So in what way have you lost out?

theoretica

Perhaps it would help to consider that you do have the money - but it is in a solicitor account rather than a bank account.  You can't spend or access it immediately, but the funds are definitely yours.

Slinky

John_ said:

The money’s with your solicitor, in a client account, so there’s no need to worry.

You might think that but we sold a house on a Friday and the money went missing. Didn't turn up in our account until the following Wednesday. Bank and solicitor each blamed each other for wrong account details. It was a good job we weren't relying on the funds for an onward purchase, although it was embarrassing telling our builder we were having to delay payment of his bill whilst the bank found our money. I'm not entirely sure he believed us.

dimbo61

Wow I would complain.
You might miss out on £0.50p Interest over the weekend.

Tiglet2

If you were selling but not buying simultaneously, this is normal practice.  The solicitor most likely did have the redemption statement, however, although they would have sent over the funds to redeem the mortgage according to the redemption statement, the solicitor has to wait until the mortgage lender confirms that the mortgage has been fully redeemed and the account closed.  Lenders won't do this on the day of completion, it is usually a few working days later.  Perfectly normal for you not to have received the balance of monies on completion day.  Only sellers who have sold a mortgage-free property get their funds the same day.

NameUnavailable

I sold without buying and the funds were in my account by 5pm on the day of completion (with a mortgage paid off).

GDB2222

Was this a simultaneous exchange and completion?