How much notice did you get before exchange/completion?

kasqueak

I’m in a long drawn out process of selling my house and buying another. 

It’s at the stage now where everything seems to be there but we’re still waiting on the solicitors from the house I’m buying to answer some final enquires. 

Contracts are all signed, mortgage deed etc. 

The buyer of my house wants completion by 30th Sept at the latest. That’s only 3 weeks now and we haven’t exchanged yet. Solicitors all being so vague. 

I’m concerned we’ll get a call and I’ll only have a weeks notice to book removals, take time off work etc as we’ll have short notice. We’ve started some packing/organising but still a lot to do. 

When you were buying/selling - how much notice were you given before the exchange/completion took place?

hazyjo

Get removals to pack for you. Take the stress off yourselves. 

Most only get a week or two under normal circumstances. During covid times, many are being advised to exchange and complete on the same day.

Sistergold

There is no legal notice period requirement before exchange and completion as long all parties are happy with the proposed date to do the financial transactions and give/get vacant possession then even a few days is permissible. So you might want to insist and ask your solicitors that you need x amount of notice before exchange and x amount between exchange and completion so that all work together. It can all be agreed within days I expect. At present looks like form some threads I have read most solicitors have preferred same day exchnage and completion but I might be wrong. COVID has changed many things and most of us don’t have post Covid experience. Just pack everything and if you are really just keen to move you can then hire the more flexible removals and not the big removal firms. Very stressful period I guess? 

iwb100

You should ask your solicitor to confirm if exchange and completion will be same day. That is very common now in Covid world. And if so you should ask for a date to be set up the chain. Then get on with booking removals. You will need to pay and risk this money but if your solicitors want to exchange and complete on the day you haven’t a choice. If exchange is ahead of completion you should ask what the time period is and also request a completion date up and down the chain.

NQManchester

Our solicitor we’re fine with us exchanging with completion for end of the month, I don’t think they’re as worried about Covid again now

hazyjo

NQManchester said:

Our solicitor we’re fine with us exchanging with completion for end of the month, I don’t think they’re as worried about Covid again now

Really? With several Manchester boroughs being put on red alert, or are you not actually in Manchester? Maybe it's a football thing lol.

iwb100

NQManchester said:

Our solicitor we’re fine with us exchanging with completion for end of the month, I don’t think they’re as worried about Covid again now

I’d change solicitors. If you exchange without Covid protection and you or anyone else in the chain gets symptoms or is told to self isolate ahead of completion you are at risk of a big mess, potentially losing your deposit and months or years to sort it out. And unless your solicitor is either a fortune teller or an epidemiologist I’d prefer they worked on protecting money in law one way or another.

jaxkesa

I'm close to exchange and my solicitor seems happy to exchange before completion. I don't think it's as common as it once was.

hazyjo

jaxkesa said:

I'm close to exchange and my solicitor seems happy to exchange before completion. I don't think it's as common as it once was.

Presume you mean they're happy for you not to do both on the same day?

(You will always exchange before completion - just spelling that out to avoid any confusion.)

NQManchester

She said as a firm they’ve moved back to more normal timeframes around exchange/completion but in our example it’s just us and the sellers and we’re in rented so we can complete and not move if needs be so it limits the risk. You do make good points though that I probably hadn’t given due consideration because she told me it’s fine. We were going to only have a weeks overlap on the rental but perhaps it would be safer to extend that! We’re also planning to shield. 

Scotbot

I bought pre covid and had 4 working days between exchange and completion and a couple of days notice re exchange. A weeks notice is pretty standard even pre covid. You need to get removal quotes sorted before hand so you are ready to press go when you get confirmation.