Completion day questions - First time buyers

MrBog

We are due to complete tomorrow and we received confirmation our mortgage and balancing funds have reached our solicitor's bank account as of yesterday.
We are buying an empty house, no furniture and nobody to move out.
We have been dealing exclusively with the vendors after our offer got accepted. We're even supposed to get the keys from them tomorrow. 
I have a few questions which maybe a solicitor can help with:
1. On completion day do buyer's solicitors generally make the money transfer their first priority for the day, or whenever they get around to it? 

2. Would the vendor's solicitor communicate that the money has reached their account straight away, or whenever they get around to it? 

3. Given our situation who will tell us that the money has reached the vendor's solicitor account? Is this generally the EA's role?

I know I could ask my solicitor all these questions, but want to know what general expectations I should have. 

Nikkilou86

When we first time buyers we completed about 11am, when we moved our first time buyer completed about 11am and we completed on our purchase about 1pm.

The Vendors agent informed us both time.

when my parents moved they didn’t complete until around 3pm, however there was a first time buyer, then my parents buyer, then my parents buying at top of chain - they were told this was due to solicitors closing for lunch in the middle. 

princeofpounds

1. Completion normally takes priority, but that definitely doesn't mean it will happen at 9am sharp. Solicitors will normally have some tasks to do in the morning before getting around to core business, as most of us do. There may be multiple completions on that day. It takes time to send the money and confirm it has been received with the other side's solicitor, and sometimes schedules mean there is a bit of 'telephone tennis' first. When it actually happens is very variable but tends to be around the middle of the day most often. 

2. Not usually right away, but they should be on the ball looking for it, confirming within an hour or two if they are working on other thing at the time, sometimes much quicker.

3. Your solicitor will ring you up and confirm you have completed. The vendor's solicitor will do the same thing on their side, and the EA will typically hear from them and get in touch to congratulate you and tell you to pick up the keys. 

hopeitwill

We just completed yesterday on a chain-free empty property. We were only able to get the keys after 2pm. Most websites are talking about a morning completion for chain-free properties.

It really depends on the individual solicitors, their workload and also of course the banking system.

Hope it all goes well for you and you can have a peace of mind early in the morning tomorrow

MrBog

hopeitwill said:

We just completed yesterday on a chain-free empty property. We were only able to get the keys after 2pm. Most websites are talking about a morning completion for chain-free properties.

It really depends on the individual solicitors, their workload and also of course the banking system.

Hope it all goes well for you and you can have a peace of mind early in the morning tomorrow

That sucks. Were you given any reason for the later completion? Did your solicitor ask you any last minute questions that he forgot to ask in advance? 
Edit:
I'd better get onto my solicitor and tell them my expectations, i.e. morning completion; otherwise I might get chucked at the back of the pile. 

pinkteapot

They may well prioritise doing the completions of buyers who are at the bottom of long chains. If they don't do those till lunchtime, there's a risk that completions further along the chain may not happen by close of business. 

You can ask for a morning completion but you can't insist on it. 

With my purchases I've received keys anywhere between 11am and 5pm, though the 5pm wasn't the solicitor's fault - we completed at 1pm but the vendor didn't finish moving out till 5pm *sigh*. Least you won't have that to deal with!

davidmcn

MrBog said:

hopeitwill said:

We just completed yesterday on a chain-free empty property. We were only able to get the keys after 2pm. Most websites are talking about a morning completion for chain-free properties.

It really depends on the individual solicitors, their workload and also of course the banking system.

Hope it all goes well for you and you can have a peace of mind early in the morning tomorrow

That sucks. Were you given any reason for the later completion? Did your solicitor ask you any last minute questions that he forgot to ask in advance? 
Edit:
I'd better get onto my solicitor and tell them my expectations, i.e. morning completion; otherwise I might get chucked at the back of the pile. 

2pm is hardly "late", it's pretty normal - bank transfers don't happen instantly (given you usually have multiple personnel involved at either end), and although clients who are completing get priority, so will other things.

MrBog

davidmcn said:

MrBog said:

hopeitwill said:

We just completed yesterday on a chain-free empty property. We were only able to get the keys after 2pm. Most websites are talking about a morning completion for chain-free properties.

It really depends on the individual solicitors, their workload and also of course the banking system.

Hope it all goes well for you and you can have a peace of mind early in the morning tomorrow

That sucks. Were you given any reason for the later completion? Did your solicitor ask you any last minute questions that he forgot to ask in advance? 
Edit:
I'd better get onto my solicitor and tell them my expectations, i.e. morning completion; otherwise I might get chucked at the back of the pile. 

2pm is hardly "late", it's pretty normal - bank transfers don't happen instantly (given you usually have multiple personnel involved at either end), and although clients who are completing get priority, so will other things.

Thanks David,

CHAPS payments generally clear in maximum 3 hours so that's why I was thinking it's a bit late. 
In our case both solicitors use same bank so maybe payment will clear even quicker? 
I just don't want our solicitor to just sit on it till around noon and press the send button then... 

davidmcn

MrBog said:

davidmcn said:

MrBog said:

hopeitwill said:

We just completed yesterday on a chain-free empty property. We were only able to get the keys after 2pm. Most websites are talking about a morning completion for chain-free properties.

It really depends on the individual solicitors, their workload and also of course the banking system.

Hope it all goes well for you and you can have a peace of mind early in the morning tomorrow

That sucks. Were you given any reason for the later completion? Did your solicitor ask you any last minute questions that he forgot to ask in advance? 
Edit:
I'd better get onto my solicitor and tell them my expectations, i.e. morning completion; otherwise I might get chucked at the back of the pile. 

2pm is hardly "late", it's pretty normal - bank transfers don't happen instantly (given you usually have multiple personnel involved at either end), and although clients who are completing get priority, so will other things.

CHAPS payments generally clear in maximum 3 hours so that's why I was thinking it's a bit late. 
In our case both solicitors use same bank so maybe payment will clear even quicker? 
I just don't want our solicitor to just sit on it till around noon and press the send button then... 

Yes, but your solicitor isn't directly pressing the bank's send button - chances are they will need the transfer to be counter-signed by somebody senior, it then gets passed on to their cashroom to be processed, the cashier will also have a pile of other stuff to do, so only after all that does it get tapped into the bank's system - and similar process in reverse at the other end.

justworriedabit

Things can go wrong and years ago before mobiles and the net, the EA came to demand the keys off us as agreed vaccant time was noon if their money had gone through but for whatever reason our was delayed until just before 2pm it was hectic and stressful but with the net, mobiles, emails, this rarely happens i think as it has not to us since or anyone else we know.

Good luck in your new home.

MaryNB

My sellers were moving into an empty property and their seller didn't have an onward purchase. They had asked for extra time from me (via the EA) and we agreed 3pm.  I still didn't get the keys until after 4 and it was nearly 5 by the time they had actually moved out.

My solicitor was really annoyed because their solicitors had not be in contact to confirm the transfer of funds. By the time they called at nearly 4pm them they were like "oh yeah that was done hours ago".