Mortgage drawdown time between exchanging and completion

RHF2020

Hi,

My wife and I are very very close to getting on the property ladder as first time buyers; last Wednesday we signed our contract and gave our exchanging deposit to the solicitor. However, we have still not exchanged because our vendor wants to do one last inspection on the house they are buying before exchanging. Why they feel the need to do this, at this stage, after their initial viewings, their survey etc. seems nonsensical is beyond me but I guess we can't control them.

We are due to complete on 5 May, and I am now concerned that we will miss that deadline due to the time taken to drawdown mortgage funds. I'm told this normally takes 5 working days, and with the bank holiday on Monday we'd run out of time to complete when we want. Is there experience of the mortgage funds being provided in a very short timeframe? Our mortgage is with Halifax, via a broker. Our tenancy lease expires on 6 May (we originally thought this prudent as at the outset the vendors stressed a strong preference to move by the end of April - turns out they weren't serious about this).

We're seriously considering pulling out and finding a new rental over the weekend if they haven't exchanged by COB Friday - this all seems like needless procrastination from vendors who previously appeared very keen to make the sale happen quickly, and going into next week without knowing where we'll live the following weekend seems too stressful to countenance.

claneyuk

For a small fee most mortgage companies can organise a CHAPS transfer which is much much quicker (like 48 hours if that even).

saajan_12

RHF2020 said:

Hi,

My wife and I are very very close to getting on the property ladder as first time buyers; last Wednesday we signed our contract and gave our exchanging deposit to the solicitor. However, we have still not exchanged because our vendor wants to do one last inspection on the house they are buying before exchanging. Why they feel the need to do this, at this stage, after their initial viewings, their survey etc. seems nonsensical is beyond me but I guess we can't control them. - that's pretty standard, everyone should do a final viewing just before exchange and I'd advise you do the same. Reason: you're buying the house in the condition it is at exchange. If buyer had viewings / surveys early, then something changed, they have no recourse as they agreed to buy it with the change. 

We are due to complete on 5 May, and I am now concerned that we will miss that deadline due to the time taken to drawdown mortgage funds. I'm told this normally takes 5 working days, and with the bank holiday on Monday we'd run out of time to complete when we want. Is there experience of the mortgage funds being provided in a very short timeframe? Our mortgage is with Halifax, via a broker. - find out exactly how much notice Halifax require. Your solicitor can request the funds x days before the expected completion date, even if you havent exchanged yet. They would just undertake to not use the funds for any other purpose and return them to Halifax should the sale fall through. 
Our tenancy lease expires on 6 May (we originally thought this prudent as at the outset the vendors stressed a strong preference to move by the end of April - turns out they weren't serious about this). - How does it expire? Its very IMprudent to serve notice before exchange, as everything could fall through for any reason. If you just mean the fixed term is ending or LL served notice, you don't actually have to be out.  

We're seriously considering pulling out and finding a new rental over the weekend if they haven't exchanged by COB Friday - this all seems like needless procrastination from vendors who previously appeared very keen to make the sale happen quickly, and going into next week without knowing where we'll live the following weekend seems too stressful to countenance. - seems extreme if everything could still come together by 5 May, which is only 5 days later than the 'end of April' people expected. Granted I don't know the history for this one, but house sale timeliens frequently move by weeks if not months, and by starting again, you could very likely face the same thing again plus restarting the progress to date. 

Relax... 

davidmcn

I don't know what they're like at the moment, but generally lenders in practice don't need anywhere near 5 working days' notice, that's just their "don't complain to us if it's late" service level standard. Next day is achievable, I've even managed it on the same day.

Plus you don't need to wait until exchange before requesting the funds (otherwise all of the simultaneous exchange/completions happening at the moment wouldn't be possible).

Your solicitor does this day in and day out, can't they offer you useful guidance?

MaryNB

It's perfectly normal for a buyer to check the house just before exchange. Just to make sure their sellers haven't, for example, ripped out the kitchen, or just for their own piece of mind. 

I was supposed to have a week between exchange and completion. Due to delays on the seller's end that narrowed to exchanging the day before completion. My solicitor asked for release of funds from Halifax a few days before we exchanged and they were received within 3 days. 

FTB_Help

Most people would like to do a final viewing before exchange, once you've exchange there is no backing out.

Its probably been months since your last viewing, wouldn't you want to check theres no major damage before you exchange too?

You threatening to pull out means you will lose surveyor fees, solicitor fees etc just because things maybe delayed by a few days.

Slithery

RHF2020 said:
because our vendor wants to do one last inspection on the house they are buying before exchanging. Why they feel the need to do this, at this stage, after their initial viewings, their survey etc. seems nonsensical is beyond me but I guess we can't control them.

Perfectly normal. It would be unusual to not have a final viewing before exchange.