Staying on top of my Solicitor for pre 30 June completion

AnotherJoe

user1977 said:

Dimension_ said:

user1977 said:

Dimension_ said:

Is there a risk that i could exchange, be committed and then find out completion has been delayed until after 30 June and would be on the hook for the increase i stamp duty

A friend has suggested to include in the contract wording a clause that reduces the purchase price by the increase in stamp duty if completion takes place in July - is this possible?

Theoretically possible but very rare for completion not to happen on the day set in stone at completion do you mean exchange? . Yes, you could potentially change the price in that way, but it upsets a bunch of other things e.g. your mortgage lender would need to be happy with the amended price and reissue their offer.

So the date for completion is set in stone at the point of exchange ? I hadn’t appreciated this.

Yes. There wouldn't be much point having a contract without agreement about when the purchase was actually meant to happen.

I am less worried about the potential delay of going back to my lender with a new purchase price, since if this occurred, there wouldn’t be the urgency of a deadline that there currently is. 

Though you would have the risk that the lender decides not to (or delays) issuing a new offer, leaving you in breach of contract with potentially large expenses to pay to the vendor.

Thats not quite correct. Yes completion date is theoretically set in stone at exchange, however it is possible (though very rare) that it doesnt happen.

Now, if it doesn't happen, the party at fault are liable for any costs incurred so in this case id say (IANAL) that they would therefore be liable for the extra SDLT, but OP would need to pay it in the first place and then claim it back. And find it of course because now theres an extra chunk of change not factored in needs ponying up.