Question about exchange and completion before Christmas/new year

RM_2013

Hi all
we are in the process of selling our home and buying a new property. We’ve been given a “possible” completion date of 21st Dec (last date for completion before solicitor breaks up for Christmas break).
As they are waiting for a signed transfer form before we can exchange/complete my question is if 21st isn’t possible then would ideally like to complete 6th Jan but would this be a tight timescale if solicitors closed all through Christmas and new year?

I want to at least have exchanged before they break up for Christmas but can exchange before Christmas then is completion possible if solicitors are closed until Jan 3rd?

Will ask my solicitor what the options are but wondered what your experiences were 

Bonniepurple

Having moved house just before Christmas once, the only thing I can say is don’t.  Completion in January sounds far better, however it would depend on things like when your mortgage company needs the drawdown actioned - and I think I’m right in saying that you’re charged interest from the drawdown date, not the completion date - so you might end up paying interest for a few more days than anticipated.

diystarter7

Hi OP

The last time we had a mortgage, as we worked, it was more convenient to complete on a Friday. Things nearly went belly up as we did not get the key until about 3pm and EA was hounding us for our key.  As we were moving a few mins up the road, we did not hire a removal lorry and just a tail lift as we were only moving a few things as others were sold and given away starting with new

Thankfully it went through if not we would have had to wait until Monday in a hotel and storage etc.

In winter you could get massive transport disruption etc so there is a potential for think to go wrong

(Is your solicitor office closing and are there others that can deal with urgent stuff?

So, if it was me, no!

What ever you do, I'm sure it will work out for the best

Elasrofton

RM_2013 said:

Hi all
we are in the process of selling our home and buying a new property. We’ve been given a “possible” completion date of 21st Dec (last date for completion before solicitor breaks up for Christmas break).
As they are waiting for a signed transfer form before we can exchange/complete my question is if 21st isn’t possible then would ideally like to complete 6th Jan but would this be a tight timescale if solicitors closed all through Christmas and new year?

I want to at least have exchanged before they break up for Christmas but can exchange before Christmas then is completion possible if solicitors are closed until Jan 3rd?

Will ask my solicitor what the options are but wondered what your experiences were 

We are in exactly the same situation. Without much clarity from anyone in the chain. I guess if we don’t exchange monday/Tuesday then it will have to be January? 

As far as I’m aware they want 5 working days for mortgage funds to transfer. So if you exchanged on the 21st even though the solicitors aren’t open they would need 5 working days for the banks which there will be taking it to 3rd Jan anyway so I don’t think the interest on funds would apply until after that 

mrsedders

First post but very long time lurker! We’re in a very similar situation, hoping to exchange next week and complete Jan 6th. From chatting to my solicitor yesterday, Friday 6th would be better than our preferred date earlier that week as it should leave enough time for all solicitors to be back and get everything in motion. As we get closer to the xmas break, I’m getting more stressed and just want to exchange and be able to relax a bit more. I’m concerned that some solicitors may be taking their leave earlier (and using up leave that can’t be carried into next year). Last month when I first began discussing dates with my solicitor, she said she thought my vendors wanted to complete before xmas and was strongly suggesting that would be more difficult due to it being a trickier time of year. I’m looking forward to my last Christmas in my current house, albeit surrounded by boxes, as opposed to my first xmas in the new house being like that!

UnderOffer

I found that Christmas and New Year meant almost no activity for 2 weeks whilst solicitors, banks, EA all closed down. It was 2nd week of January before everything erupted into action again. 

RM_2013

Thank you for all your replies.  In an ideal world we wanted to complete the beginning of this month but a last minute issue with our purchase has held things up.  It still may not happen so 21sr Dec might not be achievable. 

Ideally Jan would be better but don’t want to be adding weeks on to the proces if it takes a while for things to get going on Jan again.
will see what Solicitor suggests on Monday 

diystarter7

RM_2013 said:

Thank you for all your replies.  In an ideal world we wanted to complete the beginning of this month but a last minute issue with our purchase has held things up.  It still may not happen so 21sr Dec might not be achievable. 

Ideally Jan would be better but don’t want to be adding weeks on to the proces if it takes a while for things to get going on Jan again.
will see what Solicitor suggests on Monday 

Hi OP

Thanks for the update

Ask the sol what he/she thinks is you can get the 21st completion

Ask them as that is a Wed, will the offices be closed or will there be people be there to iron out last min glitches if any

Good luck and enjoy your new home

user1977

Elasrofton said:

RM_2013 said:

Hi all
we are in the process of selling our home and buying a new property. We’ve been given a “possible” completion date of 21st Dec (last date for completion before solicitor breaks up for Christmas break).
As they are waiting for a signed transfer form before we can exchange/complete my question is if 21st isn’t possible then would ideally like to complete 6th Jan but would this be a tight timescale if solicitors closed all through Christmas and new year?

I want to at least have exchanged before they break up for Christmas but can exchange before Christmas then is completion possible if solicitors are closed until Jan 3rd?

Will ask my solicitor what the options are but wondered what your experiences were 

We are in exactly the same situation. Without much clarity from anyone in the chain. I guess if we don’t exchange monday/Tuesday then it will have to be January? 

As far as I’m aware they want 5 working days for mortgage funds to transfer. So if you exchanged on the 21st even though the solicitors aren’t open they would need 5 working days for the banks which there will be taking it to 3rd Jan anyway so I don’t think the interest on funds would apply until after that 

They don't need to exchange before requesting mortgage funds, just to have a reasonably firm idea of what the completion date is going to be. And it's rare for lenders to actually need 5 working days' notice anyway, generally they can do it much faster than that - next day is pretty commonplace.

Have you checked whether the solicitors are shut? Many firms will at least have some staff on, especially the larger ones. Maybe not much help if anybody else in the chain is away, but I wouldn't presume everything is shutting down for the year at lunchtime on the 23rd.

Nurse2047

We are in a similar position and thought would be January as things were moving slowly however we exchanged Friday and move next Friday 16th, personally we wanted to be in the new house for Xmas as presently we are surrounded by boxes with no Xmas tree up and want to do this in the new house with the kids. Yes we are stressed but I am trying to let things go, things won’t be perfect- tidy and organised but I’m embracing the joy in it (I say with gritted teeth!). 

It’s a personal decision if you want to push for a move before Xmas. Our solicitors requested mortgage funds a few days before exchange. Once approved things moved abut quicker. 

Skiddaw1

We completed on our previous house on 22nd December. It was rather good fun actually...

Having said that, we were significantly younger in those days... not sure I'd want to do it now!