Using LISA for house purchase

Yorkie006

Hi,
we're about to exchange on a house.
The solicitor says the exchange can't take place until the LISA funds are received by them from the bank.
I have other savings so don't need the money from LISA until completion.
Is this some sort of a rule or is the solicitor simply making up the fact they can't exchange until the LISA money has been transferred to them?
I'm currently renting so the exchange date was picked to give me enough time to give notice to my landlord so delaying the exchange until the LISA has cleared will mean I'll miss the deadline for giving notice and will have to pay rent for an extra month as a result (can't really afford this).
The solicitor is aware of this but insists on 'no LISA = no exchange'. There were already several delays in the transactions (this is just the latest, as the solicitor took over a week just to request the LISA withdrawal despite having all the forms). 
How long does it take for Paragon to pay out? I know it says within 30 days but I was hoping it can be done a lot faster.
Please advice on what to do now, the exchange is supposed to happen on 11th March (but I don't think the LISA will be paid out by then).
Thanks!

Hoenir

Unless you are aged 60 or over. The only way to receive the bonus is for it to be used towards house purchase through an authorised agent. 

GrumpyDil

Looking online suggests they can be used for exchange or completion so I would ask your solicitor to confirm exactly why the are insisting they need to be in hand before exchange.

The only element I can think of would be nervousness that if they are not received in time for completion you will be open to a whole world of pain and that is not somewhere you want to go. 

So simply put it could be that they want to protect your position but as I say you need to get that clarity from your solicitor. 

our_des

Our LISA's were with Moneybox, my husband requested the withdrawal minutes after I did, both got the email (on the same day as one another) from Moneybox to say the forms had been completed by the solicitor but it took 6 working days longer for mine to be released to my solicitor. 

Yorkie006

Hoenir said:

Unless you are aged 60 or over. The only way to receive the bonus is for it to be used towards house purchase through an authorised agent. 

No idea what you're on about, I'm using it for house purchase.

Yorkie006

@GrumpyDil Exchange and completion are 3 weeks apart. The LISA withdrawal request was made 2 weeks ago, Paragon's website says it will take up to 30 days, so the money will arrive way before completion. There's no need to worry about the timeline. But the solicitor is still insisting on getting the money before exchange because of 'rules'.

I'm really getting annoyed now. The solicitor is next to useless, had so many issues with them (we were supposed to complete by end of January originally, offer was accepted in October) and they always seem to find a way to delay things (ie we have to wait for 'A' to happen/respond before we can start dealing with 'B', and we can't start dealing with 'C' until B is done, even though they could have set things in motion at the same time minimising delays as none of those things were related/dependent to each other). When I try to hurry them along all I get is 'we're busy, if you don't like the way we do stuff, find another solicitor - yeah, like I'm going to do that 3 months+ into the purchase. They said the whole process will take 10-12 weeks when I instructed them, it's been almost 5 months now (it's a chain-free purchase so should be quick).