Exchange / Completion

curtis122

First time ever selling so still have my L plates on in this selling process.

Survey has been done, so on the basis they don't come back with anything terrible or they pull out, we hope an exchange date will be coming some what soon.

What's the normal process with this? There is just us and the buyer so no chain. Will our solicitor call us and tell us an exchange date?

Our concern is we need time to look for a rental, so will need around 4 weeks between exchange and completion ideally and if we can have a bit extra before exchange it would be good too. Rentals are going fast in our area we are looking.

What's the general process and what are peoples experiences once they get that call about exchanging.

Do they tell you a date, can you say no and agree a date, say a week later if the buyers are happy as well? 
Do you then at the same time within the same conversation agree a completion date?
Then does the contract get raised with those 2 dates in once us and the buyers agree.

Is there anything else I need to be aware of or consider?  

Tabieth

You agree the completion date before you exchange. When you exchange contracts all parties are legally required to complete on the date agreed. I’d start speaking to your solicitor now about it to make the process easier. 

curtis122

So the solicitor will call to agree the completion date first? When do you then agree an exchange date?

So if they call us to say when do you want to complete and we say in 4 weeks, who then brings up the date of the exchange?

HouseMartin567

The conversation around exchange and completion dates will happen at the same time, and this normally occurs when the solicitors are happy they have everything in order (perhaps with one or two small things outstanding). I think ‘normal’ time between exchange and completion is approximately a week or two, so if you haven’t mentioned a 4 week period to your buyers I would do so now so you can level- set their expectations.

Tiglet2

curtis122 said:

So the solicitor will call to agree the completion date first? When do you then agree an exchange date?

So if they call us to say when do you want to complete and we say in 4 weeks, who then brings up the date of the exchange?

Exchange dates are not planned in advance.  If you let your solicitor know that you'd like 4 weeks between exchange and completion and your buyer knows this, then they will try to accommodate you as much as they can.  Your solicitor will guide you as to when it is time to discuss completion dates.  The problem is that they won't be able to exchange on a certain date if, for example, your buyer hasn't paid the deposit, or an enquiry is still outstanding, or one of the solicitors doesn't pick up the phone.   Only once when everything is ready, will they be able to exchange.

Alfrescodave

How confident are you that you'll be able to find an "acceptable" rental within 4 weeks? Or will this rental be just a temporary fix whilst you look for a more permanant place.?

In your sitaution, I think I would already have a list of possible rentals ready for when the solicitor rings with suggested exchange dates

Albermarle

The solicitor will not go ahead with exchanging contracts without your explicit permission .
So if they suggest a day, you can always not agree.
However the buyer will get twitchy if dates are refused when all paperwork etc is in order.
So you could probably delay it a few days, but would be unfair to do that any longer.

On the other hand if you want a 4 week delay from exchange to completion, the other side may not agree, which would delay exchange anyway, as you can not exchange without a fixed completion date.

curtis122

The EA and the buyers know our position, that we are going into rental. Current position is they have the survey so there is a possibility they could come back on it, so can't start looking, we do have some on watch but most have been Let already.

Given once you have exchanged your committed then to the Completion date, can we suggest a completion date we would like to work to but hold off on agreeing the an exchange date on the basis we need to start looking?  I take it once we find somewhere, the exchange can happen quite quick.

So say if we got a call today about Exchange /Completion. Could we say, we would look at the end of July to hopefully complete but we don't want to commit on the exchange date yet as we need to start looking for a rental and find somewhere to live. I understand in this situation they may not like it but the fact we are going into rental means they will get the house quicker than if we were buying.

After looking on other forums regarding this I have have seen a couple of chats where buyers were waiting for their exchange date from their sellers but did not have it yet as their buyer was still yet to find a house and one where their seller said they could not exchange till they had found a rental (which is our situation)

I have also read some exchange dates have been pushed on to different dates later on, how is that possible given the general sense I am getting from replies that the Exchange date needs to be set a matter of days after the call.

HouseMartin567

You could delay exchange as you suggest, however, you do run the risk of the buyers getting cold feet or something better coming along which would collapse the sale completely. It’s only after exchange that both parties are committed (obviously things could still go wrong but it’s less likely).

Tiglet2

curtis122 said:

So say if we got a call today about Exchange /Completion. Could we say, we would look at the end of July to hopefully complete but we don't want to commit on the exchange date yet as we need to start looking for a rental and find somewhere to live. I understand in this situation they may not like it but the fact we are going into rental means they will get the house quicker than if we were buying.

After looking on other forums regarding this I have have seen a couple of chats where buyers were waiting for their exchange date from their sellers but did not have it yet as their buyer was still yet to find a house and one where their seller said they could not exchange till they had found a rental (which is our situation)

I have also read some exchange dates have been pushed on to different dates later on, how is that possible given the general sense I am getting from replies that the Exchange date needs to be set a matter of days after the call.

Exchange Dates are not set.

If your solicitor calls you today regarding when you would like to complete, you say you'd like to complete at the end of July, but you would like to exchange as early as they can so as to give you as much notice as possible in order that you can secure a rental.

It doesn't mean that the solicitors decide to set an exchange a few days after the call.

It means that both solicitors will speak to each other about any outstanding issues they are waiting to resolve, if there's anything they are waiting for, whether that's from you, the buyer or a third party, then they can't exchange.  When your solicitor confirms he is ready and the buyer's solicitor confirms they are ready, they will call each other to 'exchange the contracts', but as you can imagine sometimes one of the solicitor's is in a meeting, at lunch, with another client and the exchange doesn't take place, so they will try again the next day.  

Tabieth

Completion can be the same day as exchange, a couple of days later, or several weeks later. But you cannot exchange without agreeing a completion date.