Final stage house selling

RelievedSheff

We are supposed to be completing on Friday but have still not exchanged contracts.

Exchange was supposed to have happened on Friday but was delayed. Hopefully be tomorrow instead.

Getting a bit close now with nothing set in stone which is a but unsettling and a nightmare for trying to arrange utilities and removals.

subjecttocontract

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81923821#Comment_81923821

The cheek of it Sir.

Your solicitor is responsible for arranging, facilitating and carrying out exchange and completion and you shouldn't be doing the job for them unless you have negotiated a suitable reduction in charges. I've never heard anything like it !

jimi_man

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81923907#Comment_81923907

I didn't do the job for them. Just emailed the estate agent and said we'd like one of these dates, she emailed back half an hour later and agreed to a particular date. I immediately emailed the solicitor and gave them the date. That was it.

If we'd got the solicitor(s) to do it, it would have taken days. I got the idea it was in the interests of efficiency and speed. The solicitor did the rest and set the exchange dates etc etc.

It cost me two emails of about three lines each, and three minutes of my time. I was fine without negotiating a reduction of charges for that.

From what you say, it may not have been the standard way of doing it but it was immensely quicker than last time I bought and sold and I was quite happy that it had been done that way.

We did it for both buying and selling (they were not linked) and both estate agents seemed to think it was normal. Maybe they are outliers?

Bigphil1474

We did the same Jimi. Our solicitor was dragging their feet, so we contacted our buyer and our vendor, we all agreed a day we wanted to complete on, and we all told our own solicitors. We agreed the completion date first, and then shortly after the solicitors confirmed exchange 1 week before.

(Don't complete on a Friday though - if there's any delay you could end up waiting all weekend, and movers are often busier).

subjecttocontract

Id be inclined to issue the solicitor with an invoice for £50 to cover the work. I feel sure that if they had carried out an unexpected task associated with your sale or purchase there would be no hesitation on their part to increase their charges. After all, this is the MSE forum and it's about money saving.

jimi_man

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81924458#Comment_81924458

I'm guessing you're being tongue in cheek - as at 3 minutes work, that makes a rate of pay of about £2000 p/h! Whilst I'm incredibly talented 😉 I don't think I'm worth that much!

We paid a set fee and actually you reminded me that there were a couple of minor unexpected tasks that they had to do which no-one had foreseen, though they didn't charge extra.

I was very happy with the solicitors, about the best I've used and I've recommended them to others.

And this wasn't even about them dragging their feet, I got the impression it was a normal way to do things and it was designed to speed up a part of the process that would have made it much slower and more complicated if solicitors had been involved. Tbf the other party's solicitors weren't as efficient so maybe that had something to do with the decision.

Myci85

With our purchase we were discussing completion dates for a while and being told everything was ready, to then find out at the last minute that the solicitors still hadn't received signed contracts back from the 3 executors, none of whom were local so all had to be posted. This was the first time we heard that the top of the chain was a probate property. Had planned for a week between exchange and completion, in the end we exchanged at 4.30pm the day before completion, with no idea if it was actually going to go through in time.

RelievedSheff

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81925449#Comment_81925449

Nightmare!

Fortunately we have just exchanged late this afternoon. So we have a few days notice for our Friday completion at least.

curtis122

After a discussion by all it was going to be arranged for exchanging today, one party then announces they don't want to exchange till Friday. Why would anyone want to delay exchange, there is nothing more outstanding we are all ready to go, completion agreed.

I can't think of any reason to prolong exchanging other than thinking the worst.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81925741#Comment_81925741

There could be any number of reasons. For example they could have a delay in money for the deposit arriving in their account.