Typical Timeframe between exchange and completion

subjecttocontract

Lets be realistic, the majority of first time buyers are not in rented accomodation. Most people in rented are not in a position, financially, to save for a deposit. Every FTB I've known has either been living with parents, moved back in with parents or had family help to buy.

Shedman

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82129329#Comment_82129329

Presumably, as most insurances only allow up to 30 days unoccupied, then if the sellers are still in the property up to completion even if there is a two month gap between exchange and completion then this still counts as occupancy so that unoccupied clause doesn't apply? Would the sellers have to be noted on the insurance under the 'who will be living in the property' somehow?

(A 2 month gap might suit my stepdaughter with property she is buying as a FTB and current renter and might also suit the sellers as they are moving back abroad so have to give notice, clear property, and sort out the arrangements for the move abroad)

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82129700#Comment_82129700

Depends on how you want to define "most"? 30 is really the minimum and given everyone buys on price there are a good number who offer the bare minimum because those are the cheaper policies that sell well. Not everyone sits at the bottom though and some fairly normal household names offer longer as standard, Aviva's Signature policy is 60 days. My last policy, now discontunued unfortunately, was 90 days.

I've only dealt with the matter personally, rather than professionally, and their instructions were to base answers on what it will be rather than what it is at the point of inception and its somewhat fudged over. Not something I have ever had to deal with in my work, I've worked on Home insurance but in broader terms than this.

As a FTB having an overlap suited our purpose as it enabled us to buy white goods etc, do a little work on the new place etc before moving everything into it. We were coming from an unfurnished property so could have probably survived without a fridge etc for a few days but had we been renting a furnished flat there would be vastly more to buy before the new place becomes really habitable. We only had a 1 month notice so we exchanged with a 2 weeks window between exchange and completion and then 2 weeks overlap to take the deliveries etc (we were 100m down the same road we were renting so was easy to get there for the couriers).

horsewithnoname

Are the buyers renting currently? Might be to do with notice periods?

DecoChicken

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82129340#Comment_82129340

Both my daughter and my stepdaughter are currently buying properties. Both are currently renting.

Stepdaughter achieved a mortgage offer via a low deposit/40 year mortgage scheme.
My daughter got hers through scrimping since she left uni.

My other stepdaughter was renting when she bought her house too.

It’s more common than you think.

Albermarle

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82129833#Comment_82129833

First sentence in the first post.

Currently selling our property and one potential buyer, currently renting has advised they’d need 2 months between exchange and completion as that’s their notice period.

eddddy

In simple terms, a downside of having a long period between exchange and completion is that there's more time for unexpected 'bad things' to happen.

For example, 2 months (as opposed to 2 weeks) is more time for things like this to happen:

• Your buyer (or somebody else in the chain) is made redundant or is sacked - so they get their mortgage offer withdrawn. So they can't complete, and neither can the rest of the chain.

• Your joint buyers (or others in the chain) have an acrimonious relationship breakdown - and refuse to complete the purchase. So the rest of the chain can't complete either.

• Your house (or another house in the chain) burns down - so the buyer's mortgage offer is withdrawn. As others say, eventually (hopefully) the insurance should pay out and the house be rebuilt. But that might take many months. In the meantime, everyone in the chain fails to complete, and claims compensation.

If those things happen before exchange (or after completion), it's not so serious. People in the chain might lose some money (e.g. solicitor's fees, survey fees etc), but there's no litigation, no claims for damages, etc.

Perhaps the worst case scenario might be if something like this happens between exchange and completion:

• The OP's first time buyer is made redundant, has their mortgage offer withdrawn, and therefore cannot complete

• Therefore the OP and everyone else in the chain cannot complete

• Every seller sues their buyer - and total damages of £100k cascade down to the OP.

• So the OP sues their first time buyer for £100k+ - but the first time buyer only has £20k, so goes bankrupt - leaving the OP potentially owing the remaining £80k in damages

whaleroad

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82128976#Comment_82128976

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82129340#Comment_82129340

Would love to see the evidence on this. I imagine it's decreased over the years but I think there are still plenty of renters who have either saved or been given deposits, and people who've had family help to buy are still potentially renters. I'm one of them. I wouldn't be looking to buy right now if my parent hadn't died last year. But I'm still renting, still requiring a two-month notice period when I do.

And it's not particularly relevant to the OP question. You can refuse to wait to complete if you like. If you've got another buyer who isn't asking you to wait, go with them. But if that's your only offer then they have some leverage.

subjecttocontract

I see the fact that a person in rented accommodation having to give 2 months notice as their problem. I wouldn't be sympathetic to them for trying to push their problem onto me and everyone else in the chain. Surely it forms part of their moving costs and should be budgeted for accordingly......by them. The OP may have a different opinion. Good luck with the move.

Tabieth

I bought my house almost two years ago, I was in rented accommodation at the time. I needed an overlap anyway (the house needed work before I could move in) but I wouldn’t have dreamed of asking for a 2-month gap. I think a period of paying rent and mortgage is unavoidable in these circumstances.