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Exchange to completion

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user18
user18 Posts: 16 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
My partner and I are first-time buyers and looking to exchange contracts this week. What would be the recommended time between exchange and completion? What could go wrong in between this time?
We are free to complete whenever with no chain, we have a mortgage offer in place and the seller has no chain.

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  • saajan_12
    saajan_12 Posts: 3,622 Forumite
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    user18 wrote: »
    My partner and I are first-time buyers and looking to exchange contracts this week. What would be the recommended time between exchange and completion? What could go wrong in between this time?
    We are free to complete whenever with no chain, we have a mortgage offer in place and the seller has no chain.

    Typical is ~2 weeks these days, but you and the seller have to decide what suits you both, depending on how long each of the below are expected to take:

    a) solicitor to request funds and lender to send them in time for completion (typically 5 days but ask solicitor)

    b) time for seller to vacate property (are they owner occupiers? tenants in situ?)

    c) time for you to give notice for minimal overlap between rent & mortgage if that's a concern

    d) time for you to pack, arrange removals, take time off to collect keys (though if you can have an overlap, this can be after completion)
  • user18
    user18 Posts: 16 Forumite
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    In response:
    a) our mortgage is with Halifax so will need to check
    b) seller rented the property and tenants left 1 month ago
    c) we are living with parents so no rental notice etc required
    d) we don't have much stuff! Just want the keys!

    On the above basis is 3-5 days reasonable?
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
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    subject to a) above, yes.
  • Nicola83
    Nicola83 Posts: 71 Forumite
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    I was asking my solicitor the exact same question today. He told me it should be about 10 working days, but we are doing HTB to they say that to allow time to get the funds from both the HTB scheme and obviously our mortgage lender.
  • saajan_12
    saajan_12 Posts: 3,622 Forumite
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    user18 wrote: »
    In response:
    a) our mortgage is with Halifax so will need to check
    b) seller rented the property and tenants left 1 month ago
    c) we are living with parents so no rental notice etc required
    d) we don't have much stuff! Just want the keys!

    On the above basis is 3-5 days reasonable?

    Yes, highly conditional on (a) - if you don't allow enough time for the lender and exchange with a tighter gap than they recommend, then if the funds don't arrive in time, it'll be you failing to complete and picking up the vendor's costs for the delay. My suggestion of 5 days is based on the (relatively few) lenders I have dealt with, each will have their own timeframe, anywhere from 1 - 10 working days. Check yours!
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