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user18
Posts: 16 Forumite
We've been really rushed to complete on our house this week, we are purchasing. We only found out we was going to exchange on the day we did exchange which was yesterday at 11:30am and then completion date is today. I checked with my solicitor that nothing could come in the way of this given the mortgage funds and deposit are already in. However I received an email from the solicitors asking for stamp duty and their fee at 12:35 yesterday at which point I could not go to the nearest bank and make a CHAPS payment until 4pm at which point I had missed the cut off for same day payment. There was nothing in the email saying completion was contingent on this and no prior warning but the solicitors are saying they will not transfer the funds to the seller until they receive them which is now getting very tight. What should we do as we cannot afford the fees over the weekend?
We are first time buyers and the seller rented the property so has no chain also.
We are first time buyers and the seller rented the property so has no chain also.
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Comments
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How much are the fees? Can you borrow them from family for 24hrs until you can access your bank again?0
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But why did you agree to a completion date of today when you knew that you had not lodged all the monies needed with the solicitor? When you exchanged you would have agreed to a completion date, it isn't forced on you.
I'm surprised that your solicitor had not explained to you that SDLT and fees were payable on completion, they should have issued you a draft completion statement on exchange or before that set out fees and when payable.
Unless you complete today you will be in breach of contract and the other party can ask you to pay any fees or costs that they incur as a result of your breach. If the vendor was a landlord then they may not incur costs, so it could be OK but they won't get their funds until you do complete so possibly they will serve a notice to complete.
There's plenty of time left in the business day, so don't panic. But set everything else aside to try to raise the funds owed asap and get them into the solicitors account. Our buyer had issues that meant we didn't complete on our sale and purchase until 4pm, but it happened.0 -
If you were not ready to Exchange, why did you agree to Exchange?
If Completion so soon after Excange was difficult, why did you not ask for a longer gap?
Were the SDLT and solicitor fees not listed in the Completion statement? If not, very unusual!
Why can you not arrange a CHAPS payment today?0 -
You have no choice but to try and push the payment through today or incur penalties for not being able to complete on the stated day (today).
It sounds very much that someone else is driving all this. Why did you agree to exchange yesterday and complete today? Solicitors should work to your timetable, not the other way around.0 -
My solicitor said everything was all in order. They have been lacking in communication the whole process - even the seller's solicitor has noticed this given we had the offer accepted in November and mortgage agreed first week of December whilst my solicitor has sat on it for this whole time and there has been no issues with property itself. It was never specified that the funds needed to be there so completion can occur as I would have sent them over with the deposit earlier in the week. I only received a completion statement yesterday afternoon once exchange was confirmed.0
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I assume you have now sent a CHAPS payment?
You could have used faster payments online yesterday to make an immediate payment assuming your bank has a large enough transaction limit.0 -
I made the CHAPS payment yesterday but it was after the 3pm cut-off. Solicitor will not send funds until those are received. The mortgage funds and my house deposit was all received earlier in the week so that is not an issue. I did not receive an invoice when I sent my deposit.0
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Why don't you ask your solicitors to contact the other solicitors urgently, and ask them to agree to complete on Monday instead.
You could provide a screenshot showing funds have been sent.
If the seller has no chain I can't imagine it would make much difference to them.0 -
If your bank had the CHAPS instruction first thing then it ought to have been done by now, or at least get to your solicitor in time for them to send the completion funds. I wouldn't worry too much. These things happen if you end up doing everything in a rush.0
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The last house purchased I paid my Stamp duty myself. Believe I had 30 days to pay this so no need for it to be with them before Completion. My solicitors fees were taken out of the balance of the sale of my property.0
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