I’m in the early stages of moving home. Is it normal for contracts and completion to be done on the same day? In theory you could be ready to go, all packed with removals waiting, transferred your gas, electric over to your new home, for someone to pull out.

Is it normal to exchange and complete on the same day?

Not usual and not recommended, Best to have a few weeks in between.

No. You exchange then complete and move at a later date. Normally a week or two after exchange.

We did this without a hitch but were moving from a place we weren’t needing to vacate and could take time to sort stuff out at the new place. Giving notice to a removal firm seems to be the only reason to have a gap.

No. You exchange then complete and move at a later date. Normally a week or two after exchange.

Not normal, but possible. Since I’ve done it twice, ignore this ^^

Your solicitor will hate you though.

We did this last week, all went as planned (except the vendors solicitors cocked up the vendors onward move by not transferring the money to their onward move, leaving them with a night in a van full of furniture!).
We were moving ourselves out of rented (tied) accommodation and didn’t have any deadline for removal, so there was no pressure. I think if there’s a tight time schedule on a chain it could be problematic.

Not normal but possible. Your solicitor (auto text wants that to be alligator, coincidence?) won’t hate you, they almost undoubtedly will charge you for the privilege though.

Done this on last two houses without a problem. We were only people in the chain though.

It’s not unheard of as others have said. Not sure why a solicitor would charge you more either.

In theory you could be ready to go, all packed with removals waiting, transferred your gas, electric over to your new home, for someone to pull out.

Yes pain re: removals and packing, but for goodness sake don’t do the gas electric stuff until you have completed. When leaving you’ll need to give final readings and likewise starting readings on the new place, so no need to jump the gun on that.

Removals and packing are the only big issues I could see.

thanks.

I assume I will have to tell the electric and gas co. and bt of the move beforehand or you wont have them turned on on completion?

It doesn’t get turned off. They supply you automatically in the hope you’ll forget to move to a cheap supplier. You have to do move in readings and pay from there.

There’s an established system (which I was unaware of) where you are deemed to take over the supply on their standard terms until you arrange differently. Which seems all sorts of wrong until you consider how much easier it is than the alternative…and in the context of the costs of house moving, spending a few days or even weeks on the wrong tariff and/or not getting the meter reading spot on is unlikely to be high on your priorities.

I had a client who was pressed to do this. Nicer house came up that morning and I told the sellers solicitor that morning that my client wasn’t proceeding as his clients removers had packed everything up and were on their way to Scotland.

I had a client who was pressed to do this. Nicer house came up that morning and I told the sellers solicitor that morning that my client wasn’t proceeding as his clients removers had up and were on their way to Scotland.

ooof 😐

Simultaneous exchange and completion is common in commercial property, but less so in resi.

As has been mentioned up thread, the danger is your buyer/seller pulls out at the last minute, leaving you like a jilted bride, surrounded by card board boxes and a team from Pickfords.

I wouldn’t recommend it unless there are extenuating circumstances.

Ok next question.

Where does the deposit come from at exchange of contracts. My money is tied up in the house that I own and will be selling and a small mortgage I’m taking out for the house I’m buying.

Does the solicitor draw 10% of the value of the house I’m purchasing from my mortgage at exchange of contract?

“Does the solicitor draw 10% of the value of the house I’m purchasing from my mortgage at exchange of contract?”
No , my knowledge is well out of date but your deposit comes from you, if you can’t raise it negotiate a lower one or waiver , or exchange and complete on one day. In both my house purchases I have exchanged and completed on the day but have always moved from rental to purchase so not really been at risk .

Deposit comes from you I’m afraid

It’s becoming more and more common. Used to put the fear of God into conveyancing solicitors but it not so much now.

The big issue is until exchange nothing is guaranteed so you have to book your removals, get packed up, you may even be outside your ‘new’ property and the whole lot falls apart last minute.

Personally I prefer at least a week between the two so you can book removals etc with certainty but as I say it can and does happen in the same day pretty often.

Done it a couple of times on the same day.

A bit nerve wracking but had no problems including the current house where we moved from Derbyshire to Wales, so we’re sat outside the new house with the removals firm before we even exchanged!

We had no deposit money up front. The mortgage companies/solicitors etc sorted that from the equity in the house we were selling.

That was us 4 months ago. All completed on the last day at midday. Vans had already left…. Nerves were shredded.

In Scotland, apparently it’s becoming more common for on the day/few days before completions

Get on at your solicitors to try and find out what the delay is – could be a simple issue down the chain.

Your solicitor will get a letter from your existing mortgage company which outline how much equity you have in the current house. If all of the deposit for your new house is coming from your old house (for us some of it came from our sale and we put a bit more in) your solicitor will agree this with the buyers solicitor and the mortgage company. But as a result, I’d expect you will need to exchange and complete with a gap to allow this process to work.

Deposit comes from you and anyone below you in the chain and is passed up the chain with each exchange.

So, if you are selling and buying any equity in your house after the mortgage has been paid off can be passed up the chain for the deposit.

Deposit is usually set at 10% of your purchase price so if the equity in your current property isn’t enough then you need to ensure your solicitor has the shortfall in their bank ready for exchange.

Sometimes the seller will be happy to accept a lower deposit but not always.