Exchange To Completion: How Long Does It Take?

What you need to prepare for when buying a house is how long the process takes from start to finish. 

It typically takes between three to six months from offer acceptance to completion and there are many stumbling blocks and hoops to jump through before you get the keys to your new place… so patience most certainly is a virtue when it comes to house purchases!

The beginning of the process is particularly busy and you’ll have to fill in lots of forms and answer lots of questions to get the ball rolling, particularly if you’re selling a property at the same time as buying.

It will then go a bit quiet for a few weeks, with your conveyancer working away in the background sorting out searches and surveys, and acting as an intermediary between you and the seller of the house you’re interested in.

Once all the necessary boxes have been ticked, you’ll be approaching the finishing line (at long last!), with the exchange of contracts just around the corner, one of the final stages of buying a house. 

At this point, you’ll need to sign the contract agreeing to buy the house in question and the seller will sign theirs, agreeing to sell it to you.

Note: Once the contracts have been exchanged, neither party can back out. You will be committed by law to buying the house, so contract exchanges only take place once the deposit and mortgage have been sorted out.

Before contracts are exchanged…

Before the exchange can take place, you will need to have a mortgage offer in place, with all conditions met. 

Your copy of the contract will have been signed, you will have agreed what’s included in the offer (such as fixtures and fittings), the deposit will have been paid to your conveyancer, buildings insurance will have been sorted out and a completion/moving date agreed upon.

Once all this has been taken care of, contracts can be exchanged!

After contracts are exchanged…

Once the contracts have been exchanged, you can start thinking ahead to moving day. Typically, it takes between one to three weeks between exchange and completion, but depending on the size of the chain it can take longer. 

This is because the chain has to be complete, with all sellers having somewhere to move to. Delays along the chain can make the process longer and more complicated.

Note that if you’re buying a newbuild home from a property developer, you likely won’t get a moving date when you exchange contracts. However, you will be given at least one week’s notice before your moving date, so you have enough time to prepare. 

That said, it’s also possible that exchange and completion can take place on the same day, so you may find you’re able to move in sooner rather than later.

Of course, this is just a quick guide so if you need any further help or advice relating to mortgages and the house-buying process, get in touch with the BR Needham team today.