24th November 2017 |
Selling your property can sometimes feel a little daunting, as there is much to understand and consider. It is also likely that you may have, at most, only sold once or twice before, and it’s often hard to remember the process. To give you a little help, our blog is focussing on completion; what it means when it happens and the facts that you need to know.
Completion is the final part of any house sale or house purchase and signifies the moment when the house changes ownership. As the word suggests, completion means that everything is complete – the searches have all been done and any issues have been resolved, and a mortgage is in place.
Completion also marks the day when you’ll have to move out of the property if you are the person selling, as the buyer becomes the legal owner on the day of completion. Don’t worry; you'll have had plenty of correspondence with your agent to know when this is going to happen.
On the day that you exchange contracts and the buyer pays a deposit, you’ll agree with them - usually through your solicitor (with a good agents help)- a fixed date for completion. There are strict financial penalties if the completion day is then delayed, so once you have this date confirmed you can be very confident that you are moving and can proceed with things like getting your removals service booked.
Typically, completion will happen between one and two weeks after exchange has occurred and this then allows everyone to get removals sorted and to pack up their house. Exchange also confirms that the sale will definitely go ahead, so many people want to wait for this before they start to pack boxes.
If your exchange has been delayed though and you need to move urgently, then completion can happen very quickly after exchange – in about two days. However, both parties need to be in agreement, and this can be difficult if you are in a chain, as everyone involved will need to agree.
It's also worth checking out the terms with your supplier if you are mortgaging. The majority of mortgage companies will require 5 working days from exchange to release the funds to your solicitor.
Your agent or solicitor will have discussed and agreed the completion date with you, so you’ll know when it will take place, but you will need to wait for a call from your estate agent or solicitor to confirm it's actually happened. As soon as it has, then the house is yours, and you are free to move in!
If the sellers are moving out, then your estate agent will give you a call when they have the keys for you to collect and can confirm that the property is empty.
If you are in a chain and are selling and buying a house on the same day, then your sale will also go through on this day too.
It's important to remember that until completion takes place, you are not the legal owner of the property. Once you exchange, you have paid a deposit on the property and although a sale is certain to go ahead, until it does you have no rights to enter the property or make any changes to it. However the purchaser is responsible for insuring the property from exchange. While everyone will do all they can to ensure a successful sale or purchase, it's important to remember that things can go wrong, so you must wait for the legal process to complete.
We hope this blog helps you to understand a little more about what completion is. Whenever you are looking to either sell or buy a house, it's essential to have an estate agent who can guide you through this process. At Maxey Grounds, we know how complicated it can all be, but we use our years of experience to advise you every step of the way to ensure a successful sale. Call us today to find out more.