Exchanging contracts

iguana

How long does it take on average from the vendor signing contracts to the contracts then being sent back to the purchaser's solicitor? Is that when the actual 'exchange' happens. Does the vendor's solicitor have to do anything after the vendor signs or is it just a case of faxing/posting them on to the purchaser's solicitor?

The_Morrigan

iguana unfortunately there is no average as there are so many factors that could delay this from annual leave on either side, workload of either practice, sheer laziness, someone not noticing the new post arriving.
The key is to keep on top of your solr so that they in turn hound the other side.

garhjw

In my experience it has ranged from a couple of weeks to a couple of months unfortunately. It can be very frustrating but there is often little you can do to speed things up.

Bigcheeze

garhjw wrote: »

In my experience it has ranged from a couple of weeks to a couple of months unfortunately. It can be very frustrating but there is often little you can do to speed things up.

The op is asking about time from seller signing to receiving signed contracts. In normal circumstances I'd expect this to happen without delay. I.e within 2-3 working days.

TheDriver

Should be a few days unless seller is away on hols. If it gets delayed then something is amiss as seller in theory should want to sign asap to get their money

L1011

TheDriver wrote: »

Should be a few days unless seller is away on hols. If it gets delayed then something is amiss as seller in theory should want to sign asap to get their money

Probate, negative equity sales and chains can create delays too.

iguana

Thanks. We know the vendor hasn't signed yet, just trying to get a rough idea of the timeframe. Another thread here has also made me think. At what point should I arrange house insurance? We signed contracts a couple of days ago, so are we in a complete grey area until exchange.

TheDriver

MYOB wrote: »

Probate, negative equity sales and chains can create delays too.

neg equity etc should come up long before signing. If i wasn't getting contract back because seller suddenly needed to find somewhere to buy and expect me to wait months.... i would be looking for contract back to deny them. Same with neg equity....as i have done as promises seem to be perpetually empty

L1011

TheDriver wrote: »

neg equity etc should come up long before signing. If i wasn't getting contract back because seller suddenly needed to find somewhere to buy and expect me to wait months.... i would be looking for contract back to deny them. Same with neg equity....as i have done as promises seem to be perpetually empty

Its not uncommon at all for banks to refuse to actually hand over all the paperwork until there's a signed contract from the buyer.

Oral Surgeon

iguana wrote: »

Thanks. We know the vendor hasn't signed yet, just trying to get a rough idea of the timeframe. Another thread here has also made me think. At what point should I arrange house insurance? We signed contracts a couple of days ago, so are we in a complete grey area until exchange.

I had insurance arranged for the date of getting the keys but my bank would then not issue the mortgage cheque on an uninsured property so I had to bring the policy start date forward to allow cheque issue....

TheDriver

MYOB wrote: »

Its not uncommon at all for banks to refuse to actually hand over all the paperwork until there's a signed contract from the buyer.

but they can,issue consent that it will occur pending signature.

cookiecakes

iguana wrote: »

Thanks. We know the vendor hasn't signed yet, just trying to get a rough idea of the timeframe. Another thread here has also made me think. At what point should I arrange house insurance? We signed contracts a couple of days ago, so are we in a complete grey area until exchange.

Our solicitor told us to get house insurance the day we signed the first set of contracts and paid over the rest of our deposit. She said now we had an insurable interest in the property so should have it. We explained it fully to the insurance company as we were worried we shouldn't have insurance on a house we didn't own but they said it was totally legit!

iguana

cookiecakes wrote: »

Our solicitor told us to get house insurance the day we signed the first set of contracts and paid over the rest of our deposit. She said now we had an insurable interest in the property so should have it. We explained it fully to the insurance company as we were worried we shouldn't have insurance on a house we didn't own but they said it was totally legit!

If the sale had fallen through would the insurance company have refunded you?

cookiecakes

iguana wrote: »

If the sale had fallen through would the insurance company have refunded you?

I doubt it!

L1011

TheDriver wrote: »

but they can,issue consent that it will occur pending signature.

Yes, they can - but its extremely common that they don't.