Nearly there! What happens when you complete?

For the millions of people every year who move home or buy their first property ‘completion day’ is the hopefully happy end to their home-buying journey.

Completion is when, after contractual nit-picking between the two parties is over, both sides are happy to proceed and sign the sale contract. The outstanding mortgage money and the buyer’s deposit (held by their solicitor) is then paid to the seller’s solicitor.

Only when the transfer of the money has been confirmed will the vendor’s estate agent release the keys to the buyer, and they can move in.

Timing issues

A couple of things can go wrong on the agreed completion day, particularly if it’s a Saturday.

It’s not an ideal day to complete on, even if it seems convenient for the buyer and seller.  A much better idea, if the time off work can be organised, is to complete much earlier in the week.

Unfortunately, most people want to complete on a Saturday. Therefore, the banks get clogged up with the huge number of house sales taking place and the extra billions of pounds moving around the financial system. Remember between 10,000 and 20,000 people move home every weekend in the UK.

This causes delays and is why you often hear of families stuck outside a property they are about to complete on, with the removal vans in tow, tearing their hair out as they wait for hours for the money to go through.

As well as the clogged financial system, solicitors and estate agents are very busy on Saturdays. Conveyancing solicitors will be haring around dealing with their other clients who are buying or selling a home, while estate agents are usually tied up on Saturdays doing viewings.

The ideal day to complete is Wednesday but agree to move out of your old homes on the Saturday. If the funds don’t arrive on time,  or something else goes wrong, you are not homeless.

What can go wrong?

One of the most common mistakes that creates significant delays is when a solicitor forgets to tell the buyer’s lender to release the funds early enough. Most house sales exchange on one day and then complete the day after, so they should have plenty of time to warn the lender involved.

But if they fail to do it in time, then sometimes everyone will agree to exchange and complete on the same day - but it’s an unusual and desperate path to follow.

Sometimes, delays in completion can having nothing to do with anyone involved in your part of the chain, but instead be caused by problem above or below. Some chains can as many as four or five properties involved, so delays do happen.

This is why it’s crucial to have a good solicitor on your behalf. When the process goes awry, a solicitor who is dynamic, problem solving, energetic and on your side can turn a potentially disastrous situation around.

Stamp Duty

Once the sale of the property does completes and you become its legal owner, there a couple more things to do. The most significant is that the SDLT or ‘Stamp Duty’ is payable by the buyer and must be paid within 30 days after possession takes place.

Land Registry

Finally, conveyancing solicitors have a legal duty to inform the Land Registry that the property has been sold and to update the title records including how much is was sold for (although you can opt out to have this excluded) and also whether it has a mortgage or ‘charge’ registered or not on the property, and who the new owner is, and when the sale took place.

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Remember the content provided in this article is for information purposes only and should not be considered as advice.