You and the seller will agree on a date and time to exchange contracts at any time on any given day.
Your solicitor will exchange contracts for you. This is usually done by both solicitors/conveyancers reading out the contracts over the phone (which is recorded) to make sure the contracts are identical, and then immediately sending them to one another in the post.
How do I exchange contracts?
If you are in a chain your solicitor/conveyancer will do the same thing but will only release it if the other people in the chain are all happy to go ahead. If one person pulls out the chain will collapse, if one person delays the whole chain gets held up
Once you have exchanged contracts you will be in a legally binding contract to buy the property with a fixed date for moving. This means that:
- If you do not complete the purchase, you will lose your deposit and owe the seller more if the deposit was less than 10%
- the seller has to sell or you can sue them
- the seller can no longer accept another offer (you no longer need to worry about being gazumped)
Before exchange of contracts can take place your lender will require you to get Buildings Insurance for your new home.
