House buyers trying to force early completion date

Izabella I'm sure it is. We know people who have moved quicker and some have taken much longer. It all depends on personal circumstances. However, the OP is asking for advice about her circumstances so perhaps being pragmatic is her best option. She needs to look at her options and her buyer's options to decide what to do.

Our solicitor arranged with the buyers and their solicitor for us to exchange and complete on the same day.
We were lucky in that the house we were buying was unoccupied so no one to move out but we didn't want to pay our landlady any more rent than we had to as we needed the money to redecorate and get carpets etc.
It's not always easy to rent somewhere for a matter of a few weeks - our landlady wanted her cake and eat it so we got out as soon as we could! However, every one has different circumstances.
I think it should have been arranged before reaching this stage between the solicitors.

I would say Which is using an average perhaps? Most people we know who have moved in the last two years will complete way before this

Which? says two weeks.

Years ago four weeks was standard between exchange and completion and it did work well to get everything organised. I moved recently and it seems one week is the standard now, with two weeks the maximum. It is just one of the many things that have changed since we were young and we have to go with it.

I do agree MOnica that being flexible can help but I don't see the need in this case. Why should the OP put furniture in store for a week or so at cost and then have to find somewhere to put all the things which the storage company won't accept somewhere else? My point is that the buyer won't go somewhere else because they couldn't buy another property in so short a time.

Nonnie, It all depends on the circumstances, you do not have to, it is just another option. The cost is not that much because when in between houses one has no mortgage payments, so that usually covers most of the rent, plus any equity in your house, is also in the bank earning interest (OK not much, now, but when we did it, it was 13%. )

It suited us very well because it was at a time when the housing market was dead and we had a buyer moving for his job, his employer was buying his house and he had company finance. If we held him up, he would just find another house.

We had also found a quite exceptional house and got it because we were prepared to delay completion, where others weren't.

Now we are trying to negotiate the completion date which is for most reasonable people I believe 4 weeks to arrange removals etc
It is this that is the problem - I'm sure that four weeks is a tad unreasonable these days. With everything being done by BACS these days most completion dates are very soon after exchange of contracts.

Monica I don't see any need for that. Why should they have to pay the extra and go through all that hassle? Why shouldn't their buyers do it?

There seems to be 3 people in this chain, 2 of them are happy with agreed timescales, one is not, it makes sense for the odd one out to make any arrangements to suit the others. As I said before they are not going to drop out for the sake of a week or two as they couldn't buy anything else in the timescale and also they have already spent considerable sums on legal fees and, presumably, obtaining a mortgage.

Why not put meet the early date and put everything in storage for a few weeks and either have a short holiday or visit friends and relatives.

Completion used to be a month, but nowadays is usually less. We agreed to extend completion when buying from an elderly lady and did just that. Put everything in store, and in our case as it was two months, rented a tiny house near DC's school.

DS and DIL exchanged and completed sale on same day. To be fair though they were living with me and their furniture was in storage. They did have to sit out side the house until they got comfirmation from the solicitor but it wemt smoothly. They were living in London and the offer on their property was just too good to let slip.

It's a long time since we moved house but I do remember that completion was due at 12 noon on a certain day and that the buyer was pushing to have the keys earlier that day - before her money was safely with our solicitor.

Seems some of you were luckier with removers than we were. We gave 3 weeks notice and the only way they could do it was for them to come in for 1 full day and several days of a few hours. We didn't want to shop around as there was not a lot of choice and they were reputed to be the best.

It is usual for a landlord to allow a rolling contract in such circumstances. So the rent is paid fortnightly or weekly with a week or a fortnights notice. As a landlord I have been happy to do this.

We had insurance cover with the removers in case exchange and completion did not occur on the same day as planned They did, but we also had peace of mind too.

Grannygravy
Same here. Complete/exchange/move.
It helped that my buyer and I were in phone contact all along.

Instruct your solicitors to agree a completion date that suits you and your vendor. There will be negotiations so build that into the date you offer! Removal companies are used to short notice arrangements so 10 days to 2 weeks should not be tricky.

Must admit we once exchanged and completed on same day....some legal piece of paper got held up till last minute....we were all basket cases by the end.

It’s fairly common round here to complete and exchange same day.

I think expecting completion to be four weeks after exchange of contracts is not fair on others in the chain. You are lucky to have first-time buyers who are leaving rented accommodation, Notoldatall and there is not a long chain of impatient purchasers.
I'm not surprised they are 'champing at the bit' to get the keys to the house.

If times are tough how come we can't find anywhere to downsize to? They are snapped up practically before they've gone on the market.

I think exchange to completion is often a lot quicker these days - thinking about it have had completion both 6 days after exchange and also 6 months (and a few inbetween)

This is what Which? has to say -

Completion dates are often set two weeks after exchange, but this is just a guideline. If no one in the chain is in a hurry to move, you can ask for more time - and, occasionally, people complete in less than two weeks, too.

4 weeks used to be common, seems it has changed

Nonnie, yes you are probably right - but times are tough and if you do have a buyer then they do call the shots a bit more at the moment (secretly envious of OP).

But that’s unusual and not really the preferred option since it’s fraught with risk for everyone concerned. I personally think one week is unreasonable since, until contracts are exchanged, there’s no certainty that completion will ever take place and it’s imprudent to say the least for any buyer to put themselves so close to possible eviction. If indeed that’s the truth.

GG how did you arrange removals when you couldn't ensure it would go through?

Hilda whatever the market is doing at the moment the buyer is unlikely to pull out for a week or two. They couldn't buy another house in that time