Completion Day: what house buyers need to know
Completion Day. The day roughly a million of us strive for every year. The day months of planning and stress give way to the joy of receiving keys to our new homes. Our Head of Property explains what you should expect on completion.
What is Completion?
Completion is the day legal ownership of the property passes from the seller to the buyer.
What happens on Completion?
The buyer’s solicitor will usually obtain any mortgage funds from the lender and the remaining balance from their client by the working day prior to completion. They will then transfer the purchase price to the seller’s solicitor. Generally speaking, once the seller’s solicitor receives the purchase price, the property belongs to the buyer, and they have a brand-new home.
How is the money transferred?
The buyer’s solicitor will transfer funds to the seller’s solicitor using a type of transfer called a CHAPS payment. This guarantees the money will be received by the seller’s solicitor on the same day the payment is requested by the buyer’s solicitor.
How long will it take?
The only guarantee offered by the banking system is that a CHAPS payments will be received by the payee the same day it is sent. Even if a payment is sent at 9:00 the only guarantee is that it will be received by the seller’s solicitor by 18:00. Thankfully most payments are processed much more quickly than this and are received by the seller’s solicitor an hour or so after being sent by the buyer’s solicitor. If the buyer has their own sale completing on the same day, their solicitor will have to wait for funds to arrive from their own buyer before funds can be sent to the seller’s solicitor.
What happens to the keys?
Normally keys will be left with the seller’s estate agent. Once the seller’s solicitor receives the sale price, they will instruct the estate agents to release keys to the buyer.
To find out more about our residential sale and purchasing services call us on 033 3344 9600 or email [email protected].
