Getting your property purchase or sale finalised can be a stressful business as you wait for the solicitors to cross all the T’s and dot all the I’s and the money to arrive in your account. The main events in the transaction are Exchange of Contracts and Completion.

Once your residential property conveyancing solicitor has completed all pre-exchange work, it is time to exchange contracts with the other party. When contracts are exchanged, this is the point in the conveyancing process where the buyer and the vendor become legally bound to complete the transfer of title from one to the other. At that stage, a date for Completion is agreed, a deposit is paid (usually 5-10% of the agreed price) and the responsibility for the building insurance passes to the buyer.

At Completion, the balance of the purchase price is transferred to the seller’s solicitor and ownership of the property passes from the vendor to the buyer. Usually, the vendor moves out of the property on completion day, handing over the keys to the estate agent to give to the buyer, who is moving in. If there is a property chain, all buyers and vendors in the chain will typically complete on the same day.

There is normally an agreed period of time between the dates for Exchange and Completion. But is it possible, or indeed desirable, to get it all over with on the same day? What are the pros and cons of a simultaneous Exchange and Completion?

First off, before agreeing to exchange and complete your property transaction on the same day, it is good practice to dig a little bit deeper to understand why one or the other party is keen to proceed in this way.

Sadly, when one of the parties applies pressure for the transaction to be finalised unusually quickly, money laundering and mortgage fraud must always be considered a possibility. The buyer could have submitted a fraudulent mortgage application, wishing to complete as quickly as possible to give the lender little opportunity to detect the fraud and withdraw the mortgage offer. Or one party could be involved in money laundering, hoping to convert the financial proceeds of criminal activity without delay.

If all is well and both vendor and buyer are in agreement to effect a simultaneous Exchange and Completion, you should instruct your solicitors as soon as possible to make sure they are prepared. There are certain formalities that they would normally carry out between Exchange and Completion that must be done earlier if there is no in-between time.

A contract of sale is only binding when it has been exchanged – it is then that the completion date is written in. The idea of having a later completion date is that it gives everyone time to organise the final arrangements such as drawing down the mortgage, transferring the balance of the funds, clearing out the property and preparing for vacant possession, booking a removal company etc.

The big disadvantage of simultaneous Exchange and Completion is that both parties will need to do this without the security of a legally binding agreement already in place. It can be hugely stressful and you could end up wasting a lot of money for nothing.

What if something goes wrong?

What if the other party changes their mind at the last minute and lowers their agreed purchase offer, raises the agreed sale price or withdraws from the transaction altogether? Gazumping and gazundering may be sharp practices but they are not illegal, and their impact will be far greater if you are planning to complete and exchange simultaneously. Having at least 7-10 between the two events will go a long way to provide peace of mind, and extra time to sort things out in case of unforeseen problems.

What if the money doesn’t arrive in time?

If you are buying with a mortgage, your lender will need a certain notice period to release the funds (usually 5 working days). Normally, the funds are requested on the day of Exchange, however if there’s no time, you will need your mortgage lender’s authority to release the funds before exchange. In exceptional cases, some mortgage companies will make funds available within 2-3 days.

That said, if for any reason the money doesn’t arrive in time or hasn’t cleared on the day, there’s no time to put things right. What’s more, if the purchase falls through and the funds have to be returned to the lender, the buyer will be responsible for the interest from the date of release.

If you are a cash buyer, the financial side of things will be a lot more straightforward. You just need to make sure that the funds are available in the solicitor’s account on the day of Exchange/Completion – and ideally the day before.

For property transactions where there is a chain, simultaneous Exchange and Completion is never recommended. The risks associated, particularly with many different parties involved, are simply too great. You would have no certainty that your house will be sold until you exchange contracts, and if your buyer pulled out you could end up with nowhere to move to! If there is no chain, exchanging and completing simultaneously is a less risky option since there are no additional parties involved to complicate the process.