The Final Straight

Now we are coming to the homestretch of getting the property that we have so lovingly nurtured from a lead into cold, hard money in your bank account. Once the property has exchanged contracts, you can be almost certain that the property is going to complete, so you can now take a breath and relax. Completion is the next part of the sales process where the property stops becoming the legal possession of the seller, instead becoming the legal possession of the buyer.

It's also at this stage of the process where the seller's solicitor will ask to be sent a copy of your invoice. This is because most fees to agents are paid out from the proceeds of the seller selling their property, meaning that a solicitor will need to allot all the monies needed before the completion day comes around. This will also include your share of the deal!

With regard to timing, completion is usually set around for a week after exchange of contracts has taken place, as it takes a certain amount of time for funds to come from the bank or building society lending the money to the buyer.

Although, there are situations where you have what is known as a ‘simultaneous exchange and completion’ which is exactly what it says on the tin. This is where the property exchanges and completes on the same day, meaning that as soon as the exchange goes through, you’re able to release the keys to the new buyer and they can move into their new home. As you might imagine with the short timescale on this set-up, it can prove very stressful for all involved and won't be applicable for a lot of sales and purchases.

On the other side of the spectrum, you have open-ended completions. These are agreements for an open period of time to be announced in the future. These are very common when it comes to dealing with new-build homes when the builder wants to get an exchange of contracts confirming a buyer is going to be purchasing the property, but the property isn't finished yet and therefore cannot be moved into. Then when the property is ready, a completion date will be put forward and this will then be signed off from this point. These are fairly uncommon outside of the new-build world, as you might imagine. No one wants to be left hanging for three months about when they might be able to move.

With most sales though, a week between exchange and completion is the normal length of time you’re looking for. Sometimes it may be slightly less, sometimes it's slightly more than this, but around a week is the average you’ll come up against in your day-to-day business.

As we mentioned just now, on the day of completion the property becomes the legal ownership of the buyer. However, this is only once the seller’s solicitor has confirmed this with you. What you absolutely cannot do here is hand the key out to the buyer on completion day before you have had this confirmation call come through. If you do, you have effectively just handed over a key to someone who doesn’t yet own that property. As you might expect, this is frowned upon heavily. Instead, you’ll need to wait for a phone call from the seller's solicitor to confirm that the sale has gone through and you’re all okay to release the keys to the property to the new buyers. This can come as early as 10 am, though sometimes it can be as late in the day as 3-4 pm, it’s just a waiting game up until that point.

When you do finally get the call through, though, the next job from here is to call your sellers and congratulate them on their property selling and going through the process. You will also want to ask them roughly how long they will need before they are clear of their old home with their removal firm. Sometimes the homeowners are already on the road and gone. Other times, they won't have even put a box in a van yet. It does vary! But usually, most people are more or less moving out by this stage.

Once you know how long they’re going to remain at the property for, call your buyers and congratulate them on the sale going through, and let them know a rough timescale for the owners moving out of the property – if they’re even still there at all. Once you know this information, arrange a time to visit the property that day and meet with the buyers to hand over the keys to their new home.

With most estate agents up and down the high street, this call would have gone slightly differently. They would have asked the buyer of the property to drive to their office so that they can hand over the keys to them, before wishing them the best of luck as they leave the office. Imagine doing all that in a hired van in a city centre! Instead, the better customer service here is to meet your buyers at the property where you can hand over the keys personally. Trust me, they’ll love you for it.