The fact that you have signed means nothing. Your solicitor is merely ensuring he is prepared to exchange as soon as everything is in place. Similarly, he has asked you to sign the transfer deed so he has it ready (btw, even if your house was unregistered the solicitor would still use exactly the same document).
When YOU and the buyer are ready to exchange (your solicitor will confirm this with you in advance, AND they will speak to you on the day to confirm you are still happy to proceed) then your solicitors will have a telephone conversation in which they agree to exchange contracts. The contract will be dated, the completion date will be agreed and entered onto the contract, and the deposit will be agreed. The transaction become binding at this point.
The solicitors will then post the parts of the contract they are holding to each other, so the buyer's solicitor receives the part signed by the seller, and vice versa. Technically, the deposit money should also be sent from the buyer's solicitor to the seller's. Sometimes this does happen, but usually they agree to "hold it to order" so the buyer's solicitor keeps hold of it, but the seller's solicitor can require (order) it to be paid to them at any time.
Generally, all the work has been done prior to exchange. The buyer is committed after exchange, so they need to have completed all their investigations, and confirmed their funding arrangements beforehand. However, just because you have signed, does not mean the solicitors are at this stage. It is very easy to agree the contract, as it is usually just a matter of confirming names, address, price, etc. But there could still be searches or other enquiries outstanding.
Once exchange has happened, you will know when the completion date will be. It can be simultaneous, but it will usually be at least a week, because most mortgage lenders need that notice to provide funds. If there is a long chain the delay might be longer, simply because the completion date will usually be dictated by the person who needs to latest date, but to avoid the risk of the chain falling down, everyone will be keen to get contracts exchanged ASAP. Therefore the delay could be 4 or more weeks.
That's all exactly right, and that's why it's called exchange of contracts. Both sign an identical contract and that gets sent to the other solicitor. You've done it in advance, no doubt the buyer has too, and when the buyer is happy with his searches etc and is ready to commit himself to buying your house, the two solicitors swap contracts. In the days when it was all done by post, the buyer's solicitor posted first and the seller's solicitor posted back. These days they do it by Document Exchange (notice the DX number on your solicitor's notepaper?) so they can swap contracts on the same day.
The fact that you've been asked to sign the contract indicates that it's all going well and exchange should be soon. Your solicitor will tell you when it happens.
Once that's done, you can't pull out of it without incurring financial penalties stipulated in the contract. The buyer's solicitor will have inserted a completion date into the contract, and that's when the actual sale takes place and you've got to move out. The buyer pays the rest of the money (no doubt provided by whoever he's getting a mortgage from) and your solicitor hands over the deed of transfer so the buyer can register the house in his name.
Traditionally completion was "the usual month" later to allow for investigating title, asking "requisitions on title", and other little tarradiddles but with a registered house (and I know yours is registered because you mentioned a transfer deed and not a conveyance), there is no real need for any of this and it can be quicker. All the buyer's solicitor really needs to do is a final Land Registry search to confirm that the land register for the house hasn't changed since when your solicitor sent him a copy of it. Of course your solicitor will tell you the completion date when they tell you that contracts have been exchanged, and no doubt you have discussed this already.
The contracts are exchanged on the same day, this is a binding agreement to buy/sell the houses. Next stage is completion which can be any time from a few weeks to 6 weeks. Depends on how quick the Solicitors are.
Ask yours when he thinks it might be,
UK
Both parties sign a contract. Usually the exchange happens soon after signing but it can happen any time that both sides agree to.
you really ought to go see your solicitor for them to answer any questions you ask
what you have done is signed the contract to sell the house so now you MUST sell it - the one you signed will go straight to the buyers solicitor and the one they signed will come to your solicitor (the contracts are the same)
THOSE contracts specify the actual date when the sale is completed (which you really ought to know about cos your solicitor must have agreed this date wih the buyers, and its written into the contract)
THIS is the date when you must have moved out and the buyer moves in, and the day you receive the money from the sale.(which will 1st go to your solicitor - they wil deduct all the costs, pay off any outstanding mortgage, and deposit whats left in your bank account)
You only become committed at exchange (which can still fail to go through).
All you have done is signed the contracts ready to exchange.
Thank you very much everyone.
Both parties
I am selling my house. I have just signed my contract to sell and the Transfer Deed. Can anyone tell me, did the buyer receive an identical contract from his own solicitor to sign and "Exchange of Contracts" means that both solicitors swap contracts to one another? Also, now I have signed, does that mean all work has been done and exchanging should take place really soon?
Would really appreciate any help.
