Completion Day: What Actually Happens When You Buy a House in the UK
Exchange is the relief. Completion is the handover. In between is the weirdest, jumpiest day of the entire process- full of phone calls, bank transfers, empty houses and waiting. Here’s what actually happens on completion day, timed out so you know what to expect. 8:00 AM: Your Solicitor Gets to Work Your solicitor checks that your mortgage funds have arrived from the lender- these usually land in their client account between 8am and 10am. Your deposit should already be sitting there from the day before. The solicitor verifies the combined total matches what’s needed for the seller’s solicitor. 9:30–11:30 AM : Funds Transfer to the Seller Once your side is ready, your solicitor sends the purchase funds via CHAPS transfer to the seller’s solicitor. In a chain, every solicitor is doing this simultaneously- the bottom of the chain’s money flows up through the chain, each link paying the next. Hold-ups in one link delay everyone above. This is why chains add stress. 11:00 AM – 2:00 PM : The Call You’re Waiting For When the seller’s solicitor confirms receipt of funds, they notify the estate agent to release the keys. Your solicitor calls you ‘you’ve completed, pick up the keys’. This typically happens between 11am and 2pm, but sometimes as late as 4pm in long chains. Keys are usually collected from the estate agent’s office, occasionally from the seller directly. What Happens at the Estate Agent You arrive, ID in hand, and the agent hands you the keys. Sometimes there’s
