When to pay remaining deposit...

Hi All

Myself and my partner are FTB and have paid a booking deposit on the house we want, we have our mortgage, life assurance and home insurance all in place and we are hoping to have the sale closed by the beginning of November so just wondering when would you suggest we pay the remaining balance of the deposit and sign the contracts?

Have you engaged with a solicitor?
He will be able to advise when to do all this.

When you paid over your booking deposit, the auctioneer should have asked you for your solicitor's details. The vendor's solicitor will send the contracts to your solicitor. Your solicitor will check the contracts, title of the property etc. Your solicitor may have queries to put to the vendor's solicitor. If and when your solicitor is satisfied that everything is in order, you'll make an appointment to go and sign contracts. At that point you'll agree a closing date. The closing date can be shortly after signing contracts if all parties are agreeable and you seem to have most of your ducks lined up already.

If you've only just paid the booking deposit, it's unlikely that you'll be closing in early November. The various stages of the above process typically take weeks or months to complete. If you want a quick close, then both your solicitor and the vendor's solicitor will need to be willing and able to move very rapidly for you, as well as your lender.

As said above, you should speak to your solicitor who will be able to talk you through this process in more detail.

ash26 said:

just wondering when would you suggest we pay the remaining balance of the deposit and sign the contracts?

Click to expand...

I’m sure your solicitor will also advise that you need a satisfactory surveyors report before paying the remaining deposit and signing contracts.

Hi All

Thanks for your replies, we have a solicitor and she has the contracts but was just wondering when we should sign as the vendors have a closing date of 19th of November.

ash26 said:

...the vendors have a closing date of 19th of November.

Click to expand...

That's aspirational. If your solicitor doesn't think that's realistic she'll tell you so and will change it.

If your solicitor has the contracts and is happy for you to sign them, then you can sign them now.