Exchange of contracts is one of the most significant moments in the whole house-buying process. You've just made a legally binding commitment — and so has the seller. Neither party can now back out without significant financial penalty. It's the moment the process stops feeling theoretical and starts feeling very, very real.
So what actually happens between exchange and completion? And what should you be doing in those days or weeks?
The gap between exchange and completion
Most buyers and sellers agree to complete on the same day as exchange, or one to four weeks later. The most common gap is two weeks — long enough to arrange the practical things, short enough that neither party has time to get cold feet.
On the day of exchange, your solicitor will confirm the completion date to you. This is the date you'll collect your keys. Write it down, tell your employer, tell your removal company — this date is now as firm as it gets.
What your solicitor is doing
Between exchange and completion, your solicitor is preparing the completion statement (the final financial settlement), drawing down your mortgage funds, arranging the transfer of the purchase price to the seller's solicitor, and preparing the transfer deed for signature. It's genuinely important work but most of it doesn't require anything from you other than signing documents when they arrive.
Make sure your solicitor has your correct bank details for any funds being returned to you, and that you've signed everything they've sent across. Delays at completion are almost always caused by paperwork that wasn't sorted in the days before.
What you should be doing
Book your removal company immediately. Completion dates, once exchanged, are firm — and removal company diaries fill fast, particularly on Fridays and at month-ends. If you don't book within a day or two of exchanging, you risk not being able to get your preferred company on your completion date. Call your removal company the same day you exchange.
Start packing properly. If you've been putting off packing, now is the time to start in earnest. Work room by room, pack everything you don't need in the next two weeks first, and label every box clearly — room, contents, and whether it's fragile.
Notify everyone of your address change. DVLA, your bank, your employer, HMRC, your doctor and dentist, the electoral register, your children's school, subscription services, Amazon, your car insurance. It's a longer list than you think.
Set up your utilities. Contact your current gas, electricity and water providers to give a leaving date. Contact the new property's providers to arrange transfer or setup. Set up broadband — this often takes two weeks to activate, so do it as soon as you have a completion date.
Redirect your post. Royal Mail's redirection service costs around £40 for twelve months and is worth every penny. Set it up from your old address to your new one, starting on your completion date.
📞 Book your removal company on the day you exchange — Friday completion dates and end-of-month dates fill fastest. At Movers Choice we hold dates on a call and confirm in writing the same day.
Completion day
On completion day, your solicitor receives the purchase funds and transfers them to the seller's solicitor. Once this is confirmed — usually by 1pm or 2pm, though it can take until late afternoon on busy days — the estate agent is authorised to release the keys.
This means the removal van usually can't start unloading at the new property until the early afternoon. For most moves, this works fine — you load up at the old house in the morning, drive to the new property, and start unloading once keys are released.
A good removal company will factor this into the day's planning. We always discuss completion timing with our customers in advance and build in the wait time rather than turning up at 9am and standing outside the new house for four hours.
What if completion is delayed?
It happens. A delay in the chain, a bank transfer that's slow to clear, a last-minute snag from the seller's solicitor. If completion doesn't happen on the planned day, the seller is technically in breach of contract and penalties apply — but that's cold comfort if you're sitting in a removal van with everything you own and nowhere to go.
We've handled delayed completions before and the most important thing is communication. Keep your removal company updated on any signals that completion might slip — we can hold the van on site, arrange temporary storage if needed, and work with the situation rather than against it.
The best way to avoid delays is to make sure everything on your side is sorted well in advance — signed documents returned promptly, funds confirmed, insurance in place from exchange date. Your solicitor will tell you exactly what they need from you and when.