Unfortunately, in this situation the seller will not be able to give vacant possession, which will lead to completion delays and penalties. If this situation arises, we ask that clients be sensible and accommodating of the unprecedented situation.   If contracts have been exchanged then usually it would result in interest and compensation being paid to you, however if you are in a chain the same will apply to your buyers, so to keep the chain going it may be better just to accept the delay.   As a preventative measure, we can offer to exchange and completion on the same day which ensure that contracts are only exchanged if all parties in the chain are able to move on that day.  

Under normal circumstances, we would not recommend simultaneous exchange and completion as it does have its risks, since there is no guarantee, until the day itself that you will actually be moving.  This means that if you are paying deposits to removal companies or arranging for services to be disconnected when we have no legal assurance that you will move.    Please be aware that if you do instruct us to carry out a simultaneous exchange and completion this is done entirely at your own risk and Banner Jones Solicitors cannot be held responsible for any losses that you might incur if the transaction does not complete.

Each company will be following their own policies and procedures as well as the government guidelines, which may result in a slower service or more precautions being put in place, or indeed surveys being cancelled.

Unfortunately, in this situation the seller will not be able to give vacant possession, which will lead to completion delays.  As a preventative measure, as per question 1, we can offer to exchange contracts and complete on the same day, which ensures that contracts are only exchanged if all parties in the chain are able to move on that day, thus reducing the risk to all parties.  This can be more stressful so we ask that clients be sensible and accommodating of the situation.

The current market and national economy is so uncertain that people may choose to wait and indeed remove their risk by pulling out of the transaction.  Although there is no reason not to carry on as normal in terms of the legal process we have to consider slower transaction times or hesitant investors or buyers.

If banks or mortgage lenders are unable to move funds around due to staffing shortages then this will disrupt your completion, however, be reassured that they will be doing everything they can to prevent this scenario.

The majority of the searches are automated through computer systems and will therefore not be affected, however, the local authority searches are done by visiting the council offices.  Please therefore expect lengthy delays on the return of those searches as some council offices are not allowing visitors.

As things stand, it will be down to the individual companies who will have their own policies in place so the best thing is to contact our remover and discuss their policy with them.