What ‘Exchange’ and ‘Completion’ Mean

This page is general information about how residential sales usually work in England and Wales, with a short note on Scotland. It is not legal advice. Ethical Conveyancing (TG Legal Services) is an introducer, not a regulated law firm. Panel solicitors regulated by the SRA do the legal work. Your solicitor will explain what applies to your contract and your completion date.

Last reviewed: 30 August 2026.

People talk about “completion” as if it were the whole of conveyancing. In England and Wales there are two different days, and they mean different things.

• Exchange is when the sale becomes a binding contract.
• Completion is when the money is paid, the title is transferred, and the keys are released.

An accepted offer is not usually either of those. Between “sale agreed” and exchange, either side can typically still walk away (there may be practical costs — searches, a survey, a mortgage application — but that is not the same as being locked into the purchase). After exchange, pulling out can have serious financial consequences. This page does not set out those remedies; the contract and the solicitor on the file do.

Exchange: the commitment point

Exchange of contracts is the moment the buyer’s solicitor and the seller’s solicitor swap identical signed contracts (today, usually by a recorded telephone formula, with the paper or electronic contracts already signed).

From exchange, in a typical residential sale:

• there is a fixed completion date in the contract;
• the buyer is committed to buy, and the seller to sell, on those terms;
• the buyer typically pays a deposit to the seller’s solicitor (held as stakeholder in most standard sales).

The deposit is often around 10% of the purchase price. That is common practice on the Standard Conditions of Sale, not a law that every buyer must pay 10%. First-time buyers and chain sales sometimes agree a smaller contractual deposit (for example 5%) if both sides’ solicitors record it. Auction contracts and some new-build contracts use their own figures. The amount on your file is whatever the contract says.

Stamp duty is not paid at exchange. SDLT is a completion-stage tax in the usual residential process (return and payment typically within 14 days of completion in England and Northern Ireland). Understanding SDLT.

Buildings insurance is typically arranged so that cover starts from exchange, because in England and Wales the buyer often takes on the risk in the property from that point even though they do not yet have the keys. Lenders usually want to see buildings cover in place. Leasehold flats are often insured under the landlord’s block policy; the solicitor will say what that lease requires. This is typical practice, not a DIY instruction — insurances and the solicitor/lender on your file.

On the seller’s side, exchange is equally binding. If you are selling, the same contract commits you to give vacant possession on completion (unless the contract says otherwise) and to the agreed fixtures and fittings. A sale quote is the selling-side starting point with us.

Completion: when the keys are released

Completion is the day the balance of the price is transferred to the seller’s solicitor and the transaction completes.

In a typical purchase:

• the buyer’s solicitor sends the completion monies (mortgage advance plus any balance the buyer has sent in);
• the seller’s solicitor confirms receipt and that completion has taken place;
• the estate agent is then authorised to release the keys;
• the seller’s mortgage, if any, is repaid from the proceeds;
• after completion the buyer’s solicitor deals with SDLT (if due) and registers the purchase at HM Land Registry.

You do not usually collect keys on the strength of a van booking or an agent’s “it should be fine”. The call that matters is the solicitor’s confirmation.

Completion day has bank cut-off times. Funds that arrive with the solicitor the morning of completion can be too late for same-day transfer. Completion statements are typically sent before the day so the remaining figure is clear.

The gap between exchange and completion

The gap is often one to four weeks. A Friday-to-Friday week is common when a chain wants a clean moving day. Some files exchange and complete on the same day (more often cash, chain-free, or when everyone is ready). Some new-build and auction timetables are set by the contract and can be shorter or longer.

In that gap, the solicitor typically:

• requests the mortgage advance from the lender for the completion date;
• carries out final bankruptcy, company and Land Registry priority searches;
• issues a completion statement;
• prepares the transfer and any notices (especially leasehold).

On the moving side, this is when removals, meter readings and the last of the paperwork tend to get confirmed — against a date that is now in the contract, not a hope.

How long conveyancing takes in 2026 is about the whole sale-agreed-to-keys period. The exchange-to-completion gap is only the last slice of that. Rightmove’s July 2026 GB average from sale agreed to completion was 154 days; the last two to four weeks of that, on many files, are this gap.

Buyer view and seller view

Buyer. Before exchange you can still usually withdraw (you may still have paid for searches and a survey). After exchange you are buying that property on that date. The deposit is at stake; other consequences can follow if you do not complete. Your solicitor will have gone through the contract, searches and mortgage offer with you before they take instruction to exchange.

Seller. Before exchange you can still usually accept another offer in theory (with all the practical fallout that involves). After exchange you are selling that property on that date. If you cannot give vacant possession, or you will not complete, the buyer has remedies under the contract. This page does not spell those out.

Good conveyancing is mostly about not reaching exchange with a missing mortgage condition, an uninsured building, or a deposit that has not cleared. That is a communication and caseload issue as much as a legal one.

Pulling out after exchange

Once contracts have been exchanged in England and Wales, either side failing to complete can have serious financial consequences. Those can include losing a deposit, interest, and further claims — but the detail depends on the contract, the facts, and timing. This page does not describe the remedies and is not a warning letter. If you think you cannot complete, the solicitor acting for you is the person to call, immediately.

Until exchange, the picture is different: the usual residential sale is not binding, which is why chains collapse and why “sale agreed” is not yet a sale.

England and Wales vs Scotland

This guide is written for England and Wales.

Scotland does not use English-style exchange of contracts. The equivalent is a series of formal letters — missives — between solicitors. The bargain typically becomes binding when missives are concluded, which can be earlier in the process than an English exchange, and the timetable to completion is often shorter. Tax is Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, not SDLT. Rightmove’s July 2026 figure for Scotland from sale agreed to completion was 98 days, against 154 for Great Britain as a whole.

If you are buying or selling in Scotland, use Scotland conveyancing rather than this page. The panel arrangement and quote process are set out there.

Traditional auctions in England and Wales are different again: the fall of the hammer is typically the exchange. The following weeks are then a completion timetable (often around 28 days), not a period for second thoughts. Buying a property at auction.

What often goes wrong in the last stretch

These are process niggles, not predictions:

• removals booked against a guessed week, then a different completion date in the contract;
• mortgage funds requested late, or a lender condition still open at the point someone hoped to exchange;
• deposit or balance still sitting in a personal account on the morning of exchange or completion, missing the bank cut-off;
• source-of-funds evidence for a gifted deposit requested at the last minute;
• leasehold notices or a management pack still outstanding.

None of these is inevitable. They are why files that go quiet in week three tend to become stressful in week eleven. The conveyancing process, demystified sets out the earlier stages.

If you want the legal work quoted, use a purchase quote, a sale quote, or a sale and purchase quote. Fixed legal fees from £400 on a sale or purchase (from £230 on a remortgage); the figure for your file comes from the quote. Panel solicitors do the legal work.

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Why people instruct through Ethical

Ethical Conveyancing is an introducer, not a regulated law firm. Panel solicitors do the legal work. What you get with us:

• Fixed legal fees — from £400 on a sale or purchase, from £230 on a remortgage. The legal fee we quote is the legal fee you pay. Disbursements (searches, Land Registry, and the like) sit on top.
• No Move, No Legal Fee — if the transaction does not complete, you do not pay our legal fee. Disbursements already incurred are still payable.
• A highly rated solicitor on our panel — not a call-centre file. Rated 4.9/5 or higher on review sites.
• A dedicated support manager and an online portal so you can track the file without chasing.
• A clear quote in under 60 seconds. We are not always the cheapest headline on a five-quote shop. We sell a fixed, itemised legal fee and a file you can actually follow.

Purchase quote · Sale quote · Sale and purchase

Frequently asked questions

Related reading

• First-time buyer’s complete checklist — stages 6 and 7
• The conveyancing process, demystified
• How long does conveyancing take in 2026?
• Buying a property at auction
• Scotland conveyancing
• Insurances

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