Adventures of a Non-Binary Author – Fixing a Completion Date
We get back from our weekend away, feeling like everything is on track. We have a provisional completion date which will allow us to avoid two months of rent and mortgage. Things are moving in the right direction. It’s just about figuring out the finer details now.
A call comes in before the end of the week. Our solicitor informs us our seller needs to move the completion date. It needs to be sooner than the provisional one, or else they’ll have to pull out. They can’t afford it otherwise. We’re told which week they would like us to complete in, so we check the calendar. Which days off do I have that week. We just need one of us. We’re not moving that day, just picking up the keys. We don’t want to lose another property, Not when we’re this close to the wire.
There are two dates I could do that week. We peg for the later of the two, so we have something to fall back on just in case. The date we’re suggesting is exactly ten days earlier than the previous one. Depending on how our provider works, we’ll most likely be paying two months of rent and mortgage. We can afford to, it’s just not the most ideal. Not when there are other things we want to do with that money this year.
It’ll be okay though. We’ll just have to delay some of the things by a month or two in order to recover. And we will recover. We have all the time in the world, so a slowed timeline isn’t the worst thing.
The new provisional date is set. Now we just want to fix it in stone. We do not want the seller to get it into their head that they could shift the date again. So we send our balance to the solicitor and wait. It’s kind of terrifying seeing so much money disappear over two days. But once it’s done we know we can prepare for contracts to exchange. Once contracts have exchanged the completion date is fixed. It won’t change again. And that, more than anything, is what we want now. We want to know which date we’re completing, so we can sort everything else from there.
The wait is agonising. And then… the solicitor calls for verbal confirmation. Contract exchange happens shortly after. We have a house. We have a completion date. And we have more than enough time to organise before we move. We still haven’t decided which day we’re moving yet. But we know we’ll be more than ready for it when we do…
To be continued…
