Completion dates · chains · who holds the pen

Who decides the completion date when you sell a house?

Honestly: nobody, alone — and that’s the problem. The date is negotiated between every buyer and seller in the chain, through their solicitors, and it only becomes real at exchange of contracts. Until then it’s a preference. This page explains who actually holds the pen at each stage, and the one situation where the answer is you.

Everyonein the chain must agree the same day — each with their own lender, solicitor, removals and life

Exchangethe only moment the date stops being a preference and becomes enforceable, usually one to two weeks before completion

Youwho picks the date when you sell to us — seven days to six months out, in the contract, £500 a day on us if we miss it (capped, and subject to contract)

The uncomfortable mechanics: a date by committee

On the open market the completion date is set in two stages, and you control neither on your own. First, while the sale is progressing, the date is a moving target discussed between solicitors — it drifts with searches, mortgage offers, surveys, and whoever is slowest in the chain, because a chain almost always completes on a single day. One remortgage delay three houses away moves your date, and there is nothing your solicitor can do about it. Second, at exchange, the date freezes: it goes into the contract and becomes enforceable against both sides. From that moment it’s decided — but by then it has already been shaped by everyone else’s circumstances, not chosen by you.

The practical consequence: the person who most needs a specific date has the least power to set one. If your date is soft, the drift is an annoyance. If it’s a repossession hearing, a school term, a flight, or an onward purchase with its own chain, the drift is the whole problem — and the honest fixes are the ones on the completion-date guide: drive the open market hard and early, take auction’s fixed timetable with an unknown price, or a contracted buyer who signs your date first.

Count the people who can move your date

Pick your chain length. This is why “we’re aiming for the 28th” so rarely survives contact with reality.

The questions people ask about who sets the date

Can the seller just pick the completion date?

No — and neither can the buyer. The date is agreed between both solicitors, and in a chain it has to work for every buyer and seller in the line at once, because everyone usually completes on the same day. The longer the chain, the less any one person's preference matters.

When does the completion date become legally binding?

Only at exchange of contracts. Before exchange, any date that's been discussed is an intention with no legal force; after exchange, missing it triggers interest at the contract rate and, ten working days after a notice to complete, potentially the loss of the buyer's deposit.

Can a completion date be changed after exchange?

Only if both sides agree to vary the contract — neither side can move it alone. That cuts both ways: it protects your date, but it also means a genuine emergency on either side needs the other's consent, usually negotiated between solicitors with costs attached.

Do Fridays matter for completion dates?

Fridays are the most requested completion day because it suits removals and weekends — which is exactly why solicitors, lenders and removal firms are most stretched then. A mid-week completion often runs smoother, and money sent earlier in the day arrives earlier. Completions only happen on working days, whichever day you pick.

Who decides the completion date when there's no chain?

The buyer and seller, between them — this is the one situation where the date is close to a real choice. It's also why chain-free buyers can offer date certainty the open market can't: with us, you name the date first, from seven days out to six months, and the contract is built backwards from it.

Sources: MoneyHelper, exchange and completion · Zoopla, completion day · fall-through rate ~1 in 4, industry data via Ready Steady Sell. England & Wales; Scotland binds earlier via missives. General information, not legal advice. Last reviewed September 2026.

Name the date. We’ll sign it.

There's no obligation and nothing to sign. We'll give you a figure in writing, with our reasoning, and you can take it to anyone you like before you decide.

Or call us: 0191 249 3969 · 8am–8pm, seven days

Selling more than one — or the whole building? See blocks of flats and commercial property.

This page is part of the completion-date guide. The full picture — every route to a fixed date, compared honestly — is on can you guarantee a completion date?