What to do if things don’t go to plan

We hope by using adoor that you’re less likely to face a house move that doesn’t work out. However there’s always a chance something outside your control doesn’t go to plan. We hope the following guides give you a brief overview of things that can happen. How to take a breath and then take actions to help get back on track.

We’ve split out into 5 guides:

- It's completion day and the money hasn't arrived yet → Guide A

- It's completion day and it's now clear it isn't happening → Guide B

- Contracts haven't been exchanged and someone has pulled out → Guide C

- Contracts have been exchanged and someone isn't completing → Guide D

- You've got the keys but the house isn't as expected → see the Completion guide

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A. Completion day is running late

Overview

This is the most common thing that goes wrong, and most of the time it isn't going wrong at all — it just feels like it. Money moves down the chain one link at a time, and your conveyancer usually can't send yours until they've received the money from the buyer below you. If the bottom of a four-property chain starts late, everyone above them starts late.

Being late is normal. Most contracts set a completion time of around 2pm — if funds land after it, the day still completes, but it can count as late and trigger interest. Your conveyancer will tell you if that's a live risk.

What happens

Your conveyancer is watching for the money and chasing the link below. There is genuinely nothing you can do to speed this up, and calling every twenty minutes takes your conveyancer away from the phone call that would actually help.

What is in your control:

• - Tell your removals crew early that it may run late, and ask what their overtime rate is and how late they can work. Ask now, not at 5pm.

• - Ask the estate agent whether they'll be at the office late to release keys, and get a mobile number for someone who will.

• - Have a plan for the van being unloaded tomorrow instead of today. Ask your remover what overnight storage costs before you need it.

• - Make sure someone has eaten and the children and pets are somewhere calm.

What's next

Most late completions complete. If it gets to late afternoon and the money still hasn't moved, your conveyancer will tell you whether it's slipping to tomorrow — that's Guide B.

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B. Completion didn't happen today

Overview

Rare, genuinely awful, and survivable. You are not homeless and you have not lost the house. Contracts are exchanged, so the sale is still legally binding on everyone. The date has moved, not the deal.

The immediate problem isn't legal. It's that you have a van full of your possessions and nowhere to put them tonight.

What happens

Your conveyancer will find out where in the chain it stopped and agree a new completion date, usually the next working day. If the delay is someone else's fault, there may be compensation for your costs under the contract — keep every receipt from today, because you cannot reconstruct them later.

Tonight, in order:

• - Ask your remover about overnight storage. Most can keep the van loaded or move it into a container. If there's a cost; take it.

• - Book somewhere to sleep. Family first, hotel second. Keep the receipt.

• - Your first-night box is in your car, which is why it's in your car.

• - Tell the school, the childcare, anyone expecting you tomorrow.

What's next

Your conveyancer confirms the new date. Re-confirm the removals crew, and take your meter readings on the day you actually leave, not the day you meant to.

If the other side simply refuses to complete rather than being delayed, that's Guide D.

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C. It's fallen through before exchange

Overview

Roughly a third of agreed sales don't reach completion, and most of those collapse before exchange — so if this has happened to you, you're in a very large group. Until contracts are exchanged, anyone can walk away for any reason and owe you nothing. That's the part that feels unjust, and it's simply how the system works in England and Wales.

You've lost money and months. You have not lost your legal position, because you didn't have one yet.

What happens

Costs you may have already spent — searches, survey, valuation, legal fees to date — are usually not recoverable. Some of it can be reused if you find another buyer or another property quickly: searches have a shelf life and some are transferable, and some survey and search fees are insurable against exactly this. Ask your conveyancer what's salvageable before you write it all off.

Practically:

• - Ask the agent why, precisely. "Change of circumstances" tells you nothing. The real reason tells you whether it's fixable.

• - Cancel or postpone the removals booking now — cancellation charges usually scale with notice.

• - If you're mid-chain, find out whether the rest of the chain will wait. Often it will, for a while.

• - Check when your mortgage offer expires. They're time-limited, and a long delay can mean re-applying at whatever rates exist then.

What's next

Back to market, or find a new property. Painful, but the second run is usually faster — your paperwork, ID checks and finances are already done.

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D. Someone won't complete after exchange

Overview

This is the rarest and the most serious. Contracts are exchanged, the date has passed, and the other side isn't a bit late - they aren't completing. Unlike everything else on this list, you now have real legal remedies, and the other party is in a genuinely bad position.

This is not a guide for handling it yourself. It's here so you understand what your conveyancer is about to do.

What happens

Broadly, and subject to your actual contract:

• - Late completion interest. The defaulting party typically owes interest on the purchase price for every day they're late, at a rate set in the contract. It's designed to hurt.

• - Notice to Complete. Your conveyancer can serve a formal notice making time of the essence, giving the other side a short fixed window — commonly ten working days — to complete.

• - If they still don't: the contract can be brought to an end. If the buyer defaulted, the seller can usually keep the deposit and re-market. If the seller defaulted, the buyer can usually recover the deposit and pursue costs and losses.

• Your costs — storage, hotels, van, wasted fees — are potentially recoverable. Document all of it.

What's next

Most notices to complete work; the financial consequences of ignoring one are severe enough that people find a way. Talk to your conveyancer about the realistic timeline before you commit to anything, and don't make new plans around a date nobody's confirmed.

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Please note: Our Know-How Guides do not constitute as legal advice. These guides are provided for greater awareness of the stages of the property transaction process. Please consult your Conveyancer (Property Lawyer) or Estate Agent for questions specific to your move.