Immediate pathway · preparing to exchange
You are preparing to exchange contracts. What must be ready?
Exchange is the point at which the purchase becomes legally binding and the completion date is fixed. Use this route to know what to check in the contract pack, when insurance must start, and how to protect your deposit from payment fraud.
This pathway explains the exchange process in England. It is education, not legal advice or a substitute for your conveyancer's checks.
Your route
Five lessons, in a sensible order.
Open each lesson for the explanation and questions. Every link is part of the full 48-step journey.
- 1
Before you agree to exchange
Review the Contract Pack & Report on Title
Understand the title, searches, enquiries and obligations before signing anything.
- 2
Alongside the contract review
Agree the Completion Date
Choose a workable date across the chain, any tenancy and your removals plans.
- 3
Ready to start from exchange
Arrange Buildings Insurance
Put the required cover in place from exchange, not completion — you are on risk sooner than you might expect.
- 4
Just before exchange
Transfer Your Exchange Deposit
Move the exchange funds securely, and know exactly how to guard against payment fraud.
- 5
Exchange day
Exchange Contracts
Know precisely what happens during exchange and what becomes legally binding at that moment.
Practise the decision
Never trust bank details from an email alone.
Try responding to a realistic payment fraud attempt before you actually transfer your deposit.
Practise the decision
An email says your conveyancer's bank details have changed. What now?
Two days before you need to transfer your exchange deposit, you receive an email that appears to be from your conveyancer, saying their bank account details have changed and asking you to use the new details.
Questions to carry with you
Keep the conversation useful.
Take these to your conveyancer before exchange day.
- What does the contract pack say about the boundaries, easements and any restrictive covenants?
- From what date and time does my buildings insurance need to be in force?
- What is my conveyancer's verified bank account information, confirmed through a channel I trust?
- What happens if either side fails to complete on the agreed date?
Once contracts are exchanged
Learn what happens on completion day.
Understand the transfer of funds, collecting the keys and what needs to happen after you move in.
Open the completion phase