What Happens on Completion Day?

Completion day is the day your house purchase becomes legally final. It's the moment the remaining balance of the purchase price moves from your solicitor's account to the seller's, the seller's solicitor confirms the money has landed, and the estate agent releases the keys so you can move in. For most buyers it's the single most stressful day of the whole process, not because anything complicated happens, but because so much of it is out of your hands and depends on other people moving money on time.

Knowing what happens, and roughly when, takes a lot of the anxiety out of the day. Most completions happen between 12pm and 2pm, though this varies depending on how many properties are linked in your chain and how early the money starts moving that morning.

Completion vs Exchange of Contracts

It's easy to confuse completion with exchange of contracts, but they're two distinct legal moments. Exchange is when both parties sign and swap contracts, at which point the sale becomes legally binding and neither side can pull out without a financial penalty. Completion, which typically happens anywhere from a few days to several weeks after exchange, is when ownership actually transfers and the money changes hands. Between exchange and completion, your solicitor finalises the paperwork, requests the final mortgage funds from your lender, and prepares to send the balance of the purchase price on completion day itself.

This final stage sits at the end of the wider conveyancing process, and it's worth remembering that everything that happens on completion day depends on the groundwork your solicitor did in the weeks before: searches coming back clean, mortgage offers being finalised, and the contract being agreed by both sides at exchange.

Completion day follows a fairly predictable rhythm, even though the exact timings shift depending on your chain. Here's what's happening behind the scenes, hour by hour, from the moment your solicitor's office opens to the point you're standing in your new hallway with the keys in your hand.

Morning: 8am to 10am

Your solicitor's first job of the day is to send your money. If you're buying with a mortgage, your lender releases the funds to your solicitor a day or two before completion, so by the morning of completion day your solicitor already holds both your mortgage advance and your own deposit and balance. Between 8am and 10am, your solicitor sends the full purchase price to the seller's solicitor using a CHAPS transfer, the same-day bank transfer system used for high-value property transactions. CHAPS payments sent before a bank's cut-off time, usually around 3pm to 4pm, clear the same working day, which is why solicitors try to send funds as early as possible to leave room for any hold-ups.

Midday: 10am to 1pm

Once the seller's solicitor's bank confirms the funds have arrived, they check the amount matches what's owed, then phone or email your solicitor and the estate agent to confirm completion has legally taken place. This is the moment ownership actually transfers, even though nothing visibly changes yet. The estate agent is then given the green light to release the keys. Most completions land in this window, which is why conveyancing industry data consistently shows the busiest period for key releases falling between 12pm and 2pm.

Afternoon: 1pm to 4pm

With confirmation received, you can collect your keys from the estate agent, or in some cases directly from the seller or their solicitor if there's no agent involved. At this point you're free to move in, start unloading the removal van, and begin the practical business of settling into the property. If you're at the end of a long chain, this stage can slip later into the afternoon, sometimes as late as 4pm or 5pm, because your completion can only happen once every other transaction below you in the chain has completed first.

There's no single answer to how long completion day takes, because it depends entirely on how many other property transactions are linked to yours. If you're buying from someone with no onward purchase, a chain-free sale, your solicitor can send funds first thing and you could have your keys by 11am. Add a chain, and every extra transaction adds a layer of dependency, because funds have to cascade upward from the bottom of the chain before the top can complete.

Chains work like a relay race where each solicitor is waiting to receive money before they can pass their own funds along to the next link. A four-property chain, for example, needs the first sale's funds to clear before the second solicitor can send theirs, and so on, which is why longer chains routinely push completion into mid or late afternoon. This is closely tied to how long the whole conveyancing process takes from offer to keys, since a longer chain earlier in the process usually means a later completion time on the day itself. For a fuller breakdown of what happens between signing contracts and getting your keys, see our guide to the exchange to completion timeline.

The table below gives a rough guide to typical completion timing based on chain length, though individual cases vary depending on how early solicitors start sending funds and how quickly each bank processes the transfer.

A little preparation the day before completion makes the whole day far less stressful. Most of what you need to do is practical rather than legal, since your solicitor handles the money and paperwork side. Work through this checklist in the 24 to 48 hours before completion and you'll avoid the most common last-minute panics.

1. Confirm completion with your solicitor: Call the afternoon before to check funds are ready to send and there's nothing outstanding on your side.
2. Confirm your removal company: Double-check the time they're arriving and give them the new address and any access instructions.
3. Pack an essentials bag: Keep important documents, phone chargers, toiletries, medication, and snacks separate from the moving boxes so you're not digging through crates on arrival.
4. Take final meter readings: Photograph the gas, electricity, and water meters at your current property before you leave.
5. Stay reachable: Keep your phone charged and nearby, since your solicitor will call to confirm when funds have been sent and again when completion has legally happened.
6. Wait for the completion call: Don't head to the property or collect keys until your solicitor or estate agent confirms completion has taken place.
7. Collect the keys: Usually from the estate agent, though your solicitor will tell you exactly where to go if there isn't one.
8. Check the property's condition: Walk through and confirm it matches what you saw at the final viewing, including any fixtures and fittings agreed in the sale.
9. Read the new meters: Take readings as soon as you arrive so you're only billed from your actual move-in point.
10. Notify your council and utility providers: Set up council tax, arrange a Royal Mail redirect, and switch utilities into your name within the first week.

If you're buying a leasehold flat, a few extra checks apply on completion day, such as confirming ground rent and service charge accounts are up to date. Our guide to leasehold conveyancing covers what to look out for.

If you're selling as well as buying, completion day has a second set of jobs to think about, generally centred on leaving the property in the state you agreed and being out by the deadline written into the contract. Most sale contracts specify a vacation time, commonly around 1pm, though this is negotiated between solicitors and can vary.

• Vacate by the agreed time: Contracts typically specify you need to be out, with all your belongings removed, by early afternoon, often 1pm, so the buyer can move straight in once keys are released.
• Leave keys with the estate agent: Rather than waiting to hand them to the buyer directly, drop all sets of keys, fobs, and alarm codes with the agent so they can release them the moment completion is confirmed.
• Take your own final meter readings: Photograph gas, electricity, and water readings so your final bills are accurate and there's no dispute with the incoming owner.
• Leave manuals and warranties: Boiler manuals, appliance guarantees, and alarm instructions are helpful for the new owner and are often expected as part of a smooth handover.
• Cancel or transfer your utilities and insurance: Give final readings to your suppliers and cancel your buildings insurance from the completion date, once you've confirmed the buyer's cover is in place.
• Redirect your post: Set up a Royal Mail redirect so anything sent to the old address, including any final solicitor correspondence, reaches you at your new home.

Completion day usually goes smoothly, but it depends on money moving between several different banks and solicitors' accounts on time, so delays do happen. None of the common problems below are cause for panic, but knowing what's happening and who to call makes them far less stressful.

Funds Are Delayed

The most common hold-up is money arriving later than expected, usually because a CHAPS payment further down the chain was sent late, or because a bank's own processing is running slow that day. If your solicitor hasn't received confirmation of funds by early afternoon, ask them directly what stage the chain is at. Genuine banking delays are rare once a payment has actually been sent, since CHAPS transfers clear the same working day, but if funds haven't left a solicitor's account yet because of a hold-up elsewhere in the chain, completion may need to be pushed back to the following working day, which can mean an overnight stay in a hotel if you've already given up your old property.

The Seller Hasn't Vacated

Occasionally a seller is still moving out when the buyer arrives, usually because their own onward purchase or removal van has been delayed. Your solicitor can raise this directly with the seller's solicitor, and in a worst case scenario there are financial penalties, sometimes called a late completion or occupation charge, that the seller may have to pay for every day they overstay.

The Property's Condition Has Changed

If fixtures, fittings, or the general condition of the property don't match what was agreed, photograph the issue immediately and contact your solicitor before you sign anything or make any payment adjustments yourself. Minor wear is normal, but anything specifically listed in the contract, such as a fitted kitchen appliance, being missing is a breach your solicitor can pursue.

The Removal Van Is Delayed

Traffic, van breakdowns, and double-booked removal firms can all throw your timing out. Build some slack into your day by asking your removal company to hold off arriving until you've confirmed you have the keys, rather than having them turn up and wait outside the property.

Getting the keys isn't quite the end of the process. Your solicitor still has several legal jobs to finish off in the days and weeks after completion, and you have a handful of admin tasks of your own to work through.

Within 14 days of completion, your solicitor must submit your Stamp Duty Land Tax return and pay any tax due to HMRC, a strict deadline that carries penalties if it's missed. This is one of several disbursements your solicitor handles on your behalf, alongside Land Registry fees and search costs, all of which should have been itemised clearly in your original conveyancing fees quote. Your solicitor then registers you as the new legal owner with HM Land Registry, a process that typically takes a few weeks for straightforward cases but can occasionally take several months if there are title complications, and once registration is complete they'll send you the official title information and deeds.

• Arrange buildings insurance: Cover should technically be in place from exchange of contracts, so check this is active from your first night in the property.
• Update the electoral roll: Register at your new address so you can vote and so lenders can verify your address for future credit checks.
• Change your address everywhere: Banks, employer, DVLA, and any subscriptions all need updating in the first few weeks.
• Keep your solicitor's final report to hand: This document summarises the transaction and is useful if you ever sell or remortgage.