Mortgages

[asteroid99]

Can anyone tell me what the trigger is for a mortgage lender to release funds to the buyers solicitor?
My purchase is supposed to be completing tomorrow and on Tuesday I got a message from the bank to say that the funds had been released. However my solicitors assistant (my solicitor was on the phone when I called) said that they had not managed to make the exchange yet.
Seems a bit strange to me as the sale isn't definite until the contracts are exchanged, so i can't see the lender releasing the money early? Can anyone shed some light on this?
Thanks

[PMU]

I've recently completed on a purchase, so know a bit about it. The lender can release funds to your solicitor prior to exchange, although the solicitor will have to send the funds back if they can't forward onto your vendor.

Sounds like they requested the money anticipating to exchange and complete... and haven't managed to move any further.

BEst to speak to your solicitor to be honest.

[spaced]

no monies will be exhanged or released until the contract are signed and exchanged, as this is the point where anythng can change. Even at the olast minute just befopre siging vendors/seller can cancel. It is a well know thing that at the very last minute a seller will increase the amount of the prurchase price. By this time the buyer just wants to ge in so just pays the difference. A nasty money making idea!

[doglady]

The other thing solicitors do is have your money resting in their bank account for a day, so they get a load of interest on it. Then they eventually pay it over once they've got some benefit from it.

[Susie Strawb]

A lot of Solicitors obtain the mortgage advance a couple of days before completion, especially if there is a long chain involved, so the funds can be transferred as early as possible on the completion date to avoid penalties for late completion. Standard Conditions of Sale in a Contract stipulate that completion must take place by 2.00pm on the completion date