Hi, thanks for the quick reply, lots of useful information. I'll find out about the first payment and the inital interest. Just one thing, what did you mean about bills can fall easily or badly how do we find the optimum date to move? Thanks again.

The period between exchange and completion is negotiable.

The seller may be OK with a month, but if there is a chain it's relaly unlikely you'll get the whole chain to agree - the normal period is a week, maybe 2.

You could hand your notice in before you exchange, but this is really inadvisible - if one thing is sure to cause delays and fall throughs it's this, it's just the way of things.

So, probably the lesser of the two evils is to overlap the rental. From there, check with the lender or broker how the lender will deal with your first payment and what they call 'initial interest' - the interest betrween the day you move and the end of that month - they all do it differently and timing is everything - the bills can either fall easily or badly. You'll be able to figure out the optimum date to move. Some lenders will add the initial interest to the loan, a bad idea in the long run, but may solve a short term problem.

I am in the process of buying a leasehold flat and have been told the estimated exchange time is 2-3 weeks. I am currently renting a flat at the moment and have to give 1 months notice, I was wondering what is the average time between exchange and completion? As I don’t want to have to end up having to pay my rent and new mortgage payments all in the same month.