HouseMe Legal

Question of the week:

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One question I've always wondered about is when working days start for due diligence. For example, if you sign a contract on say a Wednesday (that isn't a public holiday). Is the first working day the day you sign? Or is the first working day the next day. I.e. if it's signed on Wednesday and there's 5 working days to clear finance. Is 5pm Tuesday the deadline or 5pm Wednesday? (Again, assuming no public holidays).

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Why It's Important to Understand Working Days

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When buying residential property, the two biggest issues are:

Not knowing where the money is.
Missing any deadlines.

If you can do these two things, your client will be very happy.

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All conditions are hard deadlines unless otherwise agreed/varied. So, what happens at a 5pm deadline for conditions?

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1. Confirm the Conditions: Do not leave this until the last minute.

2. Do Nothing - Contract Remains Live: Assuming you have a finance condition and you have not got an extension, either party can cancel the agreement. If asked by the seller, your client needs to have proof they did not get finance. If no one satisfies or cancels the agreement, the condition remains open, and the contract is still live i.e. this means until the purchaser confirms finance or either party cancels the agreement, the contract remains.

3. Confusion: Sometimes there’s confusion about what happens when 5.00pm ticks over – nothing happens automatically, and each party needs to assess their options to give notice.

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Why Waiting for a Lawyer to Tell You When the Condition Expire Delivers Poor Results

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Waiting for your client’s lawyer to tell you when the conditions begin and expire may take 1-2 working days. This is because they need to open a file and review the agreement themselves. 1-2 working days during a 5 working day period is 40% of your time you need to get finance signed off. You will also be aware that some lawyers are better than others at updating the mortgage broker about key dates and deadlines.

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How to DIY and use our 4-Step Working Day Checklist

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Step 1 - First Day Does Not Count: The date the agreement was signed does not count as a Working Day - this is Day 0.

Step 2 - The Weekends: If the agreement was signed over the weekend, the first Working Day is Monday. This is bit like a skip card in Uno.

Step 3 - Public Holiday: Watch out for Public Holidays. Public Holidays should also be counted as “skip days” and the first Working Day is the first day of the week that is not a Public Holiday (watch out for Easter!).

Step 4 - Christmas Time: The Working Day clock stops between 24 December and 5 January each year. This is under the standard ADLS Agreement, and these days are not classed as Working Days.