Why do lawyers always exchange on a Friday?

A recent post on social media really got us in the Disney mood. But, surprisingly, it wasn’t Elsa’s bleating in Frozen that was brought to mind by someone whinging about conveyancers. Instead, the writer was complaining about “lawyers only exchanging on a Friday”, so it was rather more Mrs Potts from Beauty and the Beast, and her singing about a “tale as old as time”.

That’s because it’s an accusation that has been knocking around for years.  Unfortunately, like most things property-related, it’s a bit more complicated than merely a conspiracy theory that lawyers only exchange on Fridays. Rather than relying on the usual anecdotal guesswork, we figured we’d look at the data and see if we could learn anything from that.

The good news is that we did.

What proportion of exchanges take place on a Friday?

Turns out that over the last three years, on average, the proportion of exchanges increases through the days of the week, starting from 14% on Mondays through to a high of 28% of Friday. So that sorts that. Our social media poster was right – lawyers have been developing a secret plan to only exchange on Fridays. Sort of, because although 28% is the highest day of the week, it’s not what you’d call an overwhelming percentage.

And there’s another thing.  We compared the same statistics to those 10 years ago and found the figure was over 30%, which means the numbers are actually going down.  While the perceived wisdom from some quarters is that lawyers are getting lazier and more incompetent (we’d love to see evidence to back this up, by the way) this means this alleged lazy incompetence is not causing more exchanges on a Friday.

Why ARE there more exchanges on a Friday?

Mrs Potts was right about this old tale but we’ve never come up with a reason that can be backed up by evidence.  One of our favourite theories is that because people want to complete on a Friday, and a week between exchange and completion seems reasonable, they will need to exchange the previous Friday.

Which, if you’re sitting at the dinner table on a Saturday night, complaining to your friends about the broken house buying and selling process, seems pretty reasonable.  As it’s the country’s national obsession, no-one actually bothers looking at data, but at least it’s one thing we can all agree on.

We went back to our spreadsheets and it turns out that over the last three years, over 42% of cases completed on a Friday.  The same as 10 years ago.  It won’t be much of a surprise to learn that Monday’s are the second highest day – perhaps caused by delays to Friday completions by lawyers forgetting to order mortgage monies.

So there we have it, lots of completions on a Friday, so people exchange a week earlier – as that ratty squirrel-like creature would say “simples”.  Only, there’s a problem because although on average there are 13 days between exchange and completion, which sounds like two weeks-ish, certain days of the week are higher than others, so there is not enough evidence to prove that exchange days are driven by completion dates.

Finally, just because this had been raised as another problem in the past, we checked to see if the time between exchange and completions was getting shorter. Turns out that they are. Ten years ago, the average time between exchange and completion was about 17 days, whereas now it is only 13 days. Finally, just for the record, the figures show that the number of simultaneous exchange and completions, the bane of all our lives, has not changed, accounting for the same 11% of transactions in the last three years as it did 10 years ago.

Any theories anyone?

The only concrete conclusion we can draw is more transactions exchange towards the end of the week. However, the suggestion that lawyers deliberately delay exchanges until Friday cannot be proved, as we all want deals to exchange as quickly as possible, but in reality we’re dealing with humans who typically work towards deadlines.

It’s worth remembering that many lawyers do not get paid if the deal doesn’t go through, and if they do, it is not the same amount as if it was successful.  Transactions are delayed by a lack of appropriate resource – time, expertise and accurate data; a tricky cocktail of issues to solve if ever there was one.

It’s safe to say that the allegation that lawyers deliberately delay transactions until Friday feels more Pinnochio than Mrs Potts, but on reflection, maybe Elsa’s philosophy was a more appropriate response after all.

Peter Ambrose is the CEO of The Partnership and Legalito

 

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33 Comments

  1. mattfaizey

    Great Article Peter.

    I’ve written for years that
    4/10 of completions are on Fridays
    Then the next two days for popularity are Mon&Thur, lastly Tue&Wed.

    Everybody in the house moving side knows already what your data shows.

    The worrying thing is that it seems to be estate agents that perpetuate the myths, not the public.

    The public only believe and repeat it.

    However, everybody in house moving would disagree with your exchange to comp timelines. 13days average?

    The data from moving firms would show this up. Which isn’t to be antagonistic nor doubting of your data but more pondering if the data set would show a peculiarity in your area? Or maybe more the firms you deal with most often?

    And, Mr May – if you care to refer to our last WhatsApp convo you’ll see why I was so vociferous against what somebody told you on this topic based on Peter’s published data.

    Keep the data coming Peter. It’s good.

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    1. Peter Ambrose (The Partnership)

      Hey Matt – good question – there may be regional differences – our figures are London and south east, but I don’t see why this should affect it.

      – Avg freehold completion time – 14 days ( 13 in 2021 ,63% of tx, 15 in 2022, 56% of tx and 15 in 2023 , 50% of tx)
      – Avg leasehold completion time – 10 days ( 9 in 2021, 37% of tx, 12 in 2022, 44% of tx and 11 in 2023, 49% of tx)

      Potentially exchange times affects completion times… deal takes longer so you run out of spare time to complete..

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      1. mattfaizey

        err, that’s not what I asked, unless I’ve misunderstood it?

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  2. mattfaizey

    Peter,
    If you might be about to ask me what data I’d like to see;

    Do what nobody has done yet.

    Log how many weeks post offer sales fall through.
    And separate off how many fall through at the point of exchange.

    Then, how many transactions complete at the price agreed at initial offer.

    Then separate out how many were reduced at the point on exchange.

    Then work out how this data can be compiled nationally.

    We can then show up how gazundering is a bigger issue than the media currently realise. While also uncovering the true stresses along the way.

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    1. Peter Ambrose (The Partnership)

      We did some interesting ( if potentially controversial ) analysis around when deals fall through.

      Unfortunately, we don’t track historic price changes and it’s tricky to analyse how close to exchange you are; we typically flag our cases as “ready to exchange” but that’s just our side of the deal – who knows what fun and games are going on up and down the chain …

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      1. mattfaizey

        well the data for a price change after you’ve flagged as ‘ready’ would be useful. Although national data would make me ecstatic!

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  3. Targeting 3 week exchanges

    Brevity people!

    The reasons – for those done on a Friday (they’ve also been happening all week too though):
    1. guilt – it’s taken them another week, so we better at last exchange so clients don’t chat at the dinner table and criticize us
    2. being dynamic – one lawyer drags the chain to finally get it through, as they have done so many this week so far let’s squeeze another in
    3. factory outfits have a sign off – those outfits not fit for purpose took all week and finally have the file signed off as ‘safe enough’ to exchange

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    1. Peter Ambrose (The Partnership)

      Tim – do you have any data to back this up – these types of unsubstantiated assumptions are the reason why I wrote the piece!

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      1. mattfaizey

        To be fair Peter, that’s the experience and perception we’ve had in this office for 3 decades (mostly over the last 12-15 years). It’s the perception most home movers have.
        The post 4pm events are a farce with clients stressed to the eyeballs, and sometimes crying.

        The call logs follow the same pattern (and we have hundreds like this)

        Tuesday – told likely exchange today
        Wednesday – told that it’ll defo be today as it didn’t happen yesterday
        Thursday – They’re ready, should be exchanged by 2pm
        Friday – It’ll be this morning
        Friday – They’ve now said by lunchtime
        Friday – Absolutely certainly by 3pm
        Friday – Should be done by 4pm
        Friday – Should be done by 5pm
        Friday 17:15 – ‘exchanged’ followed by ‘ I’m never moving house again this has been horrible’

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        1. jan-byers

          It is 100% the experience we have all had since the start of time
          The WFH has madethibgs even slower
          Yesratredayt I rang 3 sols in yesterday :
          a) “just pooped out to the shop”
          b) “just popped to gym”
          c) ” just loicking kid up from school”
          It is a joke

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          1. Retiredandrelaxed

            “loicking kid up from school” – is that even legal??! 😉

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  4. Rob Hailstone

    Clients have always put more pressure on the conveyancer, agent, and sometimes themselves (if some of their paperwork is outstanding) to exchange on a Friday. Relieves mental stress over the weekend, and gives them two days off work to pack up in the knowledge the transaction will proceed.

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    1. mattfaizey

      You assume then that they’ve been stressed all week waiting then? Or are you assuming that they’re actually moving on the Monday which means the conveyancers have properly crapped on them?

      😉

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      1. Rob Hailstone

        Not assuming anything Matt, surprise, surprise, conveyancers move home also, and it can be as stressful for them as their clients. I would always prefer to exchange a week (or ideally more) before completion, for practical reasons.

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      2. jan-byers

        Mate they do not get stressed

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        1. Rob Hailstone

          That is beyond a ridiculous comment Jan.

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  5. NW.Landlord

    I always used to think it was so the house movers had a weekend to get settled in, but I now think it’s because if something goes wrong you can’t get hold of the solicitor until Monday, by which time tempers have cooled.

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    1. Diogenes

      ‘Settling in’ is more about completion rather than exchange of contracts.

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  6. Diogenes

    Has anyone factored in tee-times? 😉

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    1. mattfaizey

      It’s only the old guard that go golfing isn’t it?
      The WFH bunch are in the gym / browsing tiktok / taking the dog for a walk

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      1. Rob Hailstone

        FFS Matt, give it a rest.

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        1. mattfaizey

          Are there any clinics that perform ‘sense of humour installs’?
          I’m happy to start a crowd-funding page and we can raise the money for you.

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    2. Rob Hailstone

      Really, such a last century comment? The majority of conveyancers now are women and the majority of golfers are men, and very few of either consider Friday poets day.

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      1. Diogenes

        I am a last century kind of guy.

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        1. Rob Hailstone

          Me also, actually.

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          1. mattfaizey

            I never realised that only 1/3 of Golfers are women.

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  7. skipdale

    To be honest just an exchange would be good…not bothered what day it is on!

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  8. Essjaydee51

    In my experience, Exchange generally has a 2 week breather to Completion so they can finish the main packing and then pack the rest of their stuff which was the essentials needed to live with until completion is knocking on the door then its the annoying “banking system” to flush the money through and the solicitor then gives us a call to confirm we can release the keys to our fast growing irritated buyer.
    The two weeks is to help save from too much stress and the Friday completion is so they have two full days plus the Friday pm to move and unpack thus not needing to book extra holiday days off work, at least that’s where I see it and in my 38 years of service, no, it hasn’t changed much and being OLD GUARD, I play on a Saturday afternoon and Sundays, mostly.
    Have a good stress free weekend people.

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  9. Anna Naemis

    “Lies, damned lies, and statistics”

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  10. Gangsta Agent

    I don’t give a s**t what day they exchange………………………..so long as they do!

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  11. Emmersons46

    What does it matter when Exchange takes place?
    I’ve never understood the “enthusiasm” some estate agents have for Exchange especially when they refer their client, the seller and the buyer to conveyancers who stack them high and take their time just because they pay a fee.

    Anyway, if Material Information Parts B and C were embraced wholly by estate agents and sellers instructed conveyancers to complete MI documents (it’s a legal requirement after all) before the property is listed then all the angst would disappear.

    Stop referring for the fee!!

    It is really that simple.

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    1. mattfaizey

      It matters a great deal to the only people that truly should count as a priority.

      The paying clients who are seeking to move home.

      It’s the single moment that they know it’s happening.

      The only moment in time from which they can plan, dream, and rejoice. To actually enjoy the vision of their future they have developed. The moment they can actually celebrate.

      When it happens, how soon it happens, how smoothly it happens is critical to either their enjoyment of, of hatred of the conveyancing process.

      And when it happens, how far in advance of completion day is critical to their ability to prepare, pack, and make all myriad of arrangements.

      Literally, exchange of contracts, whether it be the journey to, or timescale around is the sole driver of the most intense stress for them.

      So, it matters a great deal.

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      1. Rob Hailstone

        I think what Emersons46 means is, it doesn’t really matter what day of the week exchange takes place on, as long as it is as soon as the chain is ready, and the completion date agreed is the one that all parties in the chain have agreed on.

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