House buyers trying to force early completion date

Now we are trying to negotiate the completion date which is for most reasonable people I believe 4 weeks to arrange removals etc
It is this that is the problem - I'm sure that four weeks is a tad unreasonable these days. With everything being done by BACS these days most completion dates are very soon after exchange of contracts.

Nonnie, It all depends on the circumstances, you do not have to, it is just another option. The cost is not that much because when in between houses one has no mortgage payments, so that usually covers most of the rent, plus any equity in your house, is also in the bank earning interest (OK not much, now, but when we did it, it was 13%. )

It suited us very well because it was at a time when the housing market was dead and we had a buyer moving for his job, his employer was buying his house and he had company finance. If we held him up, he would just find another house.

We had also found a quite exceptional house and got it because we were prepared to delay completion, where others weren't.

I do agree MOnica that being flexible can help but I don't see the need in this case. Why should the OP put furniture in store for a week or so at cost and then have to find somewhere to put all the things which the storage company won't accept somewhere else? My point is that the buyer won't go somewhere else because they couldn't buy another property in so short a time.

Years ago four weeks was standard between exchange and completion and it did work well to get everything organised. I moved recently and it seems one week is the standard now, with two weeks the maximum. It is just one of the many things that have changed since we were young and we have to go with it.

Which? says two weeks.

I would say Which is using an average perhaps? Most people we know who have moved in the last two years will complete way before this

Our solicitor arranged with the buyers and their solicitor for us to exchange and complete on the same day.
We were lucky in that the house we were buying was unoccupied so no one to move out but we didn't want to pay our landlady any more rent than we had to as we needed the money to redecorate and get carpets etc.
It's not always easy to rent somewhere for a matter of a few weeks - our landlady wanted her cake and eat it so we got out as soon as we could! However, every one has different circumstances.
I think it should have been arranged before reaching this stage between the solicitors.

Izabella I'm sure it is. We know people who have moved quicker and some have taken much longer. It all depends on personal circumstances. However, the OP is asking for advice about her circumstances so perhaps being pragmatic is her best option. She needs to look at her options and her buyer's options to decide what to do.