exchange contracts

verb exchanges contracts · exchanging contracts · exchanged contracts

1. England, Northern Ireland, Wales, idiomatic To formally contract to purchase, sell or otherwise be party to a disposition of an estate in land; usually requiring the payment of a deposit by one of the parties.
2. England, Northern Ireland, Wales To create a contract for the disposition of an estate in land between negotiating parties, by a process which is immediately followed by the exchange of executed counterparts of the contract between each party's legal representative.