When we purchased our home 5 years ago we were asked to release the deposit early.
We told our conveyancer that we didn't want to, but he pretty much advised us what Tanstar just said (they had no mortgage on the house, and no other debts) I *think* from memory if we had refused they.could have appealed and due to their good financial history the decision would have been taken out of our hands and they could have had the funds released anyway (but I could be wrong with that part)