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Picking up keys on moving day

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  • Marvel1
    Marvel1 Posts: 7,172 Forumite
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    What time did you ask removals to be at your house and start loading?
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
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    For you to have the keys at 9am, the vendor would have had to have moved ALL their stuff out by 9am. Yet your removals firm are starting to load you at 11am?
  • smallholdingsister
    smallholdingsister Posts: 4,018 Forumite
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    There is confusion. Why would you need the keys at 9 when they are loading from your current house?
  • Thrugelmir
    Thrugelmir Posts: 89,546 Forumite
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    Collected them once at 4.40. Was December. Arrived at the house to find the previous owner had removed all the lightbulbs......
  • DigForVictory
    DigForVictory Posts: 11,906 Forumite
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    We got the keys about midday & arrived to find the previous owners still there! Happily doing a last pass, so there was a bit of "All the very best!" & sniffling but we got our stuff in in daylight & the children's beds sorted enough, so we counted that a success.


    Um, should I mention that over a decade later I'm still working on unpacking? No - you've done this before & are Clearly More Organised. Very best of luck!
  • davidmcn
    davidmcn Posts: 23,596 Forumite
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    smallholdingsister wrote: »
    There is confusion. Why would you need the keys at 9 when they are loading from your current house?

    I was also confused by that. The point at which you need keys is when you want to start unloading.

    Also, is it normal these days for removal firms to quote by the hour? The only time I've used them they all seemed to be quoting for the job (and assuming they wouldn't be doing anything else that day). If they're hoping to dump your stuff and rush off to another job exactly two hours after they start then you're going to have problems, as there are all sorts of potential delays on the day.
  • walwyn1978
    walwyn1978 Posts: 837 Forumite
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    'Smaller' firms tend to do hour by hour. 'Larger' firms tend to offer you the chance to pay an upfront 'waiting' fee and then not have the clock running, so you're able to cope if the keys/house isn't ready.

    Although they may be a little more expensive, may be worth seeking out one of these bigger firms (i.e. National chains etc) if you're genuinely concerned about the timings not working out.
  • PasturesNew
    PasturesNew Posts: 70,698 Forumite
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    I got my keys at 10am ... but the previous owners still had a set and were still "moving" - they'd taken a van of stuff to the tip and were refused entry, so they didn't finally get away from the house until 5.30pm.

    For me, coming from rented, I had a 1-2 week overlap and hadn't booked my removals until the following day as I was covering problems occurring.
  • jackomdj
    jackomdj Posts: 3,073 Forumite
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    Our last move we had the phone call at 9:30, we have had a move where the previous owners hadn't done anything when we were ready to move in.
  • BiBi
    BiBi Posts: 39 Forumite
    edited 11 June 2017 at 8:23PM
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    Thanks for all your info guys, much appreciated.

    I have a better idea of what sort of thing to ask this week, so a million thanks :)

    Apologies for the phrasing 'they said I should be collecting my keys from 9am' was from a chap who I believe was saying the est agents and solicitors open at 9am so that's when the completion day clock starts ticking so I should be prepared to go at any time - (in essence, book him from 9am, then pay the £80 per hour til it actually happened - possibly gaining himself a 'sitting on his butt bonus' from when the van is full mid morning til the keys come in mid afternoon at the earliest!)

    I said to each company "I expect to get the keys around 2pm" so I've assumed they'd start the booking earlier to pack up - but I'll stipulate this on future calls to be sure.

    I've moved previously with just hiring a van (and a few friends being paid in pizza & alcohol!) which has all gone fine but I have a problem with my knee so I can't be hopping in and out of the van nowadays so have decided to get porters to do all that this time.

    I think the other companies' problem was 'afternoon versus morning'. I wasn't sure how many jobs they try and do each day but from your info I'm now guessing one move a day due to the possible delays. I moved lots previously - but in rented flats, so that's a different kettle of fish and I guess I was lucky with my present house with no delays.

    I'll start calling again tomorrow with more questions due to the info you've given.

    Thanks again :)
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