On the day of moving house

kevinlad

Hi, I am thinking to sell my first house and buy a new one. There are a few questions in my mind of how the big day of moving actually works. If I can only collect the new key from my solicitor or estate agent on the day of moving and arrange a moving company to move my stuff to the new house -

1. Should I leave the moving company to pack my stuff in my house while I travel to the estate agent to collect the key (I don't think I can get a friend's help on this).

2. If so, should I give them my house key and ask them to lock the door?

3. I have no control of what time the estate agent will give me the key, what should I do if the moving company arrives to my new house and I'm still not there?

Any other tips to make the day run smoother will be appreciated!

snowdrop1967

Hi we moved on the 23rd July and this was the first time we had used a company as we have previously done this ourselves. The removals people turned up just before 8 and we had just about got it all in the two vans by about 11.30 (4 bedroomed house). We didnt get the phone call to say that everything was completed and we could go and get the key until 1ish and then we had to chase the solicitor. We had a 1/2 hours drive to get the key from the estate agent and so we left the removals men at our old house and they said they would stop and have their lunch and would leave and meet us at the new house which was 10 minutes away. Unloading the vans was far quicker and didnt take too long in the end. Wasnt too stressful, just make sure you keep supplying them with tea/coffee and remember they have done this loads of times before. On the whole we were very pleased with them as there were no breakages and so gave them a good tip. Good luck with it all.

Richard_Webster

See comments in red.

Hi, I am thinking to sell my first house and buy a new one. There are a few questions in my mind of how the big day of moving actually works. If I can only collect the new key from my solicitor or estate agent on the day of moving and arrange a moving company to move my stuff to the new house -

1. Should I leave the moving company to pack my stuff in my house while I travel to the estate agent to collect the key (I don't think I can get a friend's help on this). Even if the sellers have already moved out you can't collect the key until the seller's solicitors have the money from your solicitors so there is little point in jumping the gun. You can't actually move in until the removal van gets tot he new house at the very earliest anyway so you might as well wait until they have packed and are on their way.

2. If so, should I give them my house key and ask them to lock the door?
Don't do that. Make sure you see them load up and then you can tidy up once they have gone and check to see if they have caused any damage - if they have, your buyer may not be happy about it - so you need to know what happened. Anyway, what would they do with the key after they had locked up? Won't your buyer want it?

3. I have no control of what time the estate agent will give me the key, what should I do if the moving company arrives to my new house and I'm still not there?
They have to wait. You may have to wait until the money comes through.
It is regrettably very common that buyers and removal men are sat outside a house for a couple of hours waiting to get the keys.

The seller may not even have completely moved out when you arrive!

If you arrive at the estate agents to collect the key at a time like 1.30pm chances are when they ring the solicitor to check if they can hand over the key, he won't be there and you will have wait until he comes back from lunch. Best to ring agents well before 1pm so they can check with the solicitor that he has the money before he goes to lunch!

Any other tips to make the day run smoother will be appreciated!

Chinkle

It's not really that complicated. Tell removals company you want to be out of your house by around midday and they'll let you know how much time they'll need to arrive to pack depending on how much stuff you have and whether they are just moving you or doing all the packing too.

Nothing usually happens until later morning, as monies have to move around and all parties informed before the estate agents will hand over keys.

Once you're packed the movers will go on their way to your new house and you go and drop off your keys at your estate agent. Then head to your vendors estate agent to collect (or wait to collect) your new keys. Once your new keys have been released to you, head on your way to new house to meet removal company and let them in to unpack.

lincroft1710

These apparent problems are mere trifles compared to the hassle of trying to sell your old house, sort out mortgage and actually buy new house.

PasturesNew

This is one of life's dilemmas when you're single... on moving day you need to be in several places at once.

See if you can find somebody, anybody, to give you a hand on the day... to potentially pick up the new keys and bring them to you, whether you are at your old house or new. Anybody, friend of a friend, somebody at work's neighbour... somebody who will, on demand when you call them, pick up the keys and bring them to where you say. There must be loads of people who'd do this for £20 or so. If you were near me I'd do it for £20 plus 40p/mile.

Ideally you need to be in three places at one point:
- in the old place cleaning/tidying up, checking everything's gone, checking everything's safe/secure and done
- dropping your set of keys off for your buyer
- at the estate agent's picking up the keys.

Removal men will be used to loitering in their van with the stuff packed up. They'll crack open their flask and sandwiches and switch the radio on. They will know all the places to park up and hide.... maybe a favourite cafe, maybe a layby where they can relax. They are unlikely to drive straight to the new house and expect the door to be opened every time.

So, somewhere you need somebody "on call", possibly to be close to the estate agent, who can pick up the keys and get straight over to the new house.

But, you can't really plan anything as you don't know what time things will happen.

sonastin

As a vendor, what do I need to do about handing over the keys on completion? Do I just lock up when I've finished clearing out, drop the keys into the estate agents and walk away (or even post keys back through the letter box as the EA have their own set for conducting viewings)?

I'm moving into my mother's place because there is a hold up with my purchase, so I should be finished with moving out the day before completion. I'm supposed to meet the building inspector at the house I want to buy at 11 am on the day of completion (only day me, him and EA can all be there). Just wondering if I need to be in 2 places at once or if the EA and solicitors will handle everything once I'm out of there...

Doshwaster

PasturesNew wrote: »

This is one of life's dilemmas when you're single... on moving day you need to be in several places at once.

The easiest solution to that is making sure that everything doesn't happen on the same day. I had a 10 day overlap between getting the keys for the new place and needing to be out of the old house. That meant a lot less stress and and a much more leisurely moving process.

jonewer

We moved the day after we completed. Much better that way.

kevinlad

PasturesNew wrote: »

Removal men will be used to loitering in their van with the stuff packed up. They'll crack open their flask and sandwiches and switch the radio on. They will know all the places to park up and hide.... maybe a favourite cafe, maybe a layby where they can relax. They are unlikely to drive straight to the new house and expect the door to be opened every time.

So, somewhere you need somebody "on call", possibly to be close to the estate agent, who can pick up the keys and get straight over to the new house.

If the removal men charge by the hour, then wouldn't I be paying a lot of idle time (potentially I could be paying a whole day's work)?

Getting a friend to collect the key sounds good, but it won't really save any time would it? Won't I just end up sitting around with the removal men waiting for the key?

kevinlad

Doshwaster wrote: »

The easiest solution to that is making sure that everything doesn't happen on the same day. I had a 10 day overlap between getting the keys for the new place and needing to be out of the old house. That meant a lot less stress and and a much more leisurely moving process.

I will have to use all the proceeds from my old house to fund the new house, so I don't think I have the luxury to move to a new house before giving up the old house to someone else first.