What things to do before completion?

shar46y

We have exchanged on the sale of our flat! :j:j:j

We have about 4 weeks before we complete and as first time sellers, would appreciate some pointers on what we should do in preparation.

My main question is what to do to/with our flat. For example, I have read on here that some people take out all their picture hooks/curtain rails/shelves, fill the holes and repaint. The previous owner did not do that when we moved in, and actually this suited us because we wanted to hang our pictures in the same places and it would have been a pain to have to put all the picture hooks back. But should we do stuff like that? Also should we clean the house once we have moved our stuff out?

We also recently found out that the vendors of the house we are buying are leaving stuff like the fridge-freezer, curtains and garden furniture. We had stated on our fixtures and fittings list that we were taking these things, but now it seems we could leave them for our buyer or at least give him the option to buy some of them. Is it 'too late' now we have exchanged contracts?

Obviously, we will need to organise removals so any recommendations for companies would be fantastic. We need a full packing service and will be needing our stuff to be stored for a couple of weeks. Oh, and we will be moving from London to the Midlands. Is it better to look for local companies in either London or Midlands, or a big national firm?

Also I know we have to inform all the services and utilities - we are planning to give them OH's parents' address as the forwarding address because we don't yet know when we are completing on our purchase and don't want to use our short-term rental address. I hope that is legally acceptable e.g. for council tax?

Whew, that turned out to be a longer post than I was planning. Thanks for reading!:D

DizzyDasher

I don't think there are any rules (as long as nothing is damaged) - you can leave it dirty if you want, and most people will clean before they move in - but I think it is polite to try to leave it reasonably clean so if they want to cook a meal or take a bath they can do it without having to scrub the whole house first! The people we bought from left picture hooks etc which was fine. In one room they had clearly repainted for viewings *around furniture*!!! which looked a bit rubbish when the furniture was gone (as the older coat had faded a lot relative to the new one), but c'est la vie.

If you no longer need your white goods but they are not listed in the exchange documents, then I think you should not leave them, and in theory the buyers could sue you if they have to pay to have them disposed of. In reality they probably wouldn't bother, but it would be polite to ask if they want them and arrange disposal yourself if not. Given you have not had this included in the exchange you will be lucky to get any money for them (they will have a pretty good guess that you are buying something with everything included!) - but I guess you could try and see if they will pay you something nominal/make you an offer.

As for addresses: as long as you pay them what is owed and it's an address that they can contact you at I can't imagine anybody getting excited about this (I assume you have checked with your OH's parents and they are happy with this plan, and there are no bad debt issues?)

shar46y

DizzyDasher wrote: »

If you no longer need your white goods but they are not listed in the exchange documents, then I think you should not leave them, and in theory the buyers could sue you if they have to pay to have them disposed of. In reality they probably wouldn't bother, but it would be polite to ask if they want them and arrange disposal yourself if not. Given you have not had this included in the exchange you will be lucky to get any money for them (they will have a pretty good guess that you are buying something with everything included!) - but I guess you could try and see if they will pay you something nominal/make you an offer.

As for addresses: as long as you pay them what is owed and it's an address that they can contact you at I can't imagine anybody getting excited about this (I assume you have checked with your OH's parents and they are happy with this plan, and there are no bad debt issues?)

Thanks for the advice!

We weren't really expecting to get any money for the white goods as they are worth about 2p second hand :rotfl: but I will definitely make sure to ask the buyer if he wants them and not just leave them! Don't want to be sued!:eek:

If only we had thought of that when we moved in as the previous owner left a shed full of junk (half-used tins of paint, bits of old carpet, several part-used home-brewing kits...) and it took more than 10 car loads to get rid! Amongst the junk were a couple of quite good quality tools and an almost-new workbench which we gave to our builder mate;)

Yes, we've asked permission from OH's parents to use their address and have no debt issues.

madmish00

If only we had thought of that when we moved in as the previous owner left a shed full of junk (half-used tins of paint, bits of old carpet, several part-used home-brewing kits...) and it took more than 10 car loads to get rid! Amongst the junk were a couple of quite good quality tools and an almost-new workbench which we gave to our builder mate;)

Lol. When we moved into to our house we pulled up in our hired van and he was stood at the front of the property and said 'oh good, you hired a van...can you give us a lift to the tip with this lot...' The old sofa and a load of other stuff (full van) had to go to the tip as he had made no arrangements for getting shut and it was all just on the driveway!