First time sellers query.

Cooper25

Hi,

I am currently considering putting my house on the market, but as a first time seller would be grateful for some clarification on the following:-

Assuming you find a buyer for your house, and you have found the house you want to move to - do you have to move your furniture etc out of your old house, and allow your purchaser to move their things in on the same day? Or is it a process that can take place over a few days?

I would prefer a few days of grace to organise the move!

Many thanks.

jackomdj

Same day unfortunately, unless you don't need the proceeds of the sale to buy your new house.

Edit to add: it's worse than that actually, the minute you complete you legally should be out of the house, so that could be 9:30am or 4:30pm depending upon the solicitors.

Cara79

Cooper25 wrote: »

Hi,

I am currently considering putting my house on the market, but as a first time seller would be grateful for some clarification on the following:-

Assuming you find a buyer for your house, and you have found the house you want to move to - do you have to move your furniture etc out of your old house, and allow your purchaser to move their things in on the same day? Or is it a process that can take place over a few days?

I would prefer a few days of grace to organise the move!

Many thanks.

Hi

Normally you would exchange contracts and then complete maybe 1 - 2 weeks after that. Therefore once you exchange you can book removals etc for completion day.

Then ALL people in the chain move on the same day. Normally you will get keys around lunchtime ish & then you can move in.

Once completion funds have been transferred & cleared, you no longer own your previous property and therefore need to get out. But you will own your new property.

Hope that makes sense!
X

Tancred

Completion is normally one month after exchange. Best thing is to move some stuff into storage and let the removals people pack everything else ready for moving day.

Kynthia

Tancred wrote: »

Completion is normally one month after exchange. Best thing is to move some stuff into storage and let the removals people pack everything else ready for moving day.

I wouldn't say it's 'normally' one month later as most people I know complete a fortnight later. It depends on the circumstances of that sale and what others in the chain want.

If you have somewhere you can stay you could sell your place first and buy afterwards. If it's just for a couple of weeks you could use it to make the move easier. You wouldn't have to move out and into a new house on the same day with your buyers waiting outside and the stress of waiting for funds to clear. Or if you could stay somewhere for a few months you could proceed with your sale and then be a chain free buyer and therefore an attractive buyer.

kingstreet

Tancred wrote: »

Completion is normally one month after exchange.

Not true. Completion is agreed by the parties in the chain, then contracts can be exchanged, making that completion date legally binding.

Exchange and completion can take place on the same day, or any number of days can elapse inbetween, as long as the parties agree.

On newbuilds, exchange takes place "on notice" with no fixed completion date set.

Davesnave

If you want more time and you have a relatively small amount of stuff, consider hiring a van and putting items in store for a short while. This will cost, but if its important to you not to feel rushed....

yoyoegg

I would prefer a few days of grace to organise the move!

You can get the movers to pack too, they do that very quickly. Most folks would pre-pack as much as possible, then the removers take everything in the morning of completion. I started sorting/packing weeks before completion day!

Yorkie1

As others have said, you have time to organise the actual removals between exchange and completion (nothing to stop you starting this process, getting quotes, starting to pack etc before exchange though).

At exchange you then confirm the moving date with the removers etc, plan your mail redirect and so on. There are many websites about what to do in the countdown to moving.

I got the removal company to pack me the day before - it took so much stress out of the equation. If you do this too, try to get a fixed quote rather than by the hour.

pleasedelete

We have almost always (12/13 times) exchanged and completed on the same day. I aim for offer to completion in 4 weeks- most it has been is 6 weeks but we managed the process and keep it moving.

Mayflower10cat

Advice we were given many years ago - try not to complete on a Friday! Most popular day of the week and good removal companies get booked up fast.