PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the Forum rules. While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.
We're aware that some users are experiencing technical issues which the team are working to resolve. See the Community Noticeboard for more info. Thank you for your patience.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!

Is completion day meant to be the same day as moving?

Options
13

Comments

  • He was knocking on the door to ask if he could use the garage to store his stuff as it was him/mates and a small van and would take 2-3 vanloads.

    The guy in the middle of a chain with a small van can be a nuisance because he can only usually unload at the place he is buying in the early afternoon (assuming completion has taken place by then and his sellers are out). He then goes back for his second load only to find his buyers wanting to get in - but his place isn't empty.

    Sadly, most such people haven't thought through the implications. if my client tells me he is doing this I warn him him and advise he talk to his seller - or buyer (some FTBs are quite happy to wait until later in he day to pick up the keys as they weren't actually going to move in that day anyway).

    If you are contemplating making more than one trip then you need to talk to your sellers beforehand and see what can be arranged. Very often they will allow you to put your first load in the garage late morning, trusting that completion will take place within hours - and if it doesn't they have some of your stuff in their now locked garage!
    RICHARD WEBSTER

    As a retired conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful assuming any properties concerned are in England/Wales but I accept no liability for it.
  • As you know, I am paying my removal firm that £300 odd extra to do my packing for me and they will be doing this the day before Completion/Moving Day.

    Bearing in mind that they've charged a price for my house that equates to a 3 bedroom house (well...I do have quite a bit of stuff:o) on the one hand, but I have been getting everything as "organised" as possible on the other hand
    = how long do they take to do the packing of that size house normally? I'm assuming that it will be 2 men that turn up and that they will take around 2/3 hours. Does that sound about accurate?

    I have always done my own packing (10 moves so far). The last time round I regretted it. It tends to take twice as long as you think, and then twice as long again... Now that I have more furniture I and even more stuff I will not consider DIY moving again.

    I suspect 2-3 hours is very optimistic. I would have thought it will take two professionals 5 hours at least to pack up a house.
  • harz99
    harz99 Posts: 3,719 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Home Insurance Hacker!
    In my experience 2-3 hours is a minimum of how long it takes a team of two men to move my pre packed boxes and furniture etc. from my house to their van. If they were to pack on the day I would expect the whole process to take at least 5-6 hours.

    For my own part, in the last two house moves we have done, we chose to use a removal company with storage facilities and purpose built lorries which use ply built lockable containers inside their lorries which can then be transferred into secure storage at the depot.

    So we pack, then on the day prior to completion have all our goods removed to storage for a week, we b&b for a week and then the removal firm move everything to the new house.

    That gives us time on completion day to clean/tidy our old house, and also time to get into the new house and do whatever of the 101 small or large chores that need doing before our furniture arrives.

    I know that would not be for everyone, but it works for us and is just about as stress free as you can get.
  • mgtr
    mgtr Posts: 59 Forumite
    edited 17 September 2013 at 1:16PM
    Taken from http://moversandstorers.co.uk/key-release-moving-day/

    Agents and solicitors always give the same response to everyone (or so it seems) which is normally one of two;
    ‘it’ll be about lunchtime’ or ‘about one o’clock’

    If this was actually true then there would never be the situation where our crews start moving people into their new home at 11:30am, or, as we all know can happen, they do not get to start moving a family into their new home until quarter to five!

    So, why is this?

    Well, contrary to many many peoples beliefs the transfer of funds is not simultaneous. It is not one function, and, contrary to common belief it isn’t done the day before either.

    It is done on the day you actually move – known as – ‘completion day’ (which simply means ‘completion of the contract’)
    If you strip out all the fancy speak and witchcraft you are left with the situation where you are paying for a house, well actually its just the land the house is sat on (but we’ll leave those details for another blog entry!). That’s it. Nothing fancy. It is just a transaction, you pay – you get,
    You may have agreed – for example - £300k, and you have to pay the person/s selling that money. Obviously you’re not planning on putting £300k in twenties in carrier bags and walking on round to see them (or at least I hope not) and so your solicitor is facilitating this for you.

    The money might say come from the £100k your flat is worth that you own outright with a £200k mortgage on top, but either way your solicitor will at some point have £300k of yours that he or she needs to send on to pay for your new house.

    (sorry if this sounds obvious but you’ll see why I am laying these foundations in a bit).

    You for example have this buyer who sends you £300k, and then, after your funds have been moved on again to the people you’re buying off, their solicitor shall add to or subtract as necessary to send money on for their next home.

    All very, very obvious. However what gets massively overlooked is the human part.

    We have humans involved that need to do things and press buttons. And humans are easily distracted and often less than perfectly efficient.
    On average we find that the first persons funds tend to go through @11:30 – this being normally someone out of a rental property or maybe out of store or a first time buyer. Now, there is no reason why it has to be about this time, in truth the solicitor could send the money at 09:30 (for example) and so potentially kick starting the process sooner but we find that this rarely happens.

    From then on its chain reaction, and no, I’m not talking about Diana Ross.
    As each set of funds lands we rely upon a human to either add to, or subtract from as required and then forward those funds on. But, what if that person has other stuff to do, or is out for coffee, has an upset stomach, or maybe is chomping lunch. What if they forget about you, in the midst of everyone else, and problems elsewhere? Yes- all this happens – regularly.

    We even once saw a situation with a solicitor that ‘went shopping and forgot’ < I wish that was either untrue or an exaggeration, but alas, it’s true, and yours truly here was actually on this move.

    So, the longer the chain, the longer the process. The higher up the chain you are – the later you get your keys. All the while understanding that efficiencies (or lack of) in the process have even more of an impact.

    So, if your funds land, and perhaps your solicitor is in a meeting, and then goes for lunch without considering you…….(as happened to my mother) then having the keys to your new home, as perhaps you should do, by 12:00, suddenly turns into 15:00……all because of one human in the chain.

    So, can you influence this?

    The answer is yes, you can make an absolute right royal pain the backside of yourself on the day of the move. Phoning up the solicitors office every twenty minutes from @12:00. Making yourself such a nuisance that they just want rid of you – and what is the only way they can achieve that? You got it – send your money out in double quick time and not make you wait longer than you have to.

    The higher your position in the chain, the greater the chance that key release will arrive later in the day, and its the difference between a chinese takeaway and glass of wine at 7pm, or, at 7pm still moving in. If you are second in the chain then there is a good chance you will have legal possession of your new home by @12:30. However, if you are 4th, or 5th then, well, face-it, it’ll be more like 15:00 onwards, and possibly more like 16:00.

    Your position in the chain will have a direct chronological alignment to the time you are able to move into your new home.

    Now, in your contract there was not only a date, but also a time. Think of this as a backstop for if the funds are through quick. Lets say you are selling to a first time buyer and he/she has a really swift solicitor working for them who sends the funds on at 09:30 (I’m thinking of Sarah Dwight in Hall Green) well, that does not mean you have to be out by half nine! That would be daft. And so in this instance the time in the contract would be your saving grace. This time by default seems to be set at 13:00, but you could specify different.
    However, this doesn’t work the other way (unfortunately). If your funds are not through before, or on the time in the contract, well, you’ll have to sit and wait. Afterall, you cannot own a house you have not paid for………and the person responsible for how swiftly you pay for it, you are paying good money to work for you.

    No point phoning the estate agent, all they’ll do is phone your solicitor – and you can do this yourself. It is you paying him/her to work for you.
    I have actually witnessed customers do this, and so, does it work?

    Well, I’m writing it up on here aren’t I?
    I work in the 'moving industry'. My frame of reference is around 20 years and circa 27,000 domestic moves.
  • Thanks Jo

    My opinion of others likely efficiency is never that high:(

    Have wondered whether there might be a spot of inefficiency as regards packing and your comment rather confirmed its a possibility.

    So I have duly put everything the packers mustn't take in one location and covered up and I will get them to clear the rest of that room first and then I can lock the door.

    then the worst I have to worry about is I might forget to put the key back in the house myself before going, but my buyer could always find a spare one okay in the bunch of keys I will be leaving for her.
  • phoebe1989seb
    phoebe1989seb Posts: 4,452 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    edited 17 September 2013 at 2:28PM
    We've always preferred to pack our own stuff, but I agree that 2-3 hours doesn't seem much even for the pros.....We probably have an excessive quantity of stuff, but it has always taken us weeks to pack :o

    When we did our first long-distance move (150 miles, from Hants to Essex) our removers were booked for five days......three to load the lorries (this included dismantling beds, removing garden furniture/planters & specialist removal of a hot tub ;)), then moving day itself including driving the lorries from their depot and starting to offload, plus the final day to finish getting everything into the new house. That was for a six bed 3500 sq ft house.

    Edited to add - we always put large stickers with *DO NOT REMOVE* on anything we want left, but even so this hasn't been entirely foolproof, lol!
    Mortgage-free for fourteen years!

    Over £40,000 mis-sold PPI reclaimed
  • onlyroz
    onlyroz Posts: 17,661 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    We were told that completion would be at noon - so I went round to the estate agent to collect the key. They told me that the owners were still packing, and advised me to go round to the house and wait, and they would give me the key. So I spent two hours ambling around my new home while the previous owners scrambled to get their stuff into a van parked out the back.
  • mgrtr's long post has a lot of truth in it - things do not happen at once - and people do have cups of coffee - solicitor's accounts departments don't always tell the conveyancer immediately the money is in, etc.

    However you can only influence your solicitor by phoning. He can't make his seller's solicitor's accounts staff tell the seller's solicitor the money is in - and if it is between 1 and 2.30 there is a high chance that the accounts people aren't there or the solicitor isn't there - conveyancers should not have lunch-breaks on Fridays - but they do!
    RICHARD WEBSTER

    As a retired conveyancing solicitor I believe the information given in the post to be useful assuming any properties concerned are in England/Wales but I accept no liability for it.
  • dibuzz
    dibuzz Posts: 2,021 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Combo Breaker
    pops5588 wrote: »
    This was us. FTBs, completed at 11am, was told we could have the keys from 1pm. Finished work, went to the house and the Vendor was still there at 6pm, packing up the car. Very unhappy bunnies!

    Same here, kept ringing to ask had the keys been dropped off, got a call at 5pm saying they vendors were running late.
    We went round at 7 pm to find them just starting to put their last lot of stuff in the hired van.
    Luckily we were decorating and waiting until we married 2 weeks later before we moved in but they didn't know that at the time.
    If that had happened at our current house when we had 3 kids between 4 months and 5 it would have been a nightmare.
    14 Projects in 2014 - in memory of Soulie - 2/14
  • Cynics suspicions here that maybe occasionally Completion might be being delayed by the vendor ringing up and telling their solicitors/EA not to hand over the keys yet because they've been too inefficient to get their act together and move their stuff out in time.;)
This discussion has been closed.
Meet your Ambassadors

🚀 Getting Started

Hi new member!

Our Getting Started Guide will help you get the most out of the Forum

Categories

  • All Categories
  • 350.8K Banking & Borrowing
  • 253.1K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
  • 453.5K Spending & Discounts
  • 243.8K Work, Benefits & Business
  • 598.7K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
  • 176.8K Life & Family
  • 257.1K Travel & Transport
  • 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
  • 16.1K Discuss & Feedback
  • 37.6K Read-Only Boards

Is this how you want to be seen?

We see you are using a default avatar. It takes only a few seconds to pick a picture.