What time in the past have you collected the keys after completion?

pinkteapot · 21 November 2013 at 12:19PM

duchy wrote: »

My old next door neighbours didn't get their keys til 6pm -Completion didn't happen til 5 -They were beyond stressed !

This is exactly why, if you're using a removal company, you should ask what their charges are for working beyond 6pm. Most have a clause saying they'll charge you more (sometimes an hourly rate) if move-in carries on past this time, for exactly this reason. Worth comparing this when getting quotes.

Mrs_Z · 21 November 2013 at 12:21PM

Remember going to collect the keys in late afternoon on a Friday (after work) sort of 4-5.30pm but for neither case we were not moving in straight away. Our home needed some damp work done (so moved in 2 weeks after) and the second property was a BTL which needed a complete refurb.

daisygirlmac · 21 November 2013 at 12:29PM

Didn't get ours until 7.30pm as vendors were faffing about! We completed at 11.30am. We ended up sat outside the house waiting for them to get out. Thankfully we were FTBs so weren't moving that day!

lee111s · 21 November 2013 at 12:32PM

Completed about 11, went and got the keys at 12 as I had a half day.

rosyw · 21 November 2013 at 12:33PM

For my last move completion was 11.30 ish, I collected the keys 15 minutes later at the property, direct from the vendor who had been told by the EA that THEY wanted the keys, they'd been such a PITA I told the vendor that as it was now MY house, I didn't want them to get their hands on the keys! This suited all of us as I was meeting the vendor at the property anyway and we didn't want the EA putting a spanner in the works :rotfl:

Paully232000 · 21 November 2013 at 12:46PM

3pm after a day of stress where we had movers waiting outside our new house for 3 hours while we waited for the buyer of our house to transfer money to the solicitor. He had paid the deposit the day before but didn't transfer the solicitor fees and solicitor wouldn't complete until he had his money.
All fine in the end and movers were very quick to unload their van by 5pm (and on a friday to add stress to it all), and then it was order pizza and bed.:)

DRP · 21 November 2013 at 8:30PM

Completed at 1.15pm, collected keys about 10 minutes later.

2nd_mortgage · 22 November 2013 at 1:24AM

Exchanged & Completed on the same day. Exchanged at about 09:30, completed at about 15:00 & picked the keys at 16:15.

Katgrit · 22 November 2013 at 1:27PM

10 to 5, just before the estate agents shut. There was a problem with my buyers money transferring from the mortgage company and I was the only one in the chain who had the nouse to ring round everyone and find out what the hell was going on. I'd been up until 5am packing, removal men turned up at 6am and as I was relocating from inner city to little cottage in middle of countryside I also had a very long drive. Spent the whole day asleep in my car parked outside the estate agents in the nearest town, setting a timer for hour intervals to wake me up so I could phone people to shout at, before going back to sleep again. Finally got the keys and raced back along country lanes to find my removal men missing. Tracked them down to my new elderley neighbours kitchen, eating MrKipling slices and trying to fix her broken boiler. Fair play to them, they didn't charge me extra for staying past 6pm, and had a very long drive back home in the dark.

Phil3822 · 22 November 2013 at 1:36PM

Like others, we completed about 11am and got the keys within 20 minutes. I admit to being on the case about ensuring I was informed and had access to the keys promptly.