Problems waiting for keys who's responsible ?

Katsrobins

HI I just thought i should let people be aware of a problem that i wasn't aware of until my moving day. Waiting for the keys to my new property, nobody told me this was a common problem within the housing market.
On the day of my move with Central Moves everything was going well, they moved everything from my old property by the middle of the afternoon and was on our way to the new property, i called the solicitor for completion of the sale and get the keys to the new property, i thought it would be half an hour or so ??? nooooooo how wrong!!! we got the keys at around 5pm, the poor men doing my removal had to work all friday evening!! at my expense of course!! This cost me extra moving costs £££ i was not happy and demanded some answers, so i contacted AIM removal trade association that the company was members with, they were very kind and helpful and assured me that the solicitors are responsible for this and it was a problem within the industry, something that has recently been highlighted within the removals industry and that they are making a stand against the solicitors, as it should be them that pays or them that can sort this bad situation out!!!

Just thought i would give my little rant :mad: and warn other people to try and not move on a Friday or the last Friday in the month as this is a very common issue caused by the solicitors!! and be aware of extra charges billed to you if you use a removal company.

jc808

More fool you for doing a move on day of completion - nothing say s you have to get keys by x time

move on and enjoy your new home

DTDfanBoy

jc808 wrote: »

More fool you for doing a move on day of completion - nothing say s you have to get keys by x time

move on and enjoy your new home

That's a bit harsh, it's perfectly normal to move and complete on the same day.

Mojisola

DTDfanBoy wrote: »

That's a bit harsh, it's perfectly normal to move and complete on the same day.

But risky - there's no guarantee what time the keys will become available.

Shahni

The standard conditions of sale (which form part of the contract) say:

6.1.2 If the money due on completion is received after 2.00pm, completion is to be treated, for the purposes only of conditions 6.3 and 7.2, as taking place on the next working day as a result of the buyer's default

6.1.3 Condition 6.1.2 does not apply and the seller is treated as in default if:
(a) the sale is with vacant possession of the property or any part of it, and
(b) the buyer is ready, able and willing to complete but does not pay the money due on completion until after 2.00pm because the seller has not vacated the property or that part by that time.

The time may be varied in the special conditions of the contract, but since CHAPS payments aren't guaranteed after a cut off time (around 2.30pm) its usually moved to earlier rather than later.

This doesn't mean, of course, that there won't be unexpected things that crop up on the day of completion, or that its necessarily a good idea to complete on a Friday. But I'd find it unusual for completion funds to arrive so late and the transaction to still complete that day.

Surrey_EA

jc808 wrote: »

More fool you for doing a move on day of completion - nothing say s you have to get keys by x time

That's fine if you are moving from a rented property or similar, but if you are in the middle of a chain, and are selling your existing home to purchase your new one, what other realistic option do you have than to move on completion day?

sinizterguy

There is no guarantee, unless pre-negotiated, that the keys will be available at a set time.

So, you take the risk of delays if you want move in to the property on the same day as completion. It is an even bigger risk if this is on a Friday - as any problems with completion might mean that Monday is the earliest anything can be done about it.

Summary - You pay for your removal company. Nobody else is responsible for it.

Surrey_EA wrote: »

That's fine if you are moving from a rented property or similar, but if you are in the middle of a chain, and are selling your existing home to purchase your new one, what other realistic option do you have than to move on completion day?

You then have to accept the risk that you might not get keys to make your move work like clockwork.

Hoploz

I don't get why they charged extra? Were you made aware that there was a period included and if it got past that time there would be additional charges? Doesn't seem fair to me. I can understand if it rolled over into another day but to charge extra for extra standing around time on the same day seems unreasonable.

giddypenguin

When we moved we had to wait about 2 and a half hours for all the money to clear and for us to get the keys. We were warned it could take an hour, so got lunch before heading to the estate agents. Thankfully we were able to use friends rather than a removals company (and thankfully my mums house was close by to keep them all fed and watered/beered). But 5 pm is ridiculous - I woul be having a word with the solicitor asking what the hold up was.

jc808

Surrey_EA wrote: »

That's fine if you are moving from a rented property or similar, but if you are in the middle of a chain, and are selling your existing home to purchase your new one, what other realistic option do you have than to move on completion day?

thats the risk

AlexMac

We shouldn't be harsh on the OP as they are just posting a warning about a common problem. Last time we bought we knew that the keys don't get released til the buyers' solicitors receive the cash for the sale )or get round to checking that it's in their account), then contact the agent who generally holds the keys.

So a few timeconsuming administrative steps, requiring people to actually pick up the phone... which will be aggravated if there's a chain (or if the people involved it are "in a meeting" (aka "out to lunch", "or in the pub" when you chase).

In our case the buyer's agent didn't get back to our chase-ups til 3pm on the day of the exchange, despite the fact that our efficient solicitor confirmed at about 11am to our buyer that the keys to the place we were selling were available and that they'd already CHAPSed our cash to our sellers' lawyer.

So, in the knowledge that we'd paid for the house so it was ours, and as I said, forewarned that this is such a common problem, we went ahead, and around noon broke in, changed the locks and were moved in and making tea by the time the seller's agent got off their rass; seems reasonable as you always cahnge locks on day 1 anyway (don't you???)