Moving day

MissBizzita

Hi,

I will hopefully be moving house in a few weeks. Currently looking at exchanging next week (I know things might still fall through!). Assuming everything goes smoothly, what is the procedure for completion day?

I am in the middle of the chain. I will be moving into a house from my flat. The vendor of the house I'm moving into is not in a chain. The buyer of my flat is a FTB.

I've tried to research how things work logistically on the day of completion but I've drawn a blank.

We are intending to get a removal company to pack and move all of our things. Essentially, I'm confused regarding timings of getting all of our stuff out of the flat and cleaning in time for the buyer to be able to move in.

Do keys usually get released for all buyers at the same time? Or do we get our keys first enabling us to move and clean before we give or keys to the new owner?

Would it be a better idea to have the removal company pack and take things for overnight storage the day before completion then stay in a hotel? Are there removal companies who offer this type of service? (I'm in Manchester City Centre).

The logistics of the whole thing are giving me a headache! So any advice would be much appreciated.

macman

The keys will normally be available by close of office hours on the day. Obviously you hope it will be earlier, but there are no guarantees.
Keys are released only when your payment has been received by the vendor's solicitor: no receipt, no keys.
You normally lock up and go as soon as ready and pass the keys to your EA for collection by the buyer once their money has arrived. You don't ever pass the keys direct to the buyer, unless you have confirmation of transfer.

MissBizzita

Thanks.

So assuming we don't get the keys to new house until afternoon, how are we meant to remove everything, clean and lock up to deliver our keys to estate agents before they close? Or is it assumed that we will do all of that before we receive the keys?

sheramber

We have always had to hand the keys in by 12 noon.

We cleared the house from early morning, handed in the keys at lunchtime and then collected the keys for the new house and moved in in the afternoon.

My son moved recently but while he moved out in the morning the people he was buying from had a delay with the money transfer and didn't get their keys until 4pm.

As they were moving across the road they were doing it themselves so nothing could be moved until they got the keys.

My son and DIL and the removal lorry ended up sitting outside the house from 1pm, waiting for them to move out.

Time was running out for the removal firm to unload before finishing time and they eventually helped the outgoing people carry their stuff across the road to speed things up.

If they had not been able to unload they would have taken my son's furniture back to the depot but, due to existing bookings, could not redeliver until 4 days later.


Our last move was a three day job. Load up one day, travel the next day and deliver on the third day.

The removal company loaded up on the Thursday but left our bed and a sofa. They collected these first thing the next morning and set off to the new area.

We travelled up and stayed in a hotel overnight, meeting the removal van at the new house on the Saturday monring.

macman

It's quite normal to have to sit in the van/car waiting for the keys to be released. Obviously if you can move out the day before and stay somewhere overnight it's easier, but it just adds to the expense.
All depends how far between properties you have to travel.

Annie1960

Keys are released in order, starting with the bottom of the chain. So, if your buyer is chain-free, then you will need to vacate your property and the keys will be released (usually by the EA who will often have a copy) to your buyer. You are then technically homeless until the money is transferred up the line to the property you are buying. You can then complete on that and the keys will be released to you.

When I moved last week I was given a time to vacate my property of 1pm, which seems to be fairly common.

Having just experienced this, if I was moving again I would do exactly as you suggest and stay in a hotel the night before. It was difficult rushing around with the vacuum while the removal people were packing up. Even though they packed quite a lot of my stuff the day before and took it away in their van, there was still a lot to do on the day, and it was about 1.15 by the time we left.

Hoploz

My removals people came the day before and loaded most of the furniture up. So it was really easy to clean nicely as the furniture was out of the way.

Normally it's all on one day so you clean what you can when you pack up, eg kitchen cupboards, then behind the furniture when it's gone.

Then you arrive in your new place to find its a !!!! hole and the seller hasn't bothered cleaning at all, so you roll your sleeves up and start all over again

MissBizzita

Thanks for all the replies, very helpful!

We are only moving about 5 miles away so that's one good thing.

As soon as we've exchanged I'll ring round removal companies and see if any are able to pack, store overnight and then deliver once we have the new keys. Sounds like the easiest solution!

The stress never ends...

jbainbridge

Your situation sounds straight forward.

1. I would imagine your removal firm will come on the morning of the move and load the truck.
2. Your solicitor rings during the morning to let you know what is going on with the money.
3. Truck loaded / flat cleaned.
4. Solicitor rings to confirm that money has gone through.
5. Drop off your keys at your EA.
6. Grab a sandwich.
7. Go to vendor's EA and collect keys.
8. Open new house and let the movers unload.
9. Thank movers and marvel at new property.
10. Get a takeaway and drink something!

Atleast that was how it worked for us ... hope it goes ok for you!

(with the movers doing all the work you feel like a spare part for most of the day ... just make lots of tea and provide biscuits.)

ethank

In reality I started packing two weeks before I moved. I moved about 19 miles away. 4 days before the move I rented a storage unit the size of a single bedroom for 1 week which cost about £60.

I started taking all of the packed boxes out of the property and into the storage unit, and then cleaned. It was also useful to drop all of the shopping I bought from that well known swedish furniture store in it too.

On the day of the move - we had a one sofa, one bed, our suitcases, one tv and the sky box to move as everything was moved already.

pinkteapot

MissBizzita wrote: »

As soon as we've exchanged I'll ring round removal companies and see if any are able to pack, store overnight and then deliver once we have the new keys. .

This is over-complicating it.

We were middle of chain. We paid the removers to pack, which they came and did the day before.

On the day, removers arrived at 8am and loaded the truck. Done by 11am and I did a final dust and vacuum. Solicitor phoned about 11am to say we'd completed. I phoned the EA who spoke to our buyers, and the buyers came round which saved me taking the keys to the EA (normally you would though).

We left and got to our new house about 12:30. Vendor was still loading their truck. We sat in the car and ate lunch. Vendor left about 1:30 and gave us the keys (again, saved EA trips). Our remover unloaded by 4pm.

We were lucky this time - last time we moved the vendor didn't finish clearing out until 4:30 as they'd underestimated how long packing took!

What you need to do:

- get quotes and pencil in likely completion date with removers before exchange, unless you have a long time between exchange and completion - they get booked up and can be hard to book on short notice. Formally book them as soon as you exchange.

- choose one who doesn't charge for a late finish - some removers charge extra if the move goes on beyond 6pm, some by the hour! In a chain there can be delays during the day. But removers are well used to it.

There's no need to have furniture stored or anything. The vast, vast majority of chains go pretty smoothly on the day.