Is it common for seller not to be fully moved out on completion

sebadee

mods, please delete this thread.

LJS2014

We also had a naff experience on completion - solicitors called advised we had completed, we called estate agents to let them know we'd be going to pick up the keys. EA advised us they did not have any keys and couldn't get hold of the vendor. When the EA finally got hold of the vendor she said she was sat outside her new property waiting to complete and would drop the keys off to them after she had moved in!! EA told her that wasn't how things worked and she would need to provide us with her new address so that we could go and collect the keys from her! (Luckily she hadn't moved too far away.) In hindsight maybe should have just called a locksmith out and sent her the bill!

sebadee

LJS2014 wrote: »

We also had a naff experience on completion - solicitors called advised we had completed, we called estate agents to let them know we'd be going to pick up the keys. EA advised us they did not have any keys and couldn't get hold of the vendor. When the EA finally got hold of the vendor she said she was sat outside her new property waiting to complete and would drop the keys off to them after she had moved in!! EA told her that wasn't how things worked and she would need to provide us with her new address so that we could go and collect the keys from her! (Luckily she hadn't moved too far away.) In hindsight maybe should have just called a locksmith out and sent her the bill!

I am just amazed that we have all these solicitors involved and an EA taking a big fee, and yet it all boils down to 'dropping off the keys' or not dropping them off in your case.

Going to call my solicitor today to find out where I stand here, and will get the locks changed on Saturday.

eddddy

It might have been better to phone your solicitor rather than the EA. They probably would have contacted the vendor's solicitor, who may then have phoned the vendor to remind them of their legal duties.

However, the vendor has breached the contract by failing to give you vacant possession on completion. So if you suffered any losses (i.e. extra expenses) as a result, you should be able to claim them from the vendor.

HappyMJ

sebadee wrote: »

So we completed yesterday on our first house and went to collect the keys from the EA at around 5pm. The EA gave us one key and said the seller would leave the others on a side board.

We drove over to the house, and i let my wife open the door to our new home while our kids got excited, however we walked in and found the seller still packing and saying how they did not complete until 2pm and needed more time to pack (we exchanged a week before, so they knew it was happening).

Not wanting to cause a scene we left and i called the EA. He then called me back, but had no advice for me, and just repeated about her not getting completion until 2pm?

I then drove the family home and returned later and they finally did the last load about 9pm at night, but still have garden stuff to collect, to be fair we were all polite to each other, and they were nice people, but I am also pretty sure they have another set of keys still, and this is legally my house now, i got a load of keys last night, but i think the wife may have a set still and plans to turn up today to get the garden stuff. I spoke with my brother in law and we suspect the EA still had the one front door key from when doing showings, which is what they gave us.

I feel !!!!ed off with the EA here, they just went home at office close and would not answer the mobile number. I am now back at our rented home a good 100 miles away and need to go to work today (i got back at 1 am after making another trip back there to check they have moved out).

Is this common? Seems not right that we had all these people involved to oversee the process and we turn up at the nominated time, to find the house is not ready to occupy. It kind of spoiled what should have been a happy day for us. I am a flexible guy, but why all this long legal procedure to just have this 'drop the keys off without even checking its been left unoccupied'?

At the time of completion they should be out. You can claim costs if you incurred any. Yes change all the locks as soon as you can. It's always recommended.

Sedge123

I'd be furious. It's your property from the point of completion and their inability to organise their packing and removal is not your problem. I would be changing the locks today if i were you.

casper_g

The vendors in the OP sound like they were under the impression they only had to start packing on completion. You'd have thought their solicitor would have mentioned that they actually were obliged to be out on completion. It's lucky for them that in this case you still had access to your rental property, as in other circumstances the buyers would have been on the hook for substantial costs - hotel accommodation for their buyers, extra storage costs and labour from their buyers' removal company, etc.

When we moved recently I was terribly apologetic when the buyer turned up as we were still in the house, but in retrospect they probably didn't mind too much as all we had to move out was a boot full of stuff we'd been using to clean the house for them!

Surrey_EA

sebadee wrote: »

I feel !!!!ed off with the EA here,

I may be biased here but I would be more !!!!ed off with the vendor from whom you bought, they were the ones unable to organise themselves on the day of completion.

TBagpuss

Yes, this is down to the vendor. And if you incurred any extra costs you are entitled to claim those back from the seller.

societys_child

I had the buyer turn up at 10am on completion day, wanting to move their stuff in. We were still packing the few remaining bits and pieces . . .

We didn't complete until 4 hours latter at 2pm (I wasn't going anywhere until my sol said we'd got the money) and we had hubby, wife and 2 kids sat on the worktops in kitchen for all that time!

So it works both ways.

I did give them the vacuum cleaner at one point so they could give their soon-to-be "new" carpets a quick going over . . .

sebadee

Surrey_EA wrote: »

I may be biased here but I would be more !!!!ed off with the vendor from whom you bought, they were the ones unable to organise themselves on the day of completion.

Oh I am !!!!ed with the vendors now, but I feel annoyed that the EA did not at least call the vendors solicitors and say 'do you know your client is still in the property'? Seems bad that they just went home and left me to deal with it.