Anyone managed to get permission to do work on a house before completion?

ajp1309

Just wondered if anyone had any experiance of getting into a property to do work before completing on the sale. Or if it is even possible.

Im not talking major work just stripping walls/carpets/paint ect?

lee111s

Very very unlikely. Solicitors would always advise against it.

For the sake of a few days, just wait.

marksoton

From a sellers point of view, no chance.

SailorSam

Not exactly that but, when i sold my first house, the couple who bought it were getting married. We had a completion date for the Saturday, which was the day they were getting married. And they had wanted to be in the house first. So i told them i'd move out a week early and give them the keys.
I'd been doing my own conveyancing so never had a Solicitor to tell me not to do it, but everyone i knew warned me against saying if they got possession then backed out of the sale i was going to be in big trouble.
But it all worked out Ok.

Miss_Samantha

To do that whilst protecting both parties, you'd have to spend hundreds in lawyer fees to draft an agreement...

sheff6107

It's not the done thing I'm afraid.

eddddy

I've done work on a property between exchange and completion, and I know other people that have,

But the solicitors' default answer to this request will always be "No".

Realistically, it's something you have to negotiate directly with the seller - and the seller has to be confident enough to allow this in spite their solicitor's warnings.

ajp1309

No worries thanks for all the opinions. It was just a thought the property is empty as its a probate sale. We are having a long wait due to some land having to be sold first and its looking like it might be end of sept for completion which from our side is not the best time and we will then have to postpone till November. and I know at this point the sellers will have to start paying rates.
If anyone was to back out it would be us that would be way out of pocket and they would have a house that would probably be worth more lol.
Its quite a complex sale. We are in no rush to move as such so not a major problem

phoebe1989seb

Not done work, no........but the vendors of our last house - an empty, major project - allowed us to move our worldly goods in between exchange and completion. We were not getting a mortgage (so no lender to satisfy) and were moving some 200 miles with rather a lot of stuff (7 x 7.5 tonne trucks) so needed to do it over several days. I have to confess that our solicitor was not aware of this - not sure about our vendor's

Our nearest neighbour at our current house managed to get in to the garden of the vacant house he bought at auction but had not yet completed on and cut down all the trees :eek:

G_M

I've done it on a BTL.

I wanted a tenant in there as soon as possible after Completion, and the seller (a disillusioned landlord) agreed to

* 5 weeks between Exchange/Completion to give me time to work
* day-time access (no over-nights!) for me and contractors

During that time I
*stripped walls and re-painted top to bottom
* made good broken kitchen units and a kicked-in door
* re-carpeted throughout
* got gas certificate, and electrics checked

I also got quotes for new UPVC windows which were installed 2 days after Completion.

Tenant moved in 6 days after Completion.

dc197

Yes.
To help transport my pond fish, I was given permission to set-up a temporary pool 3 days before and then the day before to bring the fish over.
The seller had gone by the day before completion and just left the gate & garage unlocked for us.
Yes this is very minor, but it was still a favour and was still performing works on the property (well, its garden) before completion.
Just ask, the worst is they'll say no.