Access to new house between exchange/completion

minibbb

Evening folks

We exchanged on our new house last week- it's a vacant ex rental with the owner living opposite.

On our last viewing we met the owner and got on well with her. We are moving from a tiny two bed terrace to the new house and have a lot of stuff! Is there ever a situation where the vendor allows you to move some items in early or is this a no no?

I'm not expecting access to the keys etc- just chucking ten boxes in would make a huge difference over the two weeks until we complete.

Many thanks

dimbo61

You can only ask but make sure the 10 boxes have no real value.

Bonfire_Bride

I don't think it is a big No No, especially as it is vacant. Make sure you agree however, that this would not be classed as a moving in date (I'm thinking bills, council tax etc).

Just ask and see what they say! Congrats!

minibbb

Thanks guys- worth an ask then! It won't be anything of value- just kitchen bits and clothing really.

All three boxes and a new puppy= stressful couple of weeks ha!

AdrianC

It certainly happens - some friends of ours recently got a long way into clearing a very overgrown garden prior to completion, in a very similar situation to yours.

It's entirely down to the relationship between vendor and buyer.

glentoran99

minibbb wrote: »

Thanks guys- worth an ask then! It won't be anything of value- just kitchen bits and clothing really.

All three boxes and a new puppy= stressful couple of weeks ha!

I don't think the will let you leave the puppy :-)

minibbb

glentoran99 wrote: »

I don't think the will let you leave the puppy :-)

Haha it's ever tempting! Goldendoodle rascal:D

KiKi

I did this. I was completing on a Monday, and knew the vendor was leaving on the Saturday. As I was moving on my own with no car (I had a removal company, but no family or friends to help on the day), I asked if I could actually move in on the Sunday so that I had time to at least get one room and the kitchen sane so I could move my cats into something recognisable, and so I could then go back and clean my flat on the Monday and pick up the cats before the new owners moved in.

(As it turned out, I took the cats on the Sunday evening as I couldn't bear to leave them in an empty flat overnight in case they thought I'd abandoned them!! Went back Monday morning, cleaned the last things of the flat, posted the keys through the door and sobbed my way into a friend's car to take my back to my new house!)

It worked really well for me, but I did it directly with the owner, not via the EA as I knew they'd advise the vendor not to do it. I sent him an email to confirm that if completion didn't happen on Monday, I'd move out again if required.

It can definitely work.
KiKi

phoebe1989seb

We did this on our previous purchase. Ours was a long distance move - about 200 miles - and we had an absolute ton of stuff. The house was empty as the vendors had moved into her elderly mother's farm, and it was actually them that suggested it to us.

They gave us a set of keys and we spent the week between exchange and completion moving everything from furniture (antiques......yikes!) to boxes to garden items, some of which was already stored at my parents' house some 90 miles away. Our previous move had cost over £4K so this one was DIY to save money

We obviously ensured our insurers were aware - we don't have a mortgage so no lender to inform - but nonetheless I was a little concerned as the house was thatched......double yikes!!

All was fine though and it definitely made sense for us to have the opportunity....

westernpromise

Yes, you can organise what's called a licence agreement to allow you to occupy after exchange and before completion. I did this once when I sold a rental. There was a delay and instead of completing before Easter we only got as far as exchange. The buyer had hoped to be in over Easter to start doing it up, so my solicitors organised a licence whereby he moved in before Easter and completed later.

It all went very well.

If you actually wanted to occupy/inhabit rather than just get access, the vendor would be within their rights to ask for some rent, of course.