When do you officially own the house?

Jones80

Do you fully 100% own the house when you pick the keys up from the solicitors/estate agent?

I ask, because I'm set to pick the keys up on a house at 1pm and the seller has said (on a call to me) to come to the house for 6pm as he has some bits to finish moving out.

KRB2725

You own the house once your Solicitor has told you that you have completed.

Jones80

Ah ok.

So this guy (as nice as he is), has no right to still have a set of keys and be there in the house, in the afternoon?

HouseBuyer77

Jones80 wrote: »

Ah ok.

So this guy (as nice as he is), has no right to still have a set of keys and be there in the house, in the afternoon?

No he does not.

Generally a bit of leeway is given, e.g. perhaps you complete at 11am (at which point you own the house) but you're happy to let the vendor leave around 1pm. However in til 6pm is pushing this too far (especially if you have a removal firm moving you in, they'll be charging you extra to work late or maybe won't want to move that day at all and you'll end up with stuff in storage for a night, also costing money).

You need to be firm and tell them you expect vacant possession (i.e. they're gone as is all their stuff) at a reasonable time (give a specific time).

marksoton

Jones80 wrote: »

Ah ok.

So this guy (as nice as he is), has no right to still have a set of keys and be there in the house, in the afternoon?

Nope.

I'd just be present and making sure they were not up to anything.

Jones80

Ok, thank you!

I will be nice, and flexible with the guy as his intentions have always seemed good.

But at least I know the official stance now, should he change and get a little bit touchy about it.

Robin9

A good opportunity to collect all the keys from him. The Estate Agent probably only has front and back door keys.

G_M

Don't worry too much about all the keys - all you need is one set to let yourself in.

You'll be changing the locks (front AND back) anyway that afternoon so spares will be redundant.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXAo7zSN-9o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1WP3o4jAFc

davidmcn

emmatthews wrote: »

You own the house once your Solicitor has told you that you have completed.

Keys, deeds and funds are all meant to be exchanged simultaneously - so if your solicitor knows that vacant possession isn't yet available, they can delay transferring your money until everyone is actually ready to complete.

jackomdj

Have you completed today? If so congratulations, and my answer is redundant.

If not, the 1:00 may be an aim for time, you own the house when your solicitor completes. It could be 9:00 or it could be 17:00.

Cakeguts

When the money from your solicitor reaches the bank of the solicitor representing the seller the house is yours. Your solicitor will have made the contract dependent on vacant possession. This means that the seller will not be paid for the house until he can say it is empty of his belongings. At that point you will complete and the house is yours. The seller cannot technically ring you and tell you that they won't be out by 6pm unless they are prepared to wait to complete the following day or if it is a Friday the following week.

You need to ask your solicitor to contact the sellers solicitor to confirm that you will be given vacant possession on completion. Hopefully the seller's solicitor will make sure that their client complies with the contract. This is nothing to do with your being nice or not it is what the seller agreed to in the contract.

You will need to change the locks on the house as soon as it is yours because this seller doesn't appear to understand the rules and there is already a thread on here about a seller going back to a house they no longer owned to retrieve items they had forgotten.