So i just opened the door to my new house.

hazyjo

OP - you'll be dining out on this story for the rest of your life. It will get brought up every time anyone you know moves house.

Sometimes you've just got to go with the flow and see life as an adventure. I used to get totally OTT and stressed out over the little things, but an ex once showed me that sometimes you just need to ride the wave, not let it drown you.

He was so chilled. I remember his lovely parents driving over from Wales to London once with a spare tyre for his car after he'd got a puncture near my house. I (along with my family) would have been freaking out and panicking but they were all just sooooo chilled. Was refreshing - did make me question why I hadn't seen it like an adventure (or a day out for his parents LOL. My mum would have had kittens!). After a recent puncture myself, I was so calm and genuinely saw it as fun (we were stuck in Leigh-on-Sea outside a pub, so no great hardship lol!). My BF couldn't believe how chilled I was.

Good luck - hope it all goes to plan soon!

Jx

Rileybaby

Good luck with finally getting into your new home OP.

Davesnave

Cakeguts wrote: »

Next time there might be a van full of furniture waiting outside.

There might indeed, plus a family of six, including two screaming babies, a boisterous alsatian and a Jack Russell with a penchant for nipping ankles.....

But that scenario would probably play-out in an entirely different way! :rotfl:

ThemeOne

Having had to clear a house prior to sale recently, I think it's very easy to under-estimate the amount of work involved in getting everything out, particularly if you have no help, or the help you were promised doesn't materialise.

I took the precaution of setting myself a false early deadline, and told the agent I would hand in keys a few days before completion, just in case. In the event I only just made it, and was so glad my "last day" wasn't the actual completion day. In my mind all the major stuff had been done even before then, so that on the "last day" I would only have a few bits and bobs and tidying up to do. Didn't really work out like that somehow - even by mid-afternoon every time I turned round, some other pile of stuff seemed to appear that I'd not noticed before. Ended up getting the keys to the agent around quarter to 5. Niceties like labelling boxes and such like went right out of the window due to lack of time.

The other bit of good advice that's come up on this thread is to always change the locks when you take over a new property. I did this recently and the locksmith said it's surprising how few people bother. You never know who might have duplicate keys, and I've since discovered the tenant of the property I bought was dealing drugs, which made me even more glad I'd changed the locks.

I think it's also a mistake to set completion for a Friday, as so often seems to happen, as there's no recourse to solicitors etc if something goes wrong.

moneyistooshorttomention

I remember the locksmith I had already booked to come round the evening of Completion Day commending me on having pre-booked him and getting the impression he wasnt used to people doing this. He was at one door changing the lock whilst the removers were at the other door moving me in.

I certainly agree re it not being a good idea to set the date of Completion Day the last workday before a weekend - ie not on a Friday and, even more so, not just before a Bank Holiday weekend.
I'd picked that idea up on this board and so made sure my Completion Day/move was done earlier in the week just in case of any problems. There weren't any in the event - but it was good to know I'd left some leeway time in case there were.

I definitely recommend moves earlier in the week even if moving within same area and it's an area that's got more facilities and is generally more 24/7 operation. I would have been way too nervous to move to an unknown part of the country and with a lot fewer facilities than I'm used to and knowing no-one without taking that precaution.

moneyistooshorttomention

Rileybaby wrote: »

Good luck with finally getting into your new home OP.

...and don't forget to give us up an update on progress.

Helen2k8

Cakeguts wrote: »

I think I would have made more fuss over the situation if only to try to get through to the vendor should they ever think of moving again. Next time there might be a van full of furniture waiting outside. If you can manage to buy a house and sell a house you are not so disabled that you can't move out on the right day.

Delaying it to the Easter holidays to suit yourself is extremely selfish. It sounds as if they did it on purpose so that they could move at leisure over a long weekend.

Did you miss the bit where the vendor HAD arranged for people (company or friends? not sure) to help her move and had been let down?

Cakeguts

Helen2k8 wrote: »

Did you miss the bit where the vendor HAD arranged for people (company or friends? not sure) to help her move and had been let down?

No I didn't but there is something about this that doesn't ring quite true with me. It feels to me as if the vendor decided that they were going to use the weekend after completion to move out of the house anyway. The reason why I think this is because they were only moving a short distance away and if everything else had been packed into boxes ready to go there would only have been the problems like the headboard which needed unscrewing left. However it sounds as if the packing hadn't been done by completion day.

My theory is that if you can buy a house and sell a house you are not so disabled that you can't pack your stuff up in time. The disabled bit sounds like an excuse because they didn't do the packing in time and they wanted to do it over the Easter weekend but also wanted to complete on their purchase at the same time so they decided that what they would do is move in over the weekend and didn't care about the fact that their purchaser might want to do the same. It just sounds like a selfish person to me.

Marvel1

Penitent wrote: »

I just realised this is the same person:

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5630042

The EA told you before exchange that this was going to happen, so I'm not sure why you were surprised to find her still packing her stuff.

Poor vendor, got slated and this was known BEFORE exchange.

rosyw

Why poor vendor? this shows is that she clearly knew she had to be out at completion and had a week to get her act together! Poor buyer if you ask me!

That's not being harsh, she knew when she had to be out and didn't get it sorted. I had less than 48hrs between exchange and completion when I last moved, had removal guys at the ready, had the house packed, emptied and cleaned in 36 hrs. It can be done if you apply yourself properly. Would have loved the luxury of a week!