Moving long distance

hayabslee0

Hi all - first timer here...be gentle :-)

In the New Year, we're putting our house up for sale and are planning on moving from Essex to Yorkshire. We know where we want to live, have found a village and school for the kids, etc.

However, we have two concerns:

1) On a good day, it can take 4 hours to get to York from here. Therefore when the time comes for us to complete, what happens with the Estate Agent at the other end staying open for us to collect the keys?

2) Planning in advance, we're thinking of either my wife of myself driving to York early on the day of exchange so we're ready to get the keys, taking a kettle, etc ready for the other one to meet there once ready. However, we read horror stories online about how sales can fall through at the last moment. Therefore, we worried that one of us might drive to York, only for the sale to fall through.

Moriath

I just mov3d 200 miles from berkshire to cornwall

We had movers pack for us the day before the move and they drove up the lorry on completion day.

We stayed in a hotel as all our stuff was packed

I drove up early the next day nd met the movers about 11:30am and got the keys. While the wife drove up later in the day with our pets.

I doubt the EA will stay open much longer than normal for you to get the keys.

After you have exchanged contracts to risk of falling through is minimal. Just make sure you have time between exchange and completion.

We had 1.5 weeks to make sure of all the moving details

ThePants999

Assuming you don't do some crazy exchange-and-complete-on-same-day madness, there's a sub-1% chance of completion not happening as scheduled. Compared to the other pain and frustration you'll be enduring if it does happen, the 4-hour drive back would not be a major concern

p00hsticks

hayabslee0 wrote: »

1) On a good day, it can take 4 hours to get to York from here. Therefore when the time comes for us to complete, what happens with the Estate Agent at the other end staying open for us to collect the keys?

I'm not sure if the estate agent would stay open, although they might do, but there are several other ways round this. If the current owners are remaining local you could arrange to pick the keys up off of them (or for them to be waiting for oyu at the new property at an agreed time), the keys could be left with a next door neighbour, you could send someone ahead to pick up the keys as soon as completion takes place, or you could arrange removals to pick up from your existing property on the day before completion and deliver the following day (after you have picked the keys up from the agent).

hayabslee0 wrote: »

2) Planning in advance, we're thinking of either my wife of myself driving to York early on the day of exchange so we're ready to get the keys, taking a kettle, etc ready for the other one to meet there once ready. However, we read horror stories online about how sales can fall through at the last moment. Therefore, we worried that one of us might drive to York, only for the sale to fall through.

I think you mean on the day of competion, not exchange ?

I suggest when moving long distance you want to be allowing some time (say a fortnight ?) between exchange and completion to be as confident as you can be as to when completion will happen, as this date gets agreed at exchange (unless you're buying a new build).

accidental_landlord_2

Don't fret. Both of you enjoy the day up there in a nice spa hotel and ask for a friend to drop the keys in... Everything important can be signed in advance with your solicitor and you can also sign away to grant them power to sign on your behalf for any late changes - obviously providing they have consent in writing ie email.

Absolute worst case is you're driving back to Essex in the evening.

trailingspouse

The removal men are unlikely to be unpacking the same day that they pack. It'll go like this -

Moving day minus 1 - packers arrive and pack everything
Moving day - removal van arrives and packs everything, and drives to new location (it'll take them longer than 4 hours to drive up there if it's taking you 4 hours in a car, and there are restrictions on how many hours they can drive without a break. Rightly so.) They will stay overnight somewhere.
Moving day +1 - removal van arrives at your new house, unpacks and then drives back to Essex.

Your best plan of action is to stay at the old house until everything is cleared, have a last minute scoot round to make sure everything has gone (I like to say goodbye to each room...), then drop the keys off with your EA and head up to Yorkshire. Stay overnight somewhere, ready to be at the Estate Agents at opening time the following day. You then meet the removal van at the new house, and crack on.

Top tip - on arrival, make it a priority to sort out your bed, even if it's just a mattress on the floor. The last thing you want after a heavy day of moving house is to find that you can't remember which box the pillows went into.

Oh, and welcome to Yorkshire!! I hope you have a splendid time here.

SuboJvR

We unusually had a same day removal when we moved from Nottinghamshire to Kent (3 hour drive). They sent a bunch of chaps to pack in the morning, we all set off, arrived in Kent and they started unloading. They got about 80% of it done before finishing off the next day. Really efficient service. But yes they also did stay overnight, I think it was just a bit of a bonus for them to get more done on the first day than they perhaps thought they would - so could get home sooner the next day.

bertiewhite

We moved from Lincolnshire to West Wales - 6 hours on a good day.

Packed one day, handed the keys to the EA, both us and the movers stayed overnight and collected new keys/moved in the next day. Simples.

moneyistooshorttomention

West Country to West Wales here.

The packing was done on Day 1 (by the packers - and thats another story....:cool:). I stayed overnight at a friends place there.

Day 2 - Quick last minute check of my old house and picked up odd few personal etc things I'd left there in the morning and left stuff with my EA. I arrived in West Wales in the afternoon and the removers were waiting for me here and I visited the vendors EA for the keys. Phone calls from my EA and my solicitor (to say Completion had happened) came to my phone whilst driving over (I wasnt the one doing the driving I hasten to add!).

Being such a long-distance move it was all part of the reason why I made sure there was the traditional 4 week gap between Exchange and Completion. So there was plenty of time for arranging things and for any "inefficiency" or unavailability from other people involved.

LandyAndy

trailingspouse wrote: »

Your best plan of action is to stay at the old house until everything is cleared, have a last minute scoot round to make sure everything has gone (I like to say goodbye to each room...), then drop the keys off with your EA and head up to Yorkshire. Stay overnight somewhere, ready to be at the Estate Agents at opening time the following day. You then meet the removal van at the new house, and crack on.

.

Glad I'm not the only one.;)

Waterlily24

We moved from the West Sussex coast to Lincolnshire and had no problems.