Not present on completion day

Perhaps

Buying at the bottom of a chain which is having trouble lining up all the ducks when setting the completion date. In rented so won't be moving in straightaway.

A quick sanity check: are there any pitfalls with not being present on completion day, but picking up the keys from the estate agent a few days later?

I can't think of anything - it's not like buying a used car where you might have 24 hours to spot major faults or whatever. Sold as seen, caveat emptor, contracts exchanged, etc. Obviously council tax / utilities / etc would need to be paid from completion day, but that's not a big issue.

I suppose the EA could organise a rave for the few days it's empty, but it's not that nice a place...

suki1964

I was on a ferry when completion happened on the house I was travelling to

You don't exchange unless you are 100% you are going ahead with the sale/purchase. Completion is just the day you all agree that the monies will change hands and you pick up the keys

The house I was purchasing had been empty a week before completion, mine was empty 2 days, its not a problem. Just when you do decide to pick up the keys, read the meters and give the readings

Moneyminded

It is your choice when to pick up the keys and look around/ move in as it will be yours legally. Even if you aren't moving in straight away i'm not sure I could resist the urge to go and visit and enjoy the feeling of knowing it is all mine.

Also helpful to give the place a clean while it is empty before you start moving in, you can unpack into clean kitchen cupboards etc.

Good luck with your move when it does happen

HampshireH

.....it could be trashed?

Ideally you would check 1st. But you can do as you wish

Ithaca

Our buyers (local FTBs) picked their keys up 3 days after completion as they were both away on business; actually made it a much less stressful moving day for us, no eager buyers standing on the driveway waiting for our removal van to depart, meant we could pop back a couple of times to pick things up during the day. (House we were moving to was already empty so we had a very relaxed moving day).

PasturesNew

It is entirely unimportant.

However, you might like to find a friend/anybody trustworthy to collect the keys for you, then to go over and make sure "it looks all right" and to take any gas/electric readings for you, make sure they shut/locked the windows and that the doors are all locked and there's nothing obvious/vital to bring to your attention/get sorted (e.g. like a leaking tap or something bizarre).

Just "Does it look all right, is it secure?" checks.

What if .... the seller got wind of the fact you'll not be around and decided "it'll be all right, they'll never know we only packed half our stuff, had a chip supper here on completion day evening, then slept in our beds and moved stuff out over the next 2-3 days using Bob's spare key that we've not admitted to"?

dan958

I wanted to change the locks and take meter readings right away.