Advice on moving belongings on completion day.

Slinky

We watched the move from hell take place opposite us a few years ago. The people moving out hired a van which they filled up and off they went to the new house when they got the keys. In the meantime the new people turned up and are waiting to get in whilst the first lot come back and find them sat outside the house.  Removals sat there for a good long while before eventually started unloading the new folks stuff into the garage whilst the old people were still moving out. In the end the removals people were shoving stuff into the old folks van for them just so they could get them out of the house so they could unload the rest of their wagon and go home.

Don't do it, one of the few areas you see most agreement on MSE is that paying somebody else to do a removal for you is money well spent. 

Competsoph

Following!

Jumblebumble

+1 to this
One has no idea of how much faster and more efficiently a removals team will do the job compared to DIY
They know how to load the van and how to get furniture in and out quickly without damage and they can work without getting in each others way
Last time we moved 3 miles
I semi DIYed it by hiring a 7.5 tonne van with tail lift ( I have grandfather rights on this)
I paid one professional mover and one warehouse guy for the day and our family did the rest
Despite this I would still pay for the whole job next time

m0bov

Get some self storage, move as much as you can now, then do a van run on the day for the really bulky stuff. We did that although it was a 1 bed flat to 3 bedroom townhouse with a garage. There is no way you can pack AND move into the new place in one day, when the keys are released, your new owner will turn up, you need to be packed before this time. No vacant possession, risk of being sued and the police turning up.

RelievedSheff

Ideally packing needs to be done well in advance. Not on the day of the move. Leave out just the essentials. Then get the van loaded up early and the house cleared and have a last tidy up.

I really don't understand why people leave stuff like this to the last minute. It's not like moving is a massive surprise!

Mrs_Soup

Only do this if the van you hire will hold ALL of your stuff in one load as you likely won't have time to go back and load up again before your buyers own the property and need to move in.  You need to be in a position to be out as soon as the money changes hands and it becomes theirs.  My vendors moved themselves and were still in the house in a flap hours after it became ours and our movers were moving things in to avoid going into overtime which would have cost us extra.  we only moved 5 mins down the road but the loading is what takes the time not the distance between properties and movers know what they are doing.  Movers were the best money we spent.

bucksbloke

We had everything boxed up days for weeks in advance. We rented a storage unit and put all the boxes there. 
On the day - the removal men only had to collect our beds, sofa, tables etc and we got a van and picked up all of our boxes. 

cogrady

Thank you to all that have posted here, you have made my mind up!  
I'll bite the bullet and pay for a removal company to uplift and take everything to unload at the new house.
I'll make sure to beforehand give the place a proper declutter and make sure everything is boxed and bubble wrapped too! 

pinkteapot

cogrady said:

Thank you to all that have posted here, you have made my mind up!  
I'll bite the bullet and pay for a removal company to uplift and take everything to unload at the new house.
I'll make sure to beforehand give the place a proper declutter and make sure everything is boxed and bubble wrapped too! 

Good decision - I was about to say the same as everyone else!

If you're middle of the chain you can only really DIY move if you have a license to drive a large enough van to take all your stuff in one trip. Different when you're a FTB and can move in at your leisure, or top of chain when you can move out before completion day. 

One house we bought about ten years ago now we didn't get the keys till 5.30pm, even though completion happened at about 11am!! Idiot vendor decided to self-move with a Transit out of a 4-bed house as they were only going down the road. *Fortunately* we were in rented and not moving in that day - if we'd been in a chain and were sitting outside with all our belongings on a truck I'd have been raging! 

Grabs39

We were unable to get removals men in when we moved a month ago.  We hired a van and brought stuff to my parents to keep in the garage two days before the move, then filled the van with the last bits on the day of the move.  

We wound up with three vans and three car fulls.  We couldn’t have done it all on the same day.  We moved out of a tiny two bed house, and we took loads to the charity shop last year in anticipation of moving.

And I’ve never been so exhausted!