Exchange and complete from rented

CinderKona

Hello,
after months of inactivity with the occasional reminder from me I have suddenly heard that the vendor is ready to exchange tomorrow (26th – February) and complete next Friday – has come out of the blue after so much inertia.

As my rent will extend well into the latter half of March can I use this time to plan the move? Have often moved rentals and had an overlap but buying I have had no experience off.

FTB so probably a little naïve.

Thanks

Voyager2002

The day you exchange is when everyone is committed to the deal. You do not have to complete precisely a week later: perhaps you could agree a completion date near to the final day for which you have to pay rent to minimise the amount of time for which you are paying both rent and mortgage.

The day you complete is the day when you are given the keys and property belongs to you. You are free to move in then or any time after that, so you can use the time to plan your move. (Some people like to decorate their new homes and do any required maintanence before moving in).

davidmcn

Not sure what you're asking - there's no rule that you must actually start sleeping in your house immediately after completion, so move when you want.

Soot2006

If you can afford it, then overlap can be very useful for a slow move. We had a two-week overlap with end of rental and completion in our first house. We had some plumbing work done, did a bit of painting, ripped out smelly carpets, and slowly moved all our stuff from the rental without needing to pay for removals ... but it does mean paying mortgage + rent + 2x council tax + 2x utilities!

MaryNB

I had a month overlap after moving from rented to a house I purchased. It was very handy for moving and I didn't have to worry about not having broadband because I could continue to work from home from my rented flat.

Don't forget to take meter readings the day you get your keys and set up accounts with the existing energy and water companies. Set up council tax and broadband as well the first day. You'll obviously still be liable for all those at your rented place until the end of your tenancy.

In case the weather turns make sure to have the heating in your new property set to come on at somewhere between say 5 and 10 degrees.

Bad_Accountant

I did this recently. We had a 2.5 month overlap actually because of various issues.

MaryNB makes good points. Also buy curtains for the new place so it doesn't look too empty to passers by. And it's important to change the locks if you won't be moving in at once, because who knows who has a key?

When you go in an empty shell of a home for a while it can be very odd and depressing so be prepared for that ... I found our new place unpleasant, lonely and weird until we actually moved and put furniture etc in and then it started to feel more like home.

Enjoy your new place!

youth_leader

I'm on a monthly contract rent payable 7th of the month, my completion date is the 11th March.  I gave a month's notice on 6 February and asked to rent for an additional week, the landlord has kindly agreed.  I had to allow prospective tenants to view, but was very lucky, the first people that came offered to rent and the landlord accepted them.

MaryNB

Bad_Accountant said:

I did this recently. We had a 2.5 month overlap actually because of various issues.

MaryNB makes good points. Also buy curtains for the new place so it doesn't look too empty to passers by. And it's important to change the locks if you won't be moving in at once, because who knows who has a key?

When you go in an empty shell of a home for a while it can be very odd and depressing so be prepared for that ... I found our new place unpleasant, lonely and weird until we actually moved and put furniture etc in and then it started to feel more like home.

Enjoy your new place!

This is a good shout. I brought sheets to act as curtains but was lucky that my sellers ended up leaving blinds in the house. I bought a timer for a plug and set it so a lamp came on in the evening to make the house look occupied. 

AlexMac

Congratulations Cinders!  Having overlap time to move might be useful; we did just that when moving from a rental to our previous house, and apart from making it less stressful (although we did still use a removals company) it was a godsend because one of the cats decided not to co-operate and went awol for three days after completion; we eventually had to abandon it and set the catflap to one-way/entry only to trap the little s0d in the by now empty rental.  Once you see the empty house you may also want to slap a coat of paint on a few walls, so if that's likely you could delay the move by a week or so?

But if you don't move in immediately, do change the locks or at least the lock barrels on Day one, and make sure the building is secure; decent back door locks and window catches and all that usual security stuff too.  There's less "squatting" than when I was younger, but you don't need the hassle of a break in (we got busted into a couple of weeks after moving in here because I didn't relaise that the locks looked robust but were only secured to the timber window-frames with half inch screws which gave way under pressure from a crowbar  when someone used a loose ladder to access a rear upstairs bedoom!)

Indigo_and_Violet

We have a 5 week overlap. Check your local council website - ours gives a month-long exemption for properties that are being renovated prior to move in, so that's saved us a bit of cash. That said, having planned to have time to re-do our kitchen the lead times are longer than expected (4-6 weeks) so we actually won't be able to get the serious work done while we still have both places and we move out of the old one just before the lifting of restrictions on overnight stays (we had hoped some family might be able to come and see us while we had two separate dwellings).
If you don't think the place needs masses done then as Voyager 2002 has said - completion date is a negotiation and if it would work better for you to push it back by a week then do so. 

CinderKona

Some very good advice here – thanks all.

The place is less than 2 miles away so I can go there regularly. 

Right now I may need the buffer as I just cannot get a removal service at the moment!

Good points on 2 sets of bills but I suppose after 10 years of renting, 2 more months of “dead money” can be stomached.