How long after completion do we get the keys?

JGB1955

When we moved (about 2 miles) from our first to our second house the removal men got bored by lunchtime, waiting for the keys.  We got the keys from the EA at about 2:00 p.m., to find that the removal company had 'gained access' to the house and off loaded 90% of our belongings.  Luckily I had labelled all the boxes with the rooms they were intended for....

MaryNB

esubbs said:

We were first time buyers when we bought our current house and very luckily had an overlap of a few days with our previous rental. We completed fairly early on, about 10:30, but I vaguely remembered something about vacant possession from midday so left off until lunch time to ring the estate agent and ask for the keys. They said "the vendors weren't ready to release them" and I naively agreed to ring back later. By 2:30 I was getting annoyed so the estate agent agreed to let me collect them. I then went straight to the property, rubber gloves and mop in hand, to find they hadn't even half packed yet! It was about 2am before they were finally out and left so much junk and mess behind.
I've always vowed to never treat our buyers that way.
Hope you're in now OP? 

That is really bad! Some people are so clueless when it comes to packing. I've seen a few posters here complain that their sellers didn't start packing until they had completed. Just daft! Anytime I've moved (before it was between rentals and I only rented a room), I started a clearout at least a week beforehand and had everything packed the day before with only essentials. Well... that was the plan, it always took longer than I thought and I was always rushing out the door. 

esubbs

JGB1955 said:

When we moved (about 2 miles) from our first to our second house the removal men got bored by lunchtime, waiting for the keys.  We got the keys from the EA at about 2:00 p.m., to find that the removal company had 'gained access' to the house and off loaded 90% of our belongings.  Luckily I had labelled all the boxes with the rooms they were intended for....

Very similar happened to my mother in law with her buyers recently. She was only moving down the road into rental while most of her stuff went into storage so there was only a few bits to move on completion day. She went back about 10am to collect the last few bits and take meter readings to find the buyers there with their removal team unloading their stuff having broken in before completion was even confirmed!

gingercordial

Our terrible sellers took their time on the day.  Luckily we were FTBs in rented so not moving in that day ourselves - but of course we were excited and wanted to take possession of our new house!

We had a call from our solicitors about 10am saying completion had happened, followed by a call from the EA saying they'd ring again when keys were ready but to expect that to happen about midday.  I think that call finally came about 1.30pm, so we went to their office and picked up the keys at 2pm but then found the sellers and their removal men still at the house.  The sellers were about to get into their car and leave as they were moving a couple of hours away and needed to get to their EA in the other city to pick up their keys - and I think had hoped to avoid meeting us as they seemed reluctant to talk and had left the place filthy - so we had a brief awkward conversation where they said their removal men would be finished "really soon" then they scarpered, abandoning the whole thing.

We went for a walk for an hour (in the rain, during lockdown), came back and the removal men still weren't done.  We sat in our car until they were.  I think because of time constraints, and/or because the sellers weren't there to direct, they left loads of stuff, none of it good

I'm still bitter.

newroadahead

I remember when we bought our house the old owner called to say we complete on Friday but I can't get my stuff moved till Saturday so you can't move in till then
Quick call to solicitor who called their solicitor and said we would be within our rights to charge rent!
20 mins later call back to say would we mind if they out by lunch
They then left stuff but I had their number and called and said the husband could pick up in his Van or I would send the bill for removal he was there first thing next day !!!
We hope to move next year and I'm hoping it will be with no chain fingers crossed

Slithery

newroadahead said:

Quick call to solicitor who called their solicitor and said we would be within our rights to charge rent!

How long ago was this? Sale and rent back is currently illegal.

mjane93

Thank you all for your messages. Definitely helped keep us sane whist waiting to get they keys. We showed up to the house to collect the keys at 2pm and they were just finishing up packing. 

My goodness I don’t think I’ve ever seen a house so dirty though and a huge bag of rubbish was left under the stairs as the bins were full. 

All in all I’m glad we have the keys and ready to give this house some TLC to get it up to scratch! 

Flugelhorn

Glad you got in to the house in the end - will feel good when you have finished all the cleaning!

We were lucky last year, we had already moved before  the day of completion - couldn't clean on day of removals as long journey  but were able to go back to clean the house (so  much easier when empty and we had plenty of time but on the other hand all sorts of cleaning needed where furniture had been) -  would have felt bad leaving it any other way. 

Vendors apparently arrived after completion armed cleaning stuff (as you do) - they e-mailed us via the agents specifically to say how grateful they were that it had already been done 

csgohan4

Our vendors left the house dirty and the bins full to the brim

Luckily we were not moving in that day as I had arranged cleaners and flooring specialists the next day before moving in 2 days later. 

I hate rushing which was why I moved in a few days later. We also changed the locks as soon as we moved in, who knows who else has the keys. The locksmith chap said the locks were poor quality anyways and showed they were not anti snap either. 

Soot2006

JGB1955 said:

When we moved (about 2 miles) from our first to our second house the removal men got bored by lunchtime, waiting for the keys.  We got the keys from the EA at about 2:00 p.m., to find that the removal company had 'gained access' to the house and off loaded 90% of our belongings.  Luckily I had labelled all the boxes with the rooms they were intended for....

This was our situation, also!  I called the removals to tell them I'd be there with the keys at 2pm. They grunted. I excitedly turned up at 2pm to open my new house and found the front door wide open and my belongings inside. Removals men said they do it all the time; loiter outside and catch the open door if the vendors are OK about it, which they apparently normally are. Makes sense and made it a lovely short moving day - chain of  5 and I was moved in by 3pm!

Congrats, OP, glad you're in!