Ordering for delivery before completion

Thrugelmir

Biggest risk is that the furniture will be delivered before you get the keys to the property.........

Windofchange

I think the general consensus is don't do it! We moved into a rental a number of years back, and the estate agent got the door numbers muddled up - lots of new build rentals on a single plot. We were the first to ever rent that unit so I duly ordered phone lines, sky tv, a DFS sofa, utilities, changed my driving license and so on. We turn up on move in day and the owner of the properties met us rather than the estate agent. Here is your key he says and walks us into the house next door to the one we thought we were getting. After a good few hours of arguing and back and forth with the estate agents they realised that they had made an error - the door numbers had been screwed onto the wrong house, and what was recorded on the site plan / land registry was different!

None of the companies would let me change the delivery / installation details for what I had ordered, and I spent days cancelling down everything and re-ordering it all again. I had changed my driving licence details, V5C documents, the whole lot to what I thought was my address but it wasn't. This may be less of a concern to you if you are not buying new build. When we brought our property a couple of years back I did order a few things like internet provision and sky TV for a day after move in, but I waited until in before getting sofas and beds and those sorts of things on order. We luckily had furniture from our previous rental, but as per the above, don't order anything big until you are in and you are sure what you have is what you were expecting! 

Owleyes00

Once we knew we were definitely moving we knew we needed a fridge and a washing machine. We went to curry’s and asked the salesman which one could be delivered the quickest and bought those. We are still sitting on a borrowed old sofa from my in laws because a decent sofa needs to be made to order.

Apart from absolutely essential items, I would ask you to consider my friends of mine who did a massive IKEA binge between exchange and completion so their house was fully furnished almost immediately. Although this has its advantages, none of the stuff is very good quality, or particularly well considered meaning it looks a little like a rental. Far better to get in and take time choosing high quality pieces that you love imo

greensalad

I've ordered/bought a tiny handful of things pre-exchange. They are things I know I can store or use in a different property if this one doesn't go as expected. But I wouldn't risk ordering anything big just yet.

We'll have no bed when we move in. Just going to make do with an air mattress and camping chairs for a while!

ilikewatch2

When I was moving a few years ago I ordered a lot of furniture in advance from a local independent furniture store who had warehouse space and agreed to store it until required - on completion day I phoned them as soon as I had the keys to the property and the furniture was delivered and assembled about 2 hours later.
I did pay a small premium to buy locally rather than trawling the web to find the cheapest price, but it was well worth it.

getmore4less

Research more  on what places tend to have display stuff and look around for second hand stuff that can be picked up/delivered quickly from stock.

Freecycle and FB local round us has loads of household basics.

Get with the intension of upgrading as you work out what you want and have a better feel for the place.

You should be able to find a bed cheap or even free,  just need the mattress to be new.

What about asking the landlord if you can have the one you sleep on now so they can give the next tenant a new one.


eg. for a mattress

just checked the local Dunelm for a memory foam double.

https://www.dunelm.com/product/memory-foam-mattress-1000027166

Available click and collect in 1hr.
comes in a box you could just about manage on the bus if no transport.
H 108cm x W 35.7cm x D 35.7cm   16KG

Drawingaline

When we moved I ordered a fridge freezer to be delivered the day after completion, but only I've we had exchanged. Places like ao have next day delivery.

We had mattresses but needed three beds. Day after completion I trawled through local selling sites and picked up two single bed bases for a total of £60, couldn't find a double so ended up using eBay, collection locally about three days later. 

Sandtree

hazyjo said:

Many places won't just let you cancel an order. You may be able to delay delivery but there will prob be a charge.

Perhaps order something with next or same day delivery after exchange.

Some furniture like sofas may even take several weeks to arrive after ordering.

Buy it remotely, make sure you dont buy anything bespoke and they legally have to allow you to cancel... problems can happen however if the item has already been dispatched.

Personally dont see the point of the stress caused by having exchange and completion so close... we had a week gap and as FTB it gave us chance to get the essentials (though our previous rental was part furnished so just a few key items needed like fridge/freezer).