Completion day in a chain

Karen_Artioli

How is completion day in a chain?

My solicitor says I need to release the keys for the property I’m selling (obviously empty) immediately once I get the funds and before getting the keys for the house I’m buying. So I would need to load the van, clean the house and wait for my solicitors call.

If that’s the case, I won’t be allowed to do multiple trips with a van and would need a lorry instead in order to move all at once?

Are sellers allowed to move out and buyers to move in simultaneously? Or buyers can only get in once sellers are out?

My buyers are the bottom of the chain and won’t be moving too soon so I don’t understand why such a hurry.

Please let me know your thoughts and experiences.

eddddy

Karen_Artioli said:

If that’s the case, I won’t be allowed to do multiple trips with a van and would need a lorry instead in order to move all at once?

That's correct - you can't do multiple trips.


Completion day is supposed to work roughly like this:

• You usually aim to complete at 12 noon for both sale and purchase.

• So at 12 noon your old house no longer belongs to you, and at 12 noon you become the owner of the new house.

• So the goal is to get everything out of your old house before 12 noon - and leave it all sitting in a removal truck until after 12 noon.

• Then after 12 noon, you will own the new house - so you can start unloading the removal truck into the new house.

But sometimes there are delays - so maybe you won't complete until 2pm or 3pm. In that case, your belongings have to sit in the removal truck for an extra 2 or 3 hours until 2pm or 3pm, before you can start unloading.

Flugelhorn

I have been in situation where buyers were slow moving out and my removals just started moving everything in - agreeing with the vendors removers which rooms they could use. 

Vendors being slow in moving out is a real pain  - recently completion was at 1200 and money was in the bank but they didn't get their act together until nearlt 3pm - declining 2 deliveries I had arranged as they claimed not to know who we were 

trakky14

Yup you basically have to have everything out by 12....we were lucky moving to our current house as the vendors had moved out the day before and agreed to let us move our stuff in early. Didn't complete till about 2pm 

user1977

There needs to be a bit of flexibility - in practice you don't know exactly what time funds will be transferred (or other formalities dealt with), or when properties will actually be cleared if people are moving out on the day.

Karen_Artioli

eddddy said:

Karen_Artioli said:

If that’s the case, I won’t be allowed to do multiple trips with a van and would need a lorry instead in order to move all at once?

That's correct - you can't do multiple trips.


Completion day is supposed to work roughly like this:

• You usually aim to complete at 12 noon for both sale and purchase.

• So at 12 noon your old house no longer belongs to you, and at 12 noon you become the owner of the new house.

• So the goal is to get everything out of your old house before 12 noon - and leave it all sitting in a removal truck until after 12 noon.

• Then after 12 noon, you will own the new house - so you can start unloading the removal truck into the new house.

But sometimes there are delays - so maybe you won't complete until 2pm or 3pm. In that case, your belongings have to sit in the removal truck for an extra 2 or 3 hours until 2pm or 3pm, before you can start unloading.

But my solicitors didn’t give a time, as it depends on the bank it can be anything between 10am and 3pm for example - not necessarily 12pm. So I need to load the lorry first thing in the morning and keep waiting all day? Would the removal company be ok with that?

Karen_Artioli

Flugelhorn said:

I have been in situation where buyers were slow moving out and my removals just started moving everything in - agreeing with the vendors removers which rooms they could use. 

Vendors being slow in moving out is a real pain  - recently completion was at 1200 and money was in the bank but they didn't get their act together until nearlt 3pm - declining 2 deliveries I had arranged as they claimed not to know who we were 

I completely understand sellers being slow moving out as it’s a lot of work and I wouldn’t see any issue in sharing the house between buyer and seller for few hours. But refusing your deliveries was so mean

Karen_Artioli

trakky14 said:

Yup you basically have to have everything out by 12....we were lucky moving to our current house as the vendors had moved out the day before and agreed to let us move our stuff in early. Didn't complete till about 2pm 

So you started moving in even before they had the money? That was so nice of them! Did you agree that in advance or same day?

trakky14

Karen_Artioli said:

trakky14 said:

Yup you basically have to have everything out by 12....we were lucky moving to our current house as the vendors had moved out the day before and agreed to let us move our stuff in early. Didn't complete till about 2pm 

So you started moving in even before they had the money? That was so nice of them! Did you agree that in advance or same day?

We did!! We agreed a couple of days before...we were moving from another part of the country and all our stuff was on a lorry (lorry travelled down the night before and the guys slept in it somewhere!) They were at the new house at 8am! We had exchanged though by then so it was highly unlikely we'd not complete (but obviously risky!)

Karen_Artioli

trakky14 said:

Karen_Artioli said:

trakky14 said:

Yup you basically have to have everything out by 12....we were lucky moving to our current house as the vendors had moved out the day before and agreed to let us move our stuff in early. Didn't complete till about 2pm 

So you started moving in even before they had the money? That was so nice of them! Did you agree that in advance or same day?

We did!! We agreed a couple of days before...we were moving from another part of the country and all our stuff was on a lorry (lorry travelled down the night before and the guys slept in it somewhere!) They were at the new house at 8am! We had exchanged though by then so it was highly unlikely we'd not complete (but obviously risky!)

Lucky you, very nice of them.
I hope both my sellers and buyers are also flexible.

trakky14

Fingers crossed, we were very lucky as they didn't have an onwards purchase so the money didn't need to go anywhere but them. Fingers crossed for you