Moving day logistics

booksandbikes

Our completion day is next week....our removalists are collecting the bulk of the items on the day before completion, and then just a few bits on completion day. The aim is to be packed up by 9am (solicitor says noon).

We are in the middle of a 3 person chain. As soon as our buyer's funds have been cleared to our solicitor, do we then have to leave our old house and wait outside our new house until those funds have reached our seller's solcitor? Or do we only leave our house once the funds have been fully passed up the chain?

silvercar

Are you planning on giving the keys to the new owners yourself or via the estate agent?

The rules are that you cannot get the keys to the new place until their solicitor agrees they have received the funds. You can vacate your old place whenever you want, but wouldn't hand the keys to the new owner until your solicitor has their money.

In practice people can be late leaving and there is little anyone can do about it, other than park outside and stamp your feet.

DullGreyGuy

booksandbikes said:

Our completion day is next week....our removalists are collecting the bulk of the items on the day before completion, and then just a few bits on completion day. The aim is to be packed up by 9am (solicitor says noon).

We are in the middle of a 3 person chain. As soon as our buyer's funds have been cleared to our solicitor, do we then have to leave our old house and wait outside our new house until those funds have reached our seller's solcitor? Or do we only leave our house once the funds have been fully passed up the chain?

Whilst you are in a chain they are individual transactions so you have to leave when your transaction is completed though that will be at least a little while before your second transaction completes. There are practical matters of who are going to have the keys (both who you'll give yours to and who you get your next set from). Some will leave early, lock up and give the keys to your estate agent, go to the new place and wait near by, possibly sending one off to get the keys from their estate agent if thats the arrangement.

FlorayG

As above - house is 'properly' sold when everyone (or their solicitor) has the money
My buyers were early and I hadn't received funds, I made them a cup of tea and we sat together in the front garden until my solicitor called me with the all clear. My removals van was all packed and waiting, I gave them the thumbs up and they set off. By the time we got there, my solicitor had cleared funds to the seller
The only worry is if there is a very long chain - there might be a delay that means the person at the very end doesn't get paid until tomorrow; I can't imagine the complications that would cause, so solicitors work really hard ot get everything done by 4pm at the latest

Flugelhorn

always good to get cleared up and packed and away early, drop the keys off at agent or whatever. the solictor will contact them to OK the release to the new owners. The just find somewhere to wait - the removal chaps are perfectly used to this and will find somewhere they can have a snack and patiently wait until the new house is ready to move into - even if  all the money is through, some people still don't get packed in time and you have to wait. I moved once and my removers ended up helping the vendors' removers to just speed things up a bit 

DullGreyGuy

Flugelhorn said:
my removers ended up helping the vendors' removers to just speed things up a bit 

Its not uncommon... varies by removal firm but many workers on a fixed rate so they get paid the same if the job is done in 5 hours or 7 hours so will help out to get the day over with quicker than sit around and not get home until 3 hours later than planned. 

The ones running late however may resist because bad packing becomes their problem if something breaks in transit. 

TheJP

When we moved we had the lorry packed up by 11am, the journey was 10 minutes and the house we were buying was empty. We didnt get the keys until 4.30pm.

It takes as long as it takes, hopefully you have an understanding EA who will work out of hours if things are running late. The one we dealt with said that if the funds hadnt cleared by 5pm they would be closing and need to get keys the next day. They had the cheek 1 year later to offering to broker the sale of our house to a family that were showed pictures of houses that had sold recently in the area, we said no thanks.

weezie7

booksandbikes..... interesting that your 'removalists' are doing the packing the day before completion.......how did you manage to get that done please? In the process of buying and hopefully moving, but our purchase house will need a major clean before we move in......thinking of suggesting it to the seller!

fluffymuffy

When we moved house we didn't pack anything. We got the full packing service because one of us was quite poorly at the time. The removal men came the day before and packed everything. I mean everything. It cost £500 more but was totally worth it. They provided all the boxes and packing paper, and took pictures off the walls and packed them separately. They disconnected the washing machine and reconnected it at the new house. They dismantled the beds and table and reassembled when we got there. They did most of the packing the day before.

badger09

weezie7 said:

booksandbikes..... interesting that your 'removalists' are doing the packing the day before completion.......how did you manage to get that done please? In the process of buying and hopefully moving, but our purchase house will need a major clean before we move in......thinking of suggesting it to the seller!

Removal companies will usually do this if you have a large house, lots of ‘stuff’, or are moving some distance. 

You can suggest this to your seller, but why? They’re unlikely to vacate to let you clean before you’ve actually bought their house. 

FlorayG

fluffymuffy said:

When we moved house we didn't pack anything. We got the full packing service because one of us was quite poorly at the time. The removal men came the day before and packed everything. I mean everything. It cost £500 more but was totally worth it. They provided all the boxes and packing paper, and took pictures off the walls and packed them separately. They disconnected the washing machine and reconnected it at the new house. They dismantled the beds and table and reassembled when we got there. They did most of the packing the day before.

Absolutely worth every penny. They use WAY more boxes than you would do yourself because they don't want anything to be too heavy. They make their own comments on the boxes 'this way up' delicate' etc so they know how to treat each box and everything is labelled for the room it is to go in. Mine managed somehow to break a casserole and paid me back £30 compensation without comment, it wasn't even worth that much.
So much less hassle than packing yourself