Logistics of completion day.. 2 hours or less to move?

faerielight

I have been told i will have to vacate my flat by 1pm, but may not get the keys until after 11..I dont know how ill be able to do my move in such a short space of time!
I'm hiring a van so it will be 2 trips .. my new place is a 10 minute drive away.

comeandgo

Well, you get the van full for first load early in the morning arriving at just after 11.00, dump everything, return for second load and be out by agreed time.  

Albermarle

Store some stuff at friends/family/Lok & store/ somebody's garage ?

Flugelhorn

bear in mind if you are selling and buying on the same day that the keys often aren't available until much later than you expect as people don't get out of places until much later in the day + money may be delayed going through the chain. I have sat outside places until 4pm waiting to get in!

Myci85

I think most people use removals firms for this reason, so they can load the entire house contents up in one go, and go and park up outside the new place until you have the keys.
I've always DIYed my moves to date, however I've never yet sold and bought on same day, so have always had an overlap between properties before, meaning plenty of time to do multiple trips. 

pinkshoes

faerielight said:

I have been told i will have to vacate my flat by 1pm, but may not get the keys until after 11..I dont know how ill be able to do my move in such a short space of time!
I'm hiring a van so it will be 2 trips .. my new place is a 10 minute drive away.

Those timings are VERY specific. 

Usually you all complete at the same time, then once you've completed you can get the keys.

You would therefore load the van up just before completion, then drive and wait at the new house until your solicitor phones to say completion has happened and you can collect/have the keys. 

As you're doing it yourself with just one van, then you either:

- speak nicely to the people buying your house, and ask if you can leave half your stuff in one room (at the front nearest the door) so you can come back for it an hour later.

- hire a small storage space for the day, then take half the stuff first thing in the morning into storage, then you only need to do the van move to the house, then collect the stuff in storage afterwards.

- As above but ask a friend if you can use their garage space/yard.

- Rent a bigger van.

kimwp

Or rent two vans

KittenChops

When we moved about 2.5 years ago - the standard sale contract stated completion would be at 1pm and our removals company T&Cs stated must all be done by a similar time I think. In reality, completion on our sale happened around 2:30pm, and completion on our purchase a bit later.  Only 3 parties / 2 properties in the chain.  Removal company didn't ask for extra.

saajan_12

2 hours is a lot, often there's 0 overlap. If selling and buying on the same day then usually you do it in one trip so that everything can be held outside of both properties. 

If the purchase is later than 11am, what will you do? 

faerielight

i think ill get it all dropped off on the front garden early and wait in the car  for the keys to my new house 

eddddy

faerielight said:

I have been told i will have to vacate my flat by 1pm, but may not get the keys until after 11..

Are you sure about that?

Typically, you would need the money from the sale of your current flat, in order to pay for your new place?

So you have to complete your sale on the current flat (and therefore move out), before you can complete the sale on your new place (and therefore move in).

faerielight said:

i think ill get it all dropped off on the front garden early and wait in the car  for the keys to my new house 

You mean leave the stuff in the front garden of the new place?

As explained above, you won't own the new place (and it's front garden) at that stage.  But you can ask the current owners if they'll do you a favour, and let you store stuff in their garden prior to completion.


But the current owners (and/or their solicitor) might not be keen on that - just in case you don't complete for some reason. Then they'll have a garden full of your "stuff" to deal with.