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What happens on the Completion Day

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  • cloo
    cloo Posts: 1,291 Forumite
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    Can vary a lot


    We moved on the same street - the vendors of the house we were buying were cleaning the place up for a few hours, but I think had already given all the keys to the agents and it was nearly the end of the day before we got the agents to hand over the keys! Luckily vendors were only moving locally and were happy to leave the door open for us to start moving our stuff in
  • Davesnave
    Davesnave Posts: 34,741 Forumite
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    mazibee wrote: »
    Wow, What an idea Dave?
    Actually, it's wrong. We did see the house on completion day, but only long enough to collect the keys from under the brick, and unload a van full of stuff. By then, others had arrived with more stuff and they camped out at the house while we went back to sort out the main removal. It was 100 miles away from where we were living, and even after the big van did the main removal, we still had many things to move in our own van that couldn't be shifted all at once. I think we did 5 x 200mile round trips.

    Then, when we were finally 'here,' everyone else had a bed except me, so I spent the first night on a concrete floor in a sleeping bag...I remember because I didn't do much sleeping.

    That's why it's easier and less confusing to just read what's supposed to happen, rather than personal accounts.

    N.B. The brick hiding place was so we didn't need to meet the agent. We got on with the vendor much better than with him! :rotfl:
  • foxy-stoat
    foxy-stoat Posts: 6,879 Forumite
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    mazibee wrote: »
    Hi All,

    FTBs, will be exchanging in the next few days and will be extremely thankful if someone can explain normally what happens on the completion day.

    When we will get the keys? Any specific time of the day?

    Who will give us the keys?

    Do we need to collect it from vendors, EA or any othe nominated person?

    What if we are unable to get the keys on the day of completion.

    Any specific things to do on the completion day as the FTBs

    Will be extremely thankful for any advice/ suggestion?

    These are all good questions, generally your Solicitor will tell you the answers.

    Taking photos of electric, gas and water meters and emailing them to yourself is a very good idea.

    Good luck.
  • steampowered
    steampowered Posts: 6,176 Forumite
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    My solicitor forgot to told me that we had completed :)

    I contacted them about 4pm to ask whether completion had happened, they said it had completed that morning, and apologised for omitting to tell me !

    It wasn't a problem in my case, as I wasn't moving in for another few days. I simply collected the keys from the EA two days later.

    Normally the EA will hold the keys and you'll collect them when completion has happened. Its probably worth just double checking that the EA does in fact have the keys to avoid any misunderstanding.
  • DanishCake511
    DanishCake511 Posts: 5 Forumite
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    Do you have to change the locks as soon as you move in? This seems like a hefty extra expense just wondering if this is a must-do when you move into a new home? I'm a FTB in the process atm.
  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627 Forumite
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    One house we bought the competion happened at around 1pm and the previous owner's mother answered the door at about 2pm and said to my other half that he had had a wasted journey go round to collect the keys then.



    So back to the estate agent who had sold the property who then rang the vendor and explained the situation and told them to let the new owner of the property in.



    Not every vendor gets the point that they need to have vacated the property before completion. After completion the house belongs to the new owner who has a right to enter their property then.
  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627 Forumite
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    DanishCake511 wrote: »
    Do you have to change the locks as soon as you move in? This seems like a hefty extra expense just wondering if this is a must-do when you move into a new home? I'm a FTB in the process atm.


    There have been threads on here where new owners have found previous owners in their house looking for something that they forgot to move to their new house. The previous owners had kept a set of keys just in case they needed to let themselves into what was now someone else's home.
  • scholesfan88
    scholesfan88 Posts: 265 Forumite
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    Changing the locks is hardly a hefty expense when you consider that your protecting the asset that you've just spent thousands upon thousands on.

    Changing a lock is a basic DIY job, even more so a euro lock on a upvc door which seem most common now. They are held in by 1 screw and can be changed for as little as £10-15 a lock.
  • bopsybunny
    bopsybunny Posts: 109 Forumite
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    We completed at 11am. However, our vendors' purchase didn't complete until 2pm so they didn't start moving out as they had nowhere to go. It ended up that they were out at about 9pm, at which point we picked up the keys from the next door neighbour. They hadn't cleaned or even hoovered. We came back the next morning and I quickly cleaned each room before it got filled with stuff. Luckily we were moving out of rented with time left on our tenancy, so we had the flexibility to not have to move on the same day. If we'd needed to move in that day we would have been livid, but it didn't really matter to us (other than a day wasted, sat around with our life in boxes!).
    Wedding savings Jan 19: £1.4k. Sept 19: £7.5k. Mar 20: £12.6k
    Goal: Pay for wedding by August 2020 <3
  • Cakeguts
    Cakeguts Posts: 7,627 Forumite
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    bopsybunny wrote: »
    We completed at 11am. However, our vendors' purchase didn't complete until 2pm so they didn't start moving out as they had nowhere to go. It ended up that they were out at about 9pm, at which point we picked up the keys from the next door neighbour. They hadn't cleaned or even hoovered. We came back the next morning and I quickly cleaned each room before it got filled with stuff. Luckily we were moving out of rented with time left on our tenancy, so we had the flexibility to not have to move on the same day. If we'd needed to move in that day we would have been livid, but it didn't really matter to us (other than a day wasted, sat around with our life in boxes!).


    This just shows how wrong people can be about moving out. When you completed at 11am the house became yours so I have no idea what your vendors thought would happen if they didn't complete on their new house? Technically they should have been out and ready to go at 11am but at the latest mid day. Hanging on in case they didn't complete was not the way to go because the house was no longer theirs.



    You can't continue to live in a house belonging to someone else just because you think something may have gone wrong with your purchase.
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