To think previous owners of our new house were being unreasonable?

No they don't.

Here's a guide to buying property in Scotland, which details the terminology used. No mention of exchange and completion.
https://www.savills.co.uk/blog/article/192349/residential-property/how-to-buy-property-in-scotland.aspx

Solicitors might say exchange and completion. Although the ones I know usually talk about the transaction settling or settlement.

But everyone else in Scotland refers to concluding missives and date of entry , just as @Seeingadistance says.

Even Rightmove etc mark adverts as SSTCM.

You may talk of just that but the rest of Scotland have exchange and completion 🤣

Completion under another name!

We talk about date of entry. That's the date the money is paid/received, keys are collected, and the buyer gains, unless otherwise agreed, vacant possession of the property

That's what completion is. The terminology may be different, but the process is the same.

All this talk of exchange and completion dates is irrelevant as the OP is in Scotland.

We talk about date of entry. That's the date the money is paid/received, keys are collected, and the buyer gains, unless otherwise agreed, vacant possession of the property

Completion Date is technically 'Moving Date', although there is no compulson to move in, if you are not also selling your own property and have somewhere else to live.
eg, First Time Buyers do not have to move in on completion date, but they would be responsible for all utility bills and nowadays if the property is empty, then double council tax.
This whole thing happens because people do not realise that the selling of their house, and the buying of another is TWO separate contracts, but they have hopefully arranged them for the same date.
Exchange of contracts used to happen 28 days ahead, but nowadays this can be extended or shortened, but 28 days allowed you to sort out removal companies, and pack up, etc.

But these complications are why people love first time buyers or probate properties, etc, as they indicate the end of a chain.

YANBU: My ex neighbours did this…the house was still full a day before the move virtually nothing had been packed. The husband was stressing as he was working away and could only get the day of the move off and a few days after. The wife at the time was a stay at home mum with a toddler. We offered to take her toddler out for the day so she could super speed pack. My eldest was two at the time, so me, another friend with her children did a group day out with the neighbours kid. At the end of day out we phoned her to let her know we were on our way back and it was fine for her child to nap at ours till early evening to give them more time.

When we went round, only a couple of boxes had been packed. She’d popped out to get a few things for the new house and ‘forgot the time’. DH, I and another neighbour helped pack as much as we could. On the morning of the move it was pure chaos, I again watched their toddler whilst DH, other neighbours DH and a few others helped lug heavy items into a moving van while she packed.

They were supposed to be out by 12 the new people turned up and sat at the end of the cul de sac in their moving van looking incredibly pissed off, they finally got in at 4pm.

The neighbour ended up storing a tonne of boxes in our hallway…luckily they were only moving to the next mini village 20 mins away but I’ve never seen tension like it.

From what I understand they had to pay the new neighbours compensation as there was some clause in the agreement that if they were more than an hour late handing keys in they were charged per 30 mins.

Do you remember the one where the sellers lived abroad and the purchaser got in and wallpapered and then built a tree house in the garden

There was a program on a few years ago about moving chains
Voice over done by Kirsty Allsop

Yes I remember that one. At one house the purchasers arrived to find the mother just wafting around and the little girl skipping around in fairy wings and no preparations made to move out. As I recall the purchasers and their movers just started taking the furniture out of the house and dumping it in the garden so they could get theirs in.

We absolutely have chains, there's no other way to do it.

When we moved in the previous owners still had loads of furniture in ( they were moving stuff in a small van on the cheap) They also left all the downstairs doors off the hinges to get their big ass sideboards etc out. Acted all huffy and entitled about our removers wanting to get our furniture in.

There was a program on a few years ago about moving chains
Voice over done by Kirsty Allsop
Some of the stories were unbelievable cheeky fuckery

Just checked it. It was called The Property Chain

They may have been ready to go, but they weren't gone despite that part of the chain having been completed. So they were staying in a house that a) wasn't theirs and b) the legal owner wanted possession of so they could move in. They should be the ones waiting in cars for their purchase to complete, not the person who's purchase has already completed.

What would OP have done if her vendors had failed to complete by the end of the banking day? Opens a whole can of financial and legal worms (liability, overnight costs, insurance etc). The vendor should have been off the property at completion of that sale.

yeah better to wait in the car, in the cold…lol

Probably a bit awkward but seriously, it aren’t the end of the world. Maybe they thought it’d be quicker.

That seems fine tbh.

If they were ready to go and just waiting to see their bit of chain is complete so them INCLUDED that is fine. People really need to breathe…

They shouldn’t have completed on one transaction without doing so on the other,

They were completing on the other transaction (their purchase) they just hadn't received the call to say the funds had landed in their seller's account. You often do have to wait a bit for the call, but you can't wait in the house you no longer own!

No it’s not, moving house is really stressful and arriving at your new home with your children and all your worldly goods to find the old owners illegal squatting in your new home, is horrendous!
you say you wouldn’t leave, lol I think if the police were called they’d have a different view point. They shouldn’t have completed on one transaction without doing so on the other, totally their fault and they should have done the decent thing and got out, as should you if you’re ever stupid enough to put yourself in that position!

Agreed!

👍

No, you are right. There is no such thing as ‘moving day’ as a separate concept.

But what I'm trying to say is that "moving day" isn't really a thing in legal speak. Completion date is usually moving day because if you're selling to buy, you would be otherwise homeless. And you need the funds from selling to pay for the new one. I don't understand the separation of "completion" and "moving"

But not if you’re selling, that’s the whole point of the thread. The OP was buying a house that had been sold to her and therefore on completion day it had to be empty for OP to be moving in to, even if she decided she’d move into it 10 years later. The PP saying nothing happens on completion day and moving doesn’t happen that day, is totally wrong if you’re selling.

Surely once you complete, its yours? Moving date could be that day if you wanted, but not necessarily. I completed on a Wednesday and moved on a Thursday, but I was renting previously so had that luxury.

God that’s a nightmare!!! Cheeky fucker of the highest order!

Does no one use the money from their sale to fund the purchase then?