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

Think you’re overreacting. I’d have been happy to let them stay a couple hours. Be kind, etc.

Our removals firm arrived early morning and emptied the house. We, along with baby and toddler went to meet them at the new house about a mile away. No lorry. Turns out our buyer had not paid their disbursements and was uncontactable so the sale could not complete. This was on a Friday so we ended up in a hotel for the weekend until the mess could be sorted out on the Monday. We had to run around buying pyjamas, nappies, and a change of clothes for everyone as everything we owned was packed on the lorry. Luckily the removal company were excellent. They took the lorry back to their depot, plugged our fridge and freezers in and watered our plants, and their insurance covered our costs. Very, Very stressful!

@TheGrumpyAccountant Moving days are stressful enough without that nonsense OP! I hope you’re feeling less stressed now 😊 They had no right being there. You’re absolutely right!

When DH and I bought our first home together we received a call to say that everything had completed and we could collect our keys from our solicitor which happened to be across the road from the property - so off we went very excited, collected the keys, and went to our new home…to find the previous owners still in there because they had decided it was a good idea to let their cat out that morning and it hadn’t come home yet. They explained that the cat usually didn’t come home until the evening so it was best if we just went to a local hotel for the night (at our own expense 😂) and they would “let us know when the property would be available to us” 😂🙈 I was fuming!

They were moving to a property that was genuinely a 2 minute walk from our front door so I jokingly suggested that we just go and stay in their new house for the night instead. They were less than impressed at that and started arguing that we were trespassing as they hadn’t yet vacated the property 🙈😂
They started threatening that they were going to call their solicitor etc - which obviously I welcomed and their solicitor then had to explain to them that they had in-fact sold their property and no longer had any right to be there 🙈😂

It was very stressful on the day but it’s hilarious now to look back on!

Clearly, vacant possession had not been explained to them by their solicitor. Infuriating. Make sure you change the locks.

Exactly - their solicitor should have given them a clear time to vacate regardless of when they had keys to the next property.

Once funds are transferred it’s your house. We all have no where to go for a bit on moving day but you go grab a coffee while you wait for the call for keys to be released. Funds move from bottom of chain up so there’s likely to be an hour or so from you needing to be out to accessing your new place but you can’t just squat!

I remember buying a house and the sellers were faffing about so my movers took all their stuff out (with their permission). When I got in the oven was full of filthy pans, thick with grease so I chucked them all into the muddy garden. A couple of hours later they came back to collect them!!

I was told that I had to leave my house before 2pm on Completion day or I could be deemed in breach of contract. I did this but didn’t get keys to new house for another 90 mins.

I was clearly told by my solicitor when I contractually needed to be out of my old house - which was helpful.

We were in a big chain of about 9
The first money went through at 10.00
We followed the money as it moved along the chain
It was gone 2pm before our money went in. (Second from the top , )
The lady at the top moved into her new house before her funds were transferred - like she said , the house was empty and she wasn’t waiting any longer.
This is how it works - all perfectly normal.

This happened to us but we had to wait 16 hours for them to leave. They also left the house filthy which was really disappointing.

Exactly the same happened to us except ours refused to move for 7 hours. We ended up having to get a hotel as there was still so much of their stuff in there and our removal team had to come back the next day. The most stressed I have ever been

Ah, 2 hours OP, that's nothing in the grand scheme of things.
I didn't even know if we were definitely moving until the morning of the move, now that was stressful! It only takes one buyer/agents/solicitor in a chain to be a bit slack and it affects everyone.
I turned up at my new house and owners were still there. Owner had been on the verge of a nervous breakdown, so had a lot of relatives helping her move out. The house I moved out of, we had to go back over the week-end and collect items stored in the garage. We were all doing DIY moving as couldn't book any movers without a solid move date.
It was a nightmare at the time but all forgotten now.
Enjoy your new home.

I'm astonished at these replies. These people were total CFs and in the wrong.

At this point the house belonged to OP.

They were CFs to still be there!!!
You can't stay in a house that legally belongs to someone else because you feel like it

We arrived at our new house at the designated time, keys were meant to be handed over there. No one was there, the house was locked up and obviously still full of furniture. It was a weekend and our solicitor wasn't answering the phone. Eventually (hours later) our sellers turned up and started moving out their stuff, left a load for 'tomorrow' (if you don't mind, we did mind but what can you do?), which they picked up eventually. It was so stressful and such an anti-climax when you are so looking forward to getting your house.

The house no longer belonged to them. You can’t just hang out in a house you don’t own!

Exactly-you wouldn’t have been given the keys if the funds hadn’t cleared! Ultimate CF

Mildly annoying but way dramatic.

"Taking the shine of"? Because in a highly bureaucratic process another party had information and sources different to yours and left as soon as the information was confirmed on their side by their source? For a duration of one film movie?

It’s not ideal but just one of those things.
Hope you enjoy your new home.

This is incorrect 'Didimum', on moving day, the bottom of the chain pay their funds to the next person up the chain, and so it goes on throughout the day, if you had to wait for the top of the chain to complete, it would be unlikely that ANYONE would get moved in on 'moving' day. The top of the chain has to wait until sufficient funds from the various deposits and mortgages, is big enough to pay them, before they will move out, so it just wouldn't work the way you've described.

I blame the solicitors. Every single time I’ve moved house they have been really poor communicators and really don’t seem to
get how stressful the whole thing is.

Sorry OP, but you need to have a bit of patience and understanding on moving day, all too often funds get held up in the banking system, so while your solicitor may have been advised that your funds have been received in the 'Sellers' account, it may take a couple of hours for their money to then get to their 'Sellers', putting you in just the description you described, someone ending up without a roof over their head for the night. However, the money does go through eventually, but sometimes not until later in the day, so if you're the top of the chain, it may feel like you're going to be left homeless, but this doesn't happen. Hence if everyone shows a little patience and understanding, then everything usually goes much more smoothly. Remember that for next time.