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Original poster

Moving into empty house

23 replies

PopRay80 · 28/02/2024 08:31

We are currently going through a house sale, which I am finding extremely stressful.
Constant emails and forms to sign from solicitor and my anxiety is through the roof thinking of packing up and moving.
The house we are moving into will be vacant as it was rented and they have moved out.
I was wondering whether we would be able to get into the house prior to completion?
I know that you exchange and then complete a few weeks later but, to ease the stress of moving in on the day of completion, has anyone gone into the property to put boxes in prior to completion??
I hope that makes sense!!
(Anxiety is literally killing me!!)

OP posts:

feedbackhq · 28/02/2024 08:32

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This has been deleted by MNHQ for breaking our Talk Guidelines - previously banned poster.

Nannyfannybanny · 28/02/2024 08:36

No, I'm afraid you can't. It's not YOUR house, until both completion date AND the money has changed hands. I feel your pain, I have had things go wrong, after exchanging, and my last nextdoor neighbour and someone else. Last time we moved, I refused to pack.... just in case! We exchanged contracts Tuesday DH was awake on a course,(contract faxed) completion Friday. I worked nights, couldn't get time off, worked all night packed all day with help from DS. Last 2 property have been empty, making life easier. Good luck.

Nannyfannybanny · 28/02/2024 08:38

Well, the phone assumes he was "awake" on the course. I haven't given details, because I don't want to stress you further!

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DrSpartacular · 28/02/2024 10:04

You can ask, but they can and probably will say no, and there will be risks as your stuff won't be insured.

The biggest favour you can do yourself is paying for a full packing and removals service!

WandaWonder · 28/02/2024 10:07

No, anxiety about what? you move when you own the house that is normal?, You just live with basics till you get it organised

MrsSkylerWhite · 28/02/2024 10:09

No because it’s not yours yet.

LIZS · 28/02/2024 10:10

Unlikely. It is a legal minefield. Why can you not move on the day? Removal companies are geared up to packing and unpacking quickly.

PoppingTomorrow · 28/02/2024 10:11

What coping strategies do you have for your anxiety? What would they suggest you do now?

houseydncf · 28/02/2024 10:12

No that's not how it works, it's not your house until the funds are tx and until then the whole sale could fall through whether you've exchanged or not.

Twomilksonesugar · 28/02/2024 10:14

Yes, I did, granted it was a fair few years ago but it would be worth asking your solicitor. The house we were buying was also empty and the vendor agreed that we could move some of our boxes in a few days before. If I recall, we had to sign some sort of indemnity but all of this was arranged through the solicitors so it may a possibility for you.

YouTulip · 28/02/2024 10:17

Imagine how much more stressed you would be if you’d put belongings in the house and then the sale fell through. Or if someone were living there and you arrived with your removal van on the day to find they hadn’t even started packing!

It’s a legal minefield, OP. Better working on your anxiety.

LadyDanburysHat · 28/02/2024 10:18

No, you really can't. We moved into a house that was empty as previously rented too. It means less headaches on the day, you know you will not be waiting for someone to remove their stuff. And moving is stressful, it is what it is, but will be over in a day.

Datafan55 · 28/02/2024 10:21

Or move things into storage?
That way you can get them in gradually (and out of the way - gone = done) and there's lots less to move on the day.
Cons; expensive per month so a delay will mean more money.

Otherwise hire good removers and pack things you need in the short term separately. Label them clearly and ask them to put them where you can get to them.
Depends on the size of your new house though.

Franklin2000 · 28/02/2024 10:25

We did back in the day, sofa and large furniture as and when DH could get a van from work. The house was sold by the son whose elderly dad had passed away. He lived round the corner and made the offer to us. We were very trusting looking back but he was a very nice man and seemed unlikely to scam us for our then second hand sofa and old furniture!! I don’t think I’d gamble my newer possessions now though.

Ariela · 28/02/2024 10:30

One thing you can do if you don't mind double journeys and a bit of extra cost is to rent a storage unit, and fill that up with a fair bit of stuff you won't use, so on the day it's only the basics to move. Some places offer deals on storage units eg first month half price (check when you can leave) .

That will also then give you time to decorate or put new carpet down in relatively empty rooms.

PixellatedPixie · 28/02/2024 10:31

Don’t worry - you will be fine. I’ve moved many times with two kids in tow and it is stressful but it doesn’t have to be the end of the world. I would suggest that you declutter first as there is no point in moving and unboxing stuff you don’t really need. Then I would buy some boxes and pack up stuff you don’t need on a daily basis like out of season clothing, books, etc.

Once completion is done, pack a suitcase as if you would be travelling overseas for a week. Have all the clothes, toiletries and medication you would need. Also pack another case with bedding, your kettle, tea, coffee, snacks and a few mugs, plates and bits of cutlery. Include some bin bags, scissors, dishwashing tablets and washing machine tablets. Then you have everything you need so that you don’t have to frantically unpack everything in one day.

DelightSquish · 28/02/2024 10:32

No because the legal ramifications are huge. Just have a gap between exchange and completion which gives you time to contact all the utility companies etc as you know it is taking place and don't complete on a Friday.

If you are in rented you can overlap your dates so you can decorate, change carpets etc the new house before you have furniture in there, move your stuff in and then clean down the empty rental. We did this for rental to rental and then rental to bought. Always a 2 week overlap.

trulyunruly01 · 28/02/2024 10:34

I don't think that would be possible, or advisable.
Try to channel your anxiety into organising things. There is a lot of packing and labelling you can do even now that will make things easier.
For my last move (from a 5 bed, 3 receps cluttered and packed to the gills house) we hired a local holiday home and moved there with a suitcase each for a week. We left our house on Saturday and from then on treated it as a place of work, going each day to pack up. We completed on the Thursday but slept in the new house for the first time on the Saturday once we'd had a couple of days sorting things out. That worked quite well.

mealideas2024 · 28/02/2024 10:34

As above, pack a suitcase each with the things you need immediately.
Pay for a removals company - they are worth their weight in gold!!! Best money we spent (it was about £350).
If you can, find someone who can look after the kids if they're not at school.

Toomuch44 · 28/02/2024 10:38

99.9% of the time the answer will be no. We were very lucky last time we moved, in that the owners were moving out before. Speaking to them, I said I was worried about moving my plants and they kindly said we could have a set of keys when they moved out for the process of moving plants, necessities for the day beforehand, but we weren't to move furniture in or let removers in. The owners had a relative who lived in the road, who had access so could check what we were up to.

I used to be a legal secretary and things have much improved on completion day. Used to be a time when monies had to move up from each set of purchasers and I've know people not getting the keys on the day. When we moved last time, we were seven up in the line and completed around 1pm (they're able to agree now that monies can be sent higher up the chain in certain circumstances).

You can help yourself a bit before the move. Make sure you've got meter keys, pen and paper to hand, clean behind cookers, fridges, washing machines your taking, dust skirting boards (including under beds) a few days before. If taking curtains, take all down the day before and start cleaning out things you know you're not taking now. We were literally ready to move out a few mins before completion, everything was clean and that gave us all afternoon to get essentials out at new house.

LookingGlass99 · 28/02/2024 10:39

The people who were buying my house asked if they could store their classic car in our garage a few weeks prior to completion! I thought that was madness. First off it's cheeky af and secondly if anything happened to it such as damaged or stolen it would be a minefield.
Bottom line is, empty or not, for insurance purposes unless you own the house you can't start storing your belongings there.

Knickersinatwist36 · 28/02/2024 10:43

I agree with Pixilatedpixie do a little holiday pack. We put everything we had that was not 'showhouse' standard into storage ago when people came to view it it looked nice (we had a lot of clutter), the the removals said they could move it out on the day before the move, would keep it for three nights and take it to the new place. It meant we had time to clean the old place really throughly with no furniture and we could clean out new place (and replace a couple of carpets) before we moved our stuff in. We had three nights in an Airbnb with stuff and when our furniture arrived it went in reasonably, then we gradually got stuff out of storage.
It was expensive but it was so much less stressful than the previous time when we had to be out by 12 and straight to the next one by 12.

Tempnamechng · 28/02/2024 10:55

We had permission to move our stuff into the garage of our new home the night before key exchange, but it was risky as it wouldn't have been insured. We were moving from a little starter home, and the people buying from us wanted to have their new sofa delivered to us the week before the moving date, which we didn't have space for. Unfortunately the exchange was set at 9am on the Friday, I asked if we could move it to lunchtime to give us time to move out, but the woman buying from us wouldn't give us any wiggle room because we have refused to store her sofa in our living room, so the people we were buying from very kindly said we could move our stuff into the garage the night before. That was quite stressful. There might be an option to rent for a couple of weeks before exchange? How that would work legally though, I don't know.

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