About to be served section 21. Help

[IndeedDanielJackson]

As the title says we have been given notice by landlord that they will be selling this house and will be serving section 21 in the near future. So we need to find somewhere else. The problem is rent has gone up massively since we were last looking. We have been here for 20 years and moved from uni accommodation so haven't done a full house move ever.

Aside from the difficulty finding a house (we ideally need a 4 bed as we have 4 kids) I have no real idea of how to go about moving. We have already started to declutter but my head is spinning thinking about how we will pack up this house. We moved in with very little and now we have furniture to move, do we need to take the wardrobes etc apart? What about utilities?

We cannot afford movers and packers so we will have to do this ourselves.

Can someone talk me through this like I'm from another planet please, I'd be very grateful!

Furniture: if it came into the house in one piece, it will go out in one. If it's flat pack, you might need to disassemble - our 2 and 3 door wardrobes stayed whole. The double beds, and big Kalax unit came apart. We got left a big sliding door wardrobe, as it didn't fit through the door. Get a load of sealable sansmdwich bags so all the screws and things that come out of each item are kept together.

Yes yes yes to decluttering. Sell, donate and bin as much as you possibly can.

Utilities: most you need to wait until you know the date you are moving out. Things with meters (gas, electric, water usually) take a meter reading and photo of your old ones and new ones on the first/last day. Internet (and landlines) are usually the slowest things. Google a list of "who to contact when you move house".

Deep breath. It will all work out OK. And if in doubt, declutter. At least it is something positive.

Start collecting as many boxes as you can from supermarkets, cash and carry and maybe ask for donations of spare boxes from Facebook or Nextdoor? You’ll need a lot

If you need to get rid of things consider freecycle in your local area. Better than throwing it away- there are many people and organisations that will benefit from unwanted goods. Good luck and take a deep breath. Everything will be ok

Use clingfilm to wrap around chests of drawers so you don’t need to empty them.
We couldn’t afford a proper moving company, but we hired a man and a van to help. They were amazing, especially with the heavy and awkward stuff.

Exactly the same boat op. Question. Do you have a current gs safety certificate? They can't issue you a section 21 without 1..and they can be fined 6k or jail also.. Apply to the council and all housing associations..

If you had packers and removal people in they would put practically everything into cardboard boxes in about 3 different sizes. You tape the bottom closed, put stuff in, tape the top closed and write on the top and the side what it contains and which room it's from. Packing this way the boxes have a lot of strength and you can more or less stack them in any order. The heavier the things you are packing, the smaller box you need. Anything can go in a box - cushions, lampshades, cutlery, the toaster. Try to fill them more or less, eg books are heavy so you might not want to fill a whole box with them, but a cushion, towels or blanket or packing paper filling any gap at the top will make a much more robust, stackable box than if you left a gap.

Buy and use plenty of newspaper or newsprint (unprinted newspaper sold as packing paper) and bubble wrap, between breakable items. Expect to have to buy packing materials. You can try shouting out on a local FB group for boxes - they can be taken apart and reused several times and people sometimes pass them on for free.

Chests of drawers are often moved as is, with the drawers taped shut. A DIY alternative if that's too heavy for you is keep the stuff in the drawers but take them out of the unit, then move the unit into the van and then refit the full drawers into the unit and tape up for the drive. Saves repacking everything into boxes. Avoid moving open containers as much as you can as you have to keep them at the top, so they complicate the logistics a lot.

The immediate problem is finding a new place though. Bite the bullet however painful. Kids sharing rooms is not a disaster, security is so much more important. Rents now are crazy, I do feel for you.

This happened to us a number of years ago. We managed to scrape together enough for a deposit to buy.

Is it an option to buy or rent in a different area where prices are lower to find something big enough for you?

In terms of packing and moving - we’ve never used a moving company, always hired a van and done it ourselves.

Start by collecting boxes, ask in supermarkets etc if they have any.
Start by packing up things you don’t use at the moment, out of season clothes, sentimental stuff, organise them stuff in the loft.
Once you have found somewhere to move to, start packing up everything else. Pack all non-essential kitchen ware (ie just keep 6 plates, bowls out etc), pack up spare bedding, ornaments, books, etc.
Label all boxes with the room they need to go in new house.
Pack essentials in one box, like kettle, plates, cutlery etc - put tea bags, squash, sugar etc in this box so you can get your hands on a drink and have some food without having to empty every box looking for them. Same with bedding and PJ’s.

Give each child a bag for their favourite toys so again these can be found easily when you arrive at new house. Nothing worse than trying to unpack and the kids have to keep asking where their favourite thing is.

Thank you all for your replies.

Most of our furniture was flat pack so I guess we will need to take at least some of it apart, have noted the sealable sandwich bags.

Boxes we can both get from work. Might just about be able to afford a man with a van.

Am trying not to panic and focus on the practical side of things but am worried about actually finding somewhere to move to! The decluttering is taking my mind off things a bit.

Have a list for everything that's suggested so hopefully we will be prepared when we find somewhere!

You have received a lot of good advice regarding packing. Start looking for a new property to move to asap don't wait until you've received your section 21 notice. Also you can go to EA and ask if they have anything coming up they haven't advertised yet. You might get in before a property is advertised. Ask your LL for a good reference to help you secure a new property. If you get a choice see t an ECP C because if you get an ECP D it might also get sold when new rules come in.

We will look at everything, currently in a 3 bed so kids are used to sharing but hoping that better comes up. Trying to stay in or near the same area as dd2 just got her secondary school allocation and wants to stay with her friends. The worst problem is that dd1 is in year 11 and GCSEs are coming up. Both my older dc work.

Probably cheaper to hire a Luton van (make sure it’s one with a tail lift!) and drive it and load it up yourselves especially as you have grown DC so they can all help load. Less stressful doing it in your time as well I find.

When we moved last year, hiring one for a day cost about £150.

Pile as much as you can in the lounge the night before.

Dismantle beds the day before, sleep on mattresses on the floor for the night. Table and chair legs too.

Have plenty of bin bags ready to put bedding in in the morning. Put sticky labels with names on.

Pack away clothes you don’t wear much in suitcases a week before. The rest can go in bin bags with names on sticky labels if you don’t have enough suitcases.

I’d negotiate with landlord to stay until DD finishes her GCSEs. If Section 21 issued now, you won’t need to leave before mid May so another month shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

Oh and if you do decide to hire a Luton, get some clean dust sheets to lay inside it on the floor for when you put mattresses and sofa in so they don’t pick up dust and dirt from the floor.

if you’ve lived there for 20 years is your deposit in the registered scheme? I had to evict a tenant who stopped paying rent and I’m pretty sure I was told if the deposit hadn’t been registered then it would all need to be sorted before I could get her out. If it’s not this could buy you some negotiation time with your landlord giving you longer to find somewhere and let your daughter finish her exams.

I have a certificate of the deposit being in the registered scheme somewhere, but I will contact the landlord regarding dds exams. I spoke to them last week when they let us know it will be happening but was a bit shocked and didn't think about it.

Thank you all for the good advice re packing. I feel a bit more prepared for the actual move when it happens. Just gotta find somewhere now.

I've started an application for council housing and we have started looking ourselves. I'm sure it will all work out in the end but this feels quite stressful right now!

Re flat pack
If it's sturdy, don't disassemble it

The man with van did give the ancient Argos wardrobe the side eye, 😂 but it was fine! Might save you some time. That wardrobe was the cheapest thing ever, and it was fine on a van.

Good luck with everything.