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Original poster

Why have my new neighbours have not moved in yet?

77 replies

Noseynoo · 10/07/2025 18:15

Id love to know a list of reasons as to why someone would not move straight in to their new property.
Old neighbours left around midday and I'm interested to know what reasons there would be for them not moving in at the usual completion time?
So far I have thought of...
Something wrong with funds
First time buyer living at home so no need to move straight away (wouldn't you still come and look at it though to make sure everything ok)
Needs renovation (I dont think there is anything urgent)
Family emergency

If anyone can think of anything else, let me know. Nosey neighbour at the ready. Lighthearted please

OP posts:
Summerbean · 10/07/2025 22:14

Buy to let?

mintydoggyv · 10/07/2025 22:15

Maybe work to be done in the house before they move in just a thought

Navigatinglife100 · 11/07/2025 07:33

Both my kids took a while!

DD had work noted in the survey and they'd got quotes and renegotiated. They took that opportunity to engage the builder immediately and get it done before moving in - from work accommodation. Builder started the first Monday after completion.

DS lived in rental and couldn't give notice until exchange which was dreadfully close to completion. So, he wasn't particularly bothered and worked all day. Gave vendors more time to move out too. He did go round, check keys and took meter readings but he took a week to move in.

He had planned on taking a month but his landlady let him off with a shorter notice period because he'd kept her informed from start of looking for places, but his neighbours wouldn't have seen much of him for the first week

DontbesuchanarseGlenda · 11/07/2025 07:41

We didn’t move in for six months when we bought. We were in Army quarters and were waiting to see where our final posting was before committing to moving or renting it out for a couple of years. Must ask our neighbours what they were thinking 😁

newhouseplans · 11/07/2025 07:47

We didn't move into our new house for a couple of months.

The reason was, we were living in a rented place, and we wanted time to work on the house before we moved in.

We did own a place, which we sold to fund the new place, but when we left London we rented our London flat to a friend, and took on a rental in the new area and lived like that for a couple of years while we got to know where we wanted to live in our new area. I'm really glad we did that as we had a much clearer idea of where we wanted to be by then.

taxguru · 11/07/2025 07:53

We weren't even in the country on our changeover day. We were on holiday, and didn't even pick up the keys till two weeks later and then it was another couple of weeks before we started moving in as we had a long overlap on the flat we were renting.

LeavesTrees · 11/07/2025 07:58

We moved into our home 2 weeks after completion. The reason was we were in a rental, it was mid month so we could stay until the end of the month and there was some quiet work that needed doing to the purchased house that the neighbours wouldn’t have even noticed being done.

Liondoesntsleepatnight · 11/07/2025 07:59

Our first time buyers didn’t move in for a few days, they took their time packing

Meadowfinch · 11/07/2025 08:01

Waiting for the school term to end, so their children can complete the year at their old school?

TubeScreamer · 11/07/2025 08:03

Coming from rented and planning to redecorate or do lots of work first.

on holiday.

planning to rent it out

DinoLil · 11/07/2025 08:09

My neighbour over the road hasn't moved in after two and a half years. House is totally empty.

SkiAndTravelTheWorldWithMyDog · 11/07/2025 08:10

I wonder if they realise that they are moving next door to a curtain twitcher?

TheLemonLemur · 11/07/2025 08:12

I didn't move in for almost a month I had to give notice on my rental property and it was much easier to decorate and get new carpets with no furniture in

ohtowinthelottery · 11/07/2025 08:12

DS didn't move in until 1 month after he completed. He did pop over on the day though - but didn't take any stuff with him.
He wanted to decorate first and needed to get his broadband connected as he works from home. He also didn't have a bed or sofa as nowhere to store them until he had bought his house.

Parky04 · 11/07/2025 08:13

We completed when we were on our honeymoon. We didn't move in until 2 weeks later.

Rainbowshine · 11/07/2025 08:16

For us we didn’t move for a couple of weeks as the removal company was too busy, we’d sold and were staying with family so it was a chance to clean and decorate before the furniture arrived

Rainbow321 · 11/07/2025 08:20

Loads of reasons .

Maybe they are on holiday , one of them is ill , they are in rental , they want to clean it first , decorate it , buying from a distance so travelling to it etc etc .

persianfairyfloss · 11/07/2025 08:22

House settled early October, we were still in the process of selling our house in another country. We moved countries late December and moved in. All our stuff took forever to arrive with international shipping. My parents lent us enough stuff to get by with.

Richiewoo · 11/07/2025 08:25

Mind your business.

Carolynpig · 11/07/2025 08:28

We sold our last house to the local council, they didn’t move anyone in for some time as they deemed the hard floor had to be changed for safety, it was a relatively new house and the flooring was in when we bought it😂

SushiDisco · 11/07/2025 08:33

Maybe they found out they’re new neighbours are busy bodies so changed their mind?

reversegear · 11/07/2025 08:34

its Going on for rent? They live overseas?

Cynic17 · 11/07/2025 08:37

Loads of reasons but I can't believe the OP is even checking...... none of your business!

reluctantbrit · 11/07/2025 08:44

House 1: Seller moved out to move away around 4 weeks prior to exchange. We were renting and lived 1 hour away so we popped over to do some cleaning but didn't move in until several days after exchange.

House 2: Seller moved out 2 weeks before exchange as their new home was ready (took over his mum's house and she downsized), we moved on exchange day.

In my ideal world I would have plenty of time to decorate to my style before moving in, so much easier sorting out empty rooms than rearranging furniture, especially if it is major work like sanding down floors or re-plastering walls. Did it, wasn't fun.

I told DH that if we ever move again I will add storage and a short-term rental into my budget and won't move before decoration is done.

Aaron95 · 11/07/2025 08:44

When we bought our first house we didn;t mov in for almost a month. We kept our rented house on for a month and spent that time decorating and doing DIY. It was an awful lot quicker to do when empty than it would have been if we had moved in first.