Absolutely fuming - why are some people so bloody selfish - moving house hell :-(

[DeludedDay]

Some mumsnetters may well recognise this but I need to vent now as furious.
Yesterday we brought a new house, all completed at 11am - all contracts agreed that all parties would vacate property by 1pm. At 1pm armed with keys to our new house we went in to be greeted by the place still full of junk, three dogs running rounds, cats shut in the bedrooms, stuff everywhere... we were not impressed but proceeded to be kind when they eventually turned up over an hour a later, offered to help move out etc. We had to unload our stuff as van was due back so we put all of this in one room whilst we waited for them to shift.
During this time they were repeatedly rude to us about our 'right' to be in they're house, their dogs were terrified and pooing and peeing over the house and on our furniture, they decided it was ok to smoke in the property whilst they finished packing and became increasingly aggressive towards us as we asked what was happening with the seemingly increasing pile of junk building up.
They eventually left about 7pm in the evening. They left any furniture they didn't want, against our wishes and agreement, there is junk and crap everywhere, and there was an overflowing skip in the front garden full of more junk. There is at least another skip laid left around the place.
We were told skip man would take skip today - and indeed a very nice man turned up to take away skip... unfortunately he had turned up yesterday, had been turned away by them which he thought was strange and told to come back today... unsurprisingly he hasn't been paid! As the skip is so over flowing we will have to have a second load, and likely a third to deal with the rest of the rubbish - so I am now facing about a £450 bill for their crap.
I am so upset - this is supposed to be our lovely new family home, and it feels tainted and grubby now and framed in conflict! We know we have to do some work to it anyway and have cleaners, carpets and painters coming this week but just so flaming furious as these people - how can anyone think these behaviours are ok?

On completion the property legally belongs to someone else.

I honestly think some people don't understand this.

We couldn't access first property we bought on day we owned it - apparently forgotten they were selling that day and weren't contactable. House was full of junk and dirty. Just getting past that and we were burgled - never really felt at home in that house .

We were worried about next move and spoke to a ex estate agent friend of family she said the number of times she'd had people think they could rock up at lunch time when sale went though with a hired van and cleared 3/4 bed houses was astonishing - they took to trying to make sure their clients didn't do this.

Our solicitors were useless - but like the sound of the Scottish system Iliketoparrty describes.

That's good news. Enjoy your new house.

DeludedDay good news about the estate agents.

This may a be first - Estate Agents who have gone an extra mile!

Good news about the estate agents. Send them a detailed account of what happened and photos to help their case as they are going far above and beyond what is required of them. Normally this would be a matter for your solicitor (who I very much doubt would offer to pay for the skip, cleaning etc!).

Unfortunately many people think they can move over the course of the day, similar to when you move into rented accommodation. They don't realise money has to pass up the chain - meaning you can be homeless for several hours until your money hits the vendors solicitors bank account.

i would write no longer at this address on the envelope and repost their mail hoping it may cause a bit of havoc with credit cards/bank accounts etc.

We had this as well but they were at least out of the house by about 4. The garage was a different story and there was a mountain of rubbish left outside the garage and loads of stuff left in it. She came back the following day with a rag and bone man to clear the rubbish. We ended up having a cup of tea and a chat. The whole thing had berm stressful for her because of messy divorce so we cut her more slack than many thought reasonable but in our situation it was the kind thing to do. In yours OP they were vile! Hope it improves and you get it sorted.

When we moved the vendors were still loading two vans - were divorcing - and they seemed to have their whole family there. I had a five month old and just wanted to get on. They made a big show of hoovering but they left bags and bags of rubbish, crap in the garden, drawers full of stuff and took stuff they said they'd leave and left stuff they were obliged to take. I feel no guilt that we kept about a tenner of vouchers than came over several months.

Oh poor you, OP. Similar thing happened to me: turned up at the house to find a screaming divorcing couple and weeping children. It took five hours to get them out and they left loads of stuff and an unbelievable level of filth (and my standards aren't high). Plus, they sold us their cooker and dishwasher and both were completely broken. And their daughter decided to welcome our (multi-racial) family by scrawling racist graffiti across her bedroom walls.

They took days to get all their stuff out, and five years on we are still getting all their post!

Our solicitor said nothing could be done

Employe cleaners to clean to your standard. Sort the skipout with the skip person. Don't pay him.
Summarise all the costs, and small claims court.

Upsetting, distressing yes. All fixable with money., and then claim away.

Clear and simple breach of contract.

Sorted.

They sound like pondlife.

I hope we have sorted now. The director of the estate agents has just called me to apologise and asked if there was anything else they could do. My understanding is the EA is not legally bound to take responsibility for this and the financial burden is not usually on them but they have won me over in their gesture. Very impressed.

That's great service from the EA!

This brought back memories of our first flat purchase. We arrived at the flat after a call from the solicitors/estate agents confirming completion, to find the vendor, his wife and baby still in residence. They had not realised that completion meant the sale had gone through and were planning to move out in a few days time

The estate agent told us to show some "charity" towards the vendors as they were a bit stupid!

We had to store our stuff in my sister's garage and camp out in her spare room. 2 days later on the day we were due to finally get in, we arrived to discover he had locked himself out and we had to wait 2 more hours while they finally moved their stuff.

It still makes me cross nearly 30 years later.

EA have been the people giving you the sales spiel on behalf of the vendors and I have seen them do many things to facilitate a smooth process .

They are the people managing the marketing of the house: if you don't get what you pay for, a vacant , empty property, then talk to them , as well as your solicitor.

As I said below it was the EAs who sourced a van for our vendor, at very short notice.