Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Bought a new house and the old owners didn't think they had to move out!

491 replies

thumb3lina · 26/02/2016 21:24

So today we went to complete on our new house, very excited and all packed ready to go. We got a call from our solicitor to say it was completed and we left to go to our new home, with all of our things. Stopped off at the estate agents, got the keys, everything fine.

We get there, go to the front door, put the key in and have a massive shock to find the previous owners sitting in the lounge. We asked who they were and they introduced themselves as the previous owners. They hadn't even packed one box!! DH asks them why they are still in OUR house and they inform us that they decided not to move out until Sunday!? We pointed out that we had all of our things in a van outside with our 2 month old baby and DH politely asked them to leave to which they replied it would be too inconvenient for them to leave today!

We ended up threatening to call the police as we legally owned the house and now had nowhere to go, so they said they would leave in an hour but acted as if we were being very unreasonable. We had to get all of our helpers to help them pack and they ended up leaving 5 hours later.

I'm also quite pissed off with the agent as surely they should make sure these situations don't happen.

OP posts:
tobysmum77 · 28/02/2016 10:20

Ok treacle but it's a lot less likely. In that case I would blame them and have sympathy with you.

merlinalison · 28/02/2016 10:20

I've been on the other side of this, sort of! When we moved last time, my solicitor phoned me mid- morning to say that he'd just handed over the keys to our purchasers but that he'd told them that they couldn't come in yet and that he'd phone to tell them as soon as we were out.(fairly standard in my part of Scotland - you load everything up and then phone your solicitor to say that the house is empty). I hung up and turned round to find them standing in the kitchen behind me. I had to explain that yes they'd bought the house but that they couldn't move in until we had finished moving out and that the agreement was for 12.30 (this was 10.30) and I would text them immediately the removal men had finished. In fact we were out by 12.10, but they were still pacing up and down on the pavement outside.

tobysmum77 · 28/02/2016 10:27

they were still pacing up and down on the pavement outside.

But then they had moved out of their house and had nowhere to go. Isn't that normal to go round straight away even if the vendor is still there? Surely they were just waiting for possession? But if you were out by 12.10 that is perfectly reasonable......

thelastwingedthing · 28/02/2016 10:29

Does that mean though that you are having to make payments on both mortgages?

A lot of people here will rent out the house they've moved out of until it sells, to cover the mortgage on one house for that period.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 28/02/2016 10:31

counting - that sounds utterly horrific for your mum (and you DC) as well!!

What an utter bellend of a bloke. Hope somewhere down the line he got his just deserts!

TeresaEdPsych · 28/02/2016 10:34

We make assumptions about other people's understanding and probably everything hadn't been explained to them by the agent or solicitor, just an assumed understanding. Made for a long tough day for you though. Yes, I'd look for compensation.

HarrietVane99 · 28/02/2016 10:46

I've bought two properties from sitting owners and each time have let the ex owners have extra days to clear their stuff out.

Ozzie, what would then happen if they trashed the place or burned it down in the process of clearing their stuff? In the UK their insurance would cease the moment the property was no longer theirs. Your insurance might not cover you in those circumstances. It's one of the reasons why it's important for the sellers to be out as soon as the sale is completed. They are not insured to be there.

Alasalas · 28/02/2016 10:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Pipbin · 28/02/2016 10:49

A lot of people here will rent out the house they've moved out of until it sells, to cover the mortgage on one house for that period.

That seems tricky a situation with a very unsure tenancy for the people renting as well as having to put up with house viewings.

tobysmum77 · 28/02/2016 10:51

A lot of people here will rent out the house they've moved out of until it sells, to cover the mortgage on one house for that period.

Wow what a load of hassle.

suzannecaravaggio · 28/02/2016 10:56

A lot of people here will rent out the house they've moved out of until it sells, to cover the mortgage on one house for that period

Not such an attractive option now with the new stamp duty charges

And how shit for the Tennant, settle in then forced to move in 6 months😧

thelastwingedthing · 28/02/2016 11:09

A lot of people here will rent out the house they've moved out of until it sells, to cover the mortgage on one house for that period

Not such an attractive option now with the new stamp duty charges
Negative gearing makes it a very attractive option.

I can't get my head around chain buying. I'd hate to be at the end of a chain and have my own future so dependent on strangers further up the chain. And I think not getting to do a final inspection prior to completion is complete rubbish. The new owners should have the opportunity to sign off that the property is in the expected condition before their money changes hands.

thelastwingedthing · 28/02/2016 11:12

*Negative gearing makes it a very attractive option for those who aren't in a hurry to sell, I meant to say.

JessicaJones · 28/02/2016 11:13

This thread has made me think of Moving Day in New York. There used to be a tradition of all rental leasing finishing on 1st May, so those that wanted to move all packed up and moved on the same day. Thousands of people moving house all on the same day. Can you imagine the chaos? Grin

KatharinaRosalie · 28/02/2016 11:36

Pipbin I don't of course know how it works everywhere, but where I do, the bank would normally give you a payment holiday for the first mortgage until you get the house sold.

nevertakeyouriphoneinthebath · 28/02/2016 11:45

I think everyone in the estate agents, conveyancing and removals business will tell you to aim to be out by midday as in most cases the funds are cleared on both sides by then, but not always. After they are cleared then keys can officially be released but there is a sort of unwritten etiquette that people may need a bit of leeway past midday because with the best will in the world things don't always go entirely to plan, sofa can't be got down the stairs or whatever.

No-one is going to sue anyone for being in the house an hour and a half after funds have cleared if they can see that all the correct steps for a timely removal have been followed and there has been an unforseeable delay, but some people are just woefully disorganised or too tight to pay to have it done properly and they take the piss causing stress and expense to the new owners.

Whenever I have moved the removal company have had a per hour waiting fee built into the contract for every hour they can't get into the new house after the estimated arrival time.

ProphetOfDoom · 28/02/2016 11:47

I acquired a garage-full of cats on completion. 7 to be precise.

OzzieFem · 28/02/2016 11:48

HarrietVane99 Insurance has to be in place when mortgage taken out. Same rules would apply if the vendors did actually leave early on the completion day and the house caught fire before we got there.

StillYummy · 28/02/2016 12:28

Did you keep the cats?

Sparklingbrook · 28/02/2016 12:36

OMG a garage full of cats? Envy

SueLawleyandNicholasWitchell · 28/02/2016 12:46

Totally shocked that this happened!! 😳

specialsubject · 28/02/2016 12:48

renting out the house until it sells is a very silly move in England/Wales.

despite the bleating of MN's ill-informed landlord-haters, doing that makes it MUCH more difficult to sell the place unless to another landlord. This is because of tenant rights here. The tenants can refuse all viewings and exchange cannot take place until they have left. They will be there six months minimum and maybe a lot longer if they decide not to go.

Pipbin · 28/02/2016 13:37

I don't of course know how it works everywhere, but where I do, the bank would normally give you a payment holiday for the first mortgage until you get the house sold.

That makes more sense as a system. For us to adopt that here though would mean that everyone would have to change to this system at once really.

wtffgs · 28/02/2016 13:39

clam He came back to pick up post they were too tight to get redirected. He moaned like a bellend about there being too many "brown and black faces" in their new neighbourhood and that they'd need better security Hmm

SenecaFalls · 28/02/2016 13:45

As an American, I do find the English system confounding. We don't tend to have chains in the way that happens in the UK. You might have a condition in the contract relative to selling your house but that condition would need to be satisfied some time before closing on the house you are buying. We have bought and sold seven times due to job moves and I have never moved out on the day of the closing. It has always been several days prior and we did touch up painting and thorough cleaning so that the buyer's final walk-through (often the day before closing) would be impressive. That was also our experience as sellers; you always get to see the property empty at least one day before closing.