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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:
QOD · 27/02/2016 11:17

Last time we moved, 13 in a chain of 14 ffs, the money transfers took so long to work their way down that no 12's money hadn't reached us, so ours hasn't hit 14.
our solicitors called and said no 14 wouldn't let us move in until the next day so we could go back to our old house overnight
I asked about them, our buyers, they couldn't go back to there's ...the house we were moving into was empty but our vendors wouldn't let us in
solicitors said that it couldnt fall thru. Money had been sent was just that banks ran out of time with the long line of transfers
We didn't go back. Who would? We'd packed!
We let our purchasers move in and went to my mums over night
twas very stressful . Pissed with rain and our lorry leaked and ruined our mattress

clam · 27/02/2016 11:18

MaryPoppins "I know it's unorthodox, but we do know them personally"

Frankly, that makes it even worse/more risky. When If it all goes tits up, it'll be far more awkward to sort out if you know them, and then have to continue seeing them everyday on the school run.

MorrisZapp · 27/02/2016 11:18

Some people aren't very good at life. My parents are divorcing and my mum will be forced to move out of the home she brought us up in. It isn't on the market yet but I can predict so many of the above problems arising as my mum is extremely emotional and not at all practical. It's fraught and worrying, having a parent like this.

clam · 27/02/2016 11:19

MaryPoppins "I know it's unorthodox, but we do know them personally"

Frankly, that makes it even worse/more risky. When If it all goes tits up, it'll be far more awkward to sort out if you know them, and then have to continue seeing them everyday on the school run.

clam · 27/02/2016 11:19

Oops, double post, sorry.

uniquelyMeTwo · 27/02/2016 11:22

Really? OF COURSE YOU ALL SHOULD MOVE OUT BY 12 (or whenever completion occurs)!!!! How on earth do people not know this? maybe they shouldn't be allowed to take out mortgages/buy houses if it needs explaining.

My parents have only bought one house off plan from builders- and sold empty GP empty house.

One of the mother's she saw on the school run for DN was getting out the house for 10 am but couldn't get into the new property till 2 so there removal people would be driving round for a few hours all arranged though they had concerns their sellers would be out on time even at 2 .

My Mum couldn't grasp that and thought it unnecessary I had to ask her how how else do you do it.

We did from rented and then storage and stop with family but that's not normal there is usually a day of swap round.

clam · 27/02/2016 11:28

Also, all those who are reporting that their new houses have been left with mounds of rubbish or old furniture and full sheds/lofts, your solicitor should deal with that and organise it all to be removed at the seller's expense.

One time, when we moved out of dh's old flat, we asked the agents to find out if the buyers wanted the gas cooker (a free-standing one that didn't appear to be covered as "fixtures and fittings.") The answer came back, no. This was a pain, as it meant we had to pay to get it taken away and the gas piped capped. A few days after moving, we got a snotty letter from their solicitor demanding the return of the cooker asap and the pipe to be uncapped at our expense. Fortunately, the agent was able to provide a transcript of the conversation where the buyers had clearly said they didn't want it, so we heard nothing more.

Also, it is illegal to remove fixtures and fittings (such as kitchens) or anything that has been listed on the "form" as being left at the house, so I'm surprised to hear of people reporting that such things as doors being removed/exchanged.

hotchilipepper · 27/02/2016 11:35

This happened to me. It was a very snowy day in November and completion was due at 10am. We had a phone call shortly after completion to say they wouldn't be moving that day as it was too snowy and they couldn't manage it that day. I told them they would bloody have to as they didn't object to completion and the house was mine they'd have to shift. It took them until about 4pm to get sorted and to drop they keys off with the EA. Some time later she must have been chatting to a woman I work with and was slagging me off for being so unreasonable haha.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 27/02/2016 11:36

counting - I imagine it was very stressful for your parents, yes, but I'm FAR more sorry for the poor woman whose house had been sold out from underneath her! Shock What an utter bastard her H must have been! Angry

carrielou2007 · 27/02/2016 11:38

My last house move I bought from a couple splitting up, the woman and her children had moved out a few days before and the man the day before as he was working on the Friday of completion.

It had all been a bit rushed in the end but all seemed to be going smoothly, my flat I had hoovered/scrubbed/cleaned and was looking before I headed off to my new house. It was only just over a year old (decided on new build after years of problems with my flat built in 1880's)

Turned up to a filthy filthy dirty house, as it hadn't been cleaned in months. I was going on holiday the next day with family to Cornwall and I cut it short to come back to scrub and clean.

I saw the lady a few weeks later and she said she was sorry the house hadn't been cleaned - felt like saying since you bought it brand new a year earlier you mean Grin. How they could have lived in such filth is beyond me!

Pipbin · 27/02/2016 11:39

I am amazed at the number of people who seem to put off packing. Last time I moved I started packing before we even had an offer on the house! There is so much that you don't need day to day that you can make a start on.

I like the sound of the American system mentioned earlier where there is a day or so between the last people moving out and you moving in. I can't see how it works financially though. If there is a chain then everyone needs to move on the same day for all the money to change hands.

NeedsAsockamnesty · 27/02/2016 11:42

clam

I may have read it incorrectly but the poster you quoted about moving out at 12 was not completing until 3

NeedsAsockamnesty · 27/02/2016 11:43

clam I may have read it incorrectly but the poster you quoted about the moving out at 12 wasn't due to compleate until 3

LaurieFairyCake · 27/02/2016 11:44

If I turned up at my new house after completion and they weren't very close (less than an hour away) to leaving I'd be moving my stuff in anyway.

There is no way on earth I'd go to a hotel or put up with them being stroppy. If they left a load of stuff I'd have a skip outside and take them to small claims for the cost of it.

NeedsAsockamnesty · 27/02/2016 11:46

Sorry about tha for some reason MN is playing up for me today

Andrewofgg · 27/02/2016 11:47

TruJay It's called a Mesher order and often causes trouble when sale time comes and the ex-wife does not want to go. They are only done by consent but what seems like a good idea when you sign up may not look so good years alter when your share won't buy you anything and the ex-H is already back on the ladder and does not "need" his share!

HooseRice · 27/02/2016 11:48

My mother who gives not one shit about anyone other than herself did that to her buyers. She was still packing and had not left the house when new owners who had paid massively over the odds because mother is bff with the EA who lied to buyers about another offer to get them to up their offer arrived with their van.

My mother thought the new owner had a cheek to be displeased.

GooseberryRoolz · 27/02/2016 11:50

It's not just you Needs

Andrewofgg · 27/02/2016 11:52

Of course there is a better way.

I acted for clients once who were buying. First-timers.

In the kitchen they found a folding card-table on which there were

an old but clean and serviceable electric kettle
a box of tea-bags
a jar of instant coffee
a carton of UHT milk
a packet of biscuits
some cups, plates, and spoons - enough for them and their removal guys
a list of local shops, and the names and addresses of the doctors and dentists had used and recommended.

And that is the way to do it!

BlackeyedSusan · 27/02/2016 11:59

we were living in our flat before we bought it from the landlord. bloody annoying not to be able to get on with the work though until it was finally ours. at least we got the deposit back, despite ex having burned a bloody great hole in the bedroom carpet. oh god it was a state. poor lady who lived in it had had someone bodge up the place for years.

BathshebaDarkstone · 27/02/2016 12:04

I'm just Shock at the bare-faced cheek! Have they gone yet?

Aussiemum78 · 27/02/2016 12:05

Far out.

When I've purchased, you have to do a final inspection on settlement day before the solicitor releases the money!

If the house isn't empty or damaged, the vendors don't get paid until it's settled.

Arborea · 27/02/2016 12:06

Similar happened to us. Our sellers were extremely dippy and were too tight to pay removers. The dippiness meant that we only exchanged the afternoon before completion, even though we'd agreed a target moving date some 6 weeks previously. Because they were being so dappy we weren't sure if it was going ahead or if they were going to pull out so our original removers pulled out, leaving us to take what we could find. Although we got another company they only had a small van and a couple of movers ready. We were nearly all packed but it still took us from 8am (removers arrival) to 5pm (key handover, when completion was supposed to be at 1. This was partly because the movers had to do 3 or 4 trips, but also because when we arrived at the new house the sellers were still there packing the contents of a 4 bed house into an estate car!

The removers had to try and unpack our stuff around them packing theirs, and the seller came back the next week to collect a few more loads. We put a load of stuff outside but couldn't use one of the bedrooms til he came back. Needless to say he hadn't cleaned, so there was a load of pots still in the dishwasher, and I had to hunt down and remove various pills/suppositories (groo) from floors and shelves so DC age 2 wouldn't eat them!

We were so lucky that our buyer was a FTB who was planning a gradual move from her rented place. I cleaned as thoroughly as possible and left flowers, chocolates and a card for her. Our sellers however still haven't set up a mail redirection some months later and he's just popped round yesterday to collect a huge bundle of letters, Christmas cards etc. If it wasn't such a small community I think we'd have told him where to get off, but think it's best just to roll our eyes and let it wash over us!

Pipbin · 27/02/2016 12:10

Socks
This what the poster Clam , and I, quoted said was this:
We told our agent (but probably forgot to speak to the solicitor) that we wanted to complete at 3.00pm; I had been packing for weeks (months?) but DH waited a week before the move and then got the norovirus and was vomiting non-stop for a week. We had a removal company with a team of 8 men - lived in a narrow cul de sac so were putting things in containers which were left at their depot, return and repeat. It was horrendous - with 2 School age children. Our buyers rocked up at 12.00. They had to wait at least 3 hours as we planned (we did leave them a bottle of cava). They had only a transit van; I am not sure how they thought that we would we able to all simultaneously move out by 12 (we were in a chain). I think we filled 4 containers and you can't really be in two places at the same time ie. packing and unpacking.

So she told the agent she wanted to complete at 3pm but didn't tell anyone else or seem to get any confirmation of this.
Dreadful that her poor DH got norovirus and it sounds like a hideous move but there was a clear lack of communication and the buyer had every reason to believe that they should be moving in at 12.

Of course everyone has to move at the same time. If you left it 3 hours or so between each move then in a long chain there wouldn't be enough hours in the day to move.

Trastevere · 27/02/2016 12:13

We were those people. Blush
The moving company we hired called to say they were stuck in traffic on the motorway and turned up 2.5 hours late - at the same time as our buyers arrived. They then took 5 hours to load the (already packed) contents of a tiny 2 bed house into the van. The new people were moving their stuff in at the same time as we were trying to get our stuff out, and their moving guys had to help our very inefficient ones.
The new owners were very nice about it as they knew it wasn't our fault, but I was already so emotional about moving that not only they had to deal with the massive inconvenience of arriving to a fully furnished house, but with a crazy owner who kept bursting into tears whenever she was spoken to...