To ask your best and worst house move stories?

[Fishface77]

I need to decide whether to move house or stay where I am.
It's the thought of moving that puts me of.
PLease give me your stories and help me decide whether a slightly bigger home is worth the angst of moving.

We moved into a house where the couple had split up. He had moved out a few weeks previously, leaving bare wires where he had removed the light fittings. By the time we had completed and driven round there, she was sitting in the house completely full of her own furniture. She had made no attempt to move anything. There was a Transit van in the drive, but she didn't appear to want to move the furniture into it.

We moved her stuff into the garden in the end and it took hours of toing and froing with the van before she was gone, leaving behind a fridge with food in it and a dirty house. Not ideal with a one year old and three year old. We subsequently, during some renovations, found enormous quantities of gin and whisky bottles under the floorboards.

Almost forgot BIL's experience. We arrived at about noon, rented van and trailer due back at 6pm in tow, to pick up the keys and - allegedly - vacant possession direct from the vendor as arranged by the estate agent. Family of four had started packing that morning to move the entire contents of a three bedroom house twenty miles away in…. a 3-door Renault Clio that was on its last legs when De Gaulle was a boy.

@MontysTiredMummy - how terrible! What they did was a breach of contract, I hope/wish you'd gone after them for additional costs, teach them a lesson.

To add a bit more positivity to the thread: on our most recent move, we were selling to BTL investors, who agreed to let us rent the house we were selling to them for a month. That gave us ample time to get the new house set up perfectly before we moved everything in, 'twas lovely.

When I was a child, we used to move quite a bit. For one reason or another we were supposed to move the same day as we exchanged contracts (or maybe it was the next day...) and it was a week before christmas. Everything was packed, right down to my teddy bears and Christmas presents, and then someone in the chain pulled out. The whole thing fell apart and we didn't move for another two years.
On the plus side, my parents decided to screw it and we went to Disneyland for Christmas. Best Christmas ever.

Our last move we got the keys, arrived at our new house only to find the previous owners still living there. They had kept a set of keys and not even started packing up. After we remonstrated with them they packed up (badly) within 4 hours while we drove around. When we finally got in we found all the cupboards full of old rubbish, ditto the garage and loft. Also the whole place was filthy including the toilet and oven. It took me months to clear all their crap from the house, there was everything from old tires, to beds and a fair amount of porn. The teenagers room had what looked like several years worth of nail clippings under the bed (which they left). I have never been so fuming I hope the filthy gits get scurvy .

BiL. Generally clueless. Didn't realise you needed to actually pack stuff so was trying to lift full bookcases into the rented van. No cupboards emptied. Nada. Took DH and a friend days to help him. He's moving again soon, I've told DH to tell him to use movers.

The bad stories are really bad and the good stories really good!
I think we've out grown our current house. And it's not our forever home.
It was a stop gap but 13 years later we're still here!

We moved countries three weeks after getting married (with Christmas, 4 job interviews and 18 house viewings in between!). Husband had a chest infection and I had a bad head cold. Removal firm were paid to pack but didn't turn up to do so, so I had to pack what I could (DH was at work) by myself and then leave the rest for them to do on the morning of the move. They turned up with no packing materials as there had been "confusion" at the office. Had to get it couriered. Meanwhile we were all on a deadline as we had to get the ferry by a certain time - the only sailing of the day. We all worked our socks off then DH and I drove 6 hours to get the overnight ferry. Turned up at our new house the next morning to await the removal van. It was half an hour late... then an hour... then an hour and a half... When I eventually got through to them, they said they'd missed the ferry the day before because they'd "worked too many hours" and had to stop. This is despite all the timings being arranged weeks in advance! So we were in a new country with literally nothing, not even a bed.

NEVER AGAIN. (Unless we decide to move back. In which case I'll be pre-booking a hotel for the night of the move, and using a VERY different firm!)

All went well until exchange. We exchanged and completed on the same day. I got the call at lunch, went to collect the keys. Being first time buyers I didn't twig there was obviously an issue when after popping into the estate agents they asked me if I could collect them directly from the seller at the house. They were still bloody packing! It was 6.30pm before they left. We had to change the locks that evening as they'd left stuff in the house so we thought they might come back, the garage was also still full. We had to get rid of a few bits from the house but they did clear the garage the next day. Fortunately my spidey senses had told me not to book removals for exchange day and luckily we were in a position to do so.

From they day you decide that you want to move start packing up all of the stuff you know you'll never use. We had all of our loft, excess books, paperwork, ornaments, Christmas decs etc all packed up in boxes in the garage ready to move. If you know you're not likely to need the stuff for another few months, pack it up and de-clutter the cupboards, wardrobes, shed and garage . It will save you hours later on and the house will look good for viewings.

My last house move was scarily easy, despite coming from living in a furnished rental apartment abroad to an unfurnished house in my hometown. I basically flew back to visit family and viewed some houses. I viewed the house I wanted to buy on a Friday morning, went to the office to put an offer in that afternoon and it was accepted immediately. We set the paperwork etc in motion on the Monday morning, I flew home on the Wednesday and spent the next couple of weeks packing up and selling larger items (that would have cost more to ship than replace when I returned), shipping the stuff we were keeping to the UK and generally winding up business I had there. We got back on a Monday with completion/exchange arranged for the following Tuesday. I spent that week staying with my parents living out of a suitcase and buying larger furniture and arranging the delivery for the following week and going crazy buying lots of little knicknacks and homeware bits and bobs to make the new place feel like home because I had so much time on my hands to shop

We turned up as arranged at 12 on day of completion to the previous owners throwing the last few things in a van, so agreed to go for lunch and come back. We had lunch, picked up a few supplies and came back, they handed over the keys and we basically spent that first afternoon deep cleaning the place while it was empty, my dad did a couple of minor bits of DIY, then we basically unpacked all the little bits - filled the kitchen cupboards with food/pots and pans/crockery etc, unpacked clothes into the built in wardrobes, unpacked DD's toys into her toybox/shelves etc before going back to my parents house.

The following morning the big furniture was delivered so we set up the beds - making them up with duvets/pillows/sheets/covers we'd left in the right rooms the night before - positioned the sofa/chair/book case/TV stand in the living room and unpacked the last few bits that couldn't be done until the furniture had arrived - eg books, cushions, throws, rug and TV. I picked my DD up from my uncle and aunts house, picked up the cat from my parents' house, picked up a pizza and went home and that was us moved in. From exchanging keys to being fully unpacked, watching TV and eating pizza on the sofa it took 30 hours.

Our developers switched around the gas and electricity meter readings they sent to British Gas, so when they came round 3 months later to take the readings, our gas reading was lower than what they had recorded. We were taken to court for (supposedly) tampering with our meters.

Worst: First time buyer, was served notice on my rented flat so had to be out by certain date. New flat wasn't ready - well it was ready, but the paperwork took months to sort out because like a twat I'd gone with the conveyancer recommended by the estate agent. Cue me moving all my stuff into storage and spending three months hopping between cheap hotels and friends' sofas. Nearly killed me. If I'd have known it would take so long I'd have rented somewhere else, but was always told "it'll be about another couple of weeks".

Best experience: probably the same, because at the end of it I bought my first home.

To be honest every move has been hell. The thing I hate is the fact that whether I was renting or buying, I had no control over whether I would actually be able to move in on the day. Until I've got the keys, something could go wrong.

Usually you have to move out by a certain date, but you are never certain to be able to move in on the same date. If you can afford to pay rent on two places at once, maybe it's fine, but most people have to sail closer to the wind. I think the moral of my story is this:

Even if everything goes perfectly, it's an absolute nightmare.

We turned up to find some bastard had nicked the entire fitted kitchen and bathroom, leaving the pipes sticking out of the walls and the whole ground floor therefore flooded.

It was a rural cottage and so easy pickings I guess. No neighbours or witnesses around

Why has my words 'fitted kitchen' turned into an amazon link all by themselves??

thenightsky

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/site_stuff/2845367-Skimlinks-on-Talk

We moved 3 months ago and I have said NEVEAR AGAIN!

Our first home was a new build flat so it was pretty quick, easy and stress free.

When we sold that we had first time buyers buy and the house we were buying the couple were going to rent so should have been straight forward.

Our solicitors were useless!!! Absolutely terrible!
We literally done the job for them. Made all the phone calls to every one, sorted land registry and nhbc stuff and council stuff. Every time we spoke to someone they said that our solicitor should have done it all weeks in advance. It ended uo costing us around 3k more as we werent made aware of needing certain paperwork and it took a lot of beghing on the phones to get things sent through asap which our solicitor shohld have dealt with but obviously couldnt be arsed.
We were constantly getting told they were waiting on 'buyers enquiries' but our buyers had used to same solicitors to make things easier and we were in contact with them throughout as their solicitor was blaming us and ours blaming them.

We came so so close to losing our new home and I literally cried for around 3 weeks straight.

It was constantly put back a week, then another, then another and the sellers were getting pissed off.

We got the managing director of the lawyers firm involved and that's when things started moving a bit more quicker. Although we didn't exchange contracts until the day of completion. Even then it took a week of us being told every day that it would be the next day. We couldn't even get a place in a new school for dd1 until the contracts had been exchanged. So she had to have 3 weeks off.
It was awful! But we are here now and so very happy.

I also heard that the solicitor lost his job as he had had numerous complaints against him and other people had lost their sale because of him

Our most recent move was surprisingly a joy. We were so busy with work we sprang and extra £100 for the movers to pack too.

Movers arrived Friday, packed everything up. Saturday arrived 8am and loaded lorry.
At 10am on moving day got the keys. Drove 10 miles to new home. All as expected. Sellers had done a good clean and everything was working.
Movers were like magicians. Nothing lost. Nothing broken. DPs arrived and unpacked our kitchen. DM put everything in the right cupboards.
By 3pm we were completely unpacked bar three boxes of "random crap"
By 4pm we had set up the virgin and sent meter readings to power supplier
By 6pm dinner was on the table and our friends popped round. Comments such as "it looks like you've been in for months!" were made

It was utterly surreal, and actually enjoyable! Hurrah for decent vendors, quick solicitor/EA and the movers from heaven!

Always ask for removals quotes with and without packing included. You will be amazed at how little they actually charge for the packing part and it is so so worth it.

I did however make labels myself for them to use so that I knew what was in each box. Also label the boxes with the rooms they are going to rather than the rooms they come from.

I also did a floor plan of the new house and stuck it on the front door so they didn't keep having to ask which room etc.

Paid over the odds for a house we fell in love with that had a number of issues highlighted in the specialist surveys we had to have carried out. Repairs cost thousands but psycho bitch vendor refused to drop price by any more than £500.

On moving in day we found:

Gas leak
Broken window
Shower plumbed in so water had to drain away uphill
That they had bled the heating system and the refill valve was so mangled we had to get a heating engineer out to replace it

Amongst other things

Move pain 1: had a man and a van and husband's brother and his mates to help move from a part furnished place into an unfurnished place. Five days before Christmas. None of these mates were strong or good at moving. Me, pregnant, and 1 year old son headed over to the new house to make sure all ok. Got into new house and there was a man in the dining room making a kitchen. Not putting together a kitchen, making one with MDF and shit. House was still full of furniture. Flew down to estate agent and demanded to know wtf was happening. They came down and assessed that everything was fine, we could live around the no kitchen/building site in dining room, house full of furniture thing. Estimated that building would be finished by the 6th of January. Husband, mates and man with van turn up just as I'm having a meltdown. It is agreed that we won't be moving in (or paying) until 9th January as builder had different and more realistic ideas to the estate agent. Spend the night back at old flat. Next morning, notice that husband and his daft mates have forgotten to move everything out of the garage. Hire man and van again. Thank god my parents let us all have Christmas/New year/beginning of year there.

Move 2 pain - move abroad. I go three weeks earlier as it is because of my work and I need to set up apartment etc. Husband responsible for supervising move. He's not working so that is his job. Unpack stuff six weeks later to discover the broken bed, broken desk, broken lamp and ALL THE CONTENTS OF EVERY SINGER DRAWER INCLUDING ALL THE SHITE LIKE USED MATCHBOXES AND BROKEN PLASTIC has also travelled 7500 miles. Contents of garage are still in the UK.

Move 3 pain - move back home. Packers come. I'm off signing the seventy million bits of paperwork required to close utilities/accounts etc in foreign country. I ring him to make sure he has checked everywhere to make sure packers have everything we want to take. He shirtily says yes, despite knowing that after the two garage debacles, he had also forgotten an entire chest and cupboard of possessions from another move the. Get back to the apartment to find... yep, everything that was in the "maids" room (in reality a windowless hole we used for storage) wasn't on the container. Luckily they came back the next day and packed again (for a small fee of course). We pack the clothes we are taking for the family 8 week trip around India before we go home and... Yup, husband has stored reams of shit in there too. We travel for 8 weeks with 2 lever arch files of (his) crap and numerous heavy folders all our financial/mortgage/house deeds etc docs from the last 5 years or so. Unsurprisingly there's also a cupboard under a sink forgotten. I gave all that away (some really lovely candles too.. sob)

We haven't moved since 2012. I'm building an extension so we don't move again.

Best experience: DP moving in to new place with me. He arranged a man with van and I waited in his flat while DP was at work. Bloke turns up early and had loaded everything in the van by the time DP returned (and ensured he unloaded stuff that was the landlord's!). Then on arrival he unloaded everything in 10 minutes - never seen furniture move so fast - and refused a tip.

Subsequent men with vans have been a disappointment, though the professional movers we used to move here were fantastic (worked 7am to 8pm, no damage, reduced the stress no end of buying the place despite our buyer having pulled out...).

Worst would be the developers who bought ILs house in order to tear it down, and decided against on the day of the move, as FIL, disabled MIL and two large dogs were half way across the country to their new house. They had to come back again and solicitors all round had to kick arse. ILs got to keep the 10% deposit as well as the same sale price when it went through two months later to the developers' new company, but seeing as it caused FIL to have a severe stroke, I'm still furious. (FIL mostly recovered over the next 6 months, but still.)

Montystiredmummy are you saying that you agreed a price, had survey and all was okay then right before exchange gazundered them £50k. I hope not as that's an awful thing to do to other people. Imagine if that happened to you?

Some of these are horrendous!