To ask for house keys a few days early to clean?

[AliceRR]

We exchanged on a purchase on Friday 15th and due to complete on Friday 22nd.

The house we are buying is a deceased estate so is empty and it seems they have moved the furniture and everything out.

DH got garage keys on Saturday so we could start moving in our belongings in there so we don’t have to do it all on Friday. It didn’t occur to him to ask for house keys
🏡 🔑 The garage is however large and very clean so we moved half of our stuff into the garage over the weekend.

I’ve now asked if we can have the house keys as I would like to give the house a good clean before Friday if possible. Estate Agent seemed to think it would be fine but said I had to go through the solicitors and he said he would ask.

Is getting the keys before completion (but after exchange) unusual? I don’t know what the “done” thing is but would have thought it’s fine if house is empty and we sign undertakings to insure etc.

We do plan to replace everything (including kitchen and bathroom) but I want to be satisfied everything is clean before I move in and it’s easier before furniture is in there. I might even try to clean the carpets properly. I’ve got a steam cleaner but not sure that will work very well so might need to hire a carpet cleaner.

Any advice on cleaning carpets / a new house welcome too 😀 (I’m particularly concerned about the bathroom and kitchen. They don’t look dirty but not v nice and obviously those areas need a bit of care to be hygienic)

TIA

Undertaking to put insurance in place, presumably.

OP yanbu to ask but equally they wnbu to say no because the potential harm to them while unlikely to happen is huge. Hope you get something sorted.

I would not let you anywhere near the house until completion . We sold my late mum's house after she died. You do what you want when you have ownership of the property. Until then, you can wait.
Sorry, I would say this was CF territory.

You can ask, but it's not usual.

Assuming you're in England, the exchange is the agreement to purchase at which point the property is traditionally regarded as "Sold" (by-the-by, but any vendor that takes a property off the market and stops viewings before exchange is a fool).

The problem with getting a key and accessing the property before completion is that:

• it's not yours
• you can't (easily) insure the property because it's not yours
• if you cause damage to the property or (absolute worst case for the sake of making the point) cause it to catch fire and burn down, how will you afford to make repairs without insurance?

I'd also argue it's a bad idea psychologically. Suppose in your cleaning you find something about the house you didn't know about (some damp/rot that got overlooked). At this point you haven't completed, and you've got two or three days to build up resentment that this could all have been avoided (but by know it's going to cost you the deposit ad compensation, because you've exchanged). Better to find this after everything's settled and it's easier to develop a just-get-on-with-it mentality of fixing the problem.

No idea regarding the keys, sorry. Regarding the carpet cleaning - if your EA does any lettings, ask them to recommend a firm as they'll probably know someone who does end of tenancy cleans. Otherwise, local Facebook pages are good for recommendations (and sometimes some inadvertent comedy).

if you just pay to have the carpets done they won't bother with tiled floors. They do those the same way everyone does, vacuum and then mop/ steam cleaner. If you're concerned about the state of the kitchen and bathroom and can't get keys but the EA will give access to a cleaning co, I would get an end of tenancy type deep clean done. That's if you have the money, as they'll be quick and thorough.

Otherwise, it's buckets and sponges and elbow grease.

It's all very well having "undertakings", but the trouble starts when they're not kept to and the homeowner's left with legal bills to sort things out

I've allowed buyers to do a few small bits before now, but only while I was still in the house and could see what was happening. To hand over keys to an empty property before completion would be unthinkable

You have to insure the property at exchange stage. How do people not know this?

How can you insure a house you don't own? That bit is perfectly standard. You have to have insurance from the time you exchange (actually I'm not sure you have to, but you'd be nuts not to).

I wouldn't do it OP, but if the vendors & their solicitors are happy to, then go for it. Will make life much easier on Friday.

Congratulations on your new home

I agree with the others that this is serious CF territory, especially when the agents have already been incredibly generous by letting you have access to the garage.

I honestly can't believe any agent/solicitor would be happy with this prior to legal and financial completion. I'm sure you're a lovely person with the best of intentions, but they surely have to guard against people abusing that trust. Only last week there was a story on here about someone buying a house (all smooth and straight forward all the way to exchange) and then the previous owner literally refused to leave the house. My point is, all kinds of things can go wrong with selling/buying house so you have to understand vendors/agents having to be careful.

We were allowed to have a specified professional in to do a job a couple of days before completion but we had to sign an agreement and pay for their solicitor's time to draw it up.

I bought from a deceased estate and the estate agent loaned me the keys because I asked to take some measurements, while I was there I sprayed the whole flat with mothkiller as the carpets were alive with them, then I returned the keys to the estate agent ( a 5 minute walk from the flat) on the same day. I guess it will just depend on the estate agent. I don't think they came with me as I'm sure I would have remembered practically poisoning someone else as well as myself with moth killer.

They probably shouldn't though as per pp. Maybe they could be persuaded to let you in, and come lock up when you're finished. It is a bit cheeky but no harm asking politely as long as you don't take a strop if they say no.

You have to insure the property at exchange stage

You do if you've got any sense, yes - but this creates a situation where two families have insurance on the same property, and should anything happen you can bet your life the insurers would drag it out while they each argued the other should pay

This in turn could easily create bad feeling between the vendor and buyer, risking the breakdown of the sale and a complete legal mess to follow

Why risk it?

How can you insure a house you don't own?

As a side note you can insure almost anything you have a pecuniary interest in, even if you don't own it.

You have to insure the property at exchange stage. How do people not know this?
People presumably Do know it, but the OP is asking for something over and above usual practice, so "normal" insurance probably doesn't cover it.

Why risk it? Because you’d lose your deposit if you didn’t. And because your solicitor tells you to.

I should have added if the house burnt down!

Just ask your removal company if they will keep your things in the van overnight, go in and do the carpets once you have the keys and stay in a hotel for one night while they dry. Then move in the next day.

P.S. We have twice had our buyer's funds fail to appear on the day of completion. It does happen!

Why risk it? Because you’d lose your deposit if you didn’t. And because your solicitor tells you to.

I don't think that's what puzzled meant.

It's normally a condition of the mortgage that you have buildings insurance from the date of exchange. My understanding is that it is because even if the roof falls off or the house burns down, after exchange you are still committed to completion.

Isn't it just buildings insurance at the point of exchange though? If you're moving furniture and belongings in before completion your contents insurance would only cover the house you're living in, not the one you are completing on.

You have to insure the property at exchange stage. How do people not know this?
Probably because it's been fifteen years since I last bought/sold a house. And insurance was the least of the hassles last time around. I keep forgetting the weird inconsistencies and inefficiencies of the law around conveyancing in England. It's so unnecessarily complicated.

I was wrong. It is the buyer's responsibility to insure once contracts have been exchanged.
www.frettens.co.uk/site/library/frettensnews/Insuring_a_property_after_exchange_of_contracts

It's still a daft idea to give the keys over before completion. Even on a vacant property.

One thing the solicitors will be concerned about is liability. If you injure yourself while cleaning you could in theory sue them. It's just much cleaner legally if you get access once title changes hands.

We had keys ahead of completing. We had carpets professionally cleaned and a custard yellow walls painted neutral. We indemnified the seller against any costs that they may have incurred in the event that we didn’t complete.

We have been allowed to pick up the keys for an empty house we were buying and replace the flooring in one room before we moved in.
We were local people buying a house a few hundred yards away from another local seller - I think that counts for a lot.

Doesn't hurt to ask, we got our house keys a week early in one instance and on another move the seller was happy for us to use the workshed for some bits before completion but not the house keys, she had paid a cleaning company to go in for us anyway so it was all good.
Oh and we gave our keys to our buyers before completion but only by a few hours so it's not that unusual.

I got the keys to one of my houses around two weeks before completion. It was a refurb, so was empty. The estate agent just handed me the keys after I suggested it could be handy - I don't actually know whether or not they checked with the vendor. It meant I was able to put up curtain rails and generally sort stuff out in my own time.

I've no idea how unusual that was.

I don’t know what the “done” thing is but would have thought it’s fine if house is empty and we sign undertakings to insure etc.

Sign what "undertakings to insure?" What does that even mean?

I believe the house is at the buyer’s risk from exchange (which was last Friday) so the buyer is supposed to have insurance in place from them. That means that if the house burns down between exhange and completion our insurance would have to cower it. Obviously there’s a potential risk of something like that happening as a result of something we do so the undertakings including confirmation we have insured the property.

As it happens I understand the legalities or the conveyancing process fairly well, it’s more the practicalities, but it seems it is not usual to get the keys early (as PP said most houses would be occupied)

I am not going to insist or demand on anything (I think someone referred to us pulling out if they say no). It’s simply a polite request and if they say no, I completely understand.