To think previous owners of our new house were being unreasonable?

[TheGrumpyAccountant]

Today was moving day. Having sold our house, we packed up and cleaned yesterday so that we could do a final clean/take last minute stuff today. All of our belongings were out and being stored as of yesterday afternoon. We handed in keys at 10.30am this morning and our funds were transferred to the solicitor of our sellers before 11am. At 1.15pm we were told that we could collect the keys to our new house from their solicitors. When we arrived at the new house the previous occupants were just ‘chilling’ in the house (despite having meant to have handed all keys to their solicitors). Standing with my toddler and newborn, when I (very politely) spoke to them they said that they had not yet been told they could collect their keys for their new house and so refused to leave until they knew they had somewhere to go as if something went wrong they’d have nowhere to go. I pointed out that if they don’t leave WE would have nowhere to go. After some quick calls to lawyers they were told they had to leave, so they eventually did.

We are in Scotland in case that makes any difference to legalities etc.

AIBU to this that they were unreasonable in this situation? They’ve really taken the shine off of moving day for me since it all got quite tense and stressy. We are also in the new house over 2 hours later than we could have been.

Exactly the same happened to us except ours refused to move for 7 hours. We ended up having to get a hotel as there was still so much of their stuff in there and our removal team had to come back the next day. The most stressed I have ever been

This happened to us but we had to wait 16 hours for them to leave. They also left the house filthy which was really disappointing.

We were in a big chain of about 9
The first money went through at 10.00
We followed the money as it moved along the chain
It was gone 2pm before our money went in. (Second from the top , )
The lady at the top moved into her new house before her funds were transferred - like she said , the house was empty and she wasn’t waiting any longer.
This is how it works - all perfectly normal.

I was told that I had to leave my house before 2pm on Completion day or I could be deemed in breach of contract. I did this but didn’t get keys to new house for another 90 mins.

I was clearly told by my solicitor when I contractually needed to be out of my old house - which was helpful.

I remember buying a house and the sellers were faffing about so my movers took all their stuff out (with their permission). When I got in the oven was full of filthy pans, thick with grease so I chucked them all into the muddy garden. A couple of hours later they came back to collect them!!

Once funds are transferred it’s your house. We all have no where to go for a bit on moving day but you go grab a coffee while you wait for the call for keys to be released. Funds move from bottom of chain up so there’s likely to be an hour or so from you needing to be out to accessing your new place but you can’t just squat!

Exactly - their solicitor should have given them a clear time to vacate regardless of when they had keys to the next property.

Clearly, vacant possession had not been explained to them by their solicitor. Infuriating. Make sure you change the locks.

@TheGrumpyAccountant Moving days are stressful enough without that nonsense OP! I hope you’re feeling less stressed now 😊 They had no right being there. You’re absolutely right!

When DH and I bought our first home together we received a call to say that everything had completed and we could collect our keys from our solicitor which happened to be across the road from the property - so off we went very excited, collected the keys, and went to our new home…to find the previous owners still in there because they had decided it was a good idea to let their cat out that morning and it hadn’t come home yet. They explained that the cat usually didn’t come home until the evening so it was best if we just went to a local hotel for the night (at our own expense 😂) and they would “let us know when the property would be available to us” 😂🙈 I was fuming!

They were moving to a property that was genuinely a 2 minute walk from our front door so I jokingly suggested that we just go and stay in their new house for the night instead. They were less than impressed at that and started arguing that we were trespassing as they hadn’t yet vacated the property 🙈😂
They started threatening that they were going to call their solicitor etc - which obviously I welcomed and their solicitor then had to explain to them that they had in-fact sold their property and no longer had any right to be there 🙈😂

It was very stressful on the day but it’s hilarious now to look back on!

Our removals firm arrived early morning and emptied the house. We, along with baby and toddler went to meet them at the new house about a mile away. No lorry. Turns out our buyer had not paid their disbursements and was uncontactable so the sale could not complete. This was on a Friday so we ended up in a hotel for the weekend until the mess could be sorted out on the Monday. We had to run around buying pyjamas, nappies, and a change of clothes for everyone as everything we owned was packed on the lorry. Luckily the removal company were excellent. They took the lorry back to their depot, plugged our fridge and freezers in and watered our plants, and their insurance covered our costs. Very, Very stressful!

Think you’re overreacting. I’d have been happy to let them stay a couple hours. Be kind, etc.

Not ideal, but it’s fine. I’ve had much worse - ie, two whole days later. And they left their stuff in the house!

Not unreasonable at all, the cheeky squatting fuckers.

Start afresh tomorrow and enjoy your ‘moving day’ then without the stress of actually moving 👍

Oh FFS "Be kind". They were squatting in OP's property.

There was a thread on here the other year where the OP and her family sat around in the kitchen of their house, after it was no longer theirs, having a packed lunch while the new owner came in and dismantled the kitchen around them! 😬🤣 She had her arse handed to her!

I remember that one! She was livid that the new owner was taking the kitchen out. It was his house!

Is "vacant possession" part of the moving process in Scotland... I.e. the house should be completely empty?

They were cheeky. Usually practice is to go for lunch or coffee etc.

There is no chain in Scotland . Yes there might be several people buying and selling on the same day but the transactions are not linked legally .

The sellers should have been out long before 1.15pm when their solicitors released the keys to the buyers. Whether or not their own purchase had settled was irrelevant.

The Op is quite right to be annoyed.

@Didimum In scotland we do not have chains!! our system of house purchase is much simpler than in england

A lot of people fail to understand that moving is actually two separate transactions, even though they may have arranged the sale and buy for the same date.
Of course they had to move out; they have sold the house and the funds have been transferred. (Contracts will have been exchanged, deposits paid, and money transferred by bank transfer - usually done by the solicitor)
If the people have not moved out of the house they are buying, that is a separate issue, and nothing to do with the sale of their own house.
I was always told that the actual sale, etc should happen around 12.00 midday, but often it does not happen until much later. (ie when you can legally get the keys, etc). I would assume that if you are part of a chain, and reliant on the sale of your house, for some/all of the purchase of new house, then I imagine that the money being transferred can happen later as it progresses up the chain..
However, in this case, OP was told that the sale of house to OP had all been completed, keys handed over, so yes, she could move in.

FWIW, I wouldn’t leave my house until I got the completion call from my solicitor either.

It wouldn't be your house at that point though.

That is cheeky, I think a lot of people don’t understand how it works tbh based on the comments here. You owned the house they were in, their onward purchase hadn’t completed yet as funds were moving up the chain.

We had this when we moved, we were out of our house 3pm and didn’t get keys to new house until 4:45pm (was stamp duty deadline day!) but we had an hour 45 where we effectively didn’t own a house! We had to wait for funds to clear etc. And just had to hang around a bit (only moved 5 minutes away).

We had not dissimilar when we moved too.

We arrived with keys and she hadn’t even finished packing and her movers weren’t there.

I told the absolutely gormless owner that if she didn’t get her movers there in the next half hour mine would empty the house and charge her for it.

She was a twit of the highest order and the house was so dirty I cried when we got in.

Although I have always successfully aimed to be out and cleaned in the agreed time, I have never, ever, fully expected to definitely be in on time, and have planned accordingly.

There are too many moving parts on all ends. I think whilst technically legally "reasonable" to be in at the agreed time, realistically it was a bit silly of you, and frankly with kids that young it was irresponsible to not have planned a buffer, when completion is well known to be a bit messy

Why would you plan a buffer? You get the keys, the house is yours. It was the seller who had failed to plan properly, otherwise they would have had somewhere to go while waiting for their purchase to complete. The OP’s had completed.