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.

People who move their own stuff are the worst as they usually underestimate how much stuff they have, and hire a van too small to pack everything in one go and wait for new place.

I don’t understand how people don’t conceive they’ll be in limbo for a few hours between selling and getting keys to next place. We’ve had some nice lazy lunches whilst waiting on keys.

We’ve also got to one house to find old owners still clearing out the garage, but it was nice to have them there as we moved in as they could show us how things worked.

Thankfully the last 2 homes were vacant ones to move into so no worries about people being in them. We’re on the move again but have gone into a rental as 120mile relocation. Looking forward to taking our time when we move into the next place (hopefully our last as done this waaaay to many times!)

You would be classed as a squatter then and could cause a lot of problems for the house owner …

Well you would be completely wrong! The house you used to own belongs to someone else if there paid for it.

If you’ve not managed to pay for your new home, but you’ve received bed the money for your old home, you have to move out of your old home because that is now owned by someone else.

It doesn’t reverse the whole chain.

I find this response weird! Buying and selling houses is notoriously one the most stressful things people can do! I moved last year and although the house we sold was a nice semi in a nice enough area, there was a snicket and a busy road that made it a tougher sell and we were relieved to sell it. Our buyers were a mother & son wanting to get out of rented accommodation and the people we were buying from were a pain because 2 months went past and completion was approaching and they'd not put an offer in on anything! They were wavering on whether to break the chain or not and go in rented accommodation. I had to threaten to pull out and look at a chain free property to protect my sale!

So by moving day, it's been months of stress to get to this point! On our moving day we had to shut our cats in upstairs room whilst furniture vans were loaded, everything was completed, we were officially trespassers in our old property and owners of the new one only to find out that our sellers were faffing about and we couldn't have the key yet! The people that had the luxury to move ahead time of to their rented accommodation, decided not to do that! So at this point we are sat on the stairs of an empty property we no longer own, with two crying cats wanting to come out of the room, the furniture trucks have gone and are sat waiting at the new house and we don't know if our buyers are going to turn up at any second to move in! If the removal truck is with us past a certain time there's an hourly charge! 2.30 we finally were allowed to pick up the keys. It's not relaxed happy or normal when everyone is suddenly homeless and displaced and somebody like you sees it as acceptable to take your time. You can't just go for a coffee and chill when you've got distressed cats in a cat box in the car!

@Didimum I’m an estate agent and you’re incorrect on both points. Once you have completed and receive monies, you have to leave and wait for your onward to complete shortly after. Also, chains work bottom up, not top down. First time I’ve ever heard that one!

But the money moves up the chain

This happened when i moved.

the money came through from our buyers around 11am

our money went through to our sellers around 11:30am

we weren’t quite ready to leave / get keys until around 12:30. You cant clean fully until furniture is removed.

the EA asked us for an estimated time when we would leave. We said 1pm. They said fine. We were gone sooner. There has to be some flexibility from all parties. Its a stressful event.

you were lucky to have been out of your house as quickly as you were.

@Didimum I can’t work out what you mean. So if something happened and your purchase failed to complete, you would expect to continue to stay in the house you no longer own?

or do you mean the completion call for your sale (in which case, the sellers had had this since they’d handed in the keys)

can anyone link to the thread from the poster who didn’t move out and was complaining about the buyer dismantling the kitchen?

When I bought my first house and moved in, it looked like they had moved out weeks ago, the grass was waste height and I had to get my dad round with a strimmer and petrol mower as we hadn’t yet purchased one…. And the cooker was disgusting! I spent the moving in day scrubbing the bathroom, replaced toilet seat and cleaning the cooker. I’d be embarrassed to leave a house like that!!
when I moved a second time our solicitor was awful, I was meant to be moving and we hadn’t even exchanged! My rented place was ending and I complained about the poor communication… the people I was buying from thought I was holding it up and I thought it was them!! Anyway I was at work when I received a text saying ‘congratulations you are now the owner of x street house and you can collect your keys at midday! I called solicitors to be told we had exchanged and completed at the same time and the house was now mine!
I was at work, working till 6pm, on my own, so had to call my dad to hire a van and he and my mum just went to my rented place and threw everything into the van for me. Then came and collected me from work… it was so stressful having no warning!
Got to the the house and the couple had taken all the blinds that they had said they’d leave, so I had no curtains or anything and they’d left their skanky old cat… they popped back to collect the money we’d agreed on for blinds and other furniture and we towed on the doorstep about them taking the blinds… I told them they could come and get all the other stuff as it was mainly the blinds I’d wanted left (wasn’t bothered about the flat pack cheapo wardrobes !! Anyway they returned the next day with the blinds and collected their cat and money!
no idea what they thinking as I’m sure the blinds wouldn’t have fitted the windows they moved to

I’ve also helped a friend move out before… christ they were a pain…. They hadn’t packed a single thing! We were losing the van with furniture that still had clothes in, we’re having to pack boxes as we were putting them in the van… she’d had months to pack as they had a date they had to be out! (Rented)

Of course they knew. A time will have be arranged beforehand that they need to leave the house. Once the funds are in their bank back the house no longer belongs to them.

This happened to us. We arrived at our new house to find the current owner still moving her stuff out. This was about 25 years ago and we didnt collect keys or hand in keys then, not sure why. Anyway she had a small van and once it was full she locked the door, refused us entry as the house was only half empty and disappeared to her new house, returning several hours later. We spent about 4 hours sat on the doorstep. In the end we were moving our stuff in the front door while she was moving the rest of her stuff out the back door in the dark. Crazy.

That poor cat! It must have been so confused and to be left around people that clearly had disdain for it! No cat is skanky, they just age like any other living being.

I don’t like cats, old or young. I’d be pretty pissed off if someone left their cat behind in the house I now owned! In fact if someone left their cat behind and hadn’t told me they were coming back to collect ASAP I’d have called the RSPCA or a shelter to come and collect it.

I'm not disagreeing as my.cats couldn't just be accepting of a strange cat but it's the animosity towards that I don't get. Cats don't have to be your cup of tea but no need to be unpleasant towards the cat.

When I moved last we were all packed on time, as were our buyers and our vendors, but solicitors were saying no money transferred yet. We decided to drive to the new house, expecting completion soon. We sat outside with my vendors still there.
My removal company kept phoning me complaining about the delay. The man there was very aggressive, acting as if it was my fault, and escalating the price.
The delay turned out to be due to Barclays systems being down and the buyers at the bottom of the chain were with Barclays. Solicitors tried all day to get a "gentleman's agreement" to move without completion, but failed.
By 4.30 my removal men (with all my worldly goods) had gone to their depot for the weekend and my solicitor went home, unable to do more.
I had three nights homeless, staying with family.

Hopefully the PP wasn’t actually unpleasant to the cat. I don’t think it would be too bothered by being called ‘skanky’ on an anonymous internet forum!

Maybe not, but there could be other older cats (or people who identify as cats) who are feeling body shamed by this. "Be kind."

You are the CF in this case then as you were staying in a house that you no longer owned! You are meant to be completely ready to leave the house by 9am on the morning of completion!! It’s not like you didn’t have warning

You only have until the time the money is transferred into your solicitor’s account to get out of the house NOT another random time that you decide on!

My recollection is that I had to have our old house emptied by 10 am.

After discussing with the estate agent, he told me to do the final clean the night before and post the keys through the letterbox as I left - the EA would pick them up in the morning and hand them plus the keys which he held to the new owners in on the doorstep in the morning.

I had got a detailed list of everything which needed to be done from the buyer's solicitor - this included having everything emptied, including the contents of the loft and the garden sheds. (Scotland.)

😂

Well if I'd bought the house , with the funds cleared and been given the keys, you'd feel uncomfortable as I would start unpacking around you

🤣🤣🤣🤣 Be Kind

Pretty sure it’s illegal not to leave once the house you’re selling has completed, even if the house you’re buying hasn’t. It’s no longer your house and you’re trespassing.