Bought house but they’re still in it now!

[ItsOnlyRainFFS]

So we exchanged contracts last week and completed by 10am today. We vacated our house by 12.30pm as our buyers keen to get in and contract said 2pm. The house we bought was supposed to be ready 2pm but it’s still
not ready! Now the seller (house we now own!) is saying they’re going to struggle to empty it by 8pm! And that sounds optimistic. They just don’t sound like they packed up properly. Anything we can do? Solicitor and estate agents shut.
We have put most of our stuff in storage - which is shut. We have though thankfully hired medium van which has our essential stuff in it. But we just want to unpack it now. We have 2 kids and have been at a bowling alley and kfc trying to kill time since school.
Would we be unreasonable to demand we move in 8pm?

We had the same issue, it must happen all the time, particularly with self movers (i find professional removal firms incredibly quick at clearing properties).
We politely asked (via our EA) the vendors to hurry up and vacate because our removal men wanted to drop our stuff off and finish for the weekend. The lovely vendors accused us of harassment! Formally via their solicitors. Nobs.

I showed up to my new house with the old owners still moving out, I just walked in, started bringing stuff in and told them to hurry up and remove stuff (they tried leaving old shite behind). Then the guy asked us if we needed a tour of the boiler system and I said ‘no thank you!’ And ushered him out!

Start moving in , tell te anything still there tonight will be vi side red yours

Were your solicitors and estate agents not all over this? When we moved everyone was liaising and the estate agent kept pushing us demanding the keys even though the contract was 2pm.

Same happened to us. We were out of our house by 12pm, went for lunch and arrived at our new home at 2pm - to find the previous owners not even half way moved out!! It was dark by the time we got in.

If you haven’t already arranged it - get the door locks changed asap!

I would go and offer to help them pack. Not that I’d want to, or feel obliged, but it might get them out faster.

Given you have children and the house will almost certainly be a complete state once they finally move everything out, I would go to a hotel. One of you stay with the children and the other one return to the house.

Get evidence of the time they vacate, evidence of the state they leave the house in, have a good night’s sleep at the hotel, move in over the weekend, and instruct your solicitors to take legal action on Monday morning to recoup all costs.

We had this. Did not get the keys until the evening and they had clearly still run out of time. Kitchen was not cleaned at all and lots of little bits left in places because they hadn’t had time to check. At least they had cleaned the bedrooms and bathrooms.

Ours was also a Friday night and kids were tired. It’s such a dampener isn’t it?

I'd get them to pay my removal company extra to help them shift their stuff super quick - if the company were willing of course.

Same thing happened to us, cost us a fortune in overtime for the removal men.

Our solicitor advised we could seek to recover the costs but it would cost us to carry out the process so we just accepted it.

They didn't forward their mail either and we had the bailiffs round for them last year- absolute pricks.

I once had to wait it out. It wasn't such a big issue for me though, as I was staying with relatives. Also, I knew one of the sellers through work, so didn't want things to get awkward. When the estate agent phoned to tell me (not ask) that the property wouldn't be ready for a few more hours, I wish I'd pointed out to him that it was actually my property, not theirs.

The sellers did make an effort to clean the property before they left, so I don't really begrudge them falling behind schedule. But the estate agent's attitude annoyed me! I didn't get to collect the keys until the following day as the estate agents closed in the short window between the keys being handed in and me getting back from DD's swimming class. Could I pick up the keys directly from the sellers' instead? "No", said the helpful estate agent.

I can’t get past only starting to empty the loft the night before.

This happened to me.

We went in and started helping, stacking all their stuff behind the front wall.

We had professional movers who were sympathetic but unwilling to assist cause not insured to carry non-clients stuff, and without consent.

Honestly I think there should be a holdback to cover any extra expense caused by people like this and those who leave skip loads of stuff etc.

Sympathies OP, people are so crap.

You should have called your estate agents and solicitor as soon as you arrived for 2pm. Get someone pronto to change the locks if you haven't already, and start chucking their stuff outside.

Self moving is hard, we did it. BUT we had packed and had moved a load of stuff out to various family before moving day. So moving day was just the big stuff, washing machine, sofa, fridge freezer etc that we put on a van. It was touch and go tbf and I didn't clean as much as I'd have liked but we did handover the keys at the agreed time and actually were still waiting for our new keys.

Can’t believe this has gone on so long!! At 2.05pm I would have been on the phone to the solicitor, the estate agent and threatening the police. By 2.30pm I would have been moved in regardless of what the squatters have said.

I would be going fucking mental. It has ruined your moving day. Are they thick????

This happened to me. We sat outside my new house for hours. My new neighbours were bringing us hot drinks and letting us use the toilet. The lorry they hired finally left so I was relieved only to be told they had to unload the other end and come back to reload it. Fuckers.

Wow!!!
You know many housing estates are immaculate?
Also WILDLY not the point of the thread!

They need to get out, even if they leave stuff behind. It's your house now and you have the right to stay there tonight, not them. I would go there now, make that clear, and get a 24 hr locksmith to come and change the locks asap tonight, so the vendors can see you mean business.

I would and have done - actually we gave them an extra few hours and regretted it as they ruined the carpets trailing in and out in dirty shoes, broke windows trying to get furniture out through them and left the house like a filthy shit hole. They also took light fittings , white goods and curtains that we had paid for . We kicked them out after a few hours but wish we’d moved in as soon as we completed so that we could instantly report the awful state it was left in to the solicitor before they went home for the weekend .

It’s an absolute fucking pisstake! What do they expect you to do tonight a?Might be unpleasant go there now and whichever of you is the calmest goes in whilst the other stays in the car with the kids and tells them to get out in the next 30 mins or you will be calling the police. Everything goes out on the lawn and they pull their fucking finger out right now.
Call your lawyer first thing on Monday as they owe you for this.

What did your and their solicitor say at 2pm?
Did you contact them as soon as you heard there was likely to be a delay?

I hope you've now managed to get inside and set up your kids' bedrooms for tonight... and the CFs are on their way...

The police won’t do anything, it’s trespass and it’s not legally enforceable - it’s a civil issue.