Does everyone in a chain HAVE to complete on the same day?

[notnowbernard]

I need to know as our buyers are saying one completion/moving date and our vendors can't do it - they've asked for 2 days later

I'm confused, can our buyers potentially move in one day and we move to the other property on another?

Thanks

I'm a bit pissed off at the thought of moving a family of 5 out for 2 days though.... don't want to THINK about where we'd store everything

There's been a cock up somewhere, the buyers should have known over a week ago the rest of the chain couldn't do the date they want

Ummm ...as long as you & your family, plus assorted menagerie and all the furniture, have somewhere to be in between times, then there is no reason why not.
You will have to completely vacate your sold property on the day of completion, you can't hang on there until you can move into the next one.

That's why people usually do it all on the same day.

We did a staggered completion - 4 weeks between our sale and our purchase. Not ideal but was better than lis

Sorry OP - X post

It's not common because you will need to move all your furniture out and then have it stored (presumably by the removals firm if you are using one) for the two days in between and find somewhere to stay for two days. There shouldn't be a problem if you all exchange on the same day but it is a bit of nuisance unless you are footloose and child-free and can just bugger off for a citybreak or something [wistful].

Losing the sale
As mumngran says you have to vacate when your property is sold, we put stuff in storage and stayed on a friend's floor. No DCs though!

Thanks all

Exactly, so inconvenient... We have 3 (young) DC, buyers have none

It'll be a right royal PITA but are there other options? Can we insist we can't do the date they want?

yes, you can insist. Somebody will have to give way at some point though.

To complicate matters buyers have also said they're on holiday next week (wtf?!)

I would ask your solicitor/agents to push hard for all completions to be on the later date ......but if they say its a make or break issue, then I certainly wouldn't lose the sale over it.

Naturally we don't want to lose the sale

I just think in a chain of 3, 2 want one date, 1 wants the other....

Should it be a majority decision

It's perfectly possible - and easier this way round than the other way, which would require you to take out a very expensive "bridging loan"

I remember this happening to our family one move when I was about eight years old. It all worked fine - on day 1 the removal people packed all our stuff into a big van. We had a suitcase packed for a little holiday and went to stay for 2 nights in a hotel on the border of the town we were moving to. The removal company just parked the van for 48 hours (I expect there was a fee to be paid for this) and then when the day to move in arrived the van drove to the house and met us there and we all unpacked. No issues (or none that I knew about anyway)...

This was the only time in history we ever stayed in a hotel as a family, so forever after a cooked breakfast served as a buffet was known as a [Nameofhotelchain] Breakfast - we loved it.

As a PP has said, you will need to get your solicitor to write into the contract that if the vendor causes any delay beyond those 2 days they will pay you an amount at least equal to your expenses in having the stuff stored by the removal company and the hotel & meal bills for the extra time.

You'll also need to check that your insurance will cover all your stuff during the time it is not inside a house that you own!

(plus it might be worth investigating whether you can make a bit of cash in interest by investing the value of a house for 2 days)

We will be in a hotel for 5 days when we close on this house. Shipping out the belongings a week before, and will be sitting on the floor eating out for tea each day. I'm dreading it.