Completion day nightmare?

[needresolution]

So my completion of my house purchase was Friday at 12pm - had a call from solicitor saying all had gone through and vendors would give me a call when ready to hand keys over (its purplebricks so dealing with vendors direct)
I left it til 2pm and text vendor - she said they didn't have their keys yet but would let me know.
Left it til 4pm - Rang no answer so rang sol who rang her solicitor - they didn't get their keys til 3pm and they were stuck in traffic getting to new house.
Went round at 6pm - still loads of furniture in house!
They finally rang me at 7.30pm and got keys at 8pm!
They left some cabinets they said they would collect next day but didn't so I had to dispose of them myself!
Fuming with the vendors, the house was dirty they hadn't cleaned anything.
Ive incurred costs of £200 for an aborted van which had to be re stored.
Ive written email to solicitor stating facts and said Im not happy..
WWYD??

It's bad manners and probably against the terms of the contract but trying to get an apology and/or compensation will take more effort than it's worth. These sorts of moving day problems happen a lot and the best advice is just to take a deep breath and get on with life.

I hope you're happy with your house and enjoy living there.

Nothing. You've got your house. You've shelled out (presumably) hundreds of thousands of pounds so £200 more doesn't matter.

They're not legally obliged to clean it.

Awful. As a landlord I am used to tenants who completely mistime how long it takes to clear a house.

Did you take photos?

Otherwise there only recourse is through your lawyer. I don't think they have any obligation to clean unless it was specified in the contract. However they should make good your losses. The trouble is that there is probably no retention, so your solicitor may advise you to cut your losses if they don't respond to an initial, reasonable, request.

As much as it pains you, it isn't worth expending the energy, etc in pursuing. Concentrate on getting the house sorted instead.

If they failed to hand over vacant and on time you can try pursuing it for the extra costs of the removal caused by their delay. Cleaning is a nice to have so if there is time. Tbh once your money had moved you should have gone anyway and waited for them to leave.

I was always told you had to be packed up and out by 2pm at least and the keys handed to the EA. In previous house moves I've been waiting on pub car parks waiting for completion to happen with all my worldy goods in a removal truck.
These vendors were a joke.

This where not having a local estate agent to 'manage' the sale causes problems.
Most would contact their vendors the day before to advise that keys needed to be handed in by a certain time and that they need to be clear of the property at that point.

you have to be gone when the money has transferred, because then it is no longer your house.

I'm afraid you were regarded as 'little people' and treated as such. Probably made no difference which agent they used.

I wouldn't bust a gut forwarding any post...

My sol is forwarding my email to the sellers sol - I don't hold out much hope as they seem to have done everything on the cheap but as long as they know I'm not happy. And yes I wont forward any post!

Contract will usually state clean, and they should have been gone once you officially completed. But so hard to peruse for damages the mental stress probably isn’t worth it.

Just have a big clean (you'd probably have wanted to anyway) and enjoy your new home. Bin any of their mail that comes, unless it looks like fines/debt collection stuff then call them and give them their new address….

Thanks although its been a stressful move the house is worth it - I've been gutting it all this week ready for new paint and carpets, its been hard work but will look good when finished :)

I sympathise. I had a similar situation. Completed 11.30am. Went to house at 5pm and it was still full - curtains were even up at the window! They eventually left at 9.30am the next morning. Left the place in a right mess and even damaged in places as

Oops sent too soon...

As they had moved themselves out in a small transit van. As annoying as it was, there was little I could do and just had to accept that some people suck 😟

Well you live and learn don't you! Why have I been forking out for removals vans when I can just use a box van and do several trips with no repercussions!!
Sol just emailed back they wont accept my charges incurred from their inadequacy..joke!

Small claims court ?

Like pp said prob not worth the hassle..

Some people take the biscuit.

FWIW, last time I moved, the co-op removers cost so much less than the solicitors and the estate agent and so much value for money. I don't know why people make such effort to save on this. There is always more than enough to do without trying to move the furniture in several trips.

Maybe push it towards small claims and see if they crack. Unfortunately you do not have anything to use as leverage against them so they may just be brazen and ignore.

If they have saved on post redirection etc, I would not be kind to them. We did tell the bailiffs where a previous owner had moved to, after he took the light bulbs and back gate and gas fires amongst other things (and sent his father round for the curtain fixings they had left on a windowsill). They played the court system.