Completed this morning but vendors still in!

[NotAnotherUserName5]

Aargh, I could cry.

Completed and money wasn't received by the vendors solicitors at 9:30am.
We are all ready and waiting, it the eatat agents say they need a few more hours. No chain, and they have somewhere to go, so no idea why.
Is this common? When do we start kicking up a fuss about wanting to go to our house?

It has always been my understanding that midday was the cut off point.

it's when you get the call from the solicitor that you have completed.
op got it in the morning, so it's fair enough to expect to retrieve the keys shortly after.

If you use the removal firm's packing service they will often load the van as they go because they pack the day before the move (ours arrived on the Wednesday afternoon and we moved on the Friday) and they finish loading on moving day.

Yes, total bollocks about packing the day before. In all our moves the companies packed the same morning, it's totally standard, and never have they been done by lunchtime! If the people have clearly done nothing to prepare at all, not booked removal or anything, then obviously that's the point to kick up a fuss, but if a removal co is involved then really it's just a question of letting them do their stuff, there's bugger all the vendors can do to speed things up.

Another mn thread where people state half-baked made up nonsense as if it were law. Why do it?!!

I think the moral of this thread is... use a professional removal service!
Our vendor tried moving out of a 4 bed with a hired van. Took him all day. Our removal guys complained to the estate agent that they couldn’t get in to the property to unload who then phoned the vendor and asked him to hurry up. The vendor then made an official complaint via his solicitor to our solicitor that we were harassing him!

I have never had a removal company start on the morning of the move - they always have packed on the Wednesday/Thursday for a Friday move. In over ten moves the our keys have been with the estate agents by noon.

I cannot imagine anythig worse than the buyers sat outside waiting for vacant possession.

If you use a professional packing removals company they should always pack the boxes up and seal them the day before. On the morning of the move they load the van, dismantle beds etc. They aren't literally filling boxes on move day. Ditto if you're packing. You pack everything you can before and load the van on the day. When you use a proper company you can pay a small fee for a late key waiver that means they won't drive off if you haven't got your key by something like 4pm. But they won't stay all night. Usually you'd expect to be out of the house around lunchtime though irrespective of if the money has landed. However people who try to do it themselves usually massively underestimate how long it all takes. Our vendors did on our house purchase a few times back. They were useless and the adult son was in bed till noon. But I've moved many times and usually it runs ok although very stressful and a busy day.

Our vendors got the money at 10.30 a.m. and we finally got into the house at 9.00 that night! They were hopeless, totally disorganised.

I thought my DH (normally mild mannered) would swing for the husband and had to calm him down. Moving is hideous anyway, very stressful. And apparently takes on average 6 months now. Makes you wonder why anyone ever does it. It's the solicitors asking stupid questions that ruin it.

The last 2 moves I have done we used the Removal company packing service. It was brilliant. They packed for two days / a day and a half, (they provide all boxes etc). Then arrived on the morning of the move and into the van it went. They dismantled the beds, and put them together at the other end. Came back a couple of weeks later (date of our choosing) and took away all the empty boxes to re-use.

It wasn’t as expensive as I thought, and well worth it in terms of stress reduction.

Cacofonix and co why is it so hard to believe that professional removals companies might not all do things the same way?! We used perfectly professional companies and they always literally packed boxes on the morning of the move. Who was I to tell them no they should turn up the day before?! Amazingly, it might just be possible that different-sized houses take different amounts of time to pack up...

Having had quotes from several removal companies, it depends on the size of your house/amount of stuff/number of men they have. Three of the four companies for our 4 bed house quoted for a two day move - take as much as they could and store in their vans the night before (in locked storage area with CCTV), one quoted for a same day move. Prices were pretty much the same as the one day company had two big lorries and more people to ensure it could be put on time.

Phone your solicitor and ask them to ring venders and ask them to leave as you are waiting to move in. Give them 1pm deadline to be out and leave house clean. Solicitors sometimes put in clause in contract about not being out on time.

@caringcarer

This all happened days ago. Old thread; happy ending.

We travelled across London to find the old owners still in situ. They were doing the move themselves, had roped in lots of their daughters late teenage friends to help but only had a small van. Luckily they were only moving about a mile away. The friends were useless, one of my memories is of a friend tottering out of the house in impossible heels carrying a very small geranium in a pot! Eventually my movers muscled in and helped them to take their stuff out of the house so at least there was room to move our stuff in. They left at last saying cheerfully we'll be back for the piano later. I nipped round to the chippy and when I came back one of the friends, now with small child in tow , had turned up saying they had taken her bag and she needed to wait for them to come back..........I was a nicer person then and let them stay.

If ever I move again I think I will fake a broken arm and sit on a deck chair with a bottle of gin and an attitude while other people run round in circles.

If you use a professional packing removals company they should always pack the boxes up and seal them the day before. On the morning of the move they load the van, dismantle beds etc

This is how it has always worked for us too. They come the day before and pack everything into boxes and stack it all up , then the day of rhe move they come back with the lorry, pack what's left (ie kettle or whatever you wanted left out) dismantle the beds and load the van.

I agree - that's been our experience Bluntness. Not bollocks at all.

Housemum that was an interesting article. Might be a good idea for a lot of people on this thread to read it (including those who are accusing others of talking nonsense).

And if I’ve understood it correctly, once the buyer’s money has cleared then it is no longer the seller’s house, so they don’t really have any right to spend all day packing unless they’ve arranged this beforehand. It’s therefore quite relevant where you are in the chain, or if there is no chain at all (as in the OP’s case).

Bluntness and wowfudge my experience too, for a medium sized house - so the statements that “packing the day before is total bollocks” and “99% of people don’t pack the day before” are - well, total bollocks.

Not bollocks at all

No it's not, I can't imagine doing it all in a morning.

They pack everything, from your clothes to the crockery, from unhooking your washing machine to the tv, taking the pics down, the contents of your attic or garage or garden shed, it's all bubble wrapped and boxed, sealed and labelled with what's in it and what room. We on average have usually had four men take a full day to pack us, then the next morning the lorry is there for eight usually, they start loading the van and then dismantle beds etc, take outside plants, patio furniture, and secure everything and head off by about 11 ish.

I simply can't imagine out whole house being packed up from scratch and loaded in a van within four hours and there is only three of us,

Yep our movers packed everything in bubble wrap the day before too. I asked about being helpful and they advised against as it could invalidate the moving insurance if there were breakages.

In the end I broke my arm and was absolutely more hindrance than help and next time we moved I had a new baby and so was even worse viques

I think there is a confusion on the thread between packing the boxes on the lorry and packing your belongings in boxes.

I think we are talking about putting everything in boxes and others are taking about loading the boxes onto the lorry. Both are saying packing for some reason and it's causing some confusion,

We’ve moved loads, with various relocations and have always used the packing service. I’d just pack my smalls and jewellery and leave them to it. Then it all magically appears at the other end.

Our quote was for us to pack our own stuff - because it’s a large house with 5 people’s possessions, even though we are packing ourselves because there are a lot of boxes of stuff they will load on day before move and just leave us with TV/beds/sofa/wardrobe rail contents. On the day they give us hanging rail boxes to put the wardrobe contents into while they load the beds/sofa/TV/anything else.
No idea about packing services from removal firms, never used one

@Housemum if you move again, totally worth paying for the movers to pack everything. In the scheme of things it doesn't cost much more but it saves a load of stress and hassle.