How do I move out and into my new house by 11am pregnant!

[fashu]

Hi, so my solicitor dropped the bombshell that I have to be out of my house by 11am Monday. Only problem. I will get the keys to my new house at the same time because I'm in a chain. How is this even possible?
Its going to take a couple of trips to my new house and we can't get any help at the moment because of covid and to top it all off, I am pregnant and have a 2 year old! Can someone please explain how this works because surely it can't be right!

Tell your solicitor to jog on.

Tell the solicitor NO not possible.

That's ridiculous. Tell them there is no possible way 11am is suitable for a whole number of reasons. Stand your ground!

You pack up your house by 11am and collect new keys, drop off old keys. You go to new house and unload.

You should have started packing already assuming you knew you were moving on and completion was Monday! Are you using a removal service as they'll be used to working to these time frames? Maybe consider short term storage for items ASAP that you won't necessarily need this weekend.

We have to do it all ourselves. Yes we are packed but its not an instant job to get everything out of the house. Cheapest quote we have for removals is over £300. She didn't tell us this until this evening so not much availability either. I can put most stuff in my mums over the weekend but not the big items.
Surely there is something In place for this because when would it ever work?

You get it out of the house and onto the truck before 11. You need a larger truck rather than one that will require a few trips.

Repeat after me, sorry that doesn't work for me.

They are not going to collapse the chain at this late stage, yes invisible people up/down the chain may be pissed off with you, they are invisible and not relevant.

Ordinarily I am all for the you knew you were moving.....but an eleventh hour dictat is out of order at the best of times and certainly in lockdown.

And there you have it folks, both sides of humanity in one thread.

You need to factor in that moving yourselves will take much, much longer than you expected.

11am is unusually early. When I've moved it has been early afternoon. But it's only a couple of hours different. Have you already exchanged? Cos if so it may be too late to change it as the time will be in the contract.

But as others have said, have everything ready to go the night before - everything boxed and furniture dismantled. Start early and load up the van. Drop off keys and drive to new place. Pick up keys and unload. That's how it usually works.

£300 is really cheap, btw. If they are still available and you can possibly find the money, use removals.

This is always how house moves work when there is a chain. You can’t just tell her solicitor no! It’s how house moving works and why people pay removal firms. You can’t have things spread across two houses because by the time you get the keys to your new house you will need to give back the keys to your old one. Otherwise everyone in the chain would be spread across two houses for the day which would be no good even in non Covid times. If you can get a removal firm for £300 (seems very good value) then grab them, you won’t regret it.

Legally you need to be out of your house by 2pm. And even that is flexible. Everyone in a chain has to understand that a degree of give and take is required on moving day.

@fashu

Hi, so my solicitor dropped the bombshell that I have to be out of my house by 11am Monday. Only problem. I will get the keys to my new house at the same time because I'm in a chain. How is this even possible? Its going to take a couple of trips to my new house and we can't get any help at the moment because of covid and to top it all off, I am pregnant and have a 2 year old! Can someone please explain how this works because surely it can't be right!

Your stuff is loaded onto the truck and stays there while you get the keys to your new house. You get somebody to stay with the truck while you get the keys from the estate agent, solicitor or vendor depending on your arrangement.

I don't understand what the issue is. This is always how it is when I've been in a chain.

Van comes early in the morning. Is loaded up. Rooms cleaned as emptied.

Van then makes way to new home whilst l go and collect keys and drop old keys to estate agent.

Then let self in new house

11am is early, it's usually been 1 or 2pm when ever we've moved but it's quite normal to pack in days leading up to move. Load van from early, drop off keys, collect new keys, drive to new place, unload. How much of an overlap were you expecting to be able to do multiple trips of loading, unloading with a single van?

If you're renting then it's possible to have an overlap so could do multiple trips as you just arrange dates so you'll pay rent on both properties for the extra day.

But if you're buying/selling, and in a regular type chain, you can't complete the purchase until you have completed the sale. Once sale is completed, you no longer own the property so have no right to keys and access, it belongs to someone else. Once sale is complete, only then does money get released to buy the new place. Assuming you can't afford to own both properties at once therefore you can't have access to both properties at once. You must sell one before you can buy the other.

This is why people use removal firms, they are used to working to these time scales and have bigger lorries/multiple lorries and people so it can all happen quickly. £300 is cheap and in the grand scheme of buying houses and associated costs, a drop in the ocean.

How are you moving your stuff? In a rented van? If so, rent a bigger one. Ask for a couple of extra hours e.g. 1/2 pm.

Of course you can’t go between 2 houses and have keys for both at the same time. So you have to make it work, and that’s why removal firms exist. In lockdown you can’t call in favours from friends so easily so it would have been best to find the £300 - it’s a small cost when you consider the cost of buying a whole house!

Tbh I'm not really comfortable with a removal firm as well at the moment, they move from house to house and having a baby on the way and a small child is worrying. Family are allowed to help out during lockdown for the purpose of moving homes if necessary so my dad will help with his van, and my mum is my childcare bubble so she will look after my son, but because of all the lockdowns he's very clingy to me, plus I am pregnant so probably won't be much of a help other than shouting at DH how to pack the van
In hindsight, I've re read WhatsApp messages from when I moved from my flat and it looks like we started 8am and were on the way from 11am so I am probably just panicking because of the shock of being told with 3 days notice.
I have asked my solicitor before how it works but she's never said about this. As you can imagine I don't think I have the best solicitor. It's been problems with them for a while.
My buyer seems like a nice guy, single, no kids currently living with his parents so I'm hoping he will give a bit of grace if things do go over.
I do think though banks and solicitors need to be a little more considerate given the current situation. If there was no lockdown this would be a different story.
Also note, been working with solicitors since JULY! So haven't decided to move recently. Also can't put dates back because I don't want to have a newborn and be doing this!
Thank you to all those being sympathetic to my situation and thank you to those who are telling me the facts

Get in the removal firm, you don't even have to do anything, they pack and unpack it all so no reason for you and your child to even be there. Leave your dh to over see it.
Not great to be using a little van and having to do multiple trips when your in a chain.

my mum is my childcare bubble so she will look after my son, but because of all the lockdowns he's very clingy to me, plus I am pregnant so probably won't be much of a help other than shouting at DH how to pack the van

You look after DS, and stay well out of the way. Less stress all round!

Your mum helps your dad pack his van.

Your DH hires another van so you have 2 to use.

If you’re using your dads van it’s even better though because you can pack up loads on a Sunday evening?

Yes to either using the removals company (just stay out of the way while they are there and wipe boxes etc as they come into the house) or use 2 vans.

Im not sure why you would have access to two houses at any given time when you can only own one of them.... if your sale completes at 11am you need to be out. If you buy the new one at 11am you wont own the old one any more so why would your buyer be ok you staying there for a few extra hours? You may be lucky if either one is particularly generous but given how stressful and busy moving days are you'll be very lucky.

As PP says, this is how house moving days work day in day out.

Just use a van over the weekend and get DH to load it today and tomorrow so it ready to drive away Monday morning.

It’s normal to be out of a house on exchange day by 11 or 12, collect house keys and then move in to new property

I had to be out of mine by 10am earlier this week. We moved ourselves. We packed over the weekend and hired a van from the day before and loaded up most stuff then. On the day of the move we just had our mattress (duvet) etc and toothbrush etc then cleaned and hoovered. There was a gap of about 2 hours where we'd completed on our sale but not on our purchase so a bit if hanging around with the van but thats pretty standard .

We Moved on Thursday and had to be out of our old house by 1 and got the keys to our new house just after 2. We used packers and movers and it was still very tight for time so I’d really recommend at least using movers. £300 is very cheap. We paid sbout £1000