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!

@HettySunshine

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.

Surely you have to legally be out of your house by the time the money arrives in the solicitors account, not a set random time. The buyers aren't allowed the keys until then.

@unicornparty

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 .

@fashu This is the way to do it!!

We moved in the last lockdown, used a removal company which cost me £600 so if you can afford their £300 price, I'd highly recommend using them as that's pretty cheap. They arrived around 0800, dismantled everything and loaded into a lorry, we'd already got everything packed up so just a case of picking up boxes and furniture. Once everything was out we quickly ran the vacuum cleaner round the old place, we'd deep cleaned the day before so nothing else to be done and that was it. Everything was in the lorry by 1100 and this was with frequent breaks for a cup of tea. We also had my father in law helping so a lot of the smaller stuff was thrown in his car. Should add we also have a 2 year old and I'm pregnant, we send our toddler off to grandma for a few hours to make things easier. We moved from a 2 bed 2nd floor flat but if you're moving from a 5 bed house obviously it's going to take longer.

It's definitely doable, however if you've been dumped with his information last minute and hadn't previously agreed to it I'd simply say no, tell them it's not possible for you and you'll be out that day, but not at a particular time because you don't know how long it'll take.

It's good that you have wider family support.

At this stage I would be looking at whatever was going to make moving day easier.

There's every chance you'll have completed by 11am. We had to be out by 12 and at 11.30 our removal firm was just finishing packing up their van when our buyers arrived. Their removal guys were really pushy, but we held out - there was one cellar room we didn't vacuum. I was able to hand the buyers the keys, which saved us both a trip to the estate agent's. We were then 'homeless' for a couple of hours as our sellers' solicitor went for lunch instead of confirming they had the money and our purchase had completed . If you can afford it, use a removal firm. They are much, much better at this than you will ever be and they'll be the knackered ones afterwards, not you.

Your solicitor has indeed been lax with communication.

Good luck OP, hope it all goes smoothly.

Contract usually provides vacant possession is to be given by midday. It is impossible to give an exact completion time as if you've already exchanged (as opposed to silutaneous exchange and completion on the day) completion on the sale is when funds arrive with your solicitor, these are then sent out on the purchase and completion on that takes place when they land with your vendors solicitor. You're largely reliant upon the banks and how long it takes for funds to be processed and arrive. Anyway, just explain to the solicitor what your practical arrangements are and she can explain to your buyer. Better yet, chat to the agents and they can contact the buyer direct. There is always a bit of give and take practically speaking on completion and as long as you're not sat in the property you are selling at 3pm with your feet up with nothing packed up it'll be fine.

You don’t need to be out of your house and hand the keys over until the sale has legally completed - the buyers funds have to clear and be with your solicitor. This could be anytime in the day usually late morning to early afternoon. Your solicitor will then send the funds on to your vendors solicitors once they have cleared and the sale completes you’ll get the keys for your new house. As it’s a Monday in theory it should all happen a little bit quicker as Fridays are traditionally completion day so transferring money can take longer.
Best to get as much out of the house early on so you’re ready and good to go

Emailed estate agents now. I'd rather have in writing so I can take it in properly. Hoping something can be done.
As I said buyer is decent. Not sure about sellers. They were nice at first but went a bit weird during the offers.
Fingers crossed. Might hire another van and get my mum to drive that and I look after DS.

When we moved. We paid for removals. We packed up everything and they loaded it onto the van. We dropped off keys, collected new keys and went to the new place. This is what most people do. I would not reccomend moving stuff yourself and making numerous trips in a small hired van. I know someone who did this and it was incredibly stressful and time consuming. With too much heavy lifting.

I thought noon was the standard time and that was reliant on all the money moving?

just as an aside, does your buyer know you are leaving furniture? have you discussed with him that he is happy for you to do that?

I've moved in a chain before and managed to arrange with the owners of the new house that we could put some of our bits in their garage as they'd already emptied it. We had 2 days to move so it helped to have a couple of trips done before moving day. Is this possible for you?

I've never had to use a removal service as we have a van, do you know anyone with a van? look on FB marketplace for people with vans who'll do removals.

You mention you're leaving furniture. Unless it's actually fitted to the wall, you should be agreeing with your buyer that you're leaving it. He may well want it but if he doesn't you shouldn't leave it.

When I showed him around the house I told him I would leave for him and its mentioned on the contents and fittings

It's just how house moves in a chain work? 11am is on the early side, I think 12-2 is more normal so you wouldn't be unreasonable to negotiate a slightly later time, but either way the situation is the same, I'm surprised you haven't thought about it until now!

@bluepie have thought about it. Asked my solicitor weeks ago to work out the logistics with me. Said don't worry we will sort it out whilst finalising completion. She knows my situation, she knows I panicked when new lockdown was announced and asked about it again and told her what I had planned. She never said I couldn't do what I was doing until Friday afternoon!

To be fair, surely you must have known that you would have to be out with no crossover? I can't believe you would have needed handholding through that.

@fashu seeing as one the common resolutions is to use a removals company and allow them to store your belongings for a night or two but need booking provisionally in advance, it was poor advice.

Reading your first post it seems you were expecting to have keys to both houses for the day so that you could move between the two and at some point have half your stuff in the new house while still having half your stuff in the old house?!!
Imagine if that’s how you sellers wanted to do it too - you would then have half of their stuff still in the house while moving in your stuff - it just doesn’t work!! You don’t get special treatment just because of being pregnant if having a toddler, maybe they also have kids or have cancer or something which they feel means they can leisurely move thier stuff.
There’s a reason you have to have all your stuff out of house by the time you’ve legally sold it and you can’t buy the new house until the old one has sold so money can be transferred over!!

Are you exchanging and completing on the same day?

You sound very naive op. The world does not revolve around only what you need and your pregnancy isn't relevant. Moving house is complex and requires spend to make it easier. Book removers!

@NoSquirrels

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.

👆🏼👆🏼👆🏼 This is exactly what I would be doing in your current situation.

You will get out in time. If your worried get your dad round today to take a van full to his house then on Monday you should only have one van full to move from your house and you can move the stuff from your dads once your in the new house

Good luck

£300 is s very cheap price. You.may need s larger truck do you can get everything packed up before 11am. Then take meter readings, lock up hose and drop off keys. Go and pick up new keys, drive to new house and unload. Easier to just get a removal firm to do it for you. They are used to working to time scales. You can still use a removal firm just not loads of family and friends mixing. As you are pregnant don't lift heavy things.

Thank you again to all of those offering advice. I do think I am probably panicking more than anything and its probably hormones and looking at empty rooms more than anything. DH, mum and dad seem relatively calm. Dad said we have done it before we can do it again, albeit there wasn't a pressure of time when moving from my flat as it was rented and we moved out 2 weeks before our tenancy was over.
Now our plan is to get smaller items into small storage today and leave big items for the van. Will do my final hoovering and dusting late Sunday. I will watch DS and he can probably sit in his highchair with some snacks and an Ipad for most of it so I can coordinate in the house. Dont like giving him the Ipad but I suppose it is only one day.
Worst come worst, my mum will sit in neighbours garden with any left overs but looking at our stuff I don't think there will be now.

However, I don't understand though why some people are being unnecessarily rude on this thread.
I have never done this process before, I don't work in a related field, my family have all lived in their houses for as long as I can remember or rent, so I don't know why I am expected to have a full knowledge of this process. As others have kindly and considerately pointed out it doesn't work the way I thought it might and I have accepted it and realised I will be OK. My solicitor does this for a living and should have shared her knowledge sooner. I had told her my plans in the past and she left it until Friday to tell me it doesn't work that way.
My pregnancy is indeed my problem but its relevant to me because I can't do as much as I usually can. We are one person down basically. I do think estate agents and solicitors should do more to ensure this doesn't happen and explain the process clearly because no one I have personally spoke to realised this.