Completion day tricks

[Notmulan]

After reading the thread about “R” and completion day, I wanted to ask if there are any completion day tricks . How do you time it so everyone is moving at exactly the same time? In our chain of 7 (yikes) only one person is moving from a different area so that’s 6 of us potentially dosy-doeing removal vans in a 1km radius. Does everyone usually book different removal firms or does one firm manage a relay race

If you can afford it I would suggest moving out of your house the day before completion, and staying overnight in a cheap hotel.

If you get professional packers in and put your stuff in storage for one night it removes all the stress of moving out and in on the same day.

Uh I doubt people coordinate their removal firms. Completion usually happens about lunch time, so pack up the days before and get removal in first thing to load up the truck and you should have time to clean. Then hand keys in to estate agent and you wait until you get notified to collect keys to new place.
You might have to wait a bit so you can go get lunch while waiting.

Everyone sorts their own removals. I’d get booking tbh as they are very busy at the moment.

You’ll know when you complete. Everyone aims to be out before then. Some people are, some aren’t. Don’t assume you’ll be able to move in as soon as you arrive at your new home.

Pack the kettle and tea/coffee somewhere easy to get to.

There's usually a clause with a time you need to be out of the place you are selling.

It never lines up perfectly IME! As a FTB I spent a couple of hours walking around the town centre until I could collect the keys. Whenever I've moved out of a house, we've packed before the removal day and then the van turns up early and loads up. They then disappear with your stuff for their lunch a bit and meet you at the new house when you've got the keys.

When we moved a few hundred miles away, the van loaded up the day before and drove down early the following morning. That was probably the least stressful because there were no deadlines, we were moving out of a house we owned to a rental property and there was nobody else to move in or out.

I've always had my own removal firm, don't see how you could use one firm to do all the moves as they wouldn't be able to unload the van from the first house when they got to the second which was still full of stuff! Although I pack my own stuff, I always use a removal company. I'd never hire a van and do it myself!

My last move was the most stress fee. Removal company loaded our stuff 2 days before completing & stored it in the van. Cleaner came in day before completing and did a full deep clean. We booked an air bnb for 3 nights just incase completion was delayed. Book the movers well in advance.

We are planning completely packing up the day before and getting the cleaner in then too. Stay the night in a hotel.

Book professional removers.
Get a quote for them to pack as it's the best thing ever!
Start packing up everything you can pack as far in advance as possible.
Don't forget lift, garage, garden.
Have a massive breakfast. Don't have lunch.
Decide who is going where and nominate someone to stay and do the last of the cleanup, it's best if it's someone separate who isn't doing the move. Like a friend.

We booked a moving firm who arrived at 8am and were finished by 8.45am. They drove off to wait elsewhere for us to call them. We had to leave at 11am, picked up the keys at 12.30pm. Arrived at new house at 1pm with the movers about 10 minutes behind us. No coordination involved from our side.

We paid extra for them to pack everything it wasn’t that much more and it was so much less stress. I was told the official time the properties exchange is 1pm so everything needs to be out be then. If not they can actually start charging you a fee every hour you’re delayed.

How would your relay idea work?

Empty house A onto the can, drive to house B, what do you do with the stuff in house B while the van is full of stuff from house A? How long does it take it empty house B and move to house C?

This is exactly the problem with what the OP on that other thread had A the house is no longer yours once the money has been paid. You have to leave. You end up without a house for a few minutes / hours, not with two.

@Notmulan: where in the chain Is the out of towner? Above or below you? What they are doing may have a bearing…

And how far up chain are you? What happens up the chain from you is a bit irrelevant, just below will impact you

Doing much as humanly possible in advance is the main thing! Early start on moving day

It really depends how much stuff you have, how many men do the moving and how easy the access to your place generally. We had 'easy' furniture this time, no big pieces and most things sealed up in boxes and it still took 4 men over three hours to pack the truck. The garage and garden things had their own smaller truck. If they pack you the day before it's a great idea but more expensive as they are tying up the truck and the men for 2 days. My main tip would be to pay for a late key waiver if they offer one, as otherwise you can end up paying more if the key is late. It cost us £80 for that on our last move and probably saved us hundreds as the key was late being released even though the chain below us were all given theirs (only 3 of us in the chain). So they were all moving and we were waiting for hours. I would also recommend getting quotes from several movers, not just to compare prices but so they have the quotes done and are ready to be booked if you need them and others are already taken. They can't always come and do a quote very quickly as it's usually a separate job. Good luck with your move!

On our last move we coincidentally had the same removal firm moving the whole chain.
We moved out of our old house on the Thursday and they stored everything for us until we moved into the new house on Saturday. We stayed with friends for the two nights.

This is eye opening! Thank you. I’m writing notes.

@DespairingHomeowner we are second from the bottom. Being so low suddenly feels so good

@nutellamagnet yes you’re right it wouldn’t really work. Unless everyone had MAssive driveways and it was a really dry day.

I honestly had never considered that it would be possible to just lock it in a van overnight . That seems like a good plan ,

@alloverthecarpetagain what would the costs have been for a late key? Costs for extending your time with the van whilst you waited for the key? Good idea on several quotes

Thank you everyone . Our first move was to an empty (Ex rental ) house with a few suitcases and a baby, packed into a Honda jazz, with a stop in IKEA on the way . Now moving out with 3 children and a suitcase worth of duplo, as part of a chain and I realise there’s a lot I don’t know. It’s really helpful

The estate agent can usually hold the keys and release to the buyer when instructed?
Clean the house/mow the lawn in advance so on the day the house looks respectable. I’ve also cleaned for a friend after they left for their new home.

@Notmulan: I moved with London Removal company a few months ago . For a v reasonable price they packed me up on day before completion, took away as much as possible that night in a Luton van

Next day it all came back in the big van, bed, fridge & last bits loaded on - took the movers about 2 hours as they had to dismantle a sofa (prob 1 hour without that)

Being low on chain you may well complete in the morning. How far away is move date? Get rid of clutter ASAP & if you can afford it get professionally packed

If you can, for a local move, see if friends/family can look after your children on move day as this will speed up the load/unload

My biggest tip the movers: they go round a room so try to pile stuff together in room it will go into in next house (so if eg office stuff WAS in a bedroom, but will be in dining room in new house, put it with your table cloths etc)

Btw, the chain don’t complete at the same time:

• your buyers will go 1st, it might be done as early as 9.30 am
• you will be next: it could be 30 mins/1 hour later… etc

The transfers CAN take hours , but that is unlucky. As you are a long chain, your solicitors really should try to have bottom of chains funds ready night before, so the 1st completion can happen early and chain can get moving. As you really have to wait for the funds to transfer in from your sale before vacating, it’s important to be ready to leave ASAP after … especially if 5 other families are waiting on you before they can unpack their bed for the night!

Make sure you hire a big enough van (or more than one if needed) so you can be done in one trip. If not, you will end up holding up your buyers. Get everything as ready as possible the night before and get up really early, so you are done when the movers arrive. Have someone look after the kids if possible, so they are not underfoot. Have the movers start upstairs then clean after them as they go.

Having just done this on Friday, we were also second in a chain of 6. Moving locally, family of 4 from 3 bed semi
here are our timings.

•fully packed & cleaned as much as poss day before. Overnight bag, breakfast bars and kettle left out.
•removers arrive 9am (3 men, 2 vans)
•10:40am our sale completed, the house now belongs to buyer. We have till 1pm to vacate but are working like Billy-o to be out ASAP. Not sitting about having an early lunch and still packing!
•11:14 our purchase completes
•11:30 last bit of furniture loaded. We do final hoover round. Removers go off to have some lunch before meeting us at new place.
•11:30 we call EA to say release keys (that we previously provided to them) to buyer. We lock up and post our set through the letter box.
•shortly after attend our sellers EA to collect our new keys (they had been able to move out night before so no delay).
•go to new house, check it over then have lunch in local cafe while awaiting removers.

After that it's just moving in, but by that point no-one is waiting on you so didn't really note timescales. Removers were done just after kids back from school, so approx 3:30.

We would have liked to have moved out day before but we had trouble getting a remover (short notice) and had to go with 'man & van' type firm - who were v good - but not available day before.

The lower in the chain the quicker the key release will be as they start at the bottom and work up. My sister moved last week and she was number 3 in the chain, removers arrived at 8.45 and house was empty and clean by 10.30am when their buyer completed. It then took another 3 hours for them to get key release as their sellers solicitors were useless and didn't confirm money release even though confirmation of money sent had been done by 11am. Removal men had a leisurely lunch, as did we parked just down the road from their new property. Once we had keys removal men were like lightning. With 3 kids I would pay for packing service (best money you will ever spend) or at least pay for reassembly of furniture.

Sorry forgot to mention that we are paying the removal company for their packing service and their disassembly and assembly service.

I wish we were able to do this:
A couple with similar aged kids at the time (3 & 5) picked up the eldest from school & one parent took both kids to stay at a relatives. Other parent went back to house to over-see final packing and pick up by removers in the late afternoon. Once house was empty did a quick clean up and then joined family back at relatives. Cleaner arrived early in the morning to do a deeper clean, whilst one parent went to new house and waited for keys.
Once keys were released, they over-saw unpacking and set -up kids and parents bedrooms. And checked everything else was in the right place. Re-joined other parent at relatives (in the mean-time, eldest kid had been to school). Next day, kid dropped at school and parents finished un-packing without any rush, youngest dropped off by relative and eldest picked up from school in the afternoon.
The whole thing was relatively calm, with no panics or feeling rushed. Yes they paid extra for the stuff in the van over-night, but say it was worth it.
Obviously helpful that move was relatively local. Eldest kid moved to new school at the end of the term.