Completed on house this morning but previous owner still hasn’t left!!

[BlueFireSmokey]

Got the message from the solicitor to say we had completed at around 11am this morning. Told the house was now ours and we could pick up the keys from the estate agents. Phoned estate agents and arranged to pick keys up at 3pm. We were very excited as it’s our first home!

Got to estate agents no sign of keys no one seemed to know where they were. They phoned the vendor who said she wasn’t done packing!! And would be gone in a couple of hours. Estate agents told us they shut at 5:30 so to get the keys we would need to go to the house and get them direct from the vendor.

We then left it a couple hours before going to our lovely new home. Fortunately, we have several weeks left on our tenancy so we aren’t actually moving all our furniture in today (vendor doesn’t know this). Anyway they are still there! They said they will be another twenty minutes.

We are gonna find some dinner somewhere then head back and see if they are gone. They gave us a key but they still have keys they said they will put through letter box. This isn’t how I imagined today would go!

Based on our last experience, @EdgeOfTheSky, the worst date possible for a move is the last Friday in May.

1. It's a Friday. Most people want to complete and move on a Friday so they've got the weekend to unpack, so there's increased demand for removal firms, and if anything does go wrong, you have to act fast to get to your solicitor and the bank before they close on Friday afternoon.
2. It's just before a Bank Holiday Monday. As above, plus you have an extra day to unpack so even more demand for movers, and if anything does go wrong your solicitor will be shut on Monday.
3. End of the month is payday, so lots of people choose to move then.
4. May is peak time for house sales, so even more demand for removal firms, busy time for solicitors etc etc.

It all worked out for us in the end, but if (god forbid) we ever move again, it won't be on the last Friday in May!

@MadamBatty

Am I the only one who starts to pack up when I put the house up for sale…charity shop, junk. Then nearer the move pack up All non essential clothes & stuff. The week before down to the bare minimum.

We did it exactly like that. We'd outgrown our old house, anyhow, so had a big declutter and packed some stuff off to. A storage site and some into MIL's spare room before we even put our house on the market. We had 4 months in between accepting our offer and finally moving to get our shit sorted. We were a tiny chain, only us both buying and selling and our vendor was a arse and calling the shots about completion date, while being very hard to contact and using an extreme lackadaisical conveyancing farm so we spent much of the last week with me organising removals who had big enough vans and could be flexible while dh chased up solicitors and dealt with his mum dying. It would take a very substantial windfall to persuade us to ever move again.

And we were out of our house by 11. Took almost 3 hours to get our keys. For a mostly unlived in house which was absolutely disgusting.

@Anordinarymum I'm genuinely curious, really not trying to have a go, as I can understand it's a fine balance as you essentially have to be prepared to move out without knowing the transfer of funds has all gone through.

However surely you had already exchanged contracts? So it's ok to have a few last minute things, but not even the loft?

I remember we got the keys at 10 or 11, they were supposed to be out by 12, but when we turned up they were still packing/unloading.

We knew we'd need 3-4 trips - we were only round the corner really - so the removal men started unloading in the garage.

She wasn't gone til about 5.30pm. What a bloody day.

There's absolutely no excuse for this sort of shit
Selling your house is something you know you are doing. It's not a shock to learn that you need to pack your shit up and be gone!

I've bought houses in several (European) countries and I have not encountered such a thing as the chain in the UK anywhere. Sounds massively stressful. Move out and in the same day and if anything happens to any of the buyers or sellers, the entire chain falls apart.

I would expect to complete and get the keys well in advance of actual moving date, so you can also re-decorate, way easier when the house is empty. Just checked that for example with our current house, we completed in June but only moved in in September. You'd normally get a bridging loan or in case of first time buyers, extend your rental agreement.

@purplesequins

Then about a week later we came home from shopping and her stepson and grandson were helping themselves to the stuff she left in the garage. So she hadn’t handed all the keys over. She was a right nightmare.

always change the lock right away. you never know how many copies of the keys are floating around.

We changed the house keys, the garage is a remote key operated so she left us one, we thought that was it.... when they left we made them hand over the second one.

@Anordinarymum

When I moved, the new buyer wanted the keys to the house on the minute of completion. They had no house to sell as they were renting it out. They knew we were moving out and they knew we could not commence until I got the keys to my new place. We had removal men here and a van of our own. All my family helped. I was busy cleaning and washing carpets and they kept phoning and phoning.

They knew I was up to my eyes in it and still they kept on nagging for the keys.

They got them when I was ready and not a moment before but the stress of moving was bad enough without them mithering at me.

Because they were phoning all the time I left precious things behind in the loft and never got them back.

I will never do this again. I will find another way of doing it.

You were lucky I wasn't your buyer. The new owners are entitled to full possession and the point of completion. I wouldn't have been phoning you; I'd have been standing at the front door tossing your belongings out onto the front garden. You should have been packed and ready to go.

Some people are unbelievable. We had this, after a really protracted 6 month long purchase, where we had to wait til 5pm to get in because our vendor was making multiple trips back and forward to their new house. Really really rude and also the property was ours by 2pm!!!!

Insured by whom? The vendor's insurers or the buyer's?

The person who owns the house and has taken insurance out on it, obviously. The person PP was referring to as putting their insurance at risk. There is no ambiguity in the law when it comes to insurance and once again MN’s favourite “your insurance will be invalid” bullshit doesn’t apply here either.

There's absolutely no excuse for this sort of shit . Selling your house is something you know you are doing. It's not a shock to learn that you need to pack your shit up and be gone!

As I pointed out, there can be an excuse. We had a houseful of packed boxes and furniture waiting to be put into a truck that broke down before it got to us. They couldn’t/wouldn’t send a different truck. What exactly were we supposed to do at that point? We couldn’t put our stuff out in the pissing rain, nor could we hire a van big enough at such short notice to start moving. What would you have done?

@Anordinarymum

When I moved, the new buyer wanted the keys to the house on the minute of completion. They had no house to sell as they were renting it out. They knew we were moving out and they knew we could not commence until I got the keys to my new place. We had removal men here and a van of our own. All my family helped. I was busy cleaning and washing carpets and they kept phoning and phoning.

They knew I was up to my eyes in it and still they kept on nagging for the keys.

They got them when I was ready and not a moment before but the stress of moving was bad enough without them mithering at me.

Because they were phoning all the time I left precious things behind in the loft and never got them back.

I will never do this again. I will find another way of doing it.

You were in the wrong. The idea is you start packing once you've exchanged, so everything is in boxes ready to be loaded into the van on the morning you complete. You don't start packing only once you've got the keys!

This is totally unacceptable. It's not just the inconvenience, but the house is legally yours now. So if they damage the property who's insurance does it come from? Etc. You really need to tell them that they have to leave. I would also complain to your solicitor too.

The new buyer knew we would not move until monies were exchanged. We had been told to do nothing until we got the phone call. Buyer knew all this.

Sounds like you misunderstood the advice from the Estate Agent or your Solicitor about not moving out or handing keys over until financial completion had gone through.

The agent definitely didn’t mean you don’t start PACKING ANY OF YOUR BELONGINGS until after completion has occurred. No wonder your buyer was getting anxious. You should have started packing days before and been almost totally packed by mid-morning.

A house we bought some years ago was from a couple splitting up. They were living in the property but living separately and refused to speak to each other and used their children as a ‘go between’. Viewing the property was really uncomfortable and we tried to arrange appts when only the lady was there.

Thankfully, DP and I both owned our own properties so we didn’t need to move in on the day of completion. They were also very slow to move out  on the day using separate removals companies and she ended up leaving some of the animals for a few days as there was a problem with the property the lady was moving into. We didn’t really have much choice about that as I couldn’t put the poor animals out of their stables.

It's very scary how many stories are out there of CF vendors not being out of their hose when it's completion - it really isn't rocket science.

That is why we paid for packers for our last move - the best £500 I have ever spent. They achieved more in 2 hours than I had done in 4 weeks (also had 2 very young children and full time job)

Definitely use packers

I'd put in a complaint, and ask them to cover expenses via your solicitor. Yes, you may not have many expenses, but you could claim for lunch or something, as you should have been able to eat your lunch in your new home. What if you'd had movers booked? I'd be pedantic and make a point I think because they're CFs.

God, how awkward! I've never sold a house but I would make damn sure to be out of there way before the new owners arrive!

@Anordinarymum

When I moved, the new buyer wanted the keys to the house on the minute of completion. They had no house to sell as they were renting it out. They knew we were moving out and they knew we could not commence until I got the keys to my new place. We had removal men here and a van of our own. All my family helped. I was busy cleaning and washing carpets and they kept phoning and phoning.

They knew I was up to my eyes in it and still they kept on nagging for the keys.

They got them when I was ready and not a moment before but the stress of moving was bad enough without them mithering at me.

Because they were phoning all the time I left precious things behind in the loft and never got them back.

I will never do this again. I will find another way of doing it.

So….you screwed them, but it’s their fault?

Isn't it trespass if you stay in the house past completion without the new owners' consent?

Whenever we have moved we are out by 12 noon so we are ahead of the completion. You just have to have a van big enough for all your stuff just in case you are stuck temporarily. We have given our keys in before 12 noon and then gone for lunch and then picked up the new keys.

Friends have bought houses where the vendors haven't understood that they do not own the house after completion. There is no waiting around and the vendors have been sued for it.

Some people have no pride though.

@Anordinarymum - of course the buyers wanted the house the minute of completion - it was their house!

I do wonder if it’s one of those things that’s so obvious no one (estate agent or solicitor) actually spells it out completion means house isn’t yours anymore and you shouldn’t have any stuff in it or be in it after completion. People usually get trucks loaded and set off and then get call to say completed.
We’ve only moved a few times. Worse one was a new build ex show house. Turned up late afternoon several hours after completion to all builders stuff still inside, sales lady hoovering frantically and no working boiler (turned out boiler repair man had stolen a part to fix next doors previously) I refused to let site manager go home until heating sorted.

I think a lot of the issue is people wanting exchange and completion on the same day.

You need a good couple of weeks - if not more - to arrange removals/storage, someone to have kids if they're not at school, a cleaner if you want rather than worrying that it won't go through when your entire life is in boxes or rush packing once everything is confirmed in place

Yes, exchange and completion on the same day. What could possibly go wrong?

Having said that if it’s a new build that’s OK and no chain but could you imagine having everything ready to go and a simultaneous exchange and completion in a chain and someone drops out...

There really is no excuse for not even starting to clear out your loft before the moving day. There was a big misunderstanding going on there.

@Anordinarymum The new buyer knew we would not move until monies were exchanged. We had been told to do nothing until we got the phone call.

Nobody physically moves until the money is exchanged because until it is the title of the property does not change, what you are failing to grasp is that you should be packed up and ready to go the minute confirmation of fund transfer comes through, not just starting to pack, load and clean the property.

Vacant possession on completion which is when the monies are transferred means exactly that vacant possession so no people or their possessions in the property, not "Oh I'll start packing my stuff up now". Once funds are transferred the property is no longer yours it is the new owners to do with as they will.