Urgent moving day etiquette question

[SpidersAreShitheads]

Hi all,

Today is The Day - eek! First of a two part move, mum is moving in first and we’re building an annexe.

She has to be out by 1pm but realistically I’m not expecting funds to be through and keys to be ready at new place til 3-4pm.

Where do you go and where does furniture van wait? Surely you don’t park up in the road you’re moving to? Or do you? It’s a very narrow road - will look horribly conspicuous sat there for a couple of hours.

My DM has lots of form for being unintentionally rude and me/my DC are all autistic so we’re prone to making social faux pas too 😂😂🤦🏻‍♀️ what’s the done thing?? I’m presuming removal men will know what the polite thing is to do???? Help!!! 😂😂😂

Removal men (if they're local) will have a spot they park up in, have some lunch and await completion.
Don't panic, they'll know what they're doing!
As for you, do final checks on the old house, go and grab something to eat. Completion can be anytime from midday

We’ve been to have lunch somewhere whilst waiting for completion. I imagine the van goes to the depot if it’s a reasonable length of time.

Why are you not expecting keys until so late? We completed at 11, left our old place at 12 and the keys to the new place were ready an hour later when we arrived.

I’ve never thought of this scenario, but it explains something that has mildly piqued my curiosity for years … why there is a particular lay-by near here which often has a removals van in it, but different companies.

@user143677433 exactly how I found out! Wondered why I always saw them parked in this particular spot. When we moved, we saw them there and it all made sense!

Agree removal men will know if familiar to the area if not they will find somewhere.
i would take her for a leisurely lunch somewhere near to where she will be living and when you get the call grab some milk and biscuits assuming you have kettle, tea bags, coffee and some cold cans for yourselves and removal men as it will be much appreciated by all. Hope it goes well, you certainly have the good weather for it.

depends where your mum is in the chain, as to what time she will complete. We were last in our chain, and didn’t complete until 16.10, the removal guys were on the drive of our new property waiting for us, and called us a couple of times to ask if we had the keys, then a drive out of the city, very stressful & long day, as we were relocating 3+hrs from where we used to live.

Aaah ok that makes sense, thank you. There is a lovely pub just round the corner from the new place where we could go and get some lunch.

I only just realised this morning that I’ve never moved into a house this way before (with a chain plus furniture). It’s these little things which are confusing 😂

I had visions of just being sat outside the house with all our stuff while the seller packed their van and it all being very awkward 😂

it’s also very hot. I might melt if I have to sit in the car for too long haha

Our removal men took off and parked up somewhere while they waited for us to call. We drove to the closest car park to the estate agents and waited until they called. We were so excited we were there within 3 minutes of the keys being released.

We didn't get our keys until 5pm because they were still moving out! It was a long and stressful day! Luckily we were moving from rented and had hired a van to move ourselves so could move the next day!

It’s only a very small chain. For long and complicated reasons my DM has one solicitor who dealt with the sake of her house (amazing solicitor) and one solicitor who dealt with purchase of new place (spectacularly shit solicitor).

Shit solicitor hadn’t even sent bank details through this morning. Amazing solicitor had to email her and harass her for them this morning.

Shit solicitor really is spectacularly shit. Due to epic delays/screw ups on her part we had to withdraw from our mortgage and will now have to source a mortgage once we’ve moved in (which is infinitely harder as there’s a six month rule after purchase).

So I have absolutely zero confidence she will deal with anything quickly or efficiently….

I remember your previous posts - so pleased for you that it’s all happening!!!

I was out by noon and didn’t get in until after 3pm. Made the mistake of paying the removal men by the the house because I was only moving a couple of streets away!

the delay was the vendors solicitor had gone on a long lunch and wasn’t answering her phone😳.

luckily my new house was empty, owners moved out a few days before, so the removal men sat int he back garden! It was a beautiful day and they had a lovely afternoon! Me not so much

We had to be out by 2 pm but bottom of chain didn't send funds until late morning. Then solicitors went for lunch etc. and we were homeless for 3 hours sitting outside the new house with removal men. Even though it was empty the keys weren't released until the funds came through.

Made the mistake of declining the late access fee meaning if not in by 3 pm they start charging by the hour.

Luckily the main guy didn't charge us for the couple of extra hours when we signed the work off, was a lovely bloke.

Was our first time in a chain too, not sure how others do this, guess depends on solicitors and when funds are released to start travelling up.

Good luck!