Asking to move furniture in after exchange but before completion

[worriedworriedworriedworried]

Would it be cheeky asking our vendor if we're able to start moving things into the property once we've exchanged on it but before completion? FWIW the house is empty and I'd like to give it a good clean before we properly move in. We have toddler twins and I can't imagine what moving in day will look like otherwise... obviously we'd have all insurances in place to protect ourselves.

Hey OP. This is doable but there are risks. The primary risk is, because you don’t own the house yet, your belongings will be accessible by the vendor. If they are unscrupulous you could find yourself with a few less belongings. Once you have exchanged you must complete or you will lose your deposit and could be sued for the value of the property. Would you still want to complete if the vendor nicked some of your stuff?! I would (a house is a house) but just something to be aware of.
If the vendor doesn’t complete you can sue them for specific performance so they are ordered by court to sell the house to you, but meanwhile you won’t have the right to go into the property to collect your belongings (during which time the vendor could flog them). This also means resorting to further legal action, which isn’t always a desired or practical step.
Overall, you’re leaving your items in quite a vulnerable position… but if they are easily replaceable, if you have a good relationship with the vendor, if your stress level about moving is high enough, you may feel you have an appetite for this level of risk.

I would speak to your solicitor so they can properly appraise you of the risks so you can weigh them against your list of benefits and make an informed decision.

The step then, of course, is approaching the vendor to ask (perfectly doable). They just may say no!

if you pay extra you can get a good removal firm to pack for you prior to moving you could ask to move your things into the garage

We were buying a house and on the eve of our exchange our solicitors' office was shut by Royal Society of Solicitors - or something similar, can't remember exact name of it- and so we had to find another solicitor and repeat the process, which took another 3 or so months. Imagine if it happened when you have most of your possessions already in the new house. I wouldn't risk it.

We're in a flat with a handful of big furniture to take with us (we're not taking our fridge/washing machine, etc. as they're integrated and we've agreed to buy the vendor's appliances as replacements). The majority of our possessions constitute clothing, books, toys and general household items. The packing quotes we've received so far range from £1800-£2200 which seem ludicrous for a 10- maximum 12- minute drive away. I was absolutely adamant we'd do the packing ourselves but we might have to throw money at this to get it done properly considering @Paddleandbail and @yousolucky's replies!

Thank you- again, this makes so much sense and not something I'd thought of. Our vendors have been difficult but I wouldn't think they'd go so far as this but then again, nothing so queer as folk and all that!

So sorry to hear this. What happened to your solicitors? I can't imagine the stress you'd have gone through :(

As pp's have already said, it's risky so personally I wouldn't do it.

I have moved with young children though and I understand you wanting to get ahead of the game.

In our case we simply prioritised the move in so far we sorted the children's room out on day one (and made sure one bathroom was stocked and functional) and sorted everything else out on the following days.

As long as they had somewhere safe to sleep and play then we could "rough it" for a while.

It didn't take very long to get sorted in the main and most delays were us me working out where I wanted furniture placed that ended up being different from what I'd envisioned.

I wouldn't agree to this as a vendor. I've learned my lesson enough times in the past that if you give people an inch they take a mile and I wouldn't take on the risk that you'd damage the house or pull out of the sale but refuse to leave or something. I would sympathise but no, I wouldn't let you move your things in before completion.

It is a long while since I last moved, but the removal costs were the best value for money in the whole process - old house emptied in record time, everything left in the right rooms in the new house, and lots of energy left for unpacking, cleaning and checking utilities etc.

Our vendors did this. It then meant we could start moving our stuff into their house a couple of days before completion. We did know them so trusted them. It made moving day a million times easier, even with a removal firm

Paying for decent removals is the best money you'll spend as part of the move.

One parent takes the kids out for the day, the other one does last minute cleaning and sets up kids rooms.

There is no benefit at all for the vendor for what you propose but a huge risk. You could cause devastating damage to their property and, as a result, withdraw from the sale. You'd have to forfeit your deposit of course but this could be peanuts compared to the costs and stress then facing the vendor who is potentially left with an unsellable property for an indeterminate amount of time. They'd be mad to agree.

Ditto

You don’t own it until completion. Things can still go wrong or take longer than anticipated.

Worriedworried, our original solicitors were shut and investigated for 'discrediting solicitors' code of practice' (know nothing more than that). The worst thing was that the investigation finished earlier than our second completion and our original solicitors opened again after 8 weeks- we live locally and know local gossip.
It was unbelievably stressful and much more expensive.

A previous vendor allowed me to camp on their floor for 2 weeks before completion so anything’s possible.
But it’s not normally allowed, people must do moves at midday with toddlers all the time and manage somehow.
For our next move with a toddler one option I’ve considered is a night or two for us all in a local travelodge (plus toddler in nursery daytimes) to minimise presence of toddler among half built furniture, towers of boxes, open front doors, temping things to unpack etc. Could be an economical option to ease stress, depending where you live?

Agree with some previous posters - much better to sort out childcare or hotel for moving day

Never underestimate the amount of time it takes to physically move your belongings. There’s always more than you think. It’s not about how far you’re moving, it’s about getting it out of one house and into another.

Forgot to say another thing I’ve read here is consider hiring a professional cleaner, handyman to build furniture etc, relatively small hourly fees to get simple things done quicker.

This might be worth exploring.

We had this earlier this year.
Selling my late parents house and the buyers (who had been a bit slow) asked if they exchanged in a week's time, could they have their new kitchen delivered and stored on the house (it was empty)?
I wasn't keen and the solicitor said definitely not. I ran the insurance issue past a family member (who is an Underwriter) and he also said it was a big no.
After feeding this back to them, amazingly we exchanged & completed within the next 4-days. Amazing what a bit of pressure can do!

It would be highly unusual for beds/wardrobes to be moved in before Completion. More usual for a few items to be put in the shed/garage if there's room. It is 99% certain it won't be allowed by the vendors or their solicitors and you shouldn't resent them for that because most people would say No.

What you need to do is pay your removals firm to do the packing for you and to assemble the beds in the new place - they can do this very quickly and it doesn't cost a huge amount more. I know that money's tight but maybe something else has to be given up to afford it. It really will help you a lot especially if your husband is not the type to be really helpful on moving day.

OP if you can't, what we did was pack the van so DC's things came out first and we set up their new rooms in the same configuration as their old rooms, (bed where they;d expect it to be etc, and set up some toys for them so they had somewhere that felt normal to them.

Definitely pay for a moving service.

We moved from a flat like you - lots of built in furniture. We don't even have children and agreed the cost of the movers was the most effective money we spent in the whole process.

Meant we were in the new house swiftly, all our stuff/ boxes were in the right rooms and we still had plenty of energy to start unpacking. We were mostly done by the end of the day ( our lovely vendors had deep cleaned the house when they moved)

You do it yourself, you'll be stressed and tired in no time.

As a vendor I would not allow this. If you want to reduce the stress on completion get a good reputable removal company.

Paying for a proper packing and removal service is the best money I’ve ever spent. We were settled in with all the boxes unpacked so much faster because we weren’t exhausted by the physical work of packing and moving the boxes. Also, because the removal firm supplied all the right boxes (including boxes with hanging rails for clothes etc), we didn’t need to get hold of those ourselves. They also had all the right straps and lifting equipment to be able to move the furniture without damaging it.
It took so much stress out of the move and we could focus on a quick clean up and being able to reassure our toddler.

I’d be happy to let you in to clean and plan but not store items in the house. Maybe that’s a half way house solution.