Relocating - how does exchange/completion work?

[RedWineWhiteWine]

We are relocating to the other side of the UK (4 hours away). I feel really stupid asking this question (why I’ve name changed), but how does completion/exchange work in those circumstances? How can you be in 2 places at once - the town where you are selling to sign over your house, and the town you are buying to sign contracts and collect keys? I’ve not sold a house before so I’m finding the process confusing. Help! Thanks

Not as far a distance as we relocated an hour away but when we did contracts we emailed our solicitor signing contracts on Google Docs and then they rang us both to confirm. We collected keys on the day of the move so we left our old house and then drove over, picked up the keys there and moved in to the new house. It all went quite smoothly!

You sign docs in advance, and your solicitors hold those until exchange / completion is agreed. Then they exchange/ complete on the telephone and date the docs.

With keys, you make sure your house is empty on completion day, drop all your keys to the estate agent, then drive to other estate agent to collect new house keys (feels weird in the middle when you have no house keys!)

You don't need to be present to complete a sale. You can leave keys with EA and complete sale by post / email.
Or like others have said, just drive between the 2.

So, do you need to temporarily put your stuff into storage incase something goes wrong the other end and you’ve handed your keys over but something has happened the other end to stop you collecting the keys? Or is it all done slightly in advance so you know for sure when you get the other end you will be receiving your keys?

I found this weird too (we moved end of June). Unfortunately, you do just have to trust the process! Are you in a big chain? What will happen is your house will sell, you’ll drive over to your new house and at some point the funds will be transferred to your new house and then you’ll pick them up. There will be a weird part of the day where you no longer have your old house but don’t have your new house either but it does all work out!

When we relocated we had a chunky gap (5 or so weeks) between exchange (when we were legally committed to buy) and completion (when we actually bought).

Yes to this ☝Your stuff will be in the removals van(s). Best case the timings are perfect and they unload straight away. Worst (normal) case there's a delay and it's late when you get in. Very very occasionally there's a proper delay (bank systems meltdown etc), and removals need to store overnight and you get a hotel. V unusual, but it happens - not trying to scare, I just always like to know v worst case so I can plan!

Sign contracts for both properties
When everyone ready agree a completion date with all parties in the chain
Exchange contracts- legally binding now
Move all your belongings out on completion date (as early as possible) and drive to estate agents and collect your keys for new property
Move in to new property

I’m worried as it’s 4 hours away we won’t get there for closing time for the estate agents. It’s all very confusing. We are early on in the process, I’m just thinking ahead.

Where did you live for the 5 weeks in between? Was this agreed beforehand or did you arrive in the new location and something went wrong?

You should be planning to be out asap then (eg by 12) and over to new place. If necessary and you're a couple one of you could supervise the completion of the packing and the other can go ahead for keys.

We got up really early, did one first thing in the morning and drove across the country to the other one, we didn't make it by the time the estate agent closed. They just called out a locksmith to sort out access to the house as contracts were already exchanged.

would we be better using a national removals company then instead of a local one incase they need to store our stuff? Because a local one would have to come all the way back whereas national one may have somewhere to store the stuff close by?
I like to prepare for every eventuality!

Get quotes and see what they charge for overrun etc. But possibly national better, yes.

Also, you live in your house between exchange and completion. But the long lead time gives you more time to firm up logistics.

We lived in our old house - you don't have to exchange contracts and complete on the same day.

So we signed all the documents with the solicitors, had a guaranteed completion date, then booked removals, packed etc. We then didn't have anything to sign on completion day, the solicitors were just able to deal with it all without our involvement, as far as I remember.

We set off in two cars: one car set off about 8am to be across the country by the time completion happened and to pick up keys, and the other stayed at the old house to wait for the removal men to finish packing the van and hand the old keys over to the estate agents and then set off later in the day.

We have 6 months between exchange and completion on our sale but we’re moving to Europe which makes it even more of a nightmare as you can’t complete the European purchase on the same day as you complete your sale as the money can’t be transferred between countries on the same day.

I’m having nightmares about it all going wrong…!!

We had got our old house packed up and on the vans by about 11:30am, by that point we had spoken to our solicitor and had confirmed the funds were in their account for completion so we were as confident as we could be that completion would happen.

We had already given the estate agent a front door key the day before so we left the rest of the keys on the kitchen work surface and posted the key we locked up with through the front door and left to go to our new house then, we were on the road on the way to the new place when the call came to say we had completed.

We then called the estate agent for our purchase and were fortunate enough that they were doing a viewing nearby around the time we would arrive so the agent brought the keys to us at the new house.

As it happened the people we were buying from hadn't finished leaving as they were moving nearby and were moving things in a small van between the two houses - we helped them move their things out - but this is not usual.

All documents are signed weeks ahead. Generally I've dropped one set of keys with the estate agent ahead of completion day, the moving company comes the day before and loads everything apart from beds the day before (plus what you can fit in your car(s) typically you take an overnight bag, vacuum and assorted cleaning stuff plus jewellery and anything else irreplaceable) in the morning early they load the beds and go, you do a final cleanup, put most remaining keys on kitchen worktop and post remaining key through letterbox once locked. Head to new house picking up the key from that estate agent.

For very long distances movers can state they need overnight in which case the night before completion you will need to use camp beds or stay in a hotel halfway

It can be better to use a removal company close to where you are moving to but I've never booked packers

We moved Berkshire to S. Yorks. We completed early on the sale by 12 I think and were actually under pressure to get going from our buyers, if I remember rightly we were hanging around a bit waiting for completion on our new house. We did have it by the time we set off and the sellers left the keys in a secure key box which they gave us the code to after completion (we were in direct contact anyway...).

We've just done a big move. It's daunting to you, but to all the professionals involved, it's no big deal.
Exchange happens usually weeks or days before. Nothing changes for you except you can't pull out of the sale without losing a lot of money.
Completion happens on the actual day of the sale. With a big drive, you will want to leave your house early so that you can get to your new house early enough to get the keys. The removal company packed 90% off our stuff the day before this, then came back for our beds on the morning of completion. We used a company local to our old house because the removal company could store our belongings on their van in their own yard, and the men could sleep in their own homes that night. Then, we all set off mid morning. Our keys were left with the estate agents, ready to give to the new owners when the sale went through around lunchtime.
You just have to trust the process, although it does feel strange to be driving away basically homeless!
By the time we got to the new town, our keys were ready, and we moved in. If the keys hadn't been ready, we would have had to just sit and wait outside the estate agents until they were. The removals van went straight to the new house and sat outside until we arrived with the keys.
The removal company finished unloading late-afternoon, they're so fast, then drove home after some pizza.
You have to put quite a lot of faith in other people, but although everyone will tell you horror stories of sales falling through etc, I think on the whole, the process works pretty well for most people.

Thanks everyone for taking the time to reply, I really appreciate it. It’s been great to read some of your experiences and that it’s hopefully slightly less scary than I was fearing. Also, I feel a bit more clued up now. Thanks!

That does sound quite scary. I hope everything goes smoothly for you.