What happens if I can't empty house by completion day?

[competion]

What happens if there are still things in the house when the new owner arrives? Going as fast as I can but unlikely to be done by tomorrow...

There’s one in every family.

Unfortunately, sometimes there is more than one in a family... certain personality characteristics being hereditary and/or learned or a bit of both!😎

This is beyond rudeness. We have arrived after completion to find previous owner still finishing packing but he was apologetic and there was plenty space to get our furniture in and he'd been very accommodating for viewings so we didn't fuss. We have also had another vendor who kindly let us put stuff into the garage a day early.

Our last purchase we incurred additional storage and removal costs because of a problem with our buyer's buyer (meant completion date put back at very short notice). Everyone should get vacant possession at midday on the date of completion. If the OP's sister messes several people in a chain I hope she's hit with everybody's extra costs.

This happened to my parents in that the vendor hadn’t fully moved out.

Fortunately the property had a driveway that was a bit out of the way so my parents just put ll the stuff there. The vendor eventually picked it up two weeks later which was an absolute pisstake.

But tbh I don’t understand how you can be so disorganised? Selling a house is such a long process you’ve had plenty of notice?? I imagine the people buying your house will be really annoyed.

DS moved in August, this is how it worked for him.

They had everything in boxes for weeks in advance, as most people would.
8:30 in the morning on move day, five adults loaded two vans
I was cleaning lady and cleaned as they emptied a room.
10:30 we were all packed and eating Greggs in the garden
11:30, solicitor rang, the house was sold. DS dropped keys off at agent. Buyer was in rented so not on the doorstep.
13:30, solicitor rang and new house was his, but current lovely occupier was still loading boxes. So loaded vans were parked up and they went to the local golf club for a coffee and a cake.
15:30 he had the keys
16:00 five adults and Mrs Mopp moved the boxes in. Lovely seller had left it spotless, so I just wandered around doing not much other than going to the shop for drinks.

I'm inclined to have some sympathy when people are clearly trying to finish and are apologetic, because sometimes the behaviour of buyers or solicitors, or others in the chain, leads to people being forced into a very quick completion date turnaround, even if in principle they've had 6 months' warning, because the date keeps being moved or just isn't finalised with enough notice. And not everyone can pull an all-nighter or keep changing what days they have off work, or even afford to put things into storage in the meantime or get Pickfords to come and do the lot.

We had a CF buyer who mucked about for months and then tried to force a completion on the same day as the exchange (we managed to hold our nerve and get it for early the following week). Fortunately we didn't have too much stuff there, were capable of an all-nighter, had removals sorted even at that short notice, and didn't have children or animals with us.

But yes the OP's sister is a very CF or one of these totally oblivious people who live in a parallel world, and the above doesn't apply here.

What about the cleaning/carpet shampooing/windows etc? Euuggh to someone still using the shower when you move in. I couldn't be moving until previous owners had had commercial cleaners in to sort their shit.

Astonished that so many have had this experience. I've moved multiple times due to work, and I've always had the house empty in time for paying for a professional deep clean, while I'm still in possession.

If you are standing watching the previous owners still packing, do you just have to accept a filthy house?

Not as if they had a date to move for at least 2 weeks. Oh wait.

For crying out loud, think of both sides here. The new owners have managed to pack up AND get to the new house in plenty of time to move in. The vendors issues are not the new owners issues. And in this case instead of just packing for as many hours as necessary, shes gone to a softplay place with her children.

I've always been lucky enough to not be moving in the same day, but I would be hugely upset if I arrived with all my stuff and found people still packing up. I'm with the throw it all out in the front garden as my version of helping them.
I dont pay good money for a house to still be occupied when I get there.

You're right, your DSis is an arse! If I was the new owner, I'd be asking my solicitor to send a bill to their solicitor for storage costs and/or the cost of removal by a removal company.

Exactly my house was like cardboard city for a couple of weeks before we moved. I had removal van booked weeks in advance. They even come to look around to get an idea of how long it would take and price etc.

If I was the buyer and your twat sister was still in the house come tomorrow, I’d turn up and start lobbing her shit onto the front garden. She’s a total moron.

She may be fine as she chose the right weekend to be a moron.

https://todaysconveyancer.co.uk/technology-failure-impacting-transactions/

Loads of sales and completions have been delayed. There's a thread on this in Property/DIY.

My friend is selling a house and the buyers turned up with their removal van but they couldn't get in because the funds had not cleared. They had to go to the hotel for the weekend, and I suspect they are wracking up fees left, right and centre.

Here's the thread...

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/property/4949078-last-minute-delay-for-completion-nightmare

I really hope the OP gets it sorted.

Wtf just keep it!

They can serve notice on you, which will have a fixed cost for the notice fee, plus any interest, plus any costs they incur from your failure to complete (hotel costs, removal vans sat waiting outside, food because they can’t get in to prep) it can get expensive.

Unfortunately due to my purchaser being very unreasonable and very unreliable eg didn't have the funds that she claimed to have! We ended up completing on both houses in the same day my furniture couldnt be loaded due to it having potentially no where to go if she failed with the payment again.......she eventually paid my solicitor at 16-45 and turned up at my door at 17-00 with the most horrendous attitude ....poor removal man worked well into the night
for us

Oh sweet lord how can anyone be so stupid. we only had 6 weeks to move when sold our house. we had a rental lined up but goy told week before moving wasn't ready. had to rush and get storage arranged for all furniture. I had everything packed and boxed up so we were able to move everything to storage but it entailed me and himself loading up a van every eve aftrr work and unloading it. not home till 11pm some nights. have pets too so moved the cats to teh cattery for a week and neighbour minding dogs each eve. cleaner also let us down so ended up taking time off work which was hard as had to make sure work was covered we cleaned until midnight every night too. slept on mattress as bed was dismantled. it was bloody bloody hard work and was exhausted but by 5pm that Friday house was no longer ours so we had to do it. I dunno how your sis is so stupid

It's a legal process that needs to be adhered to though! Once you've completed, you're essentially trespassing in your old property – why should the poor buyer sitting outside waiting to move into THEIR HOME shown compassion for someone who just can't be arsed to pack up in time like OP's sister?

This.

You sound incredibly self centred OP. The buyers will be the legal owners following completion and rightly will be expecting vacant possession. You should either get help to move things out or stay up all night to do it.

RTFT - it's not OP, it's her sister. OP is face palming as much as the rest of us!

You always complete on the sale and purchase in the same day otherwise you’d be homeless in the interim.

If I had arrived with my removal van, which must go back that same evening I'd put your stuff outside on the pavement and put my stuff in, so I could get the removal van back on time. The buyer takes legal ownership of the house from the point of completion. You know this yet still did not organise the packing on time. It's not good enough OP.

Wasn't there a thread a few years ago where the OP arrived at her new house and the previous owners point blank refused to move out? Wherever they were supposed to be going had fallen through and they didn't seem to grasp that this didn't mean they could carry on living in their old house.

Their solicitor will be confirming to your solicitor that the money has been lodged, at which point the transaction is officially complete and you are the new owner.

Our first vendors were like this, they had the worlds smallest van and some barely awake teenage helpers. Instead of one of them staying and organising the teenage helpers to get the next load ready, they both trotted off in the van and only returned when they had arranged things nicely in the new house……. Our removers ended up carrying their stuff out so they could get ours in. My enduring memory is of one of the helpers wearing very high heeled boots tottering out of the front door carrying a small geranium in a pot.

In the end they left the piano to pick up later, and it turned out, they also left one of the helpers ( plus small child!) because they had driven off with her bag and keys .We had to wait for them to come back for the piano. I have to say I was barely civil, it was pre mobile phone so no way of contacting them. I am older and meaner now, I wish I had called a cab and bundled her and her child into it.

It's usually 12 noon unless otherwise stated in the completion contract. Legally it's the point in time that the buyers solicitor sends money across to the seller's solicitor. At that point the house will no longer belong to your sister. She needs to clean it after taking her stuff out too. She needs to warn the buyers as they may agree a short time extension in return for your sister paying for a professional deep clean.