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...

As soon as she gets the call from the solicitor to say the funds have gone through it’s not her house. She’ll have her shit in someone else’s house. I would hit the fucking roof if I was buying a new house and the previous owner still had their belongings in there. I’d pack them all in to the street. I’d hit the roof a second time if I knew the day before she’d been at a soft play.

This happened to us.

I was a bit shocked tbh.
Completed on the house. Didn't hear anything from the estate agent regarding picking up the keys.

Solicitor confirmed all done by midday....
Eventually I called the estate agent. Who was a little embarrassed as they didn't have the keys as agreed.

So I went round at 3pm. They were still there!! They ended up leaving furniture we had not agreed to have. And their new house wasn't big enough. So we had to move it into the drive and dump it. Tried to sell some but takes too long.

Luckily we were still renting so were not planning to move in that day anyway.

If I had all my removals in a truck on its way I'd be fuming.

Hope it all worked out OP.

Upthread "That sort of thing is ridiculous- you don't ever own both houses!"

It's actually quite common over here. You arrange closing dates to overlap for a week, and get a loan (called a bridging loan) from the bank or mortage company.

🙄

Last time our movers cancelled the morning of.

I am sure our buyers were cursing us but there was nothing to be done. Ringing round desperately to find another firm. Thankfully we got what turned out to be some guy and his mate to drive down from Manchester (we're in the Midlands!). We got the last of it out around 3pm. I think that was miraculous all things considered.

Thankfully our buyers weren't massive knobs about it...

Well, since none of that is legally required (unless it’s in the contract which I’ve never seen), you wouldn’t be moving in for a very long time.

Presumably you were packed (or ready for packers) and could evidence that they'd cancelled though. I'd be full of sympathy for you and have absolutely zero for OP's sister.

Well when we moved I had a toddler and was pregnant. Pretty rude to a pregnant mum not to be out so she can get moved into her new home.

@OnAir agree!

Why do people do this?

I’m expecting her buyers tomorrow will be expecting to sleep there tomorrow night with there own things, and she’ll have her solicitors charging her for hotel/airbnb/removal etc

That’s why we had to do - we’d completely under estimated h-w long it would take to pack everything. In hindsight I so wish we’d paid extra to a removals company do the actual packing for us

You can’t complete if you can’t give vacant possession. Better to ‘fess up to your solicitor so that can give your vendor the news that completion will be delayed. You’ll have to cover their wasted removal costs, accommodation etc.

You're meant to give vacant possession in terms of occupants and contents. Depends how much you're leaving, but if it's likely to require a skip or professional clean when contents are removed, I'd ask my solicitor on the day to forewarn yours, I'd be putting a claim in for the costs.

I once delayed a completion by 24 hours, because although I’d specifically said that the place must be cleared completely (I’d had a strong suspicion that the bloke was going to leave a load of old junk) he still left a manky old sofa and a load of rubbish.

He wasn’t at all happy at having to pay someone to come and take it all away, but it served him right. I was buggered if I was going to pay anyone to take his junk away!

What a selfish person your sister is. Honestly some people just think it’s all about them. Read the riot act , put the fear of God into her. Some people are completely clueless.

Fully clear as many rooms as you can, try to get all your stuff into one other room so they can have 75% of the house. They are unlikely to move in before mid day.

Tell me you haven’t read the thread without telling me you haven’t read the thread 🙄

To be fair their are quite a few posters who don’t know how to use the See All function on the OPs posts

Oh my life! Soft play? I know little ones need entertaining but if there was ever a time to make good use of the zombifying effects of the screen, it’s now!

The ‘it will be alright’ attitude of non planners drives me nuts. HOW will it be alright. Based on what evidence?

This happened to us once. We turned up with our van ready to move in and the people were still loading a small lorry that they had planned to do many trips to their new house in ferrying boxes. They had no intention of being quick and we actually really rude about it.

We got on to our solicitor immediately who as per the contract slapped a big hourly fine on them until it was vacant possession and we had to sit outside waiting for them.

They emptied the house into the street in the end with very red faces as they just hadn't arranged a way to move their stuff. I think people think they can go as fast as they like and it won't matter. It does matter!

I've been that seller before. Had a 6 week old baby and 2 year old so we hired a removals company recommended on the local Facebook page who were to pack a lot of our stuff, and move everything and just turned out to be complete cowboys.

Cost us £100 for a hotel and a shopping trip for our buyer to be sorted for the night, and £450 for storage for the buyers stuff overnight.

It genuinely took me about a year to get over that day and really took the shine off our lovely new house. Absolutely mortified by what happened, but there wasn't much to be done on our end to help it.

The app (on android) doesn't have the See All function.

This happened when we were collecting the keys for in-laws new place. The family had totally underestimated how long to pack and move, never mind clean.

It was DH's birthday and we went there at the right time, no chance, so went back every so often. At 11.30pm, they finally handed over keys. Place was a shithole...

It's a good thing that my very particular in-laws weren't moving in that day, took ages to sort. Technically tho, stuff in the house after completion is the new owner's and they can invoice you for rubbish removal or sell it themselves.

I hope you don't get roped in to help.

I have known some people who are still packing late afternoon of completion day. I am not sure if there is a specific time when people have to be out as completion doesn't take place until money has changed hands. So if you are bottom of a chain that could be quite late,

Here for the drama. You have to tell us what happens!