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...

That would require the sort of forward planning that OP's Sis is lacking.

She sounds like a nightmare. I can’t wait to hear how it pans out @competion. Poor, poor buyers.

I’ve witnessed both sides of this scenario and to be honest the only people that I wondered about were the people who apparently loved the people struggling and did nothing to help

When I exchanged I packed up everything except basic living goods... and I was still up all night trying to have a shower at 6am before removal men came at 6.30... I had 2 vans but woman I was swapping with was doing it using cars! My removals men started having a go as most of her stuff was in house and they was chucking it out front while she was sat having a fag!.
I would say leave her get on with it she won't learn if she gets helped out like this last minute all time

Not true.
The house will belong to them but they have to give a reasonable time gor you to remove all your belongings. They however need to be given occupancy.... how the F aren't you packed? It takes months to sell a house....

It kind of sounds as if you’re generalising that in this type of scenario, anyone who doesn’t get their move organised properly is ‘struggling’. What if they are actually inconsiderate and irresponsible?

And if their loved ones don’t step in to do the hard bit for them, how does that translate to only ‘apparently’ loving them? What if the loved ones are already fully loaded with responsibilities of their own?

I mean, maybe you were only talking about the specific situations you personally witnessed — but if so, it seems like a reach to equate that with ‘this scenario’

People who do this are shit human beings. We packed up with two small children in tow and left our old house immaculate for the new buyers. We knew we couldn't move furniture etc buy ourselves so we accounted for a removal service in our financial planning.

Our vendor on the other hand called us after we picked up the keys asking us when we wanted him out by! We were absolutely distraught, our van was on the way, the house was disgusting and all his stuff was still there. He just had his elderly mum and her estate car, he had not made plans for removals. He wasn't poor by any means, he was moving up the ladder to a better house.

Luckily we moved back to a place with a support network, so between us all we chucked his stuff in the front garden and left it open to the elements while they moved it. We told him anything left would end up in a skip which we would make sure he paid for.

Your sister risks damage or loss of any possessions she doesn't move it or risks being sued buy the new buyers. What was she thinking!?

OMG! What on Earth did the tenant say? And do? What did your friend do when he saw her there?!!

Your friend bought a house without ensuring vacant possession then illegally evicted a tenant? That's not a story to laugh at, he's a fucking idiot.

Where is this woman's other half? I'm assuming she has another half?
What are they thinking?!!

Going to soft play when they have a house to clear out of by 1pm the next day?! I can imagine someone ditzy doing that to entertain a small child whilst dad boxes and sorts with a mate, but both of them?!!

If they both have learning difficulties then they are actually vulnerable adults and needed more support but sounds like the OP feels she has done enough already and perhaps mum n dad feel the same?
Rarely is there anyone else coming to the rescue unless already on the radar with a social worker.

Sadly if it is ND or learning difficulties (or even a trauma response) the same mistakes are easily repeated as the "lessons" don't get learnt the same way as neurotypicals might.

Targeted Therapy may help but they need to want it and to seek it out. Perhaps something to gently suggest when the dust settles on this?

Sorry OP. This is going to be difficult but if the family haven't rallied around already and haven't instigated more interventions earlier in this showdown nor at earlier incidents then sounds like a family falling apart anyway..... on both sides.

Like a car crash you can't avoid.

Good luck to all involved. How depressing.

What a nightmare, I really hope you end up with your money back. Unfortunately once again this is another area of the law where we all think we are protected but the reality of the situation is to get any costs back taking someone to court is the only way. Very few people are going to just hand over money, despite what they have signed. The only way to enforce a contract is to sue.

Many years ago I was a conveyancing/family solicitor. I always used to think (and still do) that there should be a deposit held by solicitors of around £5000 for these sorts of situations. I think it would focus people’s minds more.

@competion most solicitors have had clients like your sister! I have had my fair few and had to read the the riot act (pre mobile phone) often on the landline of the house they no longer owned! You could usually guess through the process which clients would be ‘difficult’

When we moved 6 years ago our sellers kept asking for completion extensions (after exchanging) we didn’t mind as we hadn’t yet sold. On the eventual day we arrived to find a filthy house but they were still packing up 2/3 hours after monies received. Luckily I’d anticipated what they & the house were going to be like and had booked a team of cleaners.

This sort of thing happens far too often. When we purchased our first house, the seller was clearly a nasty piece of work. The sale took ages because she was trying to sell the house without her husbands knowledge. He had a lot of debt so no benefit of sale and didn't want it to happen. We were ready to exchange when we found out so obviously rang the estate agents asking why they didn't do basic checks. We got a call on moving day saying garden furniture couldn't be moved in time, can they leave it and collect it later. Of course, no issue.

When we arrived, they had left their shit in the front garden, some around the house, it hasn't been cleaned since our previous visit around 3/4 months earlier. I just sat there and cried then had to tell DP who was at work excitedly waiting to hear how it was going. our dog was very surprised to find out he now had four feline friends. She left her fucking cats with one bag of cat food. She came all nonchalant a few weeks or so later to collect her garden furniture and I went mad at her. She said we had forced completion so she was homeless over Christmas and couldn't take them. This was a lie. She set completion date and we had rushed to make it work. She just said I needed to call the rspca for the cats. The estate agent said they seemed like the kind of people to do that and he was sorry.

I bought a house in forrin.

• no chain. every property is sold empty unless with tennant in situ
• exchange happens 3 days after offer accepted
• structural survey is part of the sales pack but you can also arrange for your own in addition.
• upon completion, you walk through the property with your estate agent and the seller's estate agent (they do the conveyancing function in that country). together you read the meters and check that everything is as described in the sales pack.

buying in uk after that was quite a shock!

It does amaze me that some folk think this is acceptable. How do some people manage to live such disorganised lives that this happens
I suppose I'm organised to a tee and a bit deadline like a house move freaks me out

If every property is sold empty, where do people live during the sale
process?

Your sister sounds like a CF OP.

If she asks for help will you go over?

while I will say this is totally unacceptable what your sister seems to be doing. But those saying they’d driven past a few days before or been in and nothing was packed. I hired packers, and their system is they come the day before completion. So had you come to my house a few days before nothing was packed. But it was done and we were moved out by midday on day on completion.

Let us know how it all goes OP.

We had stuff in boxes for weeks before moving day. Booked packers. I’d cleaned as much as I could beforehand. And still it was a massive rush. I am feeling stressed for your sister!

She's signed a contract to say they will complete today, with a deposit of presumably 10% of the house value.

If they haven't completed by the end of the day she will forfeit her deposit. She will then need to rearrange the mortgage to borrow the additional amount.

If they complete the sale with her stuff still in the house then all the stuff she hasn't removed becomes legally the property of the purchasers.

Possibly the purchasers would be entitled to instruct a house clearance firm who will remove all your sister's stuff and sell it off to cover the costs of the removals service.
Most likely would be that the purchaser's removal firm would be instructed to pile up all the contents onto the front garden before moving the new stuff in, and getting the stuff away and out of the rain will be your sister's problem. The additional charge from that removals firm for the extra unexpected work could legitimately be deducted from your sister's deposit.

Good luck today with your move.

I've only been in a chain once. I was out by 12 and the new house was empty & lovely & clean on arrival a couple of hours later.

Was this foreign land the Garden of Eden? After the 11 months of hell we went through with our vendors (took them 4 months to “remember” if they built the extension and they ghosted our solicitor while they were thinking about it and were still watching TV when we arrived to move in!), it sounds like bloody paradise.

I've also sold and bought abroad. The sale of the house I bought was completed 2 weeks before the house I was selling. We used that 2 weeks to move ourselves and clean.

sorry that was to @greenacrylicpaint reply didn’t work.

That’s the question. I guess you buy an empty property, move in, then sell yours. It only works if it’s always the way.