Can we move garden items in before completion and collecting keys? Empty house purchase.

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We're due to complete on our house on Wednesday next week. We're first time buyers so naive to the process! I stupidly thought that at 8am that Wednesday we could stroll into the estate agents and collect keys. Nope - we have to wait for monies to be transferred and clear!? Ugh.

The property is empty - it was a probate sale and the family selling are away on a cruise. So they 100% wont be doing any last goodbyes to the house that morning.

Could we just open the back gate and put all of our garden stuff away that morning to start with, whilst we are waiting for them to call us and tell us to collect the keys? I don't want to waste the whole day when we could be moving shit about! Ive agreed to borrow a van from a friend but I have to give it back Tuesday night!

I wasn't planning on asking permission because obviously the estate agent would say no just to cover themselves.

Wwyd?
YABU - you have to wait
YANBU - nobody is there, just get cracking

What if the sale falls through?

You could, it wouldn't be legal and nothing would be insured, but why not really if you are willing to take the risk. Our sellers left a ton of stuff to collect later and didn't turn up to hand over the keys when they should have done either they were hours late. It can be a bit of the wild west, at least your house is empty.

Thanks everyone! Reading your replies has informed me much better than before! I really wish I had communicated the desire before now. I dont know if the estate agent can get a hold of the sellers now - since they said theyre on a cruise this week. However - i'll give it a go and see!

We will just move garden stuff anyway. So we have one less van load to do on the tuesday. Its nothing major, but every little helps is my theory.

Would it realistically fall though? The sale is probate and the family just want rid. We've exchanged and they wouldnt be able to cancel now without heavy penalties.

We've handed our notice in on our rental. So if a garden bench gets stuck in the garden because the sales fallen through- said bench would be the least of my concerns.

Im not invalidating your comment - but there is no chain. Its extremely low risk in my eyes.

No legally but you can if the property is vacant. Be warned for someone to do a CF thread on you on here though 😂

Like

‘ Some woman’s dumped a bench in my garden ..shall I burn it’
AIBU

@BrownTroutBluesAgain

”I think someone’s fly tipped old garden furniture in my dead neighbours garden- shall I call the police?”

”My CF neighbour tried to move in a day early and disturbed us having a family BBQ by grunting heavily”

You have to wait. It doesn't matter if it's garden gnomes or a skip, as long as it's not yours you can't put your stuff there.

There are insurance issues around items left in the house and gardens and driveway. Until you are the owners and your property insurance kicks in (this should be automatic from the minute the papers are signed - call your insurance company to get this set up) you cannot leave your stuff on or in the property any more than you could park your moving van on your new neighbour's drive.

Do not do this.

At the very least, you need to ask your solicitor to contact the seller's solicitor to get permission for your whole van load of garden stuff, and there will be insurance issues.

Who will be liable if a neighbour's children enter the garden, fall off your furniture, and hurt themselves? If I were the seller's solicitor you'd get a hard no from me.

If you’ve exchanged then I can’t really see a massive issue with it. It’s very unlikely to fall through at that point - especially a probate sale to a FTB. And if it does, just carry the garden furniture back out.

There is an agreement you can have in place where both parties agree to what exactly is happening and you take out insurance early. Ask your solicitor. If you don't have that, absolutely don't move anything. We hired a Luton van, packed it up and had it waiting to go.

Awww so close. We did a similar thing. We were selling, let's say, No 4 and buying No 5🤣
Our purchase was also a probate and we knew the family. They actually came to see us a few days before, gave us the keys but said not tell the estate agent. We mostly moved content of our garage, shed etc before the money went through, which was about 1pm.
Safe to say we were not in a great rush when the estate agen called to said we can collect the keys.

But since OP story is little bit different I personally wouldn't but probably no one will know anyway.

It’s not yours till the contracts are exchanged

Legally it’s an absolute no.

So I’d err on the side of don’t do it but ask for monies to be sent and sorted first thing. For early key collection.

I'm confused by van timeline? You complete on Wednesday? But said return Tuesday night?

Assuming you meant Wednesday night?
if so I’d imagine that you’d be fine, hopefully solicitors could release the keys mid morning. And that will give you most of the day. But prioritise the big stuff with the van runs. Rather than boxes, because if need be you could move boxes in the car etc instead.

as others note prioritise getting in.

otherwise your own other option is a removal company.

We have exchanged though. All the contracts are signed.

Also for others mentioning insurance - the property has been fully insured by me (buildings and contents) since the date after we signed the contract. I was advised this should be done, because if the house suddenly burned to a crisp overnight, we would still have to purchase it.

Sorry I got confused by my own dates! We get keys Wednesday and the van needs to be returned Thursday night.

Yes it is enough time, i'm just being eager I guess

None yet though

what if it gets nicked?

Well really - as its just garden stuff, it is as likely to get nicked that day as it is any other day of the year. We dont lock our outdoor dining set, BBQ and bench indoors every night.

We bought an empty property (probate) and the vendor let us actually start decorating a couple of weeks before completion! It was insured by us when we exchanged we just agreed not to rip out kitchen cupboards or anything major.
Worked well.

The funds on my daughter’s house didn’t go through until 4.15pm so the vendors didn’t start filling their van until then! She got possession at 9.00pm

A few years ago my friend was sat (with the removal people) outside her new house…..unfortunately the funds didn’t clear as there was a problem with their vendors mortgage so everyone in the chain lost their new house that day! The removal people then had to unload the van back into their old house and they lived out of boxes for 7mths as they had to start the buying process again due to the vendor of the house they were originally buying still not being able to get a mortgage 😳

Youshould wait tbh. And Im really surprised you didnt have the process explained once you exchanged. Anything can go wrong with the money. We didnt complete until 12.30 and we were essentially cash buyers

We did something similar. House we were buying was practically empty as the family had moved 90% of their stuff prior to selling. We asked the estate agents who asked the seller and they were fine with us moving garden stuff in.

New fear unlocked 🫥🫥🫥 omg...

You won't be insured