Probably a stupid question - moving day

[AlexFurbison]

Apologies in advance if this is a daft question but how does it all work out on moving day with three properties in a chain?

I’ve only ever moved either from a rental or into a home that was already vacant so the longer chain is a new (and stressful) experience.

Is this correct: say we are moving on Friday (just an example, if only it were that soon!) and book our removalist. They will come on Friday morning and take all our stuff to our new house. Presumably the owners of the new house will also be moving their stuff out so we’ll have to wait for that to happen? Meanwhile our buyers are sitting waiting for us to leave?

We wanted to get the house professionally cleaned after moving out so it was nice for the buyers but it seems like we won’t get a chance to do that. Is that normal?

Yes, you will empty your home and wait outside the new house for the money to clear and the solicitor to confirm completion so you can collect your keys. Was 4pm for us last time!!

Yes that’s normal. We once sat outside our new house with all of our furniture in a van until 4pm waiting for the money transfers to complete. It’s often quite late in the day that you get into your new house, despite having vacated yours earlier.
In terms of cleaning, I find the best thing to do is to have someone (usually me in our case) cleaning as the rooms are emptied.

Get it all cleared then sit in your car and wait. It's exciting in its own way.

So the normal deal is that prior to moving day itself a lot of your stuff is already packed in boxes either by you or you pay for a firm to do it. You keep a suitcase plus a couple of boxes of kettle, mugs, personal stuff.

then on moving day the movers turn up super early and pack everything into the lorry except what goes in your car,

you then leave the old house.

the lorry people then go for lunch and so do you unless you are moving hundreds and hundreds of miles.

the aim is by noon all properties in the chain are vacant and everyone is in a lorry having lunch.

then the money movesz

the estate agents won’t give you the key to your new house until they have confirmation from the solicitor that the money has moved. Can be 2 or 3pm. Any later and people tend to be making stressed phone calls.

then the removals firm get everything into the new house.

You all pack your vans up, they set off for the new property, clean what you can and wait for confirmation that you have completed and money has been received. Then you lock-up, put key through the door and collect your new keys from the estate agent and drive to the new property.
Usually completions are around lunch time to give each party time.
Often the vans will travel to the new house before sale completed so they are ready to unload when keys are released.
There's often a lot of waiting around
(and stressing) till the confirmation comes.

You have a time to be out by (as you sell with vacant possession). Then you get the new keys when your purchase clears.

Only renters have to have professsional standard cleaning (to get deposit back)
Expect to clean your new house and your buyers will as well

Our movers packed us up the day before and all our stuff was in their van overnight. We had the luxury of being able to stay at my parents’ house overnight. We went in and did a big clean on moving day morning, then got the phonecall from the solicitor to say funds had transferred about 11am and we now owned the new house. Popped the keys through the letterbox of ‘old’ house and went into town to collect the ‘new’ house keys from their agent. Unfortunately they tried to insist we couldn’t have the keys until 1 as the previous owners were still packing, but didn’t really have a leg to stand on as we owned the house at that point. We got the keys about 12 in the end and when we got there our removers were already on the drive.

We were advised not to complete on a Friday in case of any issues.

Thank you all so much! Sounds like we'll just have to clean as we go and be prepared for some waiting around.

Now we just have to get everyone to agree on a completion date...

Our movers packed most things and left us with the essentials. We were able to clean most of the house because most of it was empty. The rest was done when they packed the last of our belongings.

We moved recently and packed everything ready to be moved. Had our own car packed with the stuff that was going in our car and an 'essentials' box which had things in that we may need to locate quickly once we were in the new house (loo rolls/hand wash/tea/coffee/hand towels/tea towels/dog food etc)

We cleaned and hoovered as much as we could the day prior to completion. Got up day of completion and packed the rest of our stuff away and waited for removals. Removals turned up and started loading the van with our furniture and boxes. We hoovered and cleared the room as best we could behind them once each room was empty.

We were moving 50 miles away so once the van was packed, the removals men took off up to the new area we were moving to and went for some lunch and waited for us to let them know we had completed so they could meet us at the new place to unpack. We did a last check, locked up, said goodbye to our friends/neighbours then dropped our keys off with our estate agents and followed the removals team up there.

On arrival at our new destination (approx 12pm) we checked in with the solicitor who said completion was underway and our sale was complete but the money was now being forwarded on for our purchase and he would call us when it was done. So we parked up, head to our favourite cafe for a massive fry up and some coffee. We finished up and then decided to go and sit outside the new house and wait for the call. As we arrived, our removals team was also just pulling up having had the same idea. Literally 5 minutes later (1.15pm) we had the call to say completion was done and we could collect our keys. Jumped back in the car, and whizzed up the road to the estate agents to collect our keys then back to unload.

We were very lucky in that we in and the van unloaded by 2.30pm because our removals team was on fire and super efficient. So everything went swimmingly for us on completion day. We could barely believe that by 2.30pm we had loaded, driven to our new destination, had lunch, and unloaded and said goodbye to the removals team already.

We had had a totally dogshite sale and conveyancing process so I guess we were way overdue some good karma 😂

One thing I will add with removal companies and quotes. I had to move two times in 10mths (sold house, couldn't find one to buy so rented for 10mths then moved into new house) and the process is quite stressful and bloody hard work. Both times I moved I paid for the removal company to pack for me. Considering the lack of stress it caused us versus the cost of it was a no brainer. From memory the packing service was about an extra £350-£500 and they provide everything in that cost.

They do this the day before, leave you with essentials for the night (beds etc) then pack up the next day and load the van. The first time I moved in this scenario I just sat on the dining table working and drinking tea as they packed up around me, it was bliss.

Yes cleaning wise it's kind of you to want to get a professional clean for your old house but not necessary and TBH I'd probably save the money, clean old house as best you can before moving day then use any spare time on the morning of the move after your movers have taken your stuff away to swish around any dust bunnies kicked up in the process/hard to reach bits, but without killing yourselves. It really doesn't have to be spotless like a rental.

Then expect to receive your new house fairly (possibly very) dirty, so if anything invest in the professional clean for that side - of course your cleaner won't be able to go in until you have the keys and your movers will probably want to start bringing in your stuff as soon as you're in, they won't want to wait around on the lorry while your cleaner goes in to clean an empty house, and it's hard to predict exactly what time that will be, usually it's around lunchtime but I have experienced it being much later in the day by the time everything is sorted and old owners gone...

If you really want, what you could do is pay for overnight storage of your stuff with the movers, get keys to new house at lunchtime of moving day then go in to clean in the afternoon while it's empty, sleep in a hotel or relative's house that night then get movers to bring your stuff in the next day. But TBH I've never bothered as doing it that way adds loads of extra £££, I have had some houses handed over in pretty ropey states and just rolled my sleeves up and cracked on around my boxes and furniture on moving day - all part of the joy (not) of moving IMO...

We are packing ourselves but have already started thankfully. With hindsight I probably should have asked the removalists to pack for us but I was being tight. 😄

Good point about saving the professional cleaning for the new place - maybe something to book for a couple of days after we have moved in.

It has been the most stressful process so far so I'm hoping we get some good karma on the moving day like you @ErlingHaalandsManBun

The contract for the removal says they will give us 30mins of leeway on the key collection time, after which we have to pay £110 + VAT per hour. I'm leaning towards not paying the upfront fee. What would you do?

Last time we moved it was made easier by the fact that we were moving into a house we already owned and were therefore able to move out a couple of days before completion. Our buyer was not moving in immediately so was no hurry to collect the keys.

Good job as it happened.
I went back to do a final clean of the (completely empty) house and was then going to had the keys over to the EA but the funds did not transfer until nearly 5pm by which time the EA had closed up and gone home. If the buyer had been waiting to move in they would have had a very long wait!

Most people want to complete on a Friday so that they have the weekend to unpack. However, there can be advantages to other days, not least having a solicitor available the next day if there is a problem. Also our removal people were cheaper on Mon - Weds, and that suited our sellers too, so we moved on a Weds.

Maybe I should suggest a non-Friday day. I really hope the funds clear more quickly than 5pm!

Do not ‘put your key through the door’! All keys should be handed to the estate agent (label them if needed).

I think we've got four sets of keys for this house so I'll take them back to the agent,

What do you mean re not paying the upfront fee?

The time that you collect your key can vary massively when you're buying. I'd be very wary of anything where you're going to accidentally incur enormous costs if the solicitors are running a couple of hours late. Obviously if it goes overnight into another second day then you know all bets are off but on the day things can move around a lot.

We have the option to pay a £216 fee upfront (so before the move) which will cover us for three hours if we are late receiving the keys. If we choose not to take this option, we get 30 mins of leeway and then are charged at £110+VAT for every hour we wait for the keys.

Our EA suggested we drop off a set of keys to the house we were selling a day or two before so that we had one less thing to do on moving day. Then we left all other keys in the kitchen labelled for our buyer, though we must have put one through the letter box.

This was the instruction given by our estate agent and agreed with buyer.
One full set to the agent, other keys left in the property, final key through the door.
Agent to release keys when instructed by solicitors that funds had been received.
We live rurally so trips to and from the agents were significant in time and distance.

I’ve never heard of that - when is the time that the 30 minutes starts running from? You could be a couple of hours or more waiting for the money to go through, I guess it depends how much the hourly rate is.

I was coming on here to say clean as you go, eg when you’ve emptied a kitchen cupboard, wipe it out, get cobwebs out of corners and clean windowsills etc in the days before. Try and move big furniture like beds, sideboard and hoover under them. That way you’ll just have to do a quick hoover on the day. By the time the new owners have had their movers tramping in and out the floors aren’t going to look pristine anyway.

I’d always avoid a Friday if possible. My friend sold a house a few years ago, and the money simply didn’t arrive before the end of the day. Solicitors advised them not to release the keys - they did let them store some stuff in the garage, but the buyers and their family had to spend the weekend in a hotel (the sale of their house had completed) and wait till Monday morning. It was a probate sale and the end of the chain so my friend didn’t have a purchase to complete thankfully.

What’s the difference to dropping off one set of keys versus all keys at once? Surely if you are dropping off keys and they are picking up it doesn’t need multiple trips 🤷🏻‍♀️