Really dim question I need to ask...

[ZeStressmoving]

Something I can’t quite get my head around is this, although it could just be because I’ve got the wrong information!

We’ve sold our house to a first-time buyer and are currently going through the process. I’ve had an email to say the “chain is complete”, and I believe there are around five houses in the chain. So far, everything seems fine.

What I don’t understand is how moving day actually works (whenever that eventually comes!). If everyone in the chain completes on the same day and we all collect our keys at roughly the same time, does that mean I have to have my entire house packed up and loaded into the van before I can get the keys to our new house?

I’m just trying to work out how I’m supposed to fit everything into one Luton van without having to go back and collect more stuff, especially if we’re expected to be completely out of our current house before we get the keys and cant get in the next house.

When we bought our current house, we were moving from rented accommodation, so we had a few days of overlap, which obviously made things much easier.

I’ve also read a few stories where people have arrived at their new house to move in, only to find that the sellers haven’t even finished packing yet! 😩

Excited for the move but not the packing!

We were packed up and ready to go before we got the keys and waited for the call, then we packed the van and moved. It was about 3pm before we got them. My nan went to move into her house and the people she bought from hadn't even packed boxes when she turned up!

You should have the van packed and house cleaned before the point you complete. At the point of completion it is no longer yours.
if you can, pack the van the day before, clean on the morning, and be ready to collect keys they moment you can.

the less stressful, but slightly more expensive way, is put things in storage for a week or so and take a B&B. You can get out and cleaned, clean your new place and move in over a couple of days like you did from your rental.

That’s exactly my thought process too, hire the van the day before and load it up as much as I can. If there is anything left, then pack it in the cars maybe.

We’re actually getting rid of quite a lot of our furniture and buying new, so we won’t have loads to move. We’ll basically be taking one single bed, two chest of drawers, the washing machine, clothing etc.

But what actually happens if you turn up at your new house and the people selling it essentially haven’t moved out yet? What can you actually do in that situation?

When we got the keys from the estate agent and arrived at this house on moving day, we were bringing in our stuff through the front door whilst the sellers were taking theirs out the back! That's not how it is supposed to happen though.

That must be so uncomfortable as its not their house anymore!

I've never bought a new house and sold one at the same time (only bought from rented) and even I know that you need to pack up, clear out and wait to get the call!

does that mean I have to have my entire house packed up and loaded into the van before I can get the keys to our new house?

Yes.

You basically pack & empty (and hopefully clean!) your house, drop the keys off at estate agent, collect your new house keys, and go to your new house.
And fingers-crossed, the people have emptied and are gone from your new house - but we had a terrible experience buying our house. The previous owners hadn't managed to finish packing up, and were all running around like blue-arsed flies trying to get everything out. T'was a nightmare.

We turned up at our new house and the people hadn’t packed a box. No removal people and a house FULL of their stuff! We, at this point, owned the house! Very stressful.

we on the other hand had our house cleaned and boxed and packed into the removal van for 10am!

What did you do when you couldn't move in as they were still there?

@notanothernamesurely

What did you do? This happened to my sister, they were all just sitting around waiting - apparently they thought all the removals were something the estate agent organised!
My BIL went mad at them - but they literally had to help them pack up, before they could move in.

I can already feel the pain at having to pack my own house up😂, I would be livid if I had to help my sellers pack up as I needed to get in😅

Right?!
In our case, our removal men gave up waiting and just started unpacking around them at about 4pm. Previous owners left stuff in the garage and gradually collected it over the weekend. They left the house filthy - which was really annoying, as we had worked really hard to leave our old house really clean and lovely.

Yes, if it works properly everyone packs and is out by noon. Then while all your stuff is in the van you/the removals people go for lunch (or drive like hell).

The money all
moves and you get the keys to your new house once the money has moved.

then you go to your new house and removals guys /you unpack.

any problems you speak to estate agents

When the sale and purchase are complete, the house you’re moving into no longer belongs to the vendor and if it’s sold with vacant possession, which is usual, it should be empty. The house now belongs to you and you can move your belongings into it.

if they haven’t removed their things, you could be generous and give them some time to do so, but if they’re not making any effort, contact your solicitor. During one move we had, the seller had only a Transit van and had made little attempt to move her things. We put them in the garden so we could move ours in. She’d had plenty of time to organise removals, but hadn’t.

You sit outside in the van, having knocked on door and chivvied them to get a move on.

God, I hope the house isn't left filthy!

In mumsnet land you MUST BE COMPLETELY OUT before completion e.g when ypu have to handover keys.

In normal person land, no one loses their shit if sellers are still moving out last bits and wiping round, the social norm is try and be out by midday.

both times I’ve been in a chain I’ve ended up just eating lunch outside the new house whilst sellers finished and then once they had clear rooms started uploading while they completed loading.

Because everyone was a reasonable human being it was fine.

Why do you have to sit outside, If its your house then you can just go in and start putting your stuff in, even if its just in the corner?

It's happened a few times to people I know. You just have to wait until they go. When it happened to my nan she had moved 250 miles away!

Yes! We were packed up in a van, giving the house a quick hoover with the sellers outside and all their belongings, waiting for the money to exchange hands. Soon as it had they started moving in and we were on our way driving to our new home, 200 miles away.

Apart from anything else, it'll be chaotic and your things might be mixed up.

I used moving pods. They came a week before, I put everything but a couple of essentials boxes and what we needed for a week into the pods, and they took them away and stored them until I was ready at the new house.

We went and stayed with relatives for a couple of weeks. This meant that I could clean the old house, and make sure we really had taken everything with no stress, and then get into the new house and clean/do anything urgent before we had all the stuff delivered into it.

Plus there was no stress, no worry about overrunning, just 100 times better than this crazy thing where everyone tries to move in and out on the same day.

There is no ‘social norm’ here. There will be a completion time in the contract. It is usually somewhere around noon to 2pm.

I’ve twice been in the situation where I have arrived at the new property and not been able to access it because the money had got stuck somewhere in the chain and once where the money had moved and I owned the house but the sellers were still packing up and nowhere near out of the house. In all cases we did eventually get access on moving day but much later that we should have and all three cases were horribly stressful.

if you think you won’t fit everything in one Luton you need to put stuff in storage beforehand or get multiple vans or a removal company with a lorry.

When we didn’t have enough stuff to really justify a removals company, we rented a big luton van for a few days, packed ho, clean house, parked the van at my work car park (cleared in with management) where there was 24/7 security, then just moved in on completion day when we got the keys. It was the least stressful move ever!

I think this is what we’re going to do.

We have 2 kids, so 3 beds in total, but 2 of them will be going to the tip before we move. My bedroom furniture is really old and won’t fit in the new bedroom, so that’s going to the tip too.

The new house already has integrated appliances in the kitchen, so we won’t need to take our cooker, microwave etc. It also has a breakfast bar, so we won’t be taking our dining table and chairs either.

So actually, when you take all of that into account, we won’t have as much to move as I initially thought!