Can someone tell me what the protocol is for moving day?

HouseHunting · 2009-09-29T12:20:35+00:00

We have finally exchanged. There are only our buyers & us in the chain - on moving day, when we receive confirmation that the rest of the funds have been received, do we have to hand over the keys to the EA straightaway or will we roughly have agreed a time? The thing is, our buyers have messed us around *endlessly* & we are reluctant to bend over backwards for them now & may think about handing over the keys as late as possible. Thanks

MrsBadger · 29/09/2009 13:27

you agree a time in advance

noon is popular and reasonable - you need time to get out and they need time to get in

doens;t matter how much they have messed you about, you can still behave nicely. Hanging on to the keys till 5pm just to piss them off strikes me as unreasonable.

Original poster

HouseHunting · 29/09/2009 13:31

I don't think it is unreasonable as we were close to pulling out we were so cheesed off with them Thanks for the help re times

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Restrainedrabbit · 29/09/2009 13:37

Hmm I have moved 6 times in ten years and each time as soon as the sale is completed you are legally obliged to hand the keys over however most people agree to be out by noon. We had awful buyers the last time we moved (june) yet still handed over on time as it was to our benefit however the solicitor said we had to leave the house in a reasonable condition but we could interpret that how we wanted - we were slack on cleaning

5pm is too late imho.

Restrainedrabbit · 29/09/2009 13:38

Hmm I have moved 6 times in ten years and each time as soon as the sale is completed you are legally obliged to hand the keys over however most people agree to be out by noon. We had awful buyers the last time we moved (june) yet still handed over on time as it was to our benefit however the solicitor said we had to leave the house in a reasonable condition but we could interpret that how we wanted - we were slack on cleaning

5pm is too late imho.

Restrainedrabbit · 29/09/2009 13:38

Hmm I have moved 6 times in ten years and each time as soon as the sale is completed you are legally obliged to hand the keys over however most people agree to be out by noon. We had awful buyers the last time we moved (june) yet still handed over on time as it was to our benefit however the solicitor said we had to leave the house in a reasonable condition but we could interpret that how we wanted - we were slack on cleaning

5pm is too late imho.

Original poster

HouseHunting · 29/09/2009 13:40

slack on cleaning sound good

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Lilymaid · 29/09/2009 13:41

I would never consider handing over the keys until I was sure that completion had gone through and that the money for the house had been transferred. At that point we will tell the estate agents to hand over the keys ... but not before!
Last time we moved there were 2 giant removal vans waiting outside our house for 2 hours because our idiotic purchasers hadn't ensured that all the money would be available for transfer on the day of completion.

Elk · 29/09/2009 13:46

By handing over the keys late you are not only inconveniencing the buyers but also their movers who really do not deserve to have to sit around waiting. Legally the keys are theirs as soon as the money is transferred although last time we moved that happened at 4am which was slightly early for moving in. Retain the moral high ground and keep the stress low as moving day is bad enough as it is.

Can you tell my last 2 house moves were very stressful.

flowerybeanbag · 29/09/2009 13:53

Handing over the keys as late as possible just to irritate them seems a bit petty tbh. Do it around lunchtime.

Rebeccaj · 29/09/2009 16:41

Once the money's transferred, the house isn't yours anymore, so you need to hand over the keys as soon as you can. Lunchtime is normal, tho things can get delayed on fridays as that's when everyone wants to move so solicitors very busy!

rebl · 29/09/2009 17:31

When we bought this house the money was all sitting there not being released because the owners had decided to move a 3 bed house using 1 transit van. Needless to say come 4pm I was knocking on the door asking whether they would be out by 5. They promised me they would be. At what I swear was 4:59 we were ALL finishing emptyinig the house onto the street and we got the keys. It was hell for us because we then had to start unpacking our stuff. We only had 2 car loads of stuff being that it was our 1st house and didn't own furniture (we slept on airbeds until my parents realised and took pity on us) but it was so stressfull and tiring. We honestly thought we would be in a hotel overnight because we thought they wouldn't be out and we had handed the rental keys over that morning. They didn't finish moving all the stuff off the street until well gone 10pm.

Please don't go too late into the day, it doesn't matter if they've messed you around or not, its not nice and its certainly not fair on their removal men.

Original poster

HouseHunting · 29/09/2009 20:20

Thanks everyone - we will hand over the keys by the time agreed, but no earlier. It is hard not to feel angry about the way they have treated us but I know it is horses for courses.....

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