On Friday the 13th, what could possibly go wrong?

Let’s hear your moving house horror stories.

My moving houses has always gone smoothly.

The bank that pulled a mortgage on us the morning of completion, after exchange of contracts and this was in Scotland, however caused me some stress…
It transpires a new manager started, she had cancelled a bunch of loans, but not related to any customer issues. And then she learned that half a dozen were in Scotland, and that meant our solicitor sent them a bill for all costs and purchase cost of the house…I assume the others did as well.

Ha Ha , we were supposed to move on the 13th as well , but a few things have now changed it to the 18th dec, which also happens to be the wifes 50th birthday… good luck with the move 🙂 … Its just a number !

Not me, but I was helping out a mate move.

Typical removal truck, two cars, kids etc.. and we all left the house and headed South. One of his children called him (I was in the car with him, the wife and kids in the other car) Daddy? Daddy where’s Lolly? (the dog) I don’t know dear, isn’t she with you?

They’d locked her in the garage whilst packing to stop the dog from running off and forgotten her.

We were 150 miles down the M1 at the time..

Moving house. Turned up at the new house to find out hardly any of the sellers furniture was out. Turns out that the seller of the house that he was buying (probate sale) wanted him to buy the furniture of the house and was pressuring him (oddly) by not moving stuff out. So he spent the morning shifting stuff out of the house and hadn’t had time to move his out of our new house. My moving guys and us had a mad day of moving furniture out (with the help of a bunch of her sellers friends) and getting everything sorted. The wife turned up at 6pm after work and wondered why the stuff wasn’t unpacked. Our seller binned all their sellers stuff!!

Interesting one about the bank cancelling after exchange. That’s an issue where ever you are since after exchange you are committed to buy. However bank terms and conditions say they are perfectly entitled to cancel an offer right up until funds are released so if they want to cancel on the morning of completion then they can, so not sure the solicitor sending them a bill would necessarily be met favourably.

Arrived at new house, with keys etc. to find previous owner staging what was effectively a sit in ! They had divorced and this was where she was living so I did feel a pang of sympathy for about a nanosecond. HAd to get my lawyer down there, then the police to eventually persuade her that the huge pile of cash in her bank account meant she had to gtfo. Next stop was a locksmith friend who promptly changed all the locks ! We did find her trying to get back in a few weeks later as well. By the time it was sorted out we just emptied the truck into the house, sat on the deck in the sun and got p1ssed as there was no point even starting to unpack y then !

So are we and it has been the most disastrous experience this time. Only exchanged yesterday despite having been ready to for weeks.

Having fun with solicitors not having put the correct sale price on our contract (orders of magnitude out) spelling names incorrectly on the contracts, ignoring direct instructions and cocking up the financial settlement calculations. All good fun.

Similar boat here, but we are moving next week – my last day with my current employer (after 17 years) is Friday 13th.

We are slightly nervous as our house sale completes on Tuesday, but we haven’t exchanged on our purchase yet. Thankfully that house is empty, and the contracts are on my desk waiting for the Solicitors to open, but even so it will be a little tight…

Six inches of snow the night before, arrived at new house to find the owners errr… just getting started on the packing. My removals company who were fabulous helped them pack and move out!

Moving son, daughter in law and daughter out of Mrs DB’s house this Friday and Saturday, keeping our fingers crossed survey on Monday goes okay otherwise we’ll have an empty unsold house on our hands 🤔

We’re waiting to exchange, we’re buying off The Salvation Army of all people, they can’t find anyone to sign their end at the moment – guess they’re all busy this time of year!

So some day next week, hopefully. Mrs is beside herself, we’ve got a Xmas tree up that’s going to be coming down and going up again (it’s plastic) which has her in a right mess.

I’ve got it easy, I’m just dealing with our landlord (dick) his Son who wants to move into our place (even more of a dick) the estate agent (useless) our solicitor (toothless) and Bank (amazingly efficient and helpful).

They’ve got 48 hours to sort their shit out, or we won’t be moving till after-Xmas. I’d move Xmas Day no bother, the roads will be quiet, but everyone else seems to think this is madness and there appears to be about 4 actual working days in December.

Like above I bought a house off a divorced couple. She there when we arrived sat in an empty house and made a fuss about being asked to leave, but nothing like needing the police to come, just some polite but strong words. She had too been really difficult with viewings almost enough to put us off buying, which was we presume what she wanted.

We weren’t moving straight in so I gave the place a really thorough checkover, which was pretty fortunate. The shut off valves for the washing machine and dishwasher were not shutting off properly, and were leaking nicely behind the units. A few radiators were weeping from the valves (something I checked on viewings, not sure if they were knocked on removing furniture) so I switched the gas off and drained the central heating system down. They had broken the up and over garage door and the side garage door. Plenty of keys were missing and external doors left unlocked.

Basically check everything water/gas/electric thoroughly and make sure you can secure the house before you start moving anything in, if you can.

Had two, basically on both ends of my last house.

When buying it, got there with the movers and a big van of stuff to find out that the previous owners were still loading things into their SWB Transit. I say the owners, I mean the husband and his wife’s aged father. She had apparently got stressed so had left for a cafe with the kids. In the end, my movers helped get their stuff out and then just dumped most of my stuff in the garage (which I later found out had a broken lock).

Moving out when I moved here was less of a hassle, but selling it turned into a nightmare. Turns out the last owner had not signed over the deed for the en bloc garage when i bought the place and. when notified of this, was actively under pressure to “obtain value” from his mistake. It ended up with me giving him money to sign the papers. I then had to spend a lot of time convincing the owner of the coach house above the garage to get the correct insurance for his building so that the garages were insured.

The original solicitors were useless and I really should have sued them for the cost of the calls and the bribe.

It will be fine though.

Friday 13th I would say is not usually a bad day, cos it’s a Friday, this year it will be marred with election results and if polls are anything to go by it’s going to be a good day to get drunk!

Monday 13th on the other hand can do one! Mondays are the day stuff goes wrong, not Fridays!

Best of luck with the move though 🙂

I had a friend who was moving as part of a chain. I was due to help unload the firs trip, load the second and unload it. When I arrived after work they were loading a van, turns out the house he was going to the people hadnt even started packing! Because he had to give his keys in for the new purchaser of his house he had rented a second large van to get out. When we rocked up later with two vans they still werent doing very much in there. We went for food and came back at which point the son had arrived and was helping get stuff out. We didn’t start unloading the first van till 2100!

My own house purchase went okay, except for the seller pushed the date back a week outside of half term which meant my wife couldnt help (slight blessing). Turns out she did move out as agreed but pushed us back so she could keep some nail appointments she had made!

so not sure the solicitor sending them a bill would necessarily be met favourably.

Lending in Scotland is different it seems. The mortgage provider, as loan is secured on the building, also has liability in the purchase. Or something like that.
Our bank nearly paid the bill, but then managed a new mortgage offer in 4 days..

A few us us crazy enough to move so close to Christmas. So far it’s all going well, my solicitor has the funds from the bank (although Matt, your tale of woe is a bloody scary one), everything my end is packed.

I’ve got the bubbles chilled to perfection in anticipation (let’s hope the fridge the previous owners have left actually works) my biggest concern so far is, can I get a chimney sweep in before Christmas so I can have a proper fire after my hike on Christmas Day.

Wife picked up the keys to this place while I was on a rig in the black sea.

By the time I got home the previous owners had moved out the week I’d let them stay in “my” house

We then wrecked the joint much to their surprise when they came back to collect the few items they had left in the garage.

Apparently they didn’t understand why we didn’t appreciate the stink of cigarette smoke.

Moving was the easy part.

Getting the mortgage company to do anything involved sitting in a branch with the manager and the phone woman speaking to each other on speaker phone as they were both stalling me by saying I needed to speak to the other…….

Getting the mortgage company to do anything involved sitting in a branch with the manager and the phone woman speaking to each other on speaker phone as they were both stalling me by saying I needed to speak to the other…

had it not been so important, I bet that would have been an enjoyable conversation to spectate at!

Ha the manager didn’t think so once he worked out what was going on and started trying to usher me into a side room …..I was quite happy at the desk in the main shop floor.

Mortgage was actually pretty quick after that.

We moved late dec to a probate which took 10 months to buy. No working water, took an age to locate the stop valve (in the garage). Turn water on. Walk into house hearing sound of gushing water. There had been a ice machine plumbed into the pantry which was supposed to be left, it had no shutoff. So rapid trip to closest diy shed for stopend.

Whilst there had to buy several pendants as light fittings had been removed and bare wires left (live) plus shower leaked as someone had had a crack at removing it.

Garage door was broken, lots of keys missing or lost. Fire alarms removed,

Actually don’t think it was any of the family of the probate reckon one of the trades they’d used had taken the opportunity to lift anything of remote value,

Oh yea and the boiler didn’t work, and had a dangerous flue, which cost £500 to sort

Was really quite pissed off, with a pregnant wife and a 18month old.

Still it was just the start of the fun of buying an old house……

Still it was just the start of the fun of buying an old house……

what we classing as old, the one I’m moving into was build in the 1800’s that’s nearly new right? 😂

Similar to above.
December. Snow.

Boiler lasted 6 hours then cost £2k to replace.
Water Stopcock was making a stream in the kitchen.
Been there 7 years now. House of horrors. Never again. 1870s build.

Moved house this summer. Locked myself out. Climbed through the small gap on the top window. One leg got caught on the window edge while body half way through the window inside the house. Fell down like a log with back to the floor (arms hardly got time to break the fall). The height from the top window to the floor was about 9 feet. The result was a week with back pain and possibly twisted me back. Then leg felt tingling for the first month after fall and gradually got worst (circulation problem started). Just seen physio today. Hurt like hell when pressure points were messaged but no more tingling (need to visit for few more sessions). Moral of the story go check it out immediately if you have fallen down badly and twisted something in your body especially your spine.

Moral of the story

and keep your keys on you. Healing vibes fella.

I was 17 at the time so didn’t quite understand the legalities of it all, but parents moved us from Reading to Yorkshire. Sat in a lay-by at 4 pm just outside Oxford on the way North to find out the sellers solicitor had been a massive pain in the arse, and my parents were currently in the interesting legal position of owning neither the house they have just left (which due to some very short timescales they haven’t managed to get all in the lorries and was deposited round various neighbours garages!), or the one they were buying! Arrived in Yorkshire at 11 pm in a blizzard and managed to find a space in local B&B. Fortunately the lady they were buying from was super lovely and let them in the Saturday morning to unload despite the sale still having not completed 😳 Me and my 12 year old brother had a snow ball fight with the removal men, not really realising how stressed my parents were.

Last month, 17 years on, we spent days doing all the decluturing they haven’t managed to do before, as they downsized. No wonder it didn’t all fit in the trucks!!!

Good luck with December moves. We moved on the 21st 3 years ago, dashed to the NE on the 22nd to see the in-laws (leaving my parents to clean our new house!), and p20 returned to work for Christmas on the 23rd. Never again…

Currently listening to a colleague giving his solicitor a roasting as they are refusing to complete a move on Friday 20th, as it is not their policy to complete on or after 20th December due to the Christmas break

Other 4 solicitors in the chain are ready to go that day.

It’s getting feisty!

Been there 7 years now. House of horrors. Never again. 1870s build.

Olly you are living in my house! No pipework under the utility sink, lighting tried to burn down the house, water leaks through the walls from a shower. Twice had to take down a ceiling.

Don’t ask… 1878 build. 2008 rennovation (by someone else)

Currently listening to a colleague giving his solicitor a roasting as they are refusing to complete a move on Friday 20th, as it is not their policy to complete on or after 20th December due to the Christmas break

Might be a ‘thing’ for some reason, despite telling us that they will ONLY complete on a Friday ‘for reasons’ we’re actually going to complete on the 19th, they won’t do the 20th because if anything goes wrong it’s a 2 week delay.

I suppose I should add my own horror story to this.

My move from Sheffield to Perth was interesting, I hired the worst removal company to do it, I was also working with the most militant boss who wouldn’t give me any time off when I needed it!

My father in law directed the removal of our things from the Sheffield property whilst I was at work (my then wife was already in Scotland living with friends until I moved up later). Initially the removal men refused to take any of our things because there wasn’t a space directly outside our house (we’re talking a few meters here) being the awesome diplomat that he is, and I suspect a bribe, they reluctantly agreed.

A few hours later they took our things to wherever they were being stored overnight.
<span style=”font-size: 0.8rem;”>I finished work sometime after 7 so had to do a final bit of packing in the van I had hired and deep clean the old property. I then, and I’m not sure how, ended up partying with my neighbour until past 1am! No drink was involved and all I had to do was make sure I was at the property in Perth to meet the letting agent at 10am the following day. I arrived with plenty of time and got my head down in the van to kill time. I was then woken up by a barrage of abuse because I had the audacity to park in someone else’s space (they were not numbered and the contract stated that they were a park wherever is available type arrangement) I explain my error and pleaded ignorance to which I was called every name under the sun. Nice neighbours!
after I had tried to park an XLWB van in Perth city centre outside the letting agent I had finally got the keys and was able to move the stuff out of the van in. At this point I got a call from John, the biggest ****stain from the most cowboy of removal operations.
they were going to be late because the police had stopped them due to overloading and half my stuff had to be unloaded to get the waggon legal. Half of my stuff eventually turned up, and then they had to drive halfway back to England to pick up the other half. Clearly, they were fuming as it had both increased their time on the job, and fuel costs. Because of this the second half of my stuff had clearly just been chucked into the van in frustration/anger and things actually fell out of the doors when they were finally opened at my new place.</span>

To say the atmosphere was frosty is an understatement!

the final insult was that they rejected the claim for the majority of my damaged items saying that as I hadn’t paid for them to pack it, it was my own fault and I got about half of the claim value!

Can’t wait for tomorrow. 🙄

I’ve never really moved house!
Family home -> uni halls -> the flat I currently live (20 years later)

Not moved much. Last move from Edinburgh – Elgin was in two parts – sell house in Edinburgh, rent house in Elgin (stuff in storage) then move into bought house a few months later.

Selling was good, buyers were great, selling solicitors a bit blase, despite being told my wife would be departing before sale, they didn’t really seem to grasp this until the day before she was leaving, at which point this saw us in the solicitors offices at 6pm signing documents. Not sure what they were doing or not doing.

Buyers asked to get keys on the day of sale / Saturday, though solicitors weren’t open obviously. We left keys with good friends with instructions not to give out keys until we had cash deposited. We did, buyers turned up, collected keys, everyone happy. Doubt the solicitors would have taken same view.

Sodding typical….

It’s all gone to plan and I’m in my new home. 🥂

Pik n Mix

Subscriber
Sodding typical….

It’s all gone to plan and I’m in my new home. 🥂

Great to hear it went ok …. Our turn in 5 days !

6 days for us.

Solicitor doesn’t want to look at our file till Tuesday, so any problems it’ll be a 2 week delay.

Fun times.

12 years ago we moved from Kent to Gloucestershire on 21st December. Horrible weather, freezing fog and surprisingly nothing went wrong! The removal guys were great and slept soundly in their truck in a local hotel carpark after steak and beers paid for by my tip. I feel for all your stressful moves described so far…

Slight issue, my new air bed has a hole in it so I’ll be on the floor tonight. Small price to pay.