What you need to do to help you have access to your new home by 1pm on moving day

To ensure a smooth home move by 1 pm on the completion day, it’s essential that you accomplish the following tasks within the two weeks leading up to it:

  • Check your property information, fixtures and fittings form so that you know exactly what to take with you, and what you have agreed to leave.
  • If you require a mortgage, ensure that your legal company withdraws the funds 24 to 48 hours before completion day and you will need to check how much this will cost you in interest payments. Please note: Legal companies typically need to ‘order’ mortgage monies 5 days before completion.
  • It is vital that you know how much is to be transferred and when you will need to transfer the final monies to your legal company, (this may be an approximate figure at this stage if mortgages are required).

You will need to know how long it will take you to transfer the monies due based on your own banking arrangements and/or any other limitations (e.g. can it be done in one day or will it need staged transfers over a week?).

Ensure that your legal company:

  1. Orders the final redemption figures if you have an existing mortgage.
  2. Secures an official search to ‘secure priority over the property’s title’.
  3. Has prepared a legal statement at least the day before the completion.
  • Ask your legal company on the day before completion to confirm that your moving file has been signed off by a partner.
  • Ensure that you are physically ready to vacate your property by 1pm on completion day and agree this with your chosen removal company.

Moving to another property?

If you are moving to another property, check that the owners have done all the above and secure, if possible in writing, that they will have vacated the property by 1pm.

More information on the legal processes can be found via the following link: www.homebuyingandsellinggroup.co.uk

Please note:

This consumer advisory note forms part of the much wider strategy of the Home Buying and Selling Group (HBSG), of which the British Association of Removers is a key stakeholder, in dealing with the issue of completion times and key release. There are many more strands to this challenge, all of which are being progressed by the HBSG working closely with The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), and further updates will be provided in due course.