Completion is running late
Funds are stuck somewhere up the chain. Your removers will usually wait, but waiting time is chargeable, so ask what the rate is and keep your solicitor on the phone. Have a plan for where everyone sleeps if it fails.
- Home
- Moving day
Moving day, hour by hour
The day itself should involve no decisions. Print this, hand it round, and let the list do the thinking while everybody else does the carrying.
Keep these on you
- Passports, paperwork, keys and medication — one bag, in your car.
- Phone, power bank and the removals driver’s mobile number.
- The essentials box: kettle, mugs, tea, loo roll, bedding.
- A screwdriver, scissors, bin bags and a marker pen.
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The night before
Strip the beds last, pack the essentials box first
Bedding goes in the car with the essentials box. Charge every phone and power bank. Put passports, paperwork, keys, jewellery and medication in one bag that never leaves your side. Set two alarms.
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7:00 am
Final readings, final walk-through
Photograph the gas, electricity and water meters with the serial numbers visible. Strip the beds. Empty the fridge into a cool bag. Check the loft, the shed and every cupboard once, before anybody arrives.
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8:00 am
Removers arrive — brief the crew properly
Walk them round. Point out what is not going, what is fragile and where the parking is. Confirm the destination address and the driver's mobile number. Show them the kettle and where the loo is; it genuinely pays off.
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Mid-morning
Keep out of the way, stay reachable
Your job now is to answer questions and keep phones charged. Your solicitor may need you at short notice. Do not start cleaning around the crew — it slows everybody down.
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Completion
Money moves, then keys
Funds go through the chain and only then are keys released. Anywhere between late morning and late afternoon is normal. Nothing you do makes it faster, so eat lunch while you wait.
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On arrival
Read the meters before you boil a kettle
New meters, photographed, serial numbers visible. Then find the stopcock, the fuse box and the gas shut-off while it is still light and someone is around to ask.
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As boxes land
Direct, do not unpack
Every box goes to the room on its label. Check the inventory as it comes off the van and record any damage on the removals paperwork before the crew leaves — afterwards is too late to claim.
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Evening
Beds, then food, then stop
Make up every bed before you unpack anything else. Then feed everybody. Then stop. The rest will still be there tomorrow, and you will be much better at it.
If it goes wrong
Three things that happen, and what to do
The sellers have left things behind
Photograph it, tell your solicitor the same day, and don’t dispose of anything yet. Removal of rubbish can sometimes be recovered from the retained funds.
Something arrives broken
Record it on the removals paperwork before the crew leaves and photograph the damage in place. Claims made after the crew has gone are very hard to win.
Do the first-week jobs properly
Locks, alarms, meters, council tax and the DVLA. The last phase of the plan covers all of it.