[monkeysox]

We are going through hell and back at the moment trying to move house! We were supposed to be moving in on monday but its now not going to happen untill later in the week! It's all just so stressfull - Was rather hoping someone might have some good moving house stories to restore my confidence in it all! 

[smallholder in the city]

I too am in house moving hell !
On the cusp of exchanging and dealing with a nervous first time buyer who is buying our house and is fond of ultimatums. Apparently everyone is ready to exchange bar the top of the chain who is waiting for an answer to a query and everyone is agreed on completing on 1st August but our buyer is still not happy. We're moving from London to our dream smallholding in Lincolnshire but I'm feeling so stressed out by it all I can't get excited yet.

It will happen though for you as well stay positive !

[SallyintNorth]

You won't want to read my stories!  mwahhhh hhahh haahh hahh

At exchange solicitors have all parties sign copies of contracts undated, both solicitors speak to each other on the morning of completion to confirm no problems, the solicitors date the already-signed contracts and the deed is done.

Except....

A friend of mine was part moved in to his new house when his stricken solicitor phoned him to announce that, although she had spoken to the vendor's solicitor that morning, the vendor's solicitor had not at that point spoken to the vendor.  Who, it had now transpired, had died in the night.

Since they were already partly in, and had handed over the keys on the house they had vacated, my friends were able to agree with the bereaved family that they would rent the house from the estate while it all got sorted out.   But there was no will, so it all took ages, and my friends ended up renting it for 12 months before they got title.  (Which meant no alterations for 12 months, which was a real nuisance.)

I think the rules were changed after this, and both solicitors do now have to speak in person to their clients before completion is effected.

[SallyintNorth]

You won't want to read my stories!  mwahhhh hhahh haahh hahh

The first house I bought, all went fine but when I got into the house a sofa and a bed had been left behind.  Ok, I thought, so I have a sofa and a bed I didn't know I had!  (It was my first house and I didn't have much.)  The bed was wedged in the stairwell, which was a very narrow steep staircase.  I figured they'd not been able to extract it and, since they were emigrating anyway, had decided to leave it. 

Off to pick up a friend who was to help me that evening, no need now to rush to where I'd arranged to borrow a bed, got a few other bits and supper and back to my very first own home.

Only to find the remaining set of keys through the letterbox and no bed.  Clearly they'd gone off for reinforcements (and/or some spanners), holding on to the last set of keys (and failing to mention that to the agent or solicitor ) and then come back for the bed and left the keys.

Luckily there was a good local pub, and we felt no pain sleeping on the floor that first night...

[lachlanandmarcus]

When we got the keys to our place there was a letter from a TV company wanting to do one of those wreck to dream home programmes. We werent interested and anyway have still only done 50% of the work 8 years later so would have been a long wait for them...

...I came up on the sleeper train while the horses came by professional transporter and poor OH drove our own unreliable horsebox 550 miles with all our possessions and 7 chickens which he felt too sorry for to keep in their crate so let them wander around and ended up 11 hours later (horsebox broke down of course en route) with 7 happy chickens but an OH who smelt strongly of and was partly splattered with chicken poo.....

The 11 months in the static caravan was a harsh introduction to life in the Cairngorms too.....I used to come and sleep on the concrete floor in the house on the dog bed even tho there was no heat or light and it was open to the steading which was open to the weather - but it had solid walls and STAYED STILL in the gales!!! I had to get me and the dogs out by 6am to make sure the builders didnt laugh at me....

[smallholder in the city]

AAaaaggghhh ! now paranoid someone will die. Seriously though I think everyone has a nightmare story or knows someone who has. I am practising what I preach to my patients and challenging my negative thoughts and tendency to catastrophise - positive things are just as likely to happen. Just got to figure out how to get my buyer to do that rather than repeatedly threatening to pull out.

I did hear a story about someone whose money disappeared into cyber space because the wrong account number was entered, was eventually covered by the solicitors insurance but because they were completing on a Friday didn't get sorted until the Monday !   So we're completing on a Monday just in case      

[doganjo]

Do you feel better now, monkeysoz?  These stories seem a little it worse than yours 

[Sandy]

I'ved moved several times and the only thing that went wrong was my son in law toook the box full of needed stuff like kettle, tea, coffee milk, first aid stuff, scissors pen, tape etc etc, and packed lunch, so when we arrived it was not first out the car, not a big deal.....I love moving, just need to feel relaxed and what you can prepare for do!!!!!

[waterhouse]

When we were thinking of moving here we knew that the vendors had one of their parents plus their daughter and her children living with them. It was why the house had three kitchens and five bathrooms but we were assured that everything was sorted out and contracts were duly exchanged.

At completion it became clear that there were some complications.  The vendors had just decided to separate and only Mrs had rented anywhere, so all Mister's stuff had to be separated to be put into store on the day.  Grandad was moving to a sheltered flat but daughter and children had not actually exchanged contracts on the house they were going to.  By coincidence we were all using then same removers...

Of course we didn't know this so we arrived with our removal vans at about three o'clock to find the house distinctly not empty.  Our guys then mucked-in to help so that our stuff could be moved in to one end while the other was still being cleared

Then the removers went off with grandad's stuff in one van, Mrs' possessions in another and Mister's goods in a third.  Finally the daughter and kids furniture went in a fourth and parked outside the proposed new house until exchange and completion took place at seven in the evening.  Not much pressure there!

This had all been boiling up for weeks. There'd been lots of delays all blamed on the lawyers (all indignantly denied, but who believes a lawyer)

[smallholder in the city]

I am sending you positive vibes Monkeysox.
I just had a calming chat with my mum and dad. They've moved more than anyone I know. We moved every year until I was 7 ! (Dad was a junior doctor and for part of that time in RAF) and then we moved again for the final time when I was 13. Their view is ultimately it will work out just focus on the things you can control, like getting the paperwork done and organising the removals, make sure everyone involved knows that you've got everything sorted and remember you can't control other peoples behaviour but you can control how you react to it.   

[shearling]

A cheer up. I love moving house as it means some of the junk gets taken away (OH is a hoarder) and you find all sorts of things that have missing. Its the buying and selling bit that gets me down...but it has always worked out in the long run. We tried to sell our house the other side of the country - we had new jobs and school in the opposite side  . On the last day our purchaser changed her mind so we lost the house we wanted put masses into storage and rented at the last moment. Sadly our dog had died and we were looking to move on and get another and were not allowed to rent with one so that had to stay on hold for the best part of four years (now have two nutters - see dog forum  ). The first rented house was in an area where I would never have chosen - flat and desolate but it was great seeing this but not being tied down forever - a sort of extended holiday let. Then the owner decided to sell so we moved on (although he changed his mind we carried on). We found by absolute fluke a farmhouse 2 miles to the nearest house with real 4x4 lane to it - and yes the bin men came . We could never have afforded to buy it (and they would never sell it). It was fantastic for the children as the farmer let them make dens in his woods which only they and their grandchildren had access to. I hated the darkness and remoteness and felt very spooked by it all (ex-townie) but the rest of the family loved it. Except the cold it had two log burners and a couple of night storage heater in the bedrooms but it was always cold. Down stairs bathroom, which was only ever quickly visited. It was always warmer outside than in. The only way to warm the house to not need a coat indoors was to have the burners on all day. (no aga or heating in the north faced kitchen did not help). It also had a bridle/foot path right next to the bathroom and kitchen windows so that although remote we waved and said hello to more people than most folk get the chance to. A few became friends but mostly it was just sharing the weather, patting dogs and nodding to horses. Then we sold our house...looked at lots and had disappointments and then on a grumpy Saturday morning found the dream house/gardden outhouses.

[Fleecewife]

We have moved many times in our life together and I thought we had it all down pat.  However, you can't plan for everything - when we came here I had written on every box exactly which room it was to go into.  Once the removals men had left though I found that not a single box was in the right place and it finally emerged that none of the men could read - I hadn't thought of that  
I would hate to move again though.  We have been here for many years and we have built up an awful lot of essential possessions   not to mention the animals and machinery.  I think we will just stay put until we get carried out.