Once contracts are exchanged in your house purchase, you are legally bound to go ahead with your move. This is the point at which you will need to start seriously organising everything in readiness for completion day. Our checklist sets out some of the main issues to deal with.
Insure your new property
You should arrange buildings insurance for the property you are buying from exchange of contracts, as you are bound to complete the purchase and you need to ensure your investment is protected.
Book your removal company
You should ideally check that you will not have any problem finding removals for your chosen completion date before exchange. As soon as you have confirmation that exchange has taken place, you need to confirm with your chosen removals firm.
Check your funds are ready to be transferred to your solicitor
Your solicitor will need the balance of money to complete your purchase in plenty of time for completion day. Make sure it is available and ready to be moved to their account. Use the bank details provided to you at the start of the transaction.
Notify utility companies
You should notify the utility companies and broadband provider you currently use that you will be leaving. You can also look for a good deal for your new property.
Notify other organisations and authorities
You can prepare letters to all of the other organisations and authorities you are in contact with, including:
- The local council
- HM Revenue & Customs
- The Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority
- Banks and building societies
- Mobile phone company
- Financial companies, including for your pension, insurance policies and shareholdings
- Credit card companies and store card companies
- Contents insurance
- Pet insurance
- Healthcare providers, to include doctors, dentists and opticians
- Your employer
Put together information for your buyer if you are selling your home
If you are selling your home as well as buying it will be very helpful for your buyers if you put together some basic information for them. This could include:
- Where the mains stopcock is situated
- How the central heating works
- How any alarm works
- Where the meters are for gas, electricity and water
- When bin day is and where to leave the bin
- Manuals for white goods
- Window keys
Arrange for someone to look after pets and children
Pets and children can be quite upset by the disruption of moving and will also be hard to manage safely. If you can, arrange for them to spend the day somewhere else, so that you can pick them up once the move is complete.
Start packing
Get hold of some boxes as soon as you can and start packing straightaway so that you have less to do nearer moving day. You may also be able to take apart some furniture in preparation. Take photos of the backs of complicated electrical items so that you can see which wires need to be plugged in where.
This will also enable you to start doing some cleaning behind furniture and electrical items that might not have been moved for a while.
Pack a box with the things you might need on arrival, such as a kettle, torch, toilet paper, bin bags, pet food and phone chargers. Put in enough to get you through the first night, in case you have difficulty locating other things in the move.
You can also put the items you will need for the first day or two in separate boxes, in case you don’t have a chance to unpack everything. Make sure all of your boxes are labelled with the room in which you want them to end up as well as a brief description of the contents.
See if you can eat most of the food in your freezer, as it could be difficult to keep this frozen on moving day, and you might find that your new freezer has not yet been plugged in.
Take down pictures and shelving fairly early on so that you have time to make the walls good and repair any holes.
Clean as much as you can before removal day, so that you have less to do once your property is empty.
Removal day
Keep some cleaning equipment to hand so that you can clean your existing home before you leave, ready for the new people.
Take meter readings before you leave your existing property and as soon as you arrive at your new home and report them to the utility companies.
Contact us
If you would like to speak to one of our expert property lawyers, ring us on 0333 305 5189 or email us at info@lpropertylawyers.co.uk
