What happens on the date of entry?

“What time do we get the keys?”

There is no set time. The availability of the keys is determined by (1) the sellers moving out (2) your mortgage funds coming into our Bank Account and (3) If selling, your purchasers being able to pay the price over to us. We have no direct control over any of these and therefore can’t give you any exact time until it all falls into place on the day.

We normally arrange for your mortgage funds to come in the day before, to avoid delay in this connection.

You sign the Deeds a few days before the Entry Date and leave us one key to your place, which we send to the Purchaser’s solicitors the night before the entry date to be “held as undelivered”. This means they hold the keys to our order. They send us the purchase price normally by bank transfer, on the same basis.

We send the Purchase price of your new place to the Sellers’ Solicitors and they send us a key, both “to be held as undelivered.” Anything “held as undelivered” cannot be touched until the solicitor sending the keys or the money says that It Is ok to do so.

We then have to wait for everything to fall into place. You load up in the morning and wait for our call.

The purchaser’s Solicitor calls us to say they are ready for us to hold the purchase price as delivered.

We ring the sellers’ solicitor to check if their clients are clear and if so we tell them to hold the purchase price as delivered

We call you and ask you to call in to collect your keys to the new place. Based on the time of our call,  you let us know when you will be clear of your own place. (You leave the remaining keys in the property when you leave it for the last time).

We phone the purchasers’ solicitor and confirm that they can hand over the keys to the Purchasers but tell them not to attempt access until after the time you have given us.

When you get the keys

Take a note of the meter readings and send online or phone in the readings for both properties to the Service Providers using the contact information below. If you don’t know the Gas and  Electricity suppliers, note the meter serial number and for Gas, contact the Gas enquiry service  on 0870 608 1524 or www.findmysupplier.energy and  for Electricity contact SP Energy Networks on 0845 270 9101.

Check everything is in working order. You have only 5 working days to intimate any defects and you cannot claim (1) if something is working but does not comply with technical regulations, (2) if the missives state the seller would not be liable, (3) if the value of the claim(s) is less than £500 in aggregate, or (4) if the defective item is not a “system”. The working order of appliances is not covered under the Standard Clauses.

If the property has been damaged since you viewed, the Seller may be liable for the repair but not if the damage existed before you viewed or if you had accepted any damage would not be repaired, at the Missives stage.

Get on the Voters Roll by contacting the number below. You lose a lot of points on a Credit Search if you are not registered to vote from your new address.

We sort out the Council tax for your sale and the Seller’s Solicitor or their client should deal with the Council Tax for your purchase but you may wish to contact them directly to ensure. The Council will not acknowledge receipt of our Intimation of the change in ownership and we have no control over the Seller’s Solicitors actions so if you don’t hear from the Council in around 6 weeks give them a call direct to ensure that they have actioned the change of ownership.

Don’t forget to notify your change of address to…

  • Bank
  • Building Society
  • Buildings & Contents Insurance Company
  • Life Insurance Companies
  • Car Insurance Company
  • Pensions Company
  • Premium Bonds/National Savings
  • Employers
  • Credit /Store Card Companies
  • DVLA
  • HMRC
  • Doctor
  • Dentist
  • Optician
  • Blood donor/bone marrow register
  • Newsagent
  • Schools
  • Clubs
  • AA/RAC
  • Online shopping companies including any supermarkets
  • Amazon; QVC; etc
  • JustEat; Deliveroo etc
  • Internet Service Provider
  • University
  • Subscriptions
  • Rental Company
  • Charity donations
  • Broker
  • Vet
  • Cable/Sky TV
  • TV Licence
  • Investment Companies
  • Library
  • Mobile phone Company
  • Friends
  • Relatives
  • Other people…

Some useful contact details

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