Moving house can be a stressful process especially if you do not understand the terminology which is used throughout the conveyancing process. Don’t worry as Girlings' expert conveyancing team is here to help with their ten top tips for a stress-free move.
1. Full disclosure
Tell your conveyancer as much information about the property and your future intentions for the property as possible. As we do not visit the property you should advise us if there are additions to the property that we should be aware of, an example of this is an extension. We can then raise enquiries and ensure the necessary consents were obtained. Similarly, if you are planning on building, for example, a brick garage on the property, we can advise you whether there is anything apparent from the title documents which may prevent this.
2. Changing addresses
Some institutions enable you to set a date for your address to be changed ahead of time, so once you have exchanged and a completion date has been set you could get some of these lined up and ready to go before you are without internet! Make a list of the others that will need changing after completion and keep them in a moving folder so you know exactly what needs changing.
3. Pack a moving day box
Enclose the essentials such as tea bags, milk, cleaning essentials, mugs, toilet roll, medication and a change of clothes. That way if you’re too exhausted to unpack after having moved everything then you have the essentials to hand.
4. Speak to your conveyancers
Moving is one of the most stressful things you can do and we endeavour to minimise that stress for you as much as possible. If you are at all concerned at any point of the conveyancing process do let us know, chances are you are not the only one that has asked that particular question and most often, clients find that just talking things through with their conveyancer puts their mind at rest. Whilst we are legal professionals dealing with the legalities for you, we are also human and have been through the same process and fully appreciate that it can be a trying time.
5. Read the meters
Read the meters at your old property and your new property on moving day and let the relevant companies have the reading and keep a record also.
6. Make a plan for moving day ahead of the day
For me that involved locating the nearest local takeaway, the nearest corner shop, the route to get to the estate agents to collect the keys and to the property.
7. Rally the troops
You can never have too much help on moving day, just be sure to have located that takeaway for afterwards!
8. Don’t be overwhelmed by the amount of work that needs doing to get the property the way you want it
There may be a lot of arranging and decorating to do but pace yourself, the property is yours now and you can do things as and when you have time. Personally, I have found that by decorating over time, you learn how you actually use the rooms which may be different from what you anticipated and that decorating and kitting out the spare room as an office space may not be the best use of that space!
9. Budget for the unexpected
Owning a house does not come without hidden costs.Hopefully you will have instructed a survey before purchasing and so will be aware of works that need doing to the property but there’s no telling when an appliance will need replacing or a strong gust of wind may take down the fencing.
10. Take a moment to look around at your new property, and enjoy, the hard part is done and it’s time to make memories
For further advice on this and other Residential Property issues contact our Residential Property department.
