Completion Day in London: How to Time Your Removal

Most London removals are planned around a date the customer picks. A completion-day move is planned around a date the chain picks, and a time of day nobody can promise. The van, the crew, the parking bay and the lift booking all have to be in place for a moment that depends on money moving between several solicitors, sometimes for five or six households at once.

This guide is for buyers and sellers who are in that position. It explains what exchange and completion mean for the removal, sets out an hour-by-hour plan for each side of a chain, works out what a delay costs on our rate card, and shows when storing your belongings is better than paying a crew to wait. Every figure comes from our published prices or from the official guides to buying and selling a home.

Two dates matter, and they do different jobs. GOV.UK explains that at exchange both sides sign final copies of the contract and send them to each other, and the agreement to sell and buy then becomes legally binding. Usually, neither side can pull out after that without paying compensation. Completion comes later: once contracts are exchanged and any remaining checks are done, the buyer's solicitor or conveyancer transfers the money, and ownership passes.

For a removal, completion is the date that counts. It is the day you leave one home and get the keys to the next. Exchange is the date that makes it safe to plan, because before exchange the completion date is only a target. The government's How to buy a home guide says that at exchange you also confirm a completion date, often around two to four weeks later, though the two can happen on the same day.

The legal default can be different from what your contract says. Blandy & Blandy Solicitors explains that the Standard Conditions of Sale set completion 20 working days after exchange, but that this is rarely followed and is usually replaced by an agreed date on the front of the contract. It also says there is no minimum time between exchange and completion. So the gap could be a month, a week or none at all, and your solicitor is the only person who knows which.

What each date means for the move

If you rent as well as buy, or rent at one end, the tenancy dates add a third deadline. That is covered in moving out of a rented flat in London, so it is not repeated here.

This is the question that decides the whole day, and the honest answer is that nobody can give you an exact time in advance. What the official sources do say is useful, though.

• Often around lunchtime. The government's guide to buying says the keys are often handed over around lunchtime. Its guide to selling says completion often happens and the keys are handed to the buyer at lunchtime, so the seller needs to have moved out by that point
• Before the contract's completion time. Blandy & Blandy explains that the Standard Conditions call for completion before 2pm, and that this is usually changed to an earlier time, especially where there is a long chain above, so the whole chain can complete on the same day
• After the money has travelled. The selling guide describes the money moving from the buyer, or their mortgage lender, to their legal representative, then to the seller's. In a chain, each sale has to complete before the next purchase can, so the money passes down the line
• Later in long chains. Both government guides warn that delays are more common in long chains, because many people are completing on the same day

The solicitors' point about timing is worth knowing. Blandy & Blandy says the completion time in the contract for a sale should always be before the completion time for the related purchase, so the conveyancer has time to forward the money. If you are selling and buying, that means your old home is due to complete before your new one. In practice, you should expect to leave your old home before you can enter the new one, and the gap between those two moments is where the van waits.

Do not plan your removal around a time an agent has guessed. Plan it around the time in your contract, ask your conveyancer what time they expect to send and receive the money, and build the day so that a later release costs as little as possible.

Most London chains have people in the middle who are selling one home and buying another on the same day. Here is how we would plan that day for a 2-bedroom home moving about 6 miles across London. The hours come from our quote form: 3 hours of loading and 3 hours of unloading for a 2-bedroom home in the 5.5 Tonne Lorry with 3 movers, and about 15 min of driving. The 8am start is an example; your crew's arrival is agreed when you book. The 2-hour wait is also an example, to show what a late release does to the day.

Without the wait, that day is 6 hr 30 min of booked time and costs £1,052 on our rate card (£1,040 labour and £12 mileage), before stairs, parking or packing. With the 2-hour wait, add £240 at £120 an hour for 3 people, making £1,292. The move takes the same time; only the waiting is extra.

Why load first and wait loaded

There are two ways to run a chain day, and one is much cheaper. The first is to load, then wait for the keys with a full van. The second is to wait for news before you start loading. The second feels safer, because nothing leaves your home until the deal is done, but it puts all of the loading time after the keys are released. The day then finishes late, and if the release is very late, the crew may not finish at all.

Loading first works because a seller has to be out before the buyer's keys are handed over anyway. The van being full by late morning is exactly what the official guide asks of a seller. The only time at risk is the waiting, and that is the cheapest part of the day.

First-time buyers and people moving out of a rented home have no sale to complete, so there is no buyer waiting to get into the old home. That gives you room to time the crew so that loading finishes close to the completion time in your contract. In this example the contract says 1pm, an earlier time of the kind Blandy & Blandy says is often agreed in a chain.

This plan only works if the old home is yours to stay in until the van leaves. If the tenancy ends at noon, or the landlord's check-out is booked for the morning, load early and accept a longer wait. A loaded van waiting outside costs less than having to empty a flat in a hurry while the inventory clerk walks round.

If you are buying a newly built flat, the developer's completion day can work differently, with handovers at the sales office and a booked slot for the goods lift. Our guide to booking a goods lift for moving day covers what to ask the building.

A late release does not make the move itself longer, but the crew and van are yours while they wait. Our rate card charges waiting at £40 per crew member per hour. This is the table for the crew sizes most London homes need. The crew is the number of people, the driver included.

Two things stand out. First, the cost of a short delay is modest compared with the move. One hour with 3 movers is £120, on a 2-bedroom move costing £1,052. Second, the cost rises with the crew, not with the van. A 3-bedroom house usually needs 3 movers on our quote form, so its waiting rate is £120 an hour; three hours would be £360.

Our quotation terms explain when the job's time allocation can run over. They say, word for word: "The time allocation is confirmed by our team in the written quotation and runs from the team's arrival at your collection address. Overtime is charged per additional hour only where the service exceeds it because of additional items, customer-requested work, waiting, access restrictions or delays outside the agreed scope." Waiting is one of the reasons listed. The government's buying guide makes the same point from the customer's side: delays in the money reaching the seller may lead to extra charges from your removal company, so check the policy in advance. Ours is the waiting rate above, and it is printed on our rate card before you book.

If your contract has a completion time and the other side misses it, the contract itself deals with some of the consequences. Blandy & Blandy explains that under the Standard Conditions, if completion is delayed, interest at the rate stated in the contract is payable by the party in default. Whether any other cost, such as waiting time, can be recovered is a question for your conveyancer, not for us. Keep the written timings of the day in case they ask.

Sometimes the money does not arrive at all on the day, and completion moves to tomorrow or later. A loaded van cannot wait indefinitely, so the fallback is to take your belongings into storage and bring them back when the keys are yours. We arrange storage through a partner, subject to availability, wherever you need it in London. Storage is priced by the month, VAT included, and the first month is paid upfront.

There are three parts to the cost. The storage itself. The handling time to unload into the store, which is part of the day's hours. And the redelivery when you have the keys, which our storage terms price as a move at our normal van and crew rates, with any partner handling fee passed on at cost. The table compares the storage route with three more hours of waiting, using our published storage prices and a redelivery of the same 6 miles.

The redelivery for the small load assumes 1 hour of handling in total, which is our assumption for a few boxes and a bed, not a fixed figure. The 1-bedroom redelivery uses the hours our quote form uses for a 1-bedroom home. The storage figures are our own: small loads from £100 a month, and £250 to £350 a month for a 1-bedroom flat's contents. Insurance while goods are stored is quoted as a separate line on the declared value; Goods in Transit covers the journeys.

Wait or store?

On these figures the answer is clear. If the keys are coming today, wait. Even three hours with 2 movers costs £240, while the storage route for the same flat costs £710.80 or more once the first month and the redelivery are counted. Storage only wins when completion has moved to another day, because then the alternative is not three hours of waiting but a crew and van tied up with nothing to unload until another day.

There is one more timing point. Our storage terms make access by appointment, with at least 2 working days' notice. So if completion slips by a day, do not count on the goods coming back the next morning. Ask the team what is possible when you know the new date, and pack an overnight bag that stays with you, not in the van. Our storage costs in London guide covers access, billing and insurance in more depth, and what to do if you do not get the keys covers the first hour of that call.

When storage has been part of a London move before

These are earlier London bookings from our records that included storage, anonymised to the area. The prices are what the customers paid at the time, under our earlier pricing (a price for a time slot), so read them for how the job was put together, not as today's rates. Miles in our records are straight-line.

The Soho job shows the shape of a short store: furniture collected, held overnight and brought back. It was planned in advance, which is what made the next-day return possible. If you think your completion might slip, tell us when you book, and we can plan the storage option before the day rather than on it. The removals and storage in London page sets out how the two work as one job.

Some sellers ask whether it is safer to move out the day before. It can be, but it nearly always costs more, because it turns one move into two.

• Move on completion day. One move, one set of hours. On our rate card a 1-bedroom move of 6 miles is £460.80, plus any waiting. This is the normal plan, and it is what the official guides assume
• Move out early into storage. Two moves: one into the store and one out, plus at least a month's storage. For the same 1-bedroom flat that is about £460.80 for each move and £250 to £350 for the month, before any partner fee. Use it if you must leave before the buyer completes, or if there is a long gap before your purchase
• Move out early to family or a rental. The same two moves, without the storage, but only if the place can take everything

There is a legal reason to be cautious about moving out early, too. Blandy & Blandy notes that on exchange the risk in the property passes to the buyer, but ownership of the contents included in the contract passes on completion. You remain the owner until completion and must leave the home in the state agreed in the contract, which GOV.UK also says. An empty home the night before is fine, as long as it is secure and left as the contract says.

If you are buying and your current home is rented, moving early is rarely an option: you cannot get into the new home before completion. The question for you is whether the tenancy overlaps the completion date. If it does not, short-term storage is the usual bridge. Our renters guide covers how to time that gap.

The government's selling guide says the seller needs to have moved out by the time the keys go to the buyer. On a chain day, that leaves no room for packing in the morning. If the crew arrives to find half a home still in cupboards, the loading takes longer, the van is ready later, and a late release becomes a late finish. Packing is the one part of a completion-day move that should not happen on the day.

If you would rather we pack, book it for the day before. Packing is only available as part of a removal, never on its own. These are our published packing packages, each with a set team and time and a materials allowance:

A packing day before the move means the house is ready when the crew arrives, so the only variable left on completion day is the time the keys are released. If you pack yourself, our terms are clear on one point: "Goods packed by the customer are not covered for loss or damage arising from insufficient, unsuitable or improper packing." Use proper boxes, seal them, and label each one with the room it goes to.

Two other jobs belong to the day before. Our terms say: "The fridge/freezer must be emptied, defrosted, disconnected and dry before collection. AFS Removals does not disconnect or reconnect plumbing, gas or electrical appliances." Defrosting takes time, so switch it off the evening before at the latest. And take beds and flat-pack furniture apart, or book the crew to do it, so it is not done while the clock runs.

Keep one bag with you, not on the van: documents, chargers, medication, a change of clothes, the kettle and bedding for one night. If completion slips and your belongings go into storage, that bag is all you will have. Your contingency plan for delayed completion has a fuller list.

Many people wait for exchange before contacting a removal company, and then find the date already fully booked. The government's buying guide suggests giving the removal company as much notice as possible, and lists choosing one as a step before exchange. It also notes that Fridays and the first and last days of the month are often very busy, which matters in London because those are the days many chains aim for.

The approach that works best in a chain is to separate the quote from the booking:

1. Get the quote early. As soon as an offer is accepted, ask for a written quote. You will have it within 24 hours, with the van, crew, hours and any London charges itemised
2. Share the target date. Tell us the week you are aiming for and how firm it is. We can say how busy that week looks
3. Confirm at exchange. When contracts are exchanged and the completion date is fixed, confirm the booking with the 20% deposit
4. Do the London paperwork straight away. Apply for any parking suspension and book any lift as soon as the date is fixed, because council notice periods can be longer than the gap to completion
5. Inform us of any change at once. If the completion date moves after exchange, tell us the same day

It is worth knowing what the deposit does before you pay it. Our quotation terms say, word for word: "The deposit secures the moving date, vehicle and team and is non-refundable once the booking has been confirmed, subject to statutory rights." That is why we suggest paying it once the date is fixed by exchange, rather than on a target date that could still move. If you need to secure a busy date earlier, say so, and ask any question about what happens if the date changes before you pay, so the answer is in writing.

If exchange and completion fall on the same day, you will have very little notice. We can often do a move of up to 2 bedrooms the same day if it is booked by 2pm, with no charge for short notice, subject to a free van. For larger homes, book provisionally around the likely date. How far ahead to book movers in London sets out the council deadlines that often decide how early that needs to be, and booking removals when completion is uncertain covers the questions to ask.

On a completion day, anything that slows the loading pushes the van's ready time past the key release, and anything that slows the unloading pushes the finish into the evening. In London a few things cause most of it.

• Parking. A suspension booked for the wrong day is worse than none. If the completion date moves after you apply, tell the council at once. Parking suspensions for moving day explains the process and fees
• Lifts and concierges. Many blocks only allow moves in booked slots. Book the lift for the afternoon at the new building, not the morning, so a late release does not lose the slot
• Agents' opening hours. If the keys are collected from an agent's office, check its hours and whether someone can hand them over late in the day
• Two buildings, two sets of rules. Some buildings have different rules for moving in and moving out. Ask both
• The balance payment. Our terms ask for the balance before unloading. Pay it the day before so it cannot become another wait

The balance term reads: "The remaining balance is payable before unloading unless otherwise agreed in writing." On a chain day, the simplest way to keep to it is to pay before the move, so the unloading can start the moment the van arrives. For everything about how long each stage of a London move takes, see how long a London house move takes.

A completion-day move is easier to plan when we know where the chain stands. When you ask for a quote, tell us:

• Whether you are selling, buying or both, and whether there is a chain above or below you
• The completion time in your contract, once you have it, and whether your conveyancer expects any delay
• Where the keys will be collected from, and who will collect them
• The access at both ends: floors, lifts, lift booking rules and where the van can stop
• Anything you want stored if completion slips, so we can plan that option in advance
• Who can make decisions on the day if you are on the phone to your solicitor

Every move with us comes with the same basics, whatever the date:

• Goods in Transit cover. Included on every move, not sold as an add-on.
• Public Liability cover. In place on every job, at home or at work.
• Our own crew. Every mover is employed by AFS. We never pass your move to a subcontractor.
• One named coordinator. Your single point of contact, from the quote to the last box.

You get an itemised written quote within 24 hours, and the team confirms the final price in writing before the move. If the date depends on a chain, say so, and we will plan the day around it rather than charge you for avoidable waiting. For a whole home, start from our house removals in London page. If your dates might not line up, removals and storage in London explains how storage fits into the same booking, and the London house removals team can talk you through the timing.