Moving house – whether you’re buying a new home or upgrading your rental – can be stressful, expensive and time consuming with the latter in particular causing a great deal of frustration. In this article, we’re looking at factors that influence time when figuring out how long it takes to move house – spoiler alert; it’s always longer than you think !
How long does it take to move house: Factors that influence time when buying a home
Buying a home can be a long drawn out process and involves a number of moving parts which will take you through in this section:
Finding a home
It should go without saying that finding the perfect home is not something to be rushed into.
Factors that influence time when finding a new home include its suitability in terms of size, access to transport and amenities such as schools and shops and practical issues such as crime rates in the area.
How long does it take to move house ? This starts with an average of between three and six weeks of house searching.
The mortgage
In most cases, those who are looking to buy a new home will need to secure a mortgage – a special kind of loan which is specific to buying property.
A mortgage is secured through a bank or other financial institution based on your financial circumstances. Factors that influence time when figuring out how long it takes to move house when you need a mortgage depends on your situation but will generally take between 45 and 60 days.
The legal bits
Buying a house is a fairly complex process and it will require specialist legal support known as conveyancing. Hiring a conveyancing solicitor will cost you between £1500 and £200 so this needs to be factored into your budget.
How long does it take to move house when you need conveyancing? This varies depending on your circumstances but will generally take between 12 and 16 weeks.
The actual move
Once you have your official moving date, it’s time to look at the factors that influence time when figuring out how long your house move will take.
You will need to book your removal van with as much notice as possible to make sure that somebody will be available on your moving date.
Next, it’s time to decide if you will be packing everything up yourself or your movers will be doing this for you – top tip, it’s much cheaper to do this yourself.
How long does it take to move house when you pack your belongings yourself? This depends of course on how much stuff you have but you should allow for at least two hours for the van to be loaded and then factor in the time needed for the journey to your new home and unloading the van.
How long does it take to move house if your movers will be packing for you? In this scenario you will need to allow up to four hours for packing and loading plus your travel time and unloading time.
How long does it take to move house when renting ?
How long does it take to move house?
The process of moving house is much simpler for a tenant than it is for a buyer and, in this section we’ll look at some of the factors that influence time when figuring out how long it takes to move house when renting.
Finding a new home
As with buying, your first step is to find a new home. You can do this either by checking out websites such as Gumtree and Craigslist or by signing up with a letting agent who will let you know what properties are available.
Depending on your requirements and the area that you live in, this can be as quick as a few days or as long as a couple of months.
Checks and contracts
Before agreeing to allow you to become a tenant, your estate agent will perform a number of checks on your including your employment and finances and your right to live in the UK. These checks should take no longer than 48 hours.
Once all of the checks have been completed, your estate agent will draw up a contract for you to sign. Depending on how busy they are, this will probably take a few days.
On the signing of the contract, you will usually be required to pay a deposit and the first month’s rent in order to secure the property.
How long does it take to move house after contracts have been signed ?
If your new home is already empty once you’ve signed the contracts, you should be able to move in almost straight away. It is, however, common to have to wait for one month before taking occupancy.
On the day that you move in, your landlord (or the estate agent) will meet you at the property and ask you to sign an inventory – a document which lists items which are in the property and what condition they are in.
How long does it take to move house on moving day ?
As with buying a property, you should book your removal service as soon as you have your moving date to avoid any delays.
Factors that influence time when figuring out how long it takes to move house come down to how much stuff you have and what kind of items these are – for example, if you are moving furniture this will usually take longer.
When moving with furniture, you should allow at least an hour and a half for loading – plus transport time and unloading time.
If moving house without furniture, you can usually keep this down to about an hour or less.
Choosing a removal company
When picking a company to trust with your valued possessions, you need to choose wisely. Before signing on the dotted line, there are a few things that you should check out, including:
- Reputation – Always check out reviews of the company before committing as even one or two bad reviews can be a red flag.
- Accreditation – Check out the company’s website to make sure that they have the proper accreditation.
- Insurance – The firm’s insurance details should be displayed on their website but, if not, you need to enquire about this to ensure that you will be covered should an accident occur which damages your property.
- Extra fees – Ask the company about their policy on extra costs such as for waiting time.
Making your move go smoothly
To save time when moving house – and to avoid extra costs – it’s important to make sure that there will be somewhere for your removal firm to park; both at the loading point and the unloading point.
Check out whether you need permission such as a parking permit and, where possible, place cones outside the property in order to reserve the space.
Factors that influence time when figuring out how long it takes to move house
Moving house involves a number of different processes and you need to resign yourself to the fact that these do take time.
However, as we’ve shown in this article, there are a few things that you can do to speed up the process and thereby save yourself precious time and cash.