What to do if Your Home Move Falls Through

This has got to be every home mover’s worst nightmare: What to do when the sale of your house falls through, or your move is cancelled, especially if it is at the last minute.

Even moving between rental properties is not guaranteed to happen, there is always the possibility that the move might be cancelled for one reason or another.

And what would you do when your removal company does not turn up on moving day?

So our advice would be to be prepared for the horror of the house sale falling through at the last minute or if the removal company lets you down on moving day.

Here are 4 things to always have in place as a backup plan for if your home move is cancelled, or to at least make the experience less costly:

1. Decide what your plan of action will be if the home move is cancelled. Will you still move out regardless, or cancel everything and restart the home moving process?
2. Plan local storage if you intend to move home regardless
3. Source some temporary accommodation, just in case
4. Always have cancellation insurance for the removal company
5. Prepare a plan should the removal company let you down

Nearly every successful home move is a result of good communication, thorough planning, and hiring the right removal company.

Plan to communicate regularly with your current landlord, your new landlord, the estate agent, solicitors, and the removal company. It is also a good idea to get to know the people closest to you in the home moving chain.

The more information exchange there is between you all, the sooner you will know if there is a potential problem. Which just may give you enough time to avert the home move being cancelled altogether.

Find out what plan of action those immediately above and below you in the home moving chain would do if the chain were to break.

This will probably affect what your options are should the worst happen.

You may also like to read: Why it Pays to be Honest With Your Removal Company. The most common problems occur on moving day because the removal company was not aware of a vital piece of information. That could be that there is no lift, or that you now have 150 not 65 boxes to move. In this guide, we suggest things that you must tell your removal company.

#1 What Would You Do If Your Home Move Was Cancelled?

As much as you don’t want to even think that such a thing could happen, home moves get cancelled surprisingly regularly.

In fact, it has been reported that up to 36% of home moves fall through.

So it makes sense to consider what you would do if your home move falls through, especially at the last minute.

The longer the home moving chain, the more chance of the chain collapsing there is, so it pays to be mentally prepared for such a situation.

• Has the sale of your home fallen through because of a survey issue? If so would you consider lowering the asking price to ensure the sale?
• Would you put the home back on the market and restart the whole sales process with the possibility that you would lose the home you were going to move into?
• Could you remortgage your property and then rent it out?
• Would you consider selling your home to one of the fast home purchasing companies so that you do not lose your new dream home?
• What are the implications for you if you decide to take out a bridging loan?
• If you are moving home because of a new job, would you still go and the family follows at a later date?
• Are you able to extend your lease weekly, monthly, or 6 monthly?
• At what stage of the home moving process what you take each course of action?

#2 How to Find a Good Storage Company

When you book your removal company be sure to ask them if they have any storage facilities or know of a good local storage company.

Then if the move is delayed or you cannot get into your new home for whatever reason, your goods will be safely stored ready for when the home move can be completed.

It is fairly inexpensive to rent a storage unit which means that you can complete the move out of your old home even if you cannot get into your new home.

Assuming you have had your household goods professionally packed, they will be perfectly safe to go into storage as they are.

Any items that were prohibited from being moved by the removal company will likely have the same restrictions apply to things they cannot store at the storage depot, but it is worth double-checking to be on the safe side.

If you are moving temperature-sensitive items like antique paintings, then be sure to check that the storage facility is suitable for those items.

You should choose your storage unit with the same diligence that you chose your removal company, there are good and bad storage units out there.

This can all be done in advance of the actual home move and should be part of your home move preparations.

Must read: How to Choose a Storage Unit. In this guide, we look at the various types of storage units that are available, what size unit you are likely to use, and how much it costs to rent a unit.

#3 Find Temporary Accommodation

If the sale has only been delayed or you do not want to lose the buyer for your current home, you can consider renting a property, either on a short-term lease or through a company like Airbnb.

Friends and family may be able to put you up for a few days whilst you sort out a rental property if that is what you intend to do.

Consider also the location of your rental property. Does it need to be near to where you intend to move to for job reasons? Do you need to be near your current home?

You may like to know: How to Move Into a Rental Property. This is an invaluable guide to avoiding all the pitfalls when renting a property. Including questions to ask the landlord and even a useful checklist to ensure your move into a rented property goes smoothly.

#4 Do I Need Home Move Cancellation Insurance?

The nearer the home move is cancelled to the actual moving day then the higher the charges will likely be to cancel your removal company.

And if the worst-case scenario is that you cancel the move on the actual moving day, then you will probably incur the full costs of the move whether you physically move home or not.

However, for a small premium, you can take out home moving cancellation insurance. In the event that you cancel the removal company then all your costs will be met by the insurance company.

There are other insurance policies you can take out to cover a multitude of home moving scenarios and the guide below gives you more information on the options available to you.

Useful to read: Home Moving Insurance – Do I need it? Having the proper level of insurance cover is essential but also so is having the right type of policy. Here we look at the different policies that are available for home movers.

#5 What to do if your Removal Company Cancels or Does Not Show Up

Sometimes there is just nothing you can do about a situation, but being prepared for worst-case scenarios can turn a potential show-stopper into just an inconvenience.

Imagine it is moving day and the removal company is 30 minutes, then an hour, and now two hours late, what are you going to do? How long do you wait before panic sets in? What if you cannot get hold of anyone at the removal company?

• Prevention is better than cure, so before moving day ensure you confirm all the details for moving day with the removal company. Good communication between you and the removal company is vitally important.
• Have multiple phone numbers for the removal company so you have options to get hold of them.
• Don’t panic, there could be a perfectly rational explanation, and in all likelihood, the removal company has factored in more hours for your home move than they actually need.
• Pre-plan for a complete removal company no-show. Seek out reputable same-day home removal companies and save their telephone numbers to your mobile phone. It is better to have selected a couple of good backup removal companies and not need them than to be running around like a headless chicken on moving day.
• Save this link to your phone, this will enable you to request that up to 4 local last-minute removal companies contact you.
• Preplanning should be done when you are not under any stress and when you can make reasoned decisions. Then when Plan A goes out of the window, it is just an inconvenience, and you have the solution to the problem covered.

The idea behind all this preplanning is that you reduce the odds of anything going wrong on moving day.

If you take the time to find and hire a reputable removal company, it will be one less thing that can go wrong when moving home.

Good to know: Things That Can Go Wrong on Moving Day and How to Avoid Them. In this guide, we look at potential problems that could occur on moving day and how good planning will help prevent them from happening in the first place.

Finding a good removal company should be a priority as even the things that you may have overlooked in your planning, they will have seen a hundred times before and will have the experience to help you resolve.

They are used to the stresses of moving home and can make the whole experience far less stressful for you.

You may also like to read: How to Pick a Good Removal Company: The Ultimate Step-By-Step Guide. Choosing a reliable and trustworthy removal company to move you is not easy when there are so many to choose from. So in this guide, we show you, step-by-step, how to choose the best removal company for your particular home move.

And one last thought. Things always happen for a reason. It may be heartbreaking at the time, but for some reason, things always seem to be alright in the end.

Everything will be OK in the end. If it’s not OK, it’s not the end. John Lennon