How Long Does It Take to Move House? Your Timing Questions Answered

There are two questions hiding inside how long it takes to move house. One is how long the sale takes, which is set by solicitors, lenders and the length of your chain. The other is how long the day itself takes, which comes down to how much you own and how easily we can reach your front door. Here are honest answers to both, from the removals side of the job, including the parts nobody can promise you yet.

How long does it take to move house from an accepted offer to completion?

There is no fixed timetable, and anyone who gives you one is guessing. The pace is set by your solicitor, your lender, the searches the local council returns, and above all by how many households sit in the chain above and below you. Your move only becomes certain at exchange of contracts, because that is the point the completion date stops being a hope and becomes binding. Until then, treat every date you are given as a working estimate, including the one everybody sounds most confident about. We plan house removals around your completion date once it is set.

What are the stages between an accepted offer and moving day?

In order: you accept an offer, both sides instruct solicitors, your lender arranges a valuation and issues its mortgage offer, your solicitor raises enquiries and applies for local searches, contracts are signed, and then they are exchanged. Completion follows, which is the day the money moves and the keys are released, and that is the day we move you. The stage that stretches most often is enquiries and searches, because it depends on third parties nobody in the chain can hurry. Our guide on when to book a removal company covers where we fit into that sequence.

How long does a house move take with no chain?

Being chain free removes the slowest variable, which is waiting for several households to be ready on the same morning. What remains is your own paperwork: the mortgage offer, the searches, the enquiries and the signing, and those still have to run their course. So chain free means fewer things can go wrong rather than an instant move. The practical gain is that once a date is agreed it is far more likely to hold, which makes it easier to book a crew, a cleaner and time off work with any confidence.

How long does moving day itself take?

Four things decide it: how much you own, how far apart the two properties are, how easy the access is at each end, and how much packing is already done when we arrive. A two-storey house with a driveway is a very different day from a cottage at the end of a single-track lane, even when the contents are identical. We look at all four when we survey, and we talk you through how your day will run before you book, so the timings are agreed rather than guessed at on the morning. Our page on what to expect on moving day covers what happens once the van is outside.

Will my move be finished in one day, or does it run into two?

Local moves are normally planned as a single day: load in the morning, unload in the afternoon, van away the same evening. Two days becomes the sensible plan when the distance is long, when there is more than one van load to shift, or when the completion times at each end sit too far apart to do both safely. Long distance removals are the usual reason, and where an overnight is unavoidable your belongings stay loaded and secure until the morning. Either way you will know which shape your move takes at the point you book, not at four in the afternoon.

What slows a move down on the day?

Packing that is not finished. In our experience it is the most common reason a day overruns, because a crew cannot load a room that is still half inside the cupboards. Access is the next one: nowhere to park near the door, a long carry from the van, a tight turn on the stairs, a lift out of service, or a lane narrow enough to need a smaller shuttle van to reach the house. Around Shaftesbury we plan for the hill and the cobbles as a matter of course, and our Shaftesbury removals page explains how we work the tighter streets. Late keys are the third, and that one sits outside everyone's control.

How long before moving day should I start packing?

Start with the things you will not miss, which usually means the loft, the shed, the garage, out-of-season clothes, books and anything decorative. Work room by room rather than category by category, so a finished room stays finished. Leave the kitchen, the bedding and the bathroom until the last day or two, because you need them right up until you leave. Anything you would want within an hour of arriving goes in a bag that travels in your own car, not in the van. If packing is the part you already know will slip, our packing service takes it off your list completely.

What can I do to make moving day go faster?

Label every box with the room it is going to in the new house rather than what is inside it, because that is the label the crew reads while carrying. Decide in advance where the big furniture goes, so nothing has to be moved twice. Clear a parking space at both ends and tell us early if a permit or a suspended bay is needed, since councils want notice. Empty and defrost the freezer the night before. Keep pets and small children somewhere calm and away from the hallway, which keeps the route clear and everyone safer.

How far ahead should I book a removal company, and what happens if the date moves?

Book as soon as you have a completion date you believe in, and earlier still for a summer move, which is our busiest season and when dates go first. We hold your date with a £100 deposit, fully refundable if you cancel more than 48 hours before the move. If completion slips, tell us the moment you know, because the earlier we hear it the more options we have to move your booking with it. Tell us where you are moving from and to and roughly when, and we will send you a fixed written quote within the hour. Get your quote.