Can You Move House on a Saturday? Weekend and Bank Holiday Questions Answered

Saturday is one of the busiest days in our diary, and yet almost nobody buying a house moves on one. Both of those things are true at the same time, and the reason is the gap between the day you move and the day you complete. One of those you can choose. The other is set by the banking calendar and no removal company can shift it. Here is what actually happens at weekends and on bank holidays, who can move on those days, who cannot, and what any of it does to your quote.

Can you move house on a Saturday?

Yes, and Saturday is one of the busiest days of our week. The part that catches people out is that moving on a Saturday and completing on a Saturday are two different things. If you are renting, if you already hold the keys, or if you completed on the Friday and would rather load the next morning, a Saturday move is straightforward and we run them most weeks. If you are buying and the day depends on money reaching your seller, Saturday is not open to you, and the next answer explains why. The crew, the vans and the house removals service are the same on a Saturday as on any other day.

Can you complete on a Saturday?

No. Completion is the moment your purchase money reaches the seller's solicitor, and that transfer runs through the banking system, which settles on working days only. Solicitors and lenders work to the same calendar. That is why every completion date you are offered falls between Monday and Friday, and why every other household in your chain is working to the same limit. It is not your solicitor being awkward, and it is not something a removal firm can arrange around. If you have been told your completion is on a Saturday, ring your solicitor before you book anything, because something has been misread.

Do solicitors work on Saturdays?

Conveyancing runs Monday to Friday. Some firms answer the phone on a Saturday morning and will take a call to reassure a worried client, but the work that actually moves a purchase forward, exchanging contracts, drawing funds down from your lender and sending the money on, only happens on a working day. That shapes the whole week more than people expect. Book a Friday completion and any problem that surfaces at four in the afternoon has nobody to solve it until Monday morning, with your belongings already on a van. It is one of the quieter arguments for a midweek date, which we set out in our piece on why Friday is everyone's moving day.

So who actually moves at the weekend?

Renters, mostly. Tenancy start and end dates are agreed between you, the landlord and the agent, so they can land on any day of the week, Saturday included. After that come people who completed on the Friday and want to load calmly the next morning rather than race a four o'clock deadline, people rearranging a property they already own, and anyone moving things in or out of storage, which has no completion date attached to it at all. Smaller jobs fit the same pattern, which is why our man and van work leans towards weekends more heavily than our full house moves do.

Do removal companies work on Sundays?

Some do, some do not, so ask rather than assume. We do, with advance notice, because a Sunday needs a crew booked in properly rather than assembled on the morning. There is a small premium on the day rate for Sunday work, we tell you what it is before you commit, and we do not refuse the job. It is the same group of customers as a Saturday, and usually the same appeal: a quiet road, no school run, and nobody in the chain waiting on a bank transfer.

Can you move on a bank holiday?

Yes, on exactly the same terms as a Sunday, and the figure sits on your written quote before you agree to anything. The part worth planning around is not the bank holiday itself but the days beside it. The working day before a bank holiday is one of the most requested dates in our diary, because people try to turn a move into a long weekend and completions cluster there for the same reason, so those slots go early. A bank holiday Monday completion is not possible for the reason given above, so a bank holiday move is open to renters and to anyone already holding keys, and to nobody else.

Does moving at the weekend cost more?

Saturday sits inside our normal working week and is one of our busiest days. Sunday and bank holiday work carries a small premium on the day rate, which reflects the crew being in on a day off rather than the job itself being any different. Whichever day you pick, your price is fixed in writing before you book, so any weekend rate is something you see and agree in advance rather than something that turns up on the invoice afterwards. What genuinely moves a price is the move itself: how much there is to shift, stairs, how close we can get a van to your door, and whether anything needs specialist handling.

Is Saturday a good day to move if you get to choose?

It has real advantages, but they are not evenly spread. There is no school run at either end, neighbours are more likely to be home to shift a car for you, and you get Sunday to unpack before work starts again. Around Shaftesbury the weekday pinch points on Salisbury Road and Christy's Lane disappear, though the Park Walk and Bell Street car parks we load from for the historic centre fill with Gold Hill visitors instead, so the gain is smaller in the middle of town than out on the estates. One practical catch: if your move needs a suspended parking bay, councils process those applications on working days and want notice, so a Saturday move still has to be organised during the week.

How far ahead should I book a weekend or bank holiday move?

As soon as you have a date you believe in, and earlier again for a Saturday in summer. Saturdays and the working days around a bank holiday leave the diary before anything else, so a fortnight's notice in August is a far harder ask than a fortnight's notice in February. Booking early costs you nothing to hold, because until you confirm your move date your deposit is fully refundable. Tell us where you are moving from and to, roughly when, and whether the day has to be a weekend, and we will send you a fixed written quote within the hour. Get your fixed quote.