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Nightmare Moves - Claire Hose, MoveMinder

Nightmare Moves

Moving house can be a fine example of Murphy’s Law: “If something can go wrong, it will go wrong”. Combine this with O’Connor’s Corollary - “Murphy was an optimist” - and you can see why so many people dread such a masochistic exercise. At the risk of terrifying people into never wanting to move house again, here are some of the problems you might face during a nightmare move (and don’t worry, solutions have been included where appropriate):

• Cowboy removal team. You’re entrusting people you’ve never met to move your possessions: how do you know who will do a good job and who will break the lot? My worst move involved a removal company who were obviously having staff-management issues. The team turned up late, the foreman spent an hour fiddling with his new ipod and halfway through the day during break number x, left the half loaded van unattended: a £2000 bike was stolen. By 6pm, when they should have finished unloading at the new property, they had only just finished loading up the van at the old house. Instead of seeing the move through they shoved off without a word, abandoning the fully loaded van in East London. After a few choice words from me the removal company eventually drafted in 8 other men to help me complete the move: we finished at midnight and I organised suitable compensation for the client. The lesson here is to have two or three companies quote for the move, grill them about their experience, look over their contract and insurance particulars with care and then go with the one you feel most comfortable with: wherever possible get recommendations from people who have had a good experience with their removal company.

• Packing/unpacking. The nightmare begins when you consider three main elements of packing/unpacking; deciding what to take and what to dispose of; deciding where in the new place your things will go; and using appropriate packaging for the various types of goodies going with you. But the big delay comes when you handle the stuff you haven’t seen for ages and reminisce about it’s history. So, time is wasted, panic sets in and items are left behind. The answer? Delegation. Help with packing and unpacking will save a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and is available from move management companies and removal companies. If you plan on going it alone, the only way to ease the pain is to start well in advance. Tackle a room at a time and plan what will go where the other end. Once you think you’re done, check every nook and cranny again.

• Last minute change of mind. Contracts dealing with the sale of property in England and Wales allow either party to change their mind about their purchase/sale up until the very last minute. Not much you can do to prevent this, and I couldn’t possibly mention what I would be tempted to do if this happened to me ...

• Obtaining keys. This is almost always a waiting game, where you are at the mercy of someone carrying out a very simple activity or two - arranging for electronic transfer of money, then passing the message down the line so all monies in the chain can be paid and keys released. Why this takes as long as it does is a closely guarded secret. Remember that you are the client, so don’t wait more than thirty minutes past the agreed time before you start to chase the people responsible; you are paying the bill, so make sure you get value for money.

• Breakages. Bear in mind that there is a lot of activity when moving out of one house and into another, with lots of bodies performing an intricate and sometimes death defying dance around each other. Inevitably things are dropped, collide with other things, come loose in the packing paper, get knocked over or just “sorry Gov, it just came apart in my hands”. There’s no way to ensure that this won’t happen, but being aware of potential problems and weak spots e.g. planning ahead for special handling and packaging, will make breakages less likely.

• Tantrums. For a lot of people moving house = arguments. The only way to reduce the possibility of moving day stresses and strains is to plan ahead and then to stick to the plan, which should involve everyone having designated tasks and an agreement to have all sharp implements packed first by someone else. Or you could just shove off to the seaside for the day and have someone do it all for you.

Claire Hose

‘Expert mover’ Claire Hose is Managing Director of MoveMinder Limited. MoveMinder Limited is a move management company which specialises in assisting individuals with all the additional tasks associated with moving house.

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