Skip to first light

Lana Neill Estates, the day

Llanelli · Carmarthenshire

A terraced street in Llanelli at dusk after rain: wet slate roofs, lit windows, and two people walking away along the pavement.

Estate agency · Llanelli and the coast

Completion day: three households, one chain

By the time the street lamps come on tonight, three households in Llanelli will be sleeping in different homes. Their day runs to a timetable, and every hour of it rests on weeks of work.

Follow the day Ask for a first visit

The households on this page illustrate how a chain completes. They are not a real sale.

Who is in the chain

Three households, tied together

A chain is a row of sales that depend on each other. Nobody moves unless everybody can, so a whole chain usually completes on the same day, one sale after another.

We sell homes for their owners. Whoever we act for, every household's day turns on the others, so we keep them all told.

From the semiA couple in Burry Port sell their semi and move to a bungalow that is already empty, so the chain stops with them.
From the terraceA family in town sell their terrace and buy the semi.
From the flatFirst-time buyers with nothing to sell leave a flat and buy the terrace.

One Friday, hour by hour

The day the keys change hands

The date was fixed at exchange of contracts. Today there is nothing left to negotiate, only an order of events. The times below are an illustration; real chains keep their own hours, but the order holds.

The day so farAs the hours pass, windows light as each household reaches its new home, and a pair of links closes as each sale completes.

06:40

First light

The first crew reaches the semi in Burry Port before seven. That couple have the most to move and the furthest to go, so their van starts first. In town, the terrace family tape the last boxes, and the first-time buyers clean a flat they emptied last night.

We confirm the order of the day with each household and both conveyancers before a box is lifted.

From the semiVan at the kerb. Loft and spare room go first.
From the terraceLast boxes taped. Beds come apart.
From the flatFlat empty. Meter photographs taken.

08:15

Vans at the kerb

Loading takes the morning. Every household packs while its own sale is still waiting, and the keys stay where they are until the conveyancers say otherwise.

We answer the crews about parking and access, and make sure nobody expects keys before completion.

A plain dark removals van at first light outside a terraced house, rear doors open on stacked boxes, the front door open behind it. — 08:15 · Burry PortEverything packed. Nothing handed over yet.

From the semiFurniture out. The van is full by ten.
From the terraceCrew arrives. Boxes leave room by room.
From the flatWaiting. Their van comes after lunch.

11:50

The call

A sale completes when the seller's conveyancer confirms the money for it has arrived. In a chain the calls run upwards: the terrace completes first, and that lets the semi complete half an hour later.

We wait for each call, then tell every household plainly: completed, or not yet, and why.

From the semiWaiting for the second call.
From the terraceThe terrace is sold. Their purchase follows.
From the flatCompleted. They own the terrace.

12:30

Keys down the chain

Keys move only after the call, in the same order as the calls: the terrace to the first-time buyers, the semi to the terrace family, then the bungalow to the couple.

We release keys in order, never early, and say where each set is waiting.

An empty front room in low afternoon sun, bare floorboards, and a bunch of house keys on the bay windowsill. — 12:30 · the terraceA key handed over early is the one mistake a completion day cannot undo.

From the semiBungalow completes. Keys after one.
From the terraceSemi keys released to them.
From the flatTerrace keys in hand.

15:30

The last sweep

Each household leaves the home it sold empty, apart from what the fittings and contents form says stays. Then a sweep, meters read and photographed, windows shut.

We check the readings reach the new owners and pass on anything left behind.

From the semiHanded over. Unloading at the bungalow.
From the terraceSweep and meters done. Van to Burry Port.
From the flatUnloaded at the terrace.

21:00

The first night

The kettle has been found, the beds are up, and lamps are on in three homes that changed hands today. Tomorrow there will be post to redirect and boxes to open. Tonight the chain is complete.

We call the next day to ask how the night went.

From the semiFirst night in the bungalow.
From the terraceFirst night in the semi.
From the flatFirst night in a home of their own.

Before the vans

The weeks that lead here

Completion day is the last link of a longer chain of work, and every household's began the same way. Each stage has its own rules, and each one decides how calm the day itself will be.

First visit
Written terms
Ready for market
Measured and photographed
Live
Viewings
Offers
Agreed buyer
Searches and survey
Exchange
Completion

How a sale runs, stage by stage

A closed leather document wallet, plain papers, brass house keys and a fountain pen on an oak table by a window at dusk.

Before the market

A folder that saves the chain weeks

Most of the waiting between an agreed buyer and exchange is for papers nobody looked for in time. The seller’s pack lists every one, with the rule behind it:

Identity checks
The EPC
The title
Material information, Parts A to C
Guarantees and certificates
Leasehold papers, where they apply

In a mover’s account you tick each item off as it goes in the folder, and see what is left.

The seller’s pack Tick it off in my account

How we work

Every offer reaches you promptly and in writing.

The law, and our floorAgents must pass on offers promptly and in writing, unless you have told them in writing not to pass on a particular kind.

Terms before workYou get our terms in writing first, including what “sole agency” or “sole selling rights” would mean for you. What they always contain.

Checks on both sidesIdentity checks on the seller when we are instructed, and on the buyer once a sale is agreed.

Working backwards

Your own completion day

Give the date you are working towards. The planner counts back to the days for booking the van, packing and telling the council, moving any step that lands on a Sunday or bank holiday to the day before. The lead times are our planning conventions, not rules: change the date and the whole plan moves with it.

A mover’s account keeps the plan with every date, beside your seller’s pack, your first-visit request and your own tick-list of the chain.

Where it starts

Every chain starts with a first visit

We come to your home, look at it the way a buyer will, and explain the stages in the order they happen. You leave knowing what paperwork to gather, what the house needs before photographs, and how the weeks ahead are likely to run. Asking for a visit commits you to nothing.

Ask for a first visit Llanelli and the coast