Have had a rather fun experience over the past two weeks. Were obviously aiming for the 30th. W/c the 14th was all going well, thinking we would manage to exchange the following week. On the Friday our sellers who had previously said they didn't have a connected purchase decided to add one... the week after was then a manic panic to see what would happen.
They had some enquiries outstanding that then couldn't be resolved, so they fell through on their purchase but decided to move out still, but couldn't book movers as a result (how they didn't already have it booked is beyond me because we had all been aiming for the 28th). We then agreed they could leave some basic furniture... they took the mick with that a bit and left a metric ton of crap.
Either way we managed to get in on the 29th, but have moved our own stuff twice because of difficulty getting a van. We got a unit and hired a van, moved everything into a unit, then everything out of a unit and got a house clearance in to get rid of the furniture. Short of it. Completed on the 29th, have finally today got to what people might expect after the first day. Absolute faff, but saved the SDLT cost - which'll pay for at least some of the work we need to do...