Dilemmas of moving in lockdown | Nicola Adam column

It feels like every other person is moving house right now and that includes yours truly.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The combination of stamp duty concessions and the end of the Right to Buy scheme (both due to end March 31) has proved absolute rocket fuel to the housing market.

The availability of credit and low interest rates has also added fuel to the fire as many realise the inadequacies of their current four walls and desperate for space while locked down in close quarters with others.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

READ ALSO: 12 of the most popular properties for sale in PrestonI'm very lucky to (finally) be able to move house and try and improve my lot.

Moving houseMoving house
Moving house

But I can’t begin to explain how painful the process has been, with the machinations of legalities and paperwork taking three times as long with solicitors working from home and often not contactable, estate agents snowed under and mortgage companies doubling the time it takes to make offers.

This is despite my chain only involving three properties, one set of first time buyers and an empty house. In theory it should have been simple.

Then there are the complexities of moving itself in a lockdown situation.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

There is no taking loads of items to the charity shops, as all are currently closed, for a start. Attending the tip requires appointment and limited loads.

The actually moving (I’m due to go next week, finger’s crossed) is also more complicated as you have to take Covid-19 precautions at every step by avoiding close contact with movers, scrubbing the house from head to toe with antibacterial spray before you leave and ditto on arrival plus wear masks while heaving around boxes.

There’s so much more I won’t bore you with -we all know how stressful moving can be.

Frankly, I am delighted to have a date to move and I am very grateful it looks like it finally happening.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

There are certainly worse issues in the world right now than the dilemmas of moving during lockdown.

At a time when the most exciting change in our lives is watching box-sets on Netflix and taking a daily walk around the block, I’m delighted to have something other than work to occupy my thoughts. Next stop, new home. Hopefully.

Related topics: