From Lockdown To A Lockup – How Self-Storage In East London Is Proving Useful For Those Stuck In Limbo

We’ve all been affected in some way or another by the pandemic over the past few months. It has wrought both personal and professional havoc in equal measures. A demographic particularly affected by the Coronavirus has been those looking to move homes.

Parties looking to move prior to the lockdown very quickly had to put those plans on hold, and even now that the lockdown is easing up, there’s still a lot of uncertainty surrounding the prospect of a house move. Perhaps the sale has fallen through, or maybe the deal has been indefinitely paused until there’s more clarity on the situation. For some, this has come at the worst possible time, and, from their end, the deal has passed through. What, then, are your options in the interim? The team here at Store That E14, which provides self-storage in East London, wanted to look at how to deal with a property limbo situation amidst all this turmoil.

First And Foremost, Try To Negotiate With Your Buyers

Even If money has changed hands, many people would be appreciative of the situation’s difficulty. With that in mind, it’s not out of the realms of possibility that your buyers may allow you to stay in the property a little longer than stipulated; if not for free, then at least for some kind of rental fee. If you’ve been dealt a bad hand, the first thing you should do is try to stack the odds back in your favour a little. Whilst this is by no means ideal, it would allow you to stay in a familiar, homely environment, offering some semblance of stability in an immense period of flux. This would be especially beneficial to those families with young children, who have had a particularly rough time of it over the past few months.

Plan B – Store Your Items Somewhere Safe

The above will probably prove a bit of a longshot in most cases, but it’s at least worth a try. If your buyers want to move in on the originally agreed date (which is completely understandable), then you’re left with a few key questions. Firstly, where are we going to live now? Secondly, what about our stuff? Finally, how long will this last? Practically speaking, it’s imperative you get your possessions stored away as quickly as possible. Our self-storage in East London would be a good example of what you could use. Self-storage is competitively priced and secure, providing an effective stop-gap for a bad situation. Knowing your items are all safe and stored away also allows you to focus on finding somewhere to live for the interim, and assess your options longer-term.

The Interim

But what are your options for that period of limbo? In truth, it depends on the length you think your deal will be sidelined for. If you think the deal is going to be back on within a few weeks, you could try and angle staying with family for a time, if that’s a viable option. The success of this hinges entirely on your particular family, of course.

Alternatively, if it’s looking like the delay is going to be months rather than weeks, you could look at a short-term property lease. Many rentals offer minimum contracts of six months, and something like this could potentially tide you over until the deal is moving once again. Neither options are ideal, but then nor is the situation. What both provide, however, is again that degree of certainty and stability that has been so lacking in previous months.

For those whose house-buying chains have fallen through at the worst possible time, it can seem like the end of the world. Indeed, the knee-jerk reaction is to panic. If you try to approach the situation, methodically, however, you can come out of it the other end, either with the originally intentioned property, or somewhere else that serves the purpose.

Whatever the situation, we’ll be able to help you out, here at Store That,  because it’s what we do. So, if you’d like to find out more about our self-storage in East London, then get in touch! Contact us today on 020 7515 1300.