How do you leave a house on completion?

[DressingGownofDoom]

We're completing on our house sale this week and I'm just wondering what condition you would expect to find your house in. I had cleaners do a deep clean of the bathrooms recently, I've deep cleaned the kitchen cupboards and fridge and some walls have been freshly painted and grass has been cut but other than that it's just your average family home, neither filthy nor sparkling. Do I need to do much more than mop and hoover floors and give surfaces a wipe over?

Also wondering if I ought to leave a gift for the new owner. She's an older lady, maybe a bunch of flowers would be nice for her to come home to for the first time?

From past experience... Hoovered but not deep cleaned. Maybe a note saying when bin day is etc. But really very little - we've always been packing until the last minute so the house has been clean, but not deep cleaned - and the same for the houses we've bought. Definitely wouldn't bother with a gift - it's a nice idea but completely unnecessary from my perspective - I see house buying as a business transaction. Would obviously be different if it were a holiday rental etc.

Not sure if this is still a thing but at least three houses I’ve moved into have left a pot plant

In my experience of houses I've moved into, a quick hoover round once the large items of furniture have been removed. Whilst I wouldn't have wanted my buyers to move into a filthy house, it's galling to spend hours cleaning a place over the last two or three weeks you live there, only to move into somewhere that needs a thorough clean before you can even put your furniture in place, but it seems to be the norm not to bother these days.

Not sure that there is any particular etiquette other than leaving the dwelling and garden (if applicable) clean, tidy and secure. But when I last moved I did leave two bottles of wine, a box of chocs, a welcome card containing a note about bin collection days, local surgeries and amenities, a pack of toilet roll ( in case the new owners forgot to bring any!), and the manuals for the boiler and built in appliances.

Agree that it is a form of business transaction, but wanted the new owners to feel welcome.

I would just give it a normal clean. I had my last house professionally deep cleaned for new owners only to find all the flooring and curtains in a skip a few days later. I was gutted £350 down the drain.

On occasion I've had a house professionally cleaned. But usually I vacuum, wipe everything down and clear away any rubbish. I do tend to leave a bottle with a welcome card and some info about bin collections if it's my own home, not so much if it's an investment property.

It all sounds fair, and I'm sure that would be clean enough. I left champagne in the last two houses I sold, and a folder with bin refuse info, window cleaner's number and others, taxis, places of interest, etc.

Thanks everyone, I'll throw some bleach down the loo and give the floors and surfaces a quick clean and leave some info about bins etc then.

It did cross my mind that she might want to redecorate. My beautiful porcelain tiles and wooden floors could be ripped out I loved this house but it was just the wrong location for us.

Oh well, bye bye house

DressingGownofDoom - I think leave the house in the state you would want to find yours - even if the people you are buying from don't. I would also say leave it clean - so I would clean all the kitchen cupboards and shelves really well , clean everything as well as you can and also leave all the manuals for e.g. oven , fridge etc etc and where to find the stop cock and so forth all in one place so easy. To leave a bottle of wine or some chocolates or something I think would be lovely as moving is stressful. If your vendors don't do it for you well - , well. But nice to do it for the person moving into your house.

oops cross post - I just think leave in the state you would wish to find it. I very much hope your new house is a better location and works for you all - "hello new house"

Hoovered, cupboards cleaned as they were emptied, bathroom clean, oven reasonably clean.

If I’m moving out, I don’t pay for a deep clean and the grass might not be cut if it’s been raining for weeks.

My last move from a very rural location, I left a wood shed stacked with logs for the wood burner.
After I’d moved out, the new owner’s solicitor sent me a threatening letter, demanding £520 immediately to cover costs of removing all the wood from the shed or they’d take me to court.

Thankfully there was a clause in the contract saying that all fuel should be left (referring to central heating oil I think) so I told them to take a hike.

Every cottage in the village had a log burner so if they hadn’t wanted the wood, any of the neighbours would have cleared the shed for free. Honestly, some people!

I have always left it as I would wish to find it, with a bottle of champagne in the fridge and a note about meters, takeaways and quirks. I've always moved into shitholes, so reevaluatimg for my upcoming move!

@Mintjulia I used to work as a conveyancer. No one who ever threatened court actually ever went through with it. The costs and time involved outweigh the initial cost of removal. Good for you for not paying it!

OP we have everything the once over, quick hoover, wipe down etc and left it. We were moving into a shit hole and had to get professional cleaners in. Don't waste time and money on the sale as you may need it for the purchase.

Remove all the rubbish, clean kitchen and bathroom, hoover the rest. That is perfectly acceptable, it's a business transaction and you will never hear from them again. Don't spend any extra money.

When we moved we cleaned the house (hoover, dust, bleach down the loos). We had the oven professionally cleaned and cleared away all rubbish. We left a folder with all the info for the house like boiler, electrics, bin days, local area stuff like bus routes and takeaway menus. Also left a bottle of wine and a card. We'd been really happy there and we just hoped the new people would feel the same.

Because the people who we were buying from really mucked us around we ended up exchanging on Friday and completing the following Monday. DH moved in whilst I was at work - they hadn't even hoovered. It was like they'd just moved their furniture and left. They were a bit odd though.

@Mintjulia A friend left two spare rolls of wallpaper and three tins of paint (labelled with the rooms whose decoration they matched) in a cupboard in the porch, with a note for the new owners saying they might find them useful, but dispose of if not.

They were also sent a solicitor's threatening letter so went back to collect them.

Strangely it turned out the owners did not regard the pot plant and two bottles of wine as included within the solicitor's letter, although my friend apologised for those too, and said they would obviously remove them from the house...

I’ve always deep cleaned by house while packing and also had the cleaners in on the last day while packing. The house has always sparkles when I’ve left it. To be clear, I’m not hugely house proud and my house is always quite untidy normally but I can’t hear the thought of someone moving in to a dirty house and judging me for it.

When I recently sold my house I left it very clean. Did the kitchen cupboards/oven a couple of days before and then the bathrooms the night before, with a quick wipe over on the day, I hoovered after furniture was gone incl. skirting boards and mopped the kitchen floor just before we left. I moved in the same village though so felt I had to leave it that was as I regularly see the buyer!

I would hope to find similar on buying (ours was new build so was clean anyway).

Dont see the point deep cleaning a house before leaving. Just a bit of dusting and a hoover. The new owners are likely to give it a thorough clean anyway.

We have been lucky enough to buy two previous houses from retired people who were moving closer to family. They very kindly left cards and flowers and lots of useful information. We exchanged Christmas cards with newsy notes in for years. In return we forwarded their post and left our houses very clean and tidy for buyers. We also left a little gift. We have been lucky to have dealt with kind and considerate people.

I give it a thorough clean myself but wouldn't pay for a professional deep clean. I leave instruction manuals, service history and details of the alarm, bin day etc, but that's about it.

@Scarby9 please tell me your friend did take the wine and plant back too! What unpleasant people!

When I think of how when I moved into my house it had dust an inch thick everywhere, keys missing to half the doors and windows and holes in the walls that had been covered by artwork during inspections (I knew they were there, having done my research, but I also knew the Estate Agent didn’t know I knew, and I thought he was an arse about it).

And no idea on bin day, I called the Council to find out!

Last time we moved I cleaned the house from top to bottom and left flowers, a bottle of wine and a folder of useful information like bin day, GP’s utility suppliers, warranties/guarantees and details of local takeaways. When I’d moved into that house I’d had to deep clean it as it was filthy and the previous owners had stripped lightbulbs and window fittings etc and it really tarnished my view of the house for a while.

One house I sold the family were so lovely I made an extra effort with cleaning and on the day we left it was pouring down so as we left I mopped up and left them at the front door along with cardboard to put down (they were moving in straight after) so the floors would not get wet and slippy, also left a folder with info about bin day, where the stopcock was and things like that, a bottle of wine and a welcome card and I left a bag of sweets in each of the childs bedroom, they were so excited at getting their own rooms!

House currently in, the previous owners did nothing, dirty toilets, nice scum around the bath, floors filthy, they left pots/pans in a cupboard and had to come back for them, they had not even cleaned out one single cupboard, unexpectedly no bottle of wine or even a card,

I think it depends how clean you generally keep your house in terms of how much effort you need to put in when you go. We left our house absolutely sparkling- every nook and cranny cleaned. It wasn't a huge job as we kept on top of cleaning so generally the only bits that needed focus were behind furniture we hadn't been able to move.
The house we moved into was disgusting. They clearly never cleaned plus wore their shoes in the house and had a dog - all a lethal combination! They got in a cleaner to do a couple of hours before we moved in which made it look clean on the surface but as soon as you opened a kitchen cupboard or looked closely at anything you realised how disgusting it was. Took us 3 days to get it up to scratch