to expect a new house to be clean?

[Trazzletoes]

When we moved in to our new house, it was absolutely filthy - dirty toilets, dirty cupboards in the kitchen... All the furniture in the master bedroom is fitted and EVERY SINGLE drawer boasted short, curly hairs. Don't even get me started on the slug infestation in the kitchen and the fact that the dishwasher doesn't work... freezer not been defrosted in, apparently, several years. I am not a particularly clean and tidy person, but I would be so ashamed to leave my house in such a disgusting state for someone else to move in... am I alone in this? By the way, the people we bought from were a middle-aged couple with adult children who appeared to be perfectly capable of using a j-cloth and some Cif, but it looks like they just chose not to. I understand that on buying someone else's house there will always be shoddy DIY. I can cope with that because I had the opportunity to notice that before purchase but am bitter about the slugs and gross hairs. Am I alone? Anyone have worse new house stories to make me feel better? Please? :o

When I moved into my house, the grill pan had about a years worth of bacon fat in it. The oven was black and sticky. It transpired she had painted round the furniture last time she decorated and the bathroom was black. To cap it all off she had taken the plumbing from under the sink when she disconnected the washing machine, so all the filthy water from cleaning said grill pan emptied all over my feet

We went to a leaving party at a friend of ours who was going abroad. She let the children run in and out with muddy shoes on and couldn't give a stuff as she said,'not my cleaning problem' horrible attitude I think.

I think everyone buyer or seller should each pay for a cleaning company to give house the once over.

I have no idea how this would work legally but it would be nice.

When we moved into our flat there were tablets all over the living room floor, a crutch, rubbish galore, and in the (manky) oven the previous owner had kindly left us a Yorkshire pudding which was the colour and consistency of a hockey puck. The kitchen was foul foul foul and no matter how well it's been subsequently cleaned I still feel like it's utterly filthy (thankfully getting a new one!).

This all makes my mind boggle as growing up an army brat, my mom always deep cleaned the places we moved out of till they sparkled (regs with base housing) and she also did it when we moved out of homes that belonged to us. And when I was renting in uni the premises had to be sparkling when we left. I would never contemplate leaving my dirt for someone else to have to clean up, why are these people such mingers?!

We all got sickness and diarrhea 48hours after getting the keys to this house, we couldn't even move in on the day we got the keys, it was awful!

The worst bit was we bought the house from someone we knew!

I don't get it. if you move out of rental you have to clean or you lose part of the deposit. why is there a difference when moving after selling?...

We have moved 4 times over the years.

House No.1 Very naice couple who left a bomb site with all their crap rubbish. Including personal paperwork which really, I didn't need to see, what were they thinking leaving it in drawers for us to find? Don't even get me started on the illegal extention! Very interesting items in bathroom waste basket < boak>

House No.2 House had been empty for 2 years, probate sale, the carpets crunched when you walked on them. But such a bargain and we knew it was a nightmare. Conned persuaded the builder to clear it for a pittance, they had to take out an upstairs window and shovel the shit rubbish into skips. Had to saw up the carpets and the many wallpapers .

House No.3 Brand new house, so nice and clean but with the world's worst snagging list, grrrrrr.

House No. 4 Absolutely immaculate, so clean it dazzled . Can only thank the people who had lived there, and they left us a bottle of Champagne, love them. Still live there and that was it's cleanest finest hour.

In my defence, I have always left my houses in the best condition possible, better than when we lived in them, no one's going to talk about me, oh no!

I was shocked how dusty and really tatty our first house looked when we moved in. As we thought it didn't need much doing to it. Strategic rug placed over a huge hole in the lounge carpet. Piece of furniture placed against gigantic stain on wallpaper in dining room. As if somebody had thrown a whole pan of fat at it.

We have slugs in our house despite trying many things to get rid. My house isn't dirty, they just come through the floor boards. Not sure you can blame them for that.

I am the world's worst housewife because I have far more noble things to be getting on with but I would sooner die than pass on a house in that condition

my Dad was brought up in one of the South London slums that was cleared in the 50s. He can remember his Mum scouring the house from top to bottom the day the moved out. She cleaned the oven until it shone - just for the bulldozers that were on their way.

Now THAT is self respect!

Brambly I know the slugs aren't their fault. Am just ranting. As I've said before, a warning would have been nice before I came downstairs on the 2nd morning and stood on one, but I also understand why you would choose not to tell someone that slugs come in all the time. If we ever move again, I'll def be asking!

The slugs are their fault as if they are coming in a air brick they should either slug pellet around it or mesh it in some way. It is not normal to have slugs come into a kitchen and it is horrible to leave for someone else to sort out.

I was so disgusted with the state of ours that I hired a cleaner who specialises in deep cleans.

I'm not squeamish or afraid of getting my hands dirty (I now clean a local B&B) but when you know you have to live there it just gets a bit much and taints your attitude towards your new home. I felt like ripping all the kitchen cupboards out, they were so dirty I simply didn't want to use them.

There is nothing worse than living in someone else's mess.

We always always spend a long time cleaning our homes before leaving them. We've rented a few and had to do this anyway for the deposit but I'd never dream of moving out of a house and leaving it dirty. Probably because I've been on the receiving end!

This house looked fine when we came to look round. Lovely family, nice and normal and apparently quite houseproud. Obviously stopped bothering as soon as we made an offer - when we moved in the house stank of dog, even after a fortnight and washing down the walls a couple of times (didn't particularly smell when we looked around). The garden was literally covered in dog poo, couldn't walk anywhere on the grass :( They left all manner of crap on the top of kitchen cupboards, in loft, garage, shed etc. I took it all to the tip - wish I'd had their new address to forward stuff to - I would have placed the steaming bin bag full of dog turd on their gleaming new-build doorstep

We moved into a filthy house too .
Not only did we have loo brushes , we also has used bath mats on the bathroom floor and pubes in the dirty bath
Vendor looked straight at me and said she had emptied and bleached the entire kitchen .
Oh no she hadn't !

When we moved into our last house it was pretty clean internally (except for the cooker which was a health hazard, and we didn't use the oven at all), but she had left "stuff" in the attic, in the shed, lying around the garden. The lovely removal men we had kindly emptied the house of the rubbish, including furniture, bits of carpet, general junk before they started putting our stuff in.

We moved from there recently, and I will admit the house wasn't as clean as I'd have left it if our buyers had been nicer! It was dusted, hoovered, bathrooms/loos clean, cooker cleanish and floors washed but the garden wasn't immaculate, and the windows weren't cleaned. They and their solicitor had mucked us about and kept us waiting for so long that I became less and less inclined to tidy it properly. So, be warned, if you are a nice buyer you might get a cleaner house!!

When we bought our "new to us" house, we sold our own (which had been brand new when we got it). (And that one had plenty of dirt, dust and grime when we got it, including all loos having been used and left unflushed - gross)

We spent ages leaving ours clean - I even had the hoover as one of the last things out, to run it over rooms as we finished.

The house we moved into had been effectively unoccupied for many months (owner had been based in Spain and was relocating permenantly there). The dust was dreadful, and ground in grime from years of shoddy cleaning. She had left her grotty old cooker and fridge (which we'd been offered and said no, part of the conditions of sale were that she remove them in advance), as well as a few sets of mismatched glasses and things around the place. There was food in the frideg that had been there for at least 4 weeks (plenty of green mould). Holes in the bathroom wall where she'd removed the wooden "set" (toilet roll holder, towel rail,,,,etc, - we knew about that) but not put anything in their place (we had changed some of ours, but before the viewings started and had replaced them with cheap alternatives). Curtains and flounces which had never been cleaned (16 year old house) and which we had also asked to be removed.

I spent a couple of days in absolute misery as I am an asthmatic. DH tackled a few of the rooms alone as they were so bad. It wasn't nice, especially when we thought about what we'd left behind. But there were worse stories being thrown around when we were talking about it in work.....[boak]

in switzerland and germany it's standard to have the house professionally cleaned and repainted when you move out. SO you always move into somewhere fresh clean and sparkly. I doubt there's a single abode in theses 2 countries where that is not in the contract.

Mind you, you basically need to plan for a week or even a month to move - in Germany it is normal to take the kitchen with you (wtf???) so you move into a house or flat and promptly have to have a kitchen put in. Still, it's all nice and clean. And kitchen fitters do a roaring trade. And electricians.

Yep we experienced that when we lived in Germany Ernest - people take the kitchen and bathroom fixtures with them... what if your new kitchen space is bigger and you need more units but they've been discontinued? Amazingly we were able to find a flat with a kitchen and bathroom fitted but other friends who were renting there had had to provide their own! Bonkers. Imagine moving in somewhere and you just have a pipe sticking out the wall ready for plumbing to be attached!

A friend of mine moved into a house and had to empty 4 skips worth of crap out of the supposedly empty house they'd just bought, before they could even start cleaning. Cost a fortune - their stuff had to go into storage because there was nowhere to unpack it; they had to pay the removal men again to move it back in, and their solicitor charged money for the letters they wrote threatening legal action to the guy who sold them the house and left the crap behind. It was minging.

YADNBU They should have cleaned. Far enough about the freezer, but the rest just sounds grim and bad manners. I could never walk away from my house in a filthy state and know there were people moving in.

When we moved out our flat I paid for a cleaner to come and clean it up as I couldn't be bothered to do it, but just simply couldn't pass it on to the new owners without it being all spik and span. Good manner IMO

We had experience of the Switzerland cleaning. It cost me almost £3k cash in hand no receipts.

YANBU. There is no excuse for leaving your filth for other people to clean up. Everyone is busy when they are moving but a house should never be left dirty, it's disgusting.

I'm so glad I've read this thread. We rent at the moment, but we're about to start viewing to buy. I will definitely be keeping a steely-eyed lookout for chickens in cupboards etc now!