AIBU?
To not understand how people can live like this?!
RevoltingPeasant · 15/06/2013 17:24
DH and I moved into our first owned home together three weeks ago. The people before us owned it for 24 years and I think they probably cleaned once during that time.
So far, I have found
- a kitchen drawer filled with a couple of years' worth of fingernail clippings
- a clump - an actual clump - of black mould hanging off the shower screen
- a half eaten butcher's bone from their dog (I hope)
- dust in the cupboards that was actually caked on
Generally, whole place filthy and covered with dust bunnies. And then today, fleas :( now have to have whole house treated.
DH says i am 'fastidious' but AIBU to really not get how people can live year after year breathing in dust and mould and being bitten by fleas??
BLEURGH. That's all.
greenhill · 15/06/2013 17:38
Was there a long time between you last viewing the house and the completion date? Maybe they stopped cleaning once it was sold.
If they'd had a pet, you should have already considered factoring in the cost of replacing carpets and giving it a deep clean before you moved in.
It could be worse you could have moved into a house with nicotine stained ceilings: you'd have had to replace all the wallpaper, paint all the ceilings, replace the carpets and wash all the paintwork down before you moved in (happened to people I knew)
.wimblehorse · 15/06/2013 17:41
I found a potato that had sprouted potatoes in a kitchen drawer & fleas in 1 room (child's bedroom!) When we moved in. Still see the family at school drop off time. I was annoyed as I had cleaned our flat fastidious before moving out & hadn't expected to have to dettol & deflects everything here.
They had 3 small children tho & I guess moving day with 3 kids is hectic & stressful & so the cleaning gets missed...
greenhill · 15/06/2013 17:54
Yes, make sure you treat the carpets for fleas. Where there are fleas, there are bound to be flea eggs waiting to hatch. You made me laugh about it being a 'special offering' though 
How irritating that the seller made no effort to clean the house before he left though, presumably your old house had been given a thorough going over before you left it.
Are you planning to change much soon, or were you hoping to live in it for a while before doing any work on it?
RevoltingPeasant · 15/06/2013 17:58
We have to redo the electrics as they are apparently dangerous, so all spare cash going on that initially. Will then reprint room by room as we have money and time.
It really is a lovely house, with big rooms and wood floors....and ancestral vermin....
cory · 15/06/2013 17:58
When we moved into ours the previous occupants had moved out several months earlier and failed to empty the bins. They had left wine glasses in the cupboard unwashed. And when we cleared out the loft we found a collection of blood samples; seems previous owner was a medic.
Oreocrumbs · 15/06/2013 17:59
I went into clean after some tenants moved out and the place looked ok..ish. Not clean, but not filthy, but the place reeked of fags.
When I moved the sofa there were hundreds if not thousands of fag ends under it. I can only presume that when the ashtray was full they tipped it on the floor and swept it under the couch 
.
Upstairs they left used sanitary towels unwrapped and casually dumped in the general direction of the bin. That was a nice find 
.
kim147 · 15/06/2013 18:32
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thebody · 15/06/2013 18:41
I think it should be part of a house move to get a cleaning company in to clean any sold house to a recognised standard one week before exchanging contracts.
Paid for by the vendor and buyer.
Save so much anger when you leave your house pristine and move into a flea pit.
BrianButterfield · 15/06/2013 19:05
Our house wasn't particularly dirty when we bought it but it was in a poor state of repair - the owner had done superficial work like painting and laying laminate but they'd neglected the actual proper work that needed doing. The hot water was brown as there was a leak and it was crossing over with the water in the central heating system and the toilet didn't flush properly (a £10 fix). They had two small children - how they lived like that I don't know. It wasn't a starter home either so they should have considered that work would need doing before they bought it.
thefuturesnotourstosee · 15/06/2013 19:39
When we bought our house they left most of their soft furniture behind. It was all damp and mouldy and when I picked up the cushions I was confronted with hundreds of cigarette stubs. The cellar had been used as a dope den and was full of joint stubs. Every cupboard was filthy (and I am NOT fastidious) there was black mould in the bathroom.
the dishwasher which had been left as part of the deal was also mouldy and non functioning and the state of the gas oven had to be seen to be believed - the professional cleaning company I called in despair refused to take it on!
There was also a collection of porn mags in the bedroom cupboard - a fascinating education
LaurieFairyCake · 15/06/2013 19:44
It would be impossible to clean before completion - I'm moving and my house is stuffed to the gunnels.
On completion day when everything is packed I will have a cleaning service come in but every time I've done it (and paid for it) the new owners are too keen to move in and kick them out.
When you actually move the furniture on moving day and your house is full of moving men it gets filthy! They drag dirt and mud in from the garden - total disaster.
everlong · 15/06/2013 19:46
This reply has been deleted
Message withdrawn at poster's request.
jammiedonut · 15/06/2013 19:50
I always insist on having contract cleaners in before moving in, you can negotiate the cost between the vendor and buyer and have it put into contract. Nothing I hate more than having to clean other peoples filth, and makes me feel so much better knowing that some industrial strength chemicals have been used! Yanbu at all, I'm by no means the tidiest of people but a drawer full of nail clippings . . . . Eeeeeew
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