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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think people should actually clean their houses before moving out?

187 replies

vic1981 · 23/08/2014 02:14

I am more than somewhat annoyed. I spent ages cleaning my flat before moving out today, it was pristine. Also left a letter for the new owner with useful information about the house, such as where the stopcock was located etc with a card and bottle of champagne.

On arriving at my new place today have been confronted with an absolutely filthy house. Dirty toilets, not hoovered, deep in grime everywhere. Horrible smell pervading the house, previous owner has left things in the loft and garden. Oh, and the icing on the cake, cat shit on the bedroom floor.

Am I being unreasonable to think that you are supposed to make an effort to have a clean and tidy house when you move out?

OP posts:
WaywardOn3 · 23/08/2014 07:59

What did your contract say? Were they meant to have left stuff and not tidied? Our seller was meant to have removed all the furniture they'd left and have cleaned it (it had been empty for almost 2 years).

They didn't do it so we hired the biggest skip possible and chucked their bed frames, broken piano, filing cabinates and no end of other junk they'd left including shot gun cartridges which had to go to the police to be disposed of. The cost of everything went straight to them, £200 ish which was far more than the token £10 they'd offered for our inconvenience

MimiSunshine · 23/08/2014 08:00

I Don't how people buying and selling find the time to do it but they should. We moved out of rented so it meant we could move out and then go back to an empty house to properly clean it. Was exhausting

lightahead · 23/08/2014 08:00

My friend moved last year, in the master bedroom she was surprised to find that the bed had been left, on pulling back the covers there was a large assortment of sex toys and lube,looking not very fresh!

GoblinLittleOwl · 23/08/2014 08:01

In my experience, most people usually do. I have never moved anywhere that was not clean and tidy. It is the new owner who likes to proclaim that things are not up to her exacting standards. My unpleasant new neighbour said the same about the house when she moved in, and I saw my ex-neighbours, in their eighties, spend the previous weeks cleaning everything; they had plenty of time to do this thoroughly because the buyers constantly delayed completion, even on removal day.

lotsofcheese · 23/08/2014 08:01

I agree! It's written into tenancy agreements about leaving places clean. It should be part of moving contracts too. As should exiting on time. And there should be a financial penalty for leaving places late & dirty.

TheRealAmandaClarke · 23/08/2014 08:05

I keep it clean as-I-go. Iyswim.
I am not sure how to manage a thorough clean on moving day. The hoover/ mop/ etc would be packed, surely. And i have two extremely active under 4yos. I will have to pay a cleaner. Which will totally fuck me off if the new house is in a state. Nobody wants to have to clean on arrival.
Maybe estate agents should contract a cleaning Co. And we all do the same thing.

TheRealAmandaClarke · 23/08/2014 08:07

When we moved into this house the previous owners were very late moving out. But that was pre DCs so we werent really stuck.
But it really needed a thorough clean.
Yes. It should be written into contracts.

ElephantsNeverForgive · 23/08/2014 08:10

Not sure how you find a time to clean in a chain move.

Underfurniture etc will be fillty, but if big stuff only goes in the van on moving day there isn't not going to hoover.

Jcee · 23/08/2014 08:17

When I last moved, we'd cleaned our house to be spotless and when we picked the keys up for our new place there was a note with them saying 'sorry about the mess, we ran out of time'.

So I was prepared for some cleaning, but the house was an absolute tip - it stank, bins overflowing, a washing machine and fridge dumped at end of drive, kitchen drains inexplicably blocked, what looked like a can of paint split on hallway carpet, all other carpets under an inch of dog hair and I swear they'd not cleaned up since our offer was accepted.

If I move again, I'm writing a professional clean on moving day at vendors expense into the contracts.

HandMini · 23/08/2014 08:19

I approach things from the other extreme and I assume the house will be dirty (or at least, not up to the standard I'd like it to be considering it's not our own dirt at that stage!).

Both times we've moved, I've hired a cleaning company to arrive three hours or so ahead of us, so they start the process of a thorough clean.

I've left our place clean but I don't do a special moving clean. We have a cleaner twice a week and a deep clean once a year so I don't think the house is ever truly dirty.

Roussette · 23/08/2014 08:22

I think it is totally awful to leave it dirty but unfortunately some people just don't care. On our last move the timings were awful, two young DCs etc and I paid professional cleaners to come in and finish what I couldn't do so that it was pristine for the young couple moving in. I've seen them since and they said how lovely the house was and how excited they were etc. I'm glad I did that.

I just hope that those who leave it in a disgusting state get it back by the shovel full and they end up one day turning up at somewhere equally disgusting as they have left.

Bunbaker · 23/08/2014 08:27

"You can't clean till the removers have left and they're taking the hoover???"

I have lived in 5 different houses and I always take the vacuum cleaner in the car with me so I can clean round properly with no furniture in the room. Our bed is too big to move and rarely gets cleaned under.

I have always left a clean house, and luckily, moved into a clean house. I don't recall there ever being anything in the contract about leaving a clean house (I'm talking about buying here, not renting), but I think it is just common decency.

NormHonal · 23/08/2014 08:28

YANBU. We also had a professional clean done when we moved out of our last place, and the new owners sent us flowers afterwards by way of a thank you. They said it was so nice to be able to just put things into the kitchen cupboards without wiping it all down first.

We were lucky enough to have access to our new house a day before we moved in, so got that cleaned too. Cost a couple of hundred pounds, but was so worth it!

Aeroflotgirl · 23/08/2014 08:32

Yanbu at all, that us gross. In the contracts there should be a bit which stares that previous owners leave the house in a decent state.

PumpkinsMummy · 23/08/2014 08:34

OP I'm in Scotland and here the buyers have 5 days I think to check the house is ok and can contact the solicitor if anything is amiss such as furniture left if not agreed, anything not working as expected etc. If I were you I would check with your solicitor if your vendor is liable to arrange removal of rubbish and a clean.

FindoGask · 23/08/2014 08:38

"I am not sure how to manage a thorough clean on moving day. The hoover/ mop/ etc would be packed, surely."

Well that's easily solveable - you obviously don't pack those things if you're planning a deep clean. Our last move, our two girls stayed with my mum (a few hundred miles away), my husband went with the removal lorry to start sorting everything out at the other end,, and I stayed behind with the cleaning stuff and hoover. When the furniture's away you find places to clean you didn't even know were places - I thought we were pretty tidy folk but it still took me a whole morning to get the house to a state I was happy to leave it in.

LadySybilLikesCake · 23/08/2014 08:42

I scrubbed my old house, even cleaned the windows. When I moved I had to spend £50 on cleaning stuff as the new house was filthy. I hoovered the stairs and the hall, and the dust almost filled the dyson.

YANBU

RandomMess · 23/08/2014 08:45

Hmmm the hoover and mop etc. won't fit in the car and we can't travel seperately as only have 1 car etc. I have honestly been thinking about the logistics for a wile.

On a positive note the person buying is in rented and it certainly won't be filthy as we decorated and deep cleaned about a month ago and we have virtually no carpets so it will hopefully just be a quick hoover job for them.

squatcher · 23/08/2014 08:46

YANBU - same happened to me last time we moved. I knew I wouldn't have time to clean as it was long- distance and I had my hands full with DD. Booked removal for day before so everything transported overnight. Cleaners booked for 7am next morning so it would all be spotless for buyers by midday. Gutted when I walked into our new place and had to try and clean around all our stuff.

Linguaphile · 23/08/2014 08:49

Common decency (and fear of being thought of as dirty by the new owners, for my part!) dictates that you should clean before leaving. However, if your sellers were very busy with and stressed out about their own move, I can see how scrubbing down a house they'd never be returning to could fall off of the to-do list.

Phalarope · 23/08/2014 08:54

When we moved in to our current house, the previous owner had left us a bottle of wine and a card which said he hoped we enjoyed living here and that they'd cleaned 'as best we can'.

I used a wallpaper scraper to remove the grease from the kitchen cupboards. It came off in thick, dusty, fudgey slices.

LadySybilLikesCake · 23/08/2014 08:55

Few things worse than spending a weekend scrubbing your old home, only to find out you have to do it all again Sad

ifuknow · 23/08/2014 09:00

I do the same as FindoGask DC stay with GPs. DH goes ahead with the removals van whilst I stay and clean our old house as quickly as I can, particularly the places I couldn't get to whilst our furniture was in place.
Luckily we've always moved into new builds or other clean houses. It must be so upsetting to arrive at a filthy house.

sandgrown · 23/08/2014 09:04

George it sounds like the previous owner of your house may have been older (plastic flowers and late husband) maybe she was so upset because they had been there a long time. Not acceptable that she left rubbish but you sound a bit harsh.

maddening · 23/08/2014 09:05

I think if I ever manage to move then I will make the new property being left clean a part of the sale contract- we were first time buyers - we cleaned dfiance's rented flat and our house was spotless when we moved in but our vendors' new house was a state apparently.

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