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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask how clean you should leave your house when you move ?

32 replies

Kab13 · 11/12/2014 10:08

We are moving tomorrow, am I meant to deep clean the whole place ? It's tidy etc, ovens cleaned, kitchen cupboards, bathroom cleaned from top to bottom , will Hoover and give the place a polish. That's enough, right ? My mum told me I should be getting a cleaning company in for a deep clean, really?

OP posts:

CMOTDibbler · 11/12/2014 10:12

What you intend to do sounds more than fine. TBH (and against what some people on MN say), I think that anything along the lines of as clean as when it was viewed is perfectly OK.

Though obv if you have been renting it is different as you may be obliged to have a professional clean.

specialsubject · 11/12/2014 10:13

nice idea but no. You leave it clean enough so that new owners can move in, unpack and do stuff (cook, use bathroom etc) without having to clean it first.

sounds like you've done that and more and it is entirely satisfactory. I think what you've done IS a deep clean!

CandidConfessions · 11/12/2014 10:14

Renting or selling? If rented you probably may need to get cleaners in as it's probably a condition of your tenancy. If you don't you may loose your deposit.

If selling and moving that sounds ok, you probably wouldn't have time to get cleaners in before the new people take ownership. I usually leave a bottle behind and a welcome to your new home card for the new people.

NoSundayWorkingPlease · 11/12/2014 10:14

Bugger that.

An empty house is easy to clean, getting a cleaning company in is completely unnecessary (unless your house is so large it would take ages).

Windows in a decent state, bathroom and kitchen clean (including insides of kitchen cupboards), any surfaces and sills a quick dust and floors hoovered and mopped.

If your house is in a decent state anyway you can breeze through it. I helped my friend clean hers once it was empty.

It was a large 4 bed and it took 2 of us 2 hours. She did all the windows and I did everything else.

Original poster

Kab13 · 11/12/2014 10:14

We own the property so no agreement to have a professional come in, well unless it's just the done thing which I didn't think it was. As long as it's clean and ready to be lived in etc.

OP posts:

chocolatereindeer · 11/12/2014 10:15

I don't think a deep clean is really necessary. Just leave it polished and hovered, with a shiny bathroom and kitchen preferably.

formerbabe · 11/12/2014 10:15

The difficult thing is you can clean it all you like but as you are moving stuff out it creates a mess invariably especially with removal men traipsing in and out.

Besides even if I moved into a clean house, I would still end up cleaning it again before I put my stuff away!

Original poster

Kab13 · 11/12/2014 10:18

former I would end up cleaning it again too. I don't think the house we will be moving into will be clean as I have seen it since the tenant moved out and it needs a good deep clean! So unless the landlord has since gone in and cleaned or got someone in I'm going to spend my weekend cleaning and putting up last minute Christmas decorations.

OP posts:

NoSundayWorkingPlease · 11/12/2014 10:19

In fact, I really enjoyed cleaning my friends empty house - probably the only time I've ever enjoyed cleaning.

What does my head in about housework is the stuff. So much time is spent doing what I'd call tidying rather than cleaning - dishes, laundry, having to remove various toys and shoes from an area before you can hoover, moving all my photo frames before I can clean a window, or 20 bottles of shampoo and body wash before I can scrub the bath.

Cleaning an empty bathroom and hoovering empty rooms was bliss!

Original poster

Kab13 · 11/12/2014 10:21

nosunday I do feel like I'm moving the mess from place A to place B now we have a child, usually by the time I've tidied the lounge she's wrecked the kitchen etc. viscous circle!
Hopefully be less stressful with an empty house although I do hope the removal men aren't as messy as I imagine they are.

OP posts:

Neverbuyheliumbalonz · 11/12/2014 10:26

Yes, I agree that you dot need to 'deep clean' it. Basically as long as the new owners don't have to clean it when they arrive, it's fine.

Mind you, I suppose 'clean' is subjective isn't it? I spent time cleaning our house when we moved out and I think I left it in a good condition (ie. the condition I would hope to find our new house in). They people we were buying off said that they were going to give the new house a good clean before we moved in - I spent the first two days cleaning mould off the window sills and piss stains off the toilets.

echt · 11/12/2014 10:30

I live in Australia and in one rental did all the cleaning ourselves. The owners were more than satisfied. We used hired machine for the carpets.

The next rental the owners specified professional cleaners. I had to clean up after the lazy feckers. And dobbed one in for stealing.

To answer the OP, I would leave a house spotless.

Buttercupsanddaisys · 11/12/2014 10:30

I moved earlier this year.General clean through, all rubbish/bits of wood etc. cleared from the attic and garage. Left box of spare light bulbs, tho. Moved into new place and still have to dispose of the left broken curtain track lengths and stuff in the garage. Not much but annoying.

CupidStuntSurvivor · 11/12/2014 10:43

Rule of thumb? As clean as it was when you moved in. Unless a professional deep clean is stated in your contract.

Redglitter · 11/12/2014 10:43

I'd say a general clean. Any time I've moved house the first thing that's done is the place is cleaned before my stuff arrives. Wouldn't matter how clean it looked I'd still re do it. I bet most people are the same

19lottie82 · 11/12/2014 10:44

If buying / selling then a general clean out of courtesy is good manners (no requirement for that) but if renting and moving on you must leave the place in the same state you found it (as described in the inventory) If it has been professionally cleaned you must meet that Standard. If you can manage that yourself fine, if not then get the professionals in.

Original poster

Kab13 · 11/12/2014 11:00

never I agree, we rented off my inlaws before we lived where we are and I was heavily pregnant and spent my time cleaning because to pass time, my fil said the place was filthy
He later retracted that statement, he was refuting the "fluff behind the sofa" but I'd hate for our buyers to think our place was filthy.
If only the people we are buying off thought the same way, I feel I'm in for quiet a busy weekend

OP posts:

DramaAlpaca · 11/12/2014 11:03

I think what you've done sounds fine.

MsCoconut · 11/12/2014 11:08

I moved earlier this year. The previous owner had dogs. She had done a good job of clearing the house of stuff but hadn't cleaned up after the dogs. Within ten minutes of taking possession of the house, we had trampled dog shit all over the ground floor.

For anyone with pets, I implore you please to clean up after your pets before moving out. Anything else is a bonus.

Original poster

Kab13 · 11/12/2014 11:15

If hope people with pets still don't have shit in their house? Ewww.
Wrong on so many levels.

OP posts:

hellyhants · 11/12/2014 11:24

When I last moved I hoovered all the rooms and got the oven professionally cleaned. I didn't have pets. When we moved into our current house it was absolutely spotless. I don't know if the previous owners had it professionally deep-cleaned but it was fantastic. Sadly it didn't stay that way ;)

Mousefinkle · 11/12/2014 11:27

When we moved into this house the previous owner told us she'd given it a good clean but in the process of moving furniture out, everyone's shoes traipsing through the house etc it had inevitably got a bit messier again. Fine, we were expecting the floors to be a bit messy but no. Mouldy windows, dust EVERYWHERE- think the mucky cow hadn't dusted for the four years she lived here tbh . The kitchen (oven in particular) was Feckin gross, bath had scum all around it, she'd left a couple of her dogs shits in the garden for us. Gross.

So as long as it's not that bad, don't worry about it. Quick Hoover, wipe the windows and windowsills down, dust the fireplace, clean the kitchen and bathroom. Bobs your uncle. It will get a bit messy moving your stuff out and theirs in anyway.

rebelfor · 11/12/2014 11:31

When I moved into my first flat years ago there was dried parrot shit all over the laminated floor in the front room. I couldn't afford new flooring so I had to spend a good couple of hours literally scraping it off and then bleaching it.
After that the rest of the hovel didn't seem such a hard task to clean.

OsloGin · 11/12/2014 11:34

What does a professional deep clean consist of?

PurpleCrazyHorse · 11/12/2014 13:43

We've just moved and these things are helpful, and were done by the couple leaving our new house:

clean oven & hob so it's nice to cook our first meal in.
clean bathrooms, nothing worse than someone else's hair in the plug [vom]
Clean any kitchen cupboard spillages, helpful as I could put our stuff straight in without having to clean first
Quick hoover
Ideally mop the kitchen and quick wipe around

Doesn't have to be spotless but it's nice to be able to put things away in cupboards without having to wipe them first. Sounds like you've done all of these things, so sounds perfect.

If you're feeling charitable, leave some toilet roll behind

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