Moved in yday, filthy house, took everything, raging!

[Mimmi78]

Don't post a lot, but am awake on a mattress on the floor of my new family home at 5 am, just raging/worries & generally cluttered mind! Completed yesterday
It's taken a year, mostly due to the sellers, they were slow, didn't produce paperwork and refused to have direct contact with their own agent! Then insisted dates etc were all convenient for them & no one else in the chain (4 property)
AIBU, when I walked through the door, I felt a surge of foreboding followed by disappointment. It's filthy. Not just a dust & vacuum required, I mean, never cleaned the shower, windows, vacuumed since showing the property! We asked to view again prior to exchange, they let us eventually, but insisted on not being there and I thought then, this needs cleaning. I asked solicitor to ensure it stated this, he said it always does. There was rabbit pop in the kitchen sink, their bodge a job removers had trailed the whole outside inside (& were there 2hrs after completion as was the owner, who refused to acknowledge us!) they had taken every single lightbulb and ceiling rose (this is a breach of our sale contract!), every pole, not even a big roll, just filth, piles of it, everywhere!! I'm furious, my sold property was left immaculate, little notebook with useful info and a welcome basket. The sellers have only moved a couple of streets away, wibu to trash & discuss their filth with new neighbours, who will no doubt know them and if I see them, call them filthy animals???? Make me feel better so I can get on and make this house a home for DD1 (7) & DS1 (5) who arrive today. Thank you

My place was filthy when I got the keys.

...but previous owners had left champagne and flowers so I didn’t complain (much)

In fairness we are not talking about the OP moaning about a bit of dust on the skirting board or at the back of the cupboard.

In a former lifetime I worked as an estate agent and in my experience a seller through extenuating circumstances being forced to move out of a property so quickly they had not excuse but to leave it like a pigsty is virtually non existent.

I have witnessed first hand vendors strip a place bare, taking not just the light bulbs but actually remove the wall sockets and door knobs as well. In one case some vendors ripped out the Victorian fire place surround to take away with them, I have seen people just leave all their unwanted furniture littering the place because they could not be arsed to dispose with it. I have seen fridges left with rotten food in them, unflushed turds in the toilets.

In short, there are plenty of people out there who just behave like arseholes becasue they know they will get away with it. Most normal people, once their initial anger has subsided just want to get the place sorted, their possessions unpacked, kids settled etc so end up dealing with the mess themselves. Nobody is expecting a professionally cleaned house when the pick up the keys, but equally they should not have to deal with what the OP found either.

@TwoBlueShoes I think you missed a key bit - the suggestion was to go to naming & shaming if the sellers aren't willing to make things right. Any decent person, on having it pointed out to them that they'd cost someone else money through their careless failure to live up to a contract they'd signed, would pay up - so we're just talking about consequences if they're obstinate about it.

Oh dear, op this is very normal!!

I can't believe you're planning to rubbish their name in the local area!! That is such a massive overreaction

I very much doubt cleaning was part of the contract of sale, I think you must be mistaken....

I think if you show the photos to your new neighbours they're just going to think you're crazy and extremely up tight...

Can't believe you're expecting loo roll and lightbulbs, it's not a rental is it?

@SchadenfreudePersonified - no, it was a huge heavy tool that we hadn't even noticed yet so I let him take it.

Horrible lot.but I hope you know a dirty house is a lucky house.
Same with ours got stuck in love this house .been lucky for us hope
same for you.good luck

Hi Op, I do not understand some of the responses here telling you to leave it & move on?!?!! Seriously?? Sounds to me like they have done similar & want to downplay it all.

I bought my now forever home a few years ago from a couple in their late 40s. They had listed their house with 2 estate agents & as a result we had ended up viewing the house with them both. They the wife messed us about the week of the completion no end with stupid things like she was going to remove bathroom fittings. It got to the point where I threatened to pull out of the sale 2 days before as I didn’t need to sell my home as we would be letting it out. Anyway we completed the Friday picked up the keys from the estate agent all happy & excited. That was short lived.......turned up at the house and there was a skip in the drive right where the removal van would be parked shortly. We opened the door full of excitement but it didn’t last long. The house was filthy, no paperwork left as to the alarm etc. The appliances ie oven & microwave didn’t work. Food splattered on the sliding doors in the kitchen, disgusting extractor fan, internal oak doors had all been changed, rubbish in the loft.

I rang the agents but they had closed, left numerous messages & voicemails with the previous owner & all I got was silence.

I took a video of the smoke that came out of the oven when switched on and showed the microwave didn’t work.

Sorry should have mentioned a week before our solicitor wanted us to go round & check the appliances and ensure there was hot & cold running water. The wife was difficult to say the least so as we weren’t being allowed to do this I had requested a letter from their solicitor to say that everything was in working order. This was the icing on the cake for us.

I ended up taking them to the small court & because I had seen the hse the first time with a different agent we told him that we had subsequently bought the hse and told him about the issues we had and whether he had any pictures of the doors so we could use them as evidence. Well he agreed to come along as a witness and he took them to court for his fee as we had seen the house with them & subsequently bought the property.

Our claim was also successful we claimed for replacement of new oak doors, brand new appliances & replacement of the fixtures & fittings. £2500 it cost them!!!! The wife never attended court once & the husband had the audacity to say that we were buying their lifestyle?!?!!

They were so petty it was unreal, they cut a cord on the blinds all because I refused to buy them. The neighbors all came out of the woodwork the first day to say how awful they were as he was forever having affairs and she behaved like an old fish wife. We learnt a lot on the first day!! They ‘supposedly’ had, had the appliances cleaned professionally and blamed the cleaning company for the smoke and the reason why they weren’t working...,,

Apologies if I have waffled but pls you can get compensation don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. For me it was a matter of principle I paid money in good faith and I did not get what I paid for. My children could not move in until 2 weeks later because of the state of the property and I will never forgive them for what they put us through.

I was letting my old house and cleaned it top to bottom as I wanted our tenants to appreciate the effort we put in & they did immensely.

My house now 5 years now is amazing, we have done a lot of work & we have added £250k to the value. Yes what happened to us did ruin what should have been a truly happy and exciting time at that stage of our life but had I not been so stubborn and pursued it I know I would have regretted it much later. It was no walk in the park but when we won the previous owner was out of the court like a shot. We had endless mail for them and still do but when I think about it all now I think of the way he ran out of court and it puts a smile on my face. This was never about the money for me it was the principle and people should not be allowed to get away with it p.s. the judge was a woman and she did not stand for any of his lies.

Any sensible person would tell you that plastering photos of the house all over social media and bad mouthing them to neighbors is a bad idea.

But, yeah, fine. Stoke it up for the drama, eh?

Yep, it's also better than just rolling over & spending money to rectify someone's "shit pit lifestyle".

Have you ever sold a house in the condition like the OPs opening post? If so...did you ever bother paying for the cleaning & replacement parts?

@Thepants999

Maybe some posters said if but most didn’t. The OP also didn’t.

Frothy McFrothypants aka SteamTrains above isn’t saying if

Anyway, I think my point is clear. The OP was entitled to claim for breach of contract, so she claimed the money. I don’t have a problem with this, but publically naming and shaming your neighbors is not a good way to get off to a good start in a new community.

Will be interesting to see if the old owners agree to an apology or not.

My partner berated me for spending two days cleaning my old house before completion. I just thought it was what you were supposed to do. Firstly, it was in the contract, secondly I hated the idea of leaving a dirty house and thirdly I didn't want their (first time buyers) first day in their new home to be depressing and disappointing.

Is it an English thing ? My parents bought a house in England and it was left in a really grotty state. The oven hadn’t even been cleaned !
They removed some carpet, the curtains, ALL the light bulbs and even the loo paper!!!
We had never seen anything like it. We as a family had bought and sold several properties around the world and had always cleaned them beautifully and left champagne, a folder of information about the house and a “starter pack” of food and nibbles.
This had been a family home and had been left in the meanest most dispiriting way. Seriously who takes a light bulb ?!

Definitely not an ‘english’ thing!!! This is very much about you as a person & how you live. Having pride in yourself and leaving your house clean for the next family. Why wouldn’t you is my first question unless that of course is the way you live?

You have sold your home clean it!!! You are ruining it for other people & don’t be so utterly lazy and selfish that you can’t get rid of your rubbish. The new owners are buying your house not your dirt.

I just looked the standard Fixtures and Fittings form does say "remove all rubbish and leave in a reasonably clean and tidy condition" . I expect the number people having problems like the OP is the reason this paragraph was put in.

It's called 'broom clean' condition where I am. What that means is no need to professionally clean but it has to be clean, vacuumed, oven clean, fridge clean, any other white goods clean, bathroom clean, no food or writing or stickers on walls, radiators clean, built in cupboards cleared and clean, closets cleared and clean, attic empty, shed/garage empty and all garbage disposed of, not left in bin bags in an alley for the new owner to pay a toll for disposal.