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

I wonder if the ones saying don't go through your solicitor / houses are never left clean etc are the ones that will indeed leave a mess for the buyers...
FWIW I would always clean when selling, even if it is not in the contract. Just seems like the normal thing to do. Same as not leaving a public toilet or a hotel room in a disgusting state.

Our sellers were still there at 8.45 at night after receiving the money at 10 that morning!

The oven was so filthy I had to get professional cleaners in. And the loft was full of crap (and I mean full) which it had been in the contract for them to clear. I made him pay me half the cost of the loft ladder we had fitted. Wish I'd asked for the full cost!

Our house was filthy as well. Dog poo in the garden, chocolate smeared on the windows and walls. The integrated washing machine still had a load of their clothes inside. Huge holes left where they had removed shelves and pictures. Plaster fallen off where they had ripped the tv bracket off the wall.our garage was full of crap they couldn't be bothered to take to the tip. Cost us £250 for a skip to get rid of it all. They must have been living like pigs for years.
It was heartbreaking. We moved out of a forces married quarter which had to left spotlessly clean and I'd scrubbed it from top to bottom.
Different people and different standards.

We just got on with it as best we could as the seller had been a difficult enough prick to deal with and he knew where we lived!

I wouldn’t bother, just clean it & move on.

Take photos and ask the solicitor to rectify - pay for cleaners and rubbish removal

Dont sink to a low level talk to solicitor put it down to experience sadly

I think I bought this persons house 19 years ago! I also left my place spotless _ wiped myself out the door ( the floor) new place had cat shit in the utility room and fleas on the underlay - she took all the carpets that she should have left and curtain poles, gas fires etc. Clean up and know that you are the better person x

Don‘t contact them directly or their new neighbours - it could be construed as harassment. As other posters have suggested, forward photos to your solicitor and proceed strictly via him. It is a standard requirement of a sales agreement to leave a property clean and tidy and they are in breach.

I'd be livid, and gutted, it's a really nasty thing to do. But I can think of at least three people in my immediate acquaintance who've had it happen to them. So it's not personal.

My recent vendors left me with a broken shower and took the curtain poles and TV Ariel they were meant to leave.

Don't bad mouth to neighbours, mine told me exactly where my vendors have moved to up north, details like the business premisis they're buying. The vendors were careful not to leave any clue as to where they were going.

And last week, I had court bailiffs knocking on the door looking for my vendor. Did I know where my vendors have gone? turns out I do! You can serve up revenge cold.

There will probably be letters arriving for the previous occupants as I doubt they would have bothered paying for Royal Mails redirection service.
As you will quite rightly not be inclined to forward their mail on to them, and as one way of getting some revenge you should return the mail to the sender.
Write on the envelope GONE AWAY, RETURN TO SENDER.
Draw a line through the address but leave it clear enough for the postman to read, and put it in a Royal Mail letter box, job done.
The Royal Mail will then return the letter back to the person who sent it.

The day that my sister closed on her sale, the family selling the house were away on holiday. Well, all but the teenage boy of the family, who had a huge party.
The house caught fire and burnt down.

My sister had no idea until a nosey friend had been doing a drive-by to have a look at the new place. Imagine her surprise when she had a call asking "what the hell has happened to your new house?"
Fortunately, friends of friends, clever legal and insurance meant they didn't have to progress and the sale was abandoned.

How horrible but I dont think there are any conditions in a contract that the house has to be clean and the cost of a solicitor will probably far outweigh the cost of missing lightbulbs. Get someone in to do a big clean and forget it.

That's disgusting, and so disappointing.

I'd be inclined not to follow up or try to have them for breach of contract etc. They have been difficult enough throughout the sale and are finally out of your life. Would it be worth spending any more energy on them?

Time to bring by your new home up to your standards and give it the love it deserves, once you have made it your home you will have many happy memories to make.

We moved from a large house to a flat. I'd managed to clean every room and everything was spotless very early. We arrived at the flat and she hadn't really cleaned anything and seemed to think she had all the time in the world. We were still waiting after the flat was officially ours for her to move. She took lightbulbs and fittings and left paint tins etc in a cupboard. Our cat was getting desperate to get out of her box, so we eventually let her out. When we complained to the solicitors about the state of the flat, she said we'd let the cat out and shouldn't have and that the paint tins (rusty and manky with dried up paint) were if we needed to use them.

How horrible but I dont think there are any conditions in a contract that the house has to be clean and the cost of a solicitor will probably far outweigh the cost of missing lightbulbs.

Every house purchase I’ve been involved with has had leaving it in a clean state in the contract.

Wow Cleopatra, that's the worst vendor story I've ever heard!

Just to add though, a big part of settling in to a house for me has always been deep cleaning and painting. I would focus on obliterating any sign of the previous owners rather than bothering to chase them.

And I would stick mail back in the post, after a reasonable time delay.

The best flat I ever lived in, on the first night? I felt exactly like you did, such an anticlimax, so smelly an so not my home...
Hard work and a bit of vision, it was just such a lovely place to live!
Cling to the reason why you wanted the house and put the ‘ishoos’ behind you... enjoy!

I agree with others re legal process, this is a horrid end to a long sale. You exceeded yourself with your buyers, not many would do as much as you did but these people are the pits! I cleaned my oven, cleaned floors bathroom and hoovered carpets, etc before leaving our old family home forever. Its called being proud.
Good luck, they're scumbags

Grrrrrr!!! Same with us. It was like they stopped cleaning once we bought it. It wasn’t as bad as your situation but we were peeved that they took down fixed shelves that left gaping holes everywhere. They were also painted in so we just assumed they’d leave them there! Stupid of us. But no, don’t let them get away with it. Just hope you took plenty of photos. Get it cleaned and send them the bill. Bloody Christians my arse.
There should be a standard clause that all vendors must have the place professionally cleaned then everyone would be happy. They do that in Switzerland.

Sounds awful. The cleanliness you’ll prob have to suck it up, although I’d be just as furious. The ceiling rose is another story, that is part of the building. It would be the same as removing a kitchen from the property. They are not allowed to do that. I’d be contacting your solicitor.

You have my sympathy. There are some real low-life individuals in this world. I have had a similar experience. Of the many things my vendor did, he left a live wire, where he had disconnected the cooker, just lying on the kitchen floor. It had been wired incorrectly and came directly from the mains, not via a fuse box so could have killed us!
I agree with others, take a deep breath, get some help with the clean up and put it behind you as soon as possible. Holding bitter thoughts will do you more damage than them. Congratulations on what will be a lovely family house!

Contact your solicitor with suggestion you get professional cleaning service in and you should be reimbursed by seller. Hope this doesnt spoil your enjoyment to come of your new home.

Our house was filthy too - and they left loads of rubbish. We also still get their bank statements after 5 years!

Definitely see what your solicitor can extract from them. Although your vendors seem similar to ones that viewed my old house. They asked about the crucifix on the wall (DS and DH are Catholic). Woman sunk to her knees and said "she was so glad to be buying from a Christian family" I was and refused their offer!

I'm in the middle of moving, waiting to exchange. The contract clearly states all properties should be clean.

My sellers did this when I moved to my current house, they even took the cooker extractor out of the fitted kitchen. I was fuming too! My very, very new boyfriend who was a builder convinced me to gut the house, erase all reminders of them and make it my own, we did and fell properly in love over paint pots and carpet swatches, had our daughter and got married and now have a beautiful home.
Forget about them and concentrate in turning this house into a YOUR home. I wish you luck!