To not deep clean house before move

[screamer1]

Backstory is our buyers have massively pissed us about. Our place went to best and final offers, the buyers went in really high (over asking price). Estate agent advised they were a good bet, chain free, young couple with small child. We obviously accepted their offer.

They really started dragging their heels, and then 2 weeks before exchange they dropped their offer massively. Everyone was so far down the road with surveys, solicitors etc that we all dug deep to salvage the sale (essentially is, and the two other above us have absorbed their shortfall, which is now leaving us out of pocket).

Basically I feel pretty resentful about it, wibu and very pretty not to do a proper clean of the house? Obviously I won't leave it in a tip, but I feel like I don't want to waste my time scrubbing cupboards for people who essentially fucked us over.

When we moved into the house we expected it to be disgusting judging from the pictures from the survey. There were underpants in the bathroom, when they knew they had a visitor taking pictures among other things...

But it was clean! There was the odd spots that they'd obviously hadn't cleaned for the 8 years they lived there but I was very surprised.
They did leave all of the bins rammed full, which was very annoying considering the tip isn't far away.

I deep cleaned our house. Even open prided the oven. Our buyers bloody wrote to our solicitor demanding £200 to have the carpets cleaned... we had an email from him saying he was replacing the carpets! CF didn't have a leg to stand one. Once we told his solicitor that he dropped that request.

I deep clean by moving my stuff out into the new house the day before I move out of the old one
Most of us don't have the luxury of having 2 houses simultaneously!

I've never left a house minging. I've cleaned the oven and hob just before moving day.
I've wiped all fingermarks off doors ditto.
Hoovered each room as emptied and run brush attachment along skirting and sills. But no scrubbing.
Shampooing carpets. Nah

I suppose i'm worried that they could come back to negotiate more off if we don't deep clean, it seems like the kind of thing they might do!

I suppose just clean, and then take pictures?

To the OP
I'd hoover but nothing more.
They can spend the £50k they saved on a cleaner

Unless they put in contract that place must be professionally cleaned, tough. It will cost them more to pursue you through the courts than to hire Molly Maids for an entire day

I've never moved into a deep-cleaned house (except rentals). Or even a vacuumed house. Where you're buying and selling in a chain, with kids, and you don't have local family to help out, I don't think it's often possible to deep clean a place on moving day (and it's full of boxes before then).

Last time our buyers were lovely so we got a professional cleaner in on moving day. Definitely wouldn't be bothering for gazundering bastards.

I would be checking exactly what you're legally entitled to take, and taking the lot. Curtains and lightbulbs would be very effective at this time of year. Maybe photograph the empty rooms as you leave as proof that you didn't leave them really minging and covered in crap - this should stop the buyers claiming that they were uninhabitable (buyers are only entitled to expect a 'reasonable' level of cleanliness, not a completely clean house. At least that's what our contract said.)

But definitely don't deep clean. It's not standard to do so, it's an extra which they don't deserve. And if you're friendly with your neighbours, let them know how the buyers fucked you over - it warns the neighbours what kind of people they are (and makes the neighbourhood less welcoming for the bastards).

I love people saying ‘ don’t deep clean but do shampoo the carpets and scrub the oven’.

Just do a regular clean. Hoover, wipe down kitchen and bathroom surfaces and job done.

I wouldn’t bother cleaning, other than a quick wipe over.

This happened to my old neighbours, a couple of days before exchange and caused massive amounts of stress (and this was under the Scottish system as well ). Everyone in the close knew what had happened, and the new people weren’t exactly welcomed with open arms.

At least karma bit them on the bum - when they came to sell it took the best part of 3 years and a big price drop.

For a matter of pride, I would always leave a house a clean as possible, revenge is not sweet. It lowers you. Be the bigger person. These last minute drops are horrible but getting more common. There should be a way of keeling a deal final as there is in other countries

When we sold our last house, I did a deep clean and then got 2 cleaners in as we were moving out to do it all again. The house was spotless and when we bumped into our buyers on the street a week later, the first thing they did was thank us for leaving the house pristine. They were a lovely young couple and I wouldn’t have done it any other way.

The house we bought was the polar opposite. When we got the keys and walked in, there was a collective gasp of horror. The house was filthy and I’ve never seen dirt like it. There was so much dust it looked like Miss Havisham’s house. The ovens hadn’t been cleaned in 8 years (owner told me this) and stank to high heaven when the door was opened. The dishwasher was blocked and had been for some time and smelled like sewers. Carpets were covered in stains and cupboards were full of stuff that they hadn’t bothered taking: clothes, toys, pots and pans, cupboards full of glasses, and drawers of knives. We brought the same cleaners in and they said that they’d never seen such a dirty house. They spent 5 hours just cleaning the hall....

I bumped into the vendor a few weeks later and blanked her as I couldn’t bear to talk to the dirty cow.

We were very fortunate and our house was pretty clean. However I still spent a couple of days cleaning it before we moved in, my friends house was disgusting though and needed scrubbing. How anyone can live in a house that dirty is beyond me!

I am getting ready to move out of a rented apartment. I have cleaned cleaned and cleaned, much more than I need too but thats how I do it.

With my current house the sellers left us dirty un flushed toilets, filthy bathroom and all the paintwork was thick of dust. And a large cupboard filled with rust old crappy pans, to which they said can you hold on to them, er no, collect them now or they are in the bin. Also clothing in the wardrobes, which clearly had not been cleaned otherwise they would of found there rather expensive Danish clobber....binned.

I have literally been mopping the floor and left the bucket and mop at the front door for the new owners due to snow in one house we sold.

Also does anyone else leave a card/bottle and maybe some treats in the childrens bedroom.

Anyway op I would just to the lightest of clean if you feel angry about the whole situation, vacuum toilets cleaned, kitchen tidy and so on, then shut the door and forget about them all and look forward to your new home, just move on......

Last time we moved house, I gave the old house a deep clean before we left. Started doing things like clean the oven a couple of weeks beforehand. Left a bunch of flowers on the mantle piece and wine in the fridge. The new owners thanked us via the estate agent.
House we moved into was filthy, however. Think the old owner was hacked off that we bought relatively cheaply although he accepted our offer and there was no gazundering going on.
I think it is the decent thing to do to leave your house clean and tidy.

Also does anyone else leave a card/bottle and maybe some treats in the childrens bedroom.

Yes, I do. I normally leave flowers and chocolates

I would do the bare minimum, vacuum and quick wipe down. Then take all the lightbulbs.

take all the light bulbs

Would definitely give it a good clean - oven, cupboards etc - because that's just manners.( I wouldn't worry about the floors too much because of movers trekking in and out all day carrying stuff.)
We left a bottle of wine, a welcome card and flowers. Both houses we've moved into had those waiting for us too, although at our first house the previous owners had left mounds of junk at the side of the house. Our new neighbours, an older couple with an estate car came over and volunteered to take a couple of tip runs for us because they were so disgusted by their former neighbours' behaviour.

I would leave it clean but I wouldn't do a deep clean, I assume they will do that when they move in. I only moved once and I scrubbed the place from top to bottom when I moved in, no way was I going to use someone else's toilet and shower without scrubbing them, no matter how clean they might look.

In this particular case I probably wouldn't put a huge effort into cleaning, but I wouldn't leave it dirty.

I cannot believe the amount of people on here who wouldn't bother cleaning the house when they move out! Why exactly do you think other people should clean up after you before being able to move in? Disgusting.

The minimum you should do is ensure the kitchen and bathroom is spotless. Leave it as you would like to find it.

why should she! Uabvvu. I always have cleaned a new house choose what.. Isn't that what everyone does

The woman we bought this house from tried to play petty with us because she didn’t like the price we paid (which absolutely wasn’t our fault).

We found carpets that were filthy, bits of furniture left and stuff taken that was supposed to be left.

We got a further £2k refund to cover it. Her pettiness cost her reduced asking price to be even lower.

Don’t do a deep clean OP. A regular clean is all that’s needed and don’t be tempted to be petty and retaliate.

They really started dragging their heels, and then 2 weeks before exchange they dropped their offer massively. Everyone was so far down the road with surveys, solicitors etc that we all dug deep to salvage the sale

^YANBU. I wouldn’t clean it either. Your sellers can pay for a cleaner with the money they saved by “playing the game”(!)

Meant buyers not sellers

@Ilovedotcotton I'm amazed at the gasp of horror at how filthy the house you had just bought was. Unless there was years between your last viewing and completion, surely it was fairly grubby when you went to view it?
If people don't bother to keep a decent house when they are living there or trying to sell it, it's pretty unlikely that they will make it spotless when they move out