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.

Our buyer made things really difficult by not having an estate agent or proper solicitor (cheap online solicitor) so dragged the exchange out for 6 months which really affected my MH.
We did some half-arsed cleaning while we waited to complete, a few flash wipes over and in cupboards and hoovering, basically the bare minimum so she could get started. I think that was plenty.
My PA input was to not leave her a note with any info like bin dates and which keys were which etc
Did leave her a toilet roll and the bulbs as DP thought that was too harsh.

In complete contrast the old owner of our house had had it cleaned and repainted from top to bottom and fixed the broken kitchen cupboard doors!

@BreakfastAtSquiffanys

There was quite a long gap between when we viewed the property, and when we completed (months, not weeks). A lot was hidden by furniture, and it never occurred to me to open ovens or the dishwasher so I didn’t appreciate how rancid they were. Apparently the vendor had had a cleaner in before we viewed the property, but even then, I noted to my husband that it was a bit grubby. Fast forward months later, and it had clearly never been cleaned in the interim. If you have a family of five and three large dogs living in a house, and you never clean it, it will get dirty very quickly.

The neighbours told us after we moved in, that they would never enter the house because of how dirty it was. We had a really bad problem with rats living in the house when we moved in and that was also linked to hygiene.

I would take everything not specified in the contract. That might mean stripping carpets / removing wood flooring or light bulbs or even fitted wardrobes, but then i’m petty like that.

Most of us don't have the luxury of having 2 houses simultaneously! That's why I said I appreciate it's not always possible - I was just saying how I'd managed it in the past. I sometimes haven't had them simultaneously but haven't had any belongings as they have been in transit so again haven't had much to work around when cleaning.

More energy than me for sure. I barely got the keys to the estate agents by 5 on moving day. There was so much to sort!

*I organised as much as I could beforehand as well.

I am moving in January and wasn't planning on deep cleaning anything. I will empty the house of all my stuff, obviously, but they'll get it in the condition it currently is which is plenty clean enough for me to live in!

Our seller's did a deep clean and as much as it was good of them, we still redid it ourselves. You know it's done as you want it then. We left ours hoovered and the floors had been mopped a few days before but we didn't do anything else.

My house is always left as clean as the buyers are nice. I had a horrible buyer once, I did not move one spec of dust out of the way, and removed everything that was not specified in the inventory. I even replaced the very expensive door handles by cheap rubbish, they were not stated in the fixture and fittings, at least I left him something!

It's not that difficult to deep clean a house when you move. You do the bathroom, toilets and kitchen the day before, you clean as the other rooms are emptied by the movers. As long as you have a generally clean house, it doesn't take that much effort to steam clean an empty room!

With lovely buyers, I even leave them flowers - in a vase - and a bottle of something.

Unless the house is pristine and I double check just before exchanging, I wouldn't even consider keeping the white goods. At least I get a cleaner around, and I always pay a professional clean of the oven. They have tools and products I don't have, and spend 1 hour when it would take me a day, totally worth it!

I think the word is "Gazumping/Gazumped".Not guzunders.Where I come from that means a chamber pot under the bed !!

I have no idea how people 'deep clean' a house while they are still living in it, and have piles of boxes/recycling/dump stuff everywhere. Cupboards are still being used - how do you 'deep clean' them? Furniture is still against the walls until the removal people take them - how can I wash the skirting boards? On moving day I am a blue-arsed fly buzzing about trying to locate the Hoover, mind Removal men, remember what goes where, and inevitably the cleaning cloths and sprays are buried/packed in the front of the van already

But then when I get t the new house, I take a few days/weeks to clean everything anyway, before the furniture goes into it's new place.

Steam clean? Wash the carpets?

Wtf?

Had to Google it as I was doubting my memory

50k, they dropped by 50k??? What percent is that?
I would have 're marketed

I wouldn’t expect a new house to be spotless. Kitchen and bathroom clean to a normal day to day level and hoovered throughout is what I’d expect nothing more.

50k, they dropped by 50k??? What percent is that?
I would have 're marketed

We got ours for a 40k drop. She was daft!

I always clean as well as I can as a point of pride. In 3 house moves though only the last house we bought was clean and not left in a shocking state, so I feel I'm in the minority! That said, I have no idea how people manage to 'deep clean' either unless they are not in a chain. With the last house, I was cleaning and hoovering as the removals guys cleared each room, and still only just managed to get out of the door by lunchtime when we had to hand the keys over. If I had been moving myself, as lots of people do, it wouldn't have been possible. I did the kitchen cupboards and the oven the day before, but cleaning carpets and windows is more than is needed, IMO. Interestingly, our removals firm pointed out to us that technically you are supposed to make good any holes in walls from pictures, fixtures and fittings etc. I have literally never known anyone do that!

When we moved into ours it was left so gross- everything was super sticky and we even found some drugs (which because of our jobs we 100% can't have in the house)

Make sure you are as inconvenient as possible!

Don't clean anything! Why should you when they've done this.

BTW - when we bought our house is was not very clean when we moved in. We had it deep cleaned on our arrival. Not the sellers responsibility

We had a buyer from hell. My solicitor said she'd never seen anything like the amount of petty queries and demands they threw at us, via her, the estate agent and even their surveyor turned up with a list for us. Things like "I expect you to leave all curtains and blinds in situ" or "I expect you to be available to provide a lesson in how the heating works on the day of completion" Errr no. They also gazundered for no reason. Towards the end the solicitor advised us to ignore any more communication with them and and just repeat: exchange or pull out.

I left the place spotless, as I was worried they would try to sue us, moved out two days before completion and left the country on holiday. But before I went, I did have the phone line disconnected, turned of the water and electricity, disconnected all integrated appliances, took every curtain and curtain pole (not on fixtures and fittings form), let the neighbours know exactly who they were dealing with and also left a passive aggressive note. I do not regret it. House buying brings out the worst in people, including me apparently.

Also my solicitor forgot to tell the estate agent we'd completed until about 5pm - no chain, he was living with parents and we had another house already. I do not know if she did this intentionally - but I hope she did! In contrast the only "demand" we had for the seller of our house was would you mind turning the water off on your way out as we won't be able to get to the property for a few weeks and it's winter.

not leave her a note with any info like bin dates and which keys were which etc

My old employer moved into a site where the previous occupants had been unhappy about leaving and had removed every tag from every key and chucked them all in a bucket. Think there were at least several hundred keys in there. And somebody left a massive dump on the floor in the ladies loo.

When my friend moved into her house it was manky to say the least. She also couldn't work out why the bedroom fitted carpet was 'bumpy'.
Several months later when replacing all the carpets the men laying the new carpet couldn't believe their eyes
The carpet had a myriad of tiny holes and hundreds of used condoms had been poked through the holes.
Absolutely unbelievable. She actually stripped out all the bedrooms and had the house fumigated because it was so disgusting.

I definitely wouldn't bother for buyers like that. With the money they've saved let them professionals in!

Clarich007

I think the word is "Gazumping/Gazumped".Not guzunders.Where I come from that means a chamber pot under the bed !!

Gazumping and gazundering are both right, they’re different to each other.

Gazundering is when you drop your offer just before exchange of contracts.