to rather hand wash all my kids clothes

[BillywigStings]

Just moved into a new rented house and discovered last tenant had learning difficulties and apparently never showered (or cleaned the house). We didn’t notice a smell when we viewed the house. Hubby and I are fine with cleaning everything ourselves as we never trust the contractors letting agencies use due to past experiences but the entire house stinks of body odour and just discovered the washing machine which looks quite new absolutely stinks of urine.

I have a four year old and a one year old and I would honestly rather do without the washing machine and hand wash all the clothes rather than have that in my house. I would never wash my kids clothes in it, or trust that I had been able to clean it thoroughly enough.

And to think cleaners have supposedly been over the property!

AIBU to ask landlord to either replace or remove washing machine? Would you just clean it?

I’d whack a load of bleach in it and put it on the hottest wash it’ll do for the longest time.
See how it is after that

Do a couple of washes on the hottest heat. One with bleach and one with white vinegar. It should sort out the smell

Buy a washing machine cleaner and stick it on a boil wash cycle and see how it is then. Maybe with a load of dettol thrown in for good measure!

You could just get your own pre-sniffed second hand washing machine and use that. Take it with you when you need. Connecting them up is no more difficult than using a hose pipe.