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Original poster

To think that there's a house selling etiquette?

108 replies

1onelyranger · 01/10/2019 10:48

DP has just bought a house. It's filthy - crumbs in the cupboards, grafted woodwork, claggy oven and hob, the sink Envy, marbles all over the garden path... Oddly the bathroom isn't too bad.

When I sold my previous house DM, nowEx and me cleaned it spotless. We left a bottle of wine and a toilet roll. I think that's just normal.

What have been your house-moving acts of kindness and horror discoveries?

OP posts:
hartof · 01/10/2019 10:54

We bought our first house from family, they left it filthy!

We sold it this year and left it absolutely spotless, with a bottle of prosecco and a card for our buyer. There's no way I'd ever leave someone in the situation we were left in by our own family!

Annasgirl · 01/10/2019 10:58

I've bough and sold a few houses - the only clean ones were new builds!!!

I always left mine spotless and I was the person who had vases of flowers and fresh coffee when the person was viewing!!! But I was once left with an attic full of crap, a full shed! and a dirty old sofa, ugh.

Blobby10 · 01/10/2019 11:19

The house I'm currently selling was the only house that I moved into and it was spotless. It will be spotless when I leave, as have been all the other houses I've sold, mainly thanks to my now ex MIL and her friend who followed the removal company round and cleaned each room as they emptied it Grin All 3 new builds have been awful even though they were all supposed to have been deep cleaned - yeah, really smart move to clean a house before you do drilling and sanding and lay the carpets Shock David Wilson Homes I'm looking at you!!!

Original poster
1onelyranger · 01/10/2019 11:27

Oh yeah, the attic. We haven't been up there yet. Need to go round with the ladders. Fingers crossed for a locked safe or trunk everyone!

OP posts:
Elphame · 01/10/2019 11:29

Mixed - only one house was filthy when we moved in. The walls changed colour when washed down from dark green to pale green. The net curtains were so stiff with dirt they all but stood up by themselves. We were throwing rubbish into the garden whilst the removal men were unloading!

The rest have been between OK and spotless.

I always leave mine spotless - each room is cleaned as the furniture is moved out and the last thing is the kitchen floor.

usernamerisnotavailable · 01/10/2019 11:30

We moved into a house with an Aga. Found half a pizza in it the next day. It. Was. Not. Nice! I also had to spend a fair bit of time removing long hair from the plug holes. Blurgh.

Passthecherrycoke · 01/10/2019 11:31

To be fair you don’t have to clean the house when you move out. We usually have- I wanted something to do to be honest! The last house we moved into hadn’t been cleaned but wasn’t dirty- it had obviously been kept to a general standard of cleanliness whilst lived in so it was just dust where the furniture had been etc

Glera · 01/10/2019 11:32

When we moved into our house in November, the owner hadn’t even finished packing. There were ornaments, photos on the wall, furniture and a garage full. She even left the cat without prior arrangement.

It was shameful.

We on the other hand left an organised folder of house documents, a little moving in present and the house was spotless.

Passthecherrycoke · 01/10/2019 11:35

Cat Shock

lovemenorca · 01/10/2019 11:36

Presumably he viewed the property in this state, at least a couple of times and put an offer in?

Anyone living like that is not going to bother cleaning it for someone else!

wowfudge · 01/10/2019 11:38

It's not etiquette, it's contractual to leave a place clean and tidy - I can't remember the exact wording in the form.

Trouble is proving it and who wants to live in a filthy place whilst taking legal action?

bgmama · 01/10/2019 11:40

Funny how most MNers tend to leave their houses spotless for their buyers and move into houses that were left in a disgusting state by their previous owners. People the other way around must not be on MN!

CleopatraTomato · 01/10/2019 11:40

I left it spotless along with card, prosecco and flowers to welcome new owners. Wish I hadn't bothered - they are awful people and treat my old/their new neighbours appallingly.

Glera · 01/10/2019 11:41

Nah, those people are too busy scrubbing dirt into the carpets to post on here. 😉

Grannybags · 01/10/2019 11:41

We left a spotless home with a folder of important info and take away numbers. We left lots of light fittings - including one in the bathroom still in the box as DH hadn’t got round to putting it up after 8 years.
We arrived to our new house to find similar. Spotless house and important info left out.
My brother moved into a new house and they had taken everything - including all the lightbulbs!

LaurieMarlow · 01/10/2019 11:41

I could cope with dirty, but our vendors left loads of furniture and crap lying around that they CBA shifting and became our problem Angry

BarbaraofSeville · 01/10/2019 11:41

I foster for a rescue charity. Leaving cats behind isn't unusual unfortunately Sad.

Passthecherrycoke · 01/10/2019 11:45

“It's not etiquette, it's contractual to leave a place clean and tidy - I can't remember the exact wording in the form.”

As standard It doesn’t have to be especially cleaned (unless you make some kind of arrangement, which you’re free to do) it just has to be “clean” so, dust on mantles, normal levels of grease in extractor fan, not freshly hoovered is all ok. Shit down the loos, mud trodden into carpets etc not ok, but not much you can do, to be fair

Tidy doesn’t really come into it because the property would usually be empty.

MO21305 · 01/10/2019 11:49

We're about 2 weeks away from completing on the sale of our house & I would be mortified to leave it in that state! I am already trying to figure out how I can clean around everybody on moving day. I hope the lady we are buying from cleans up before we move in too, I can't face cleaning 2 houses in one day.

SmileCheese · 01/10/2019 11:49

When we moved into ours it was disgusting, they cannot have cleaned at all in-between the last viewing and us moving in. I would forgive it all though as not everyone's standards are equal had they not left a nice steaming shit just chilling out in the toilet!!!

AJPTaylor · 01/10/2019 11:51

Our last house move, it was immaculate. Flowers, folder full of docs, list of neighbours names and recommendations for everything from doctors to pubs and takeaways! We were relocating so it was great.
We left ours clean and tidy and had the oven and hob professionally cleaned before we went. Must admit though that once empty, the carpets and walls looked more shabby than when the rooms were full!

AmIAWeed · 01/10/2019 11:52

@Glera I have once rubbed dirt into a carpet! Hired a boat and the dog poo'd - I cleaned it all up and that was when I realised how dirty the carpet was because there was a clean spot Grin

House wise though, my housing association place was utterly disgusting, I was told its 'builder clean' bleugh

When we moved into our current house it had been empty 18 months, the seller clearly didn't like us (house sale took a while despite being first time buyers) and called every neighbour begging them to drain the oil so we had nothing. Thankfully none did

RandomWok · 01/10/2019 11:52

When we brought our house it was disgusting! The lady made wedding fascinates at home and her husband was a solicitor. They had indoor cats that must have had fleas. As when we opened the cupboard that they must have kept the cats stuff in it was full of jumping fleas! I assume they congregated where the cat smell was still left? I have never seen anything like it!

Everywhere was dirty. I felt sorry for her customers! Urgh! They also left loads of their crap and got all arsey that I didn't still have any of it 2 months later.. Hmm

DobbyLovesSocks · 01/10/2019 11:52

We left our old house clean and tidy.
New house was also clean and tidy with some helpful document and a nice note to welcome us but wheelie bin full to the brim of rubbish - including the remnants of their take-away lunch - and a garage full of paint tins and assorted other 'crap'. They did also leave a fridge freezer which has come in helpful. they offered to leave us a few fittings (towel rails etc) but these weren't in the property when we moved in

19lottie82 · 01/10/2019 11:53

I’ve bought two properties and both have needed a deep clean when I’ve moved in.