House move - to clean or not to clean?

[Youngatheart00]

Hypothetical at the moment as not looking to move until the Spring. But thinking of our home, when we bought it 5 years ago we were very pleasantly surprised to find the place pretty clean, despite the fact that completion wasn’t occurring on their home until the same day. We left our rented place professionally cleaned as required under our contract.

What are people’s views on cleaning when selling a home? Do it yourself (if so - how do you manage alongside packing and removals?) or get a professional in (timing?). What have been your experiences when buying? The thought of moving in to somewhere dirty is horrible, has anyone experienced?

Sure COVID might change this, maybe we’ll see professional cleans as part of the contract now.

Always clean! 😱 surely it's just common decency, wether it's by you, relatives and friends or a professional it has to be done.

I moved in somewhere once that when previous residents were there looked immaculate, when it was empty and we were moving in we discovered it was actually grimy and filthy. 🤢

We had the removal people packing two days prior to the move and as soon as they decared one room done we cleaned it. The last one to go was the kitchen and that was done in the afternoon before moving day.

Then when the moves took out the boxes and furnitures we cleaned floors and took away cobwebs, cleaned behind and underneath radiators etc.

It helped that we went through all belongings and boxed up unnecessary stuff before we put it on the market so the rooms were fairly low maintenance.

I found it easier taking three days leave from work and DD in nursery out of the way instead of packing over a period of weeks and living in boxes.

I kept the vacuum and mop and some cleaning materials to hand on the last day and as the truck left, I went through the house vacuuming and mopping my way out then dumped it all in my car and followed the van down.

As a veteran of many moves, that's what I do. It's absolutely grim expecting someone to move into a dirty house and it's so much easier for you to clean it once it's empty than for them to clean it when they're trying to move their stuff in. And it's your dirt anyway, so you clean it up. I've moved into filthy houses and it's grim and energy sapping.

Any pets and I've hired a carpet cleaning company. Logistically this can be difficult but I've always rented and you don't get your deposit back unless you do this, so you work out the logistics.

Yes clean it .. it's grim to leave a dirty house . I pack non essential things weeks before then work my way backwards and clean rooms that aren't used closing off conservatory for example so it's just the main rooms to clean before you leave . As the removal men take the boxes etc I clean . At the very least hoover and clean bathrooms !

I cleaned mine before we moved. Just pack up one room at a time, and clean it.

Every time I've moved house, the sellers have told me they've cleaned it. Sometimes I've even seen them doing it as it was delaying me getting in

And every time once I've got in the house it's been fucking grim.

I can only think that if you've lived somewhere for a while, after a bit you don't see the dirt.

A wipe down, nothing more is needed. When I moved in to my house I had it cleaned- whether someone else had or not would be inconsequential to me, I'm not going to rely on that being done by someone else:

Agree with this

Well, I have always left a place spotlessly clean. However, I've moved into any number of places which aren't. I never put anything away in cupboards until I've totally scrubbed them out, for instance. And I've never settled properly until I have scrubbed every wall, skirting board and floor, and redecorated at all as well.....
Fussy, I am!

The hardest place to clean is the kitchen, all those cupboards.

I didn’t make it to bed the night before we moved - scrubbing each one out😊.

The place was spotless, once the movers had loaded all the boxes we did an final hoover and moved the hoover ourselves in the car.

New place was a new build and was covered in a thick layer of dust.

I deep cleaned my house the week before moving, then in the morning just vac and wipe down. My next door neighbours told me they had said I’d left the house immaculate . The new house I had cleaned professionally the day we moved in ,two ladies for two hours, well worth the money.

I have moved into two houses that were filthy but l have always cleaned thoroughly before moving out.

Clean! When we moved in to our house it was filthy with loads of junk left in the attic,garage and shed and it was so depressing I cried. I had to clean the kids rooms first so we could unpack and if I am honest it still feels dirty to me now a year on but that's partly because it needs a lot of work and is scruffy and partly psychological.

I had a house move where I had to tell the previous owner to put down the j cloth and go so I could start moving my furniture in. So you’d think the place would have been immaculate, wouldn’t you? Nope, the first thing we had to do was rip up the greasy stinking living room carpet and take it to the tip.

I haven’t moved for years but have cleaned before we left each house. The Hoover was the last thing in the van!

*A wipe down, nothing more is needed. When I moved in to my house I had it cleaned- whether someone else had or not would be inconsequential to me, I'm not going to rely on that being done by someone else:
*
I am not sure how you would be able to do this logistically. When we moved into our new house the vendors were over two hours late moving out. Once all our stuff was moved into the house there was no way I could have sent a cleaner in as there was no space for cleaning because it was all full of boxes. And doing it before moving in would have meant another wait of 2 hours or so. And how would I have booked a cleaner, not knowing what time we would be able to get into the house?

Always leave property clean OP. Having moved loads, I can't begin to tell you how my heart sunk every time I moved in to see houses filthy and having to clean them when tires from all the moving. Do the decent thing.

Every move is different. If the property is a renovation project perhaps that has belonged to elderly person who died or something that had been a multiple let - it is unlikely to have been well cleaned before a sale.

Tbh it really all depends for me. I'd obv leave it clean of rubbish but the dusting and good scrubbing would depend on how nice the buyers were.

When my sister sold she hired in cleaners on moving day to leave it spotless as was a nice couple moving in and she wanted to make them happy.

When we moved out of the family house the buyers messed us around for months and then tried to gazunder us on day of exchange. So when we moved everything and it was all dusty we said f-it and left it.

Moral: be nice to your sellers. Manners cost nothing

Always leave it as clean as I reasonably can, and run a hoover around once everything is packed in the van. Not doing so is pretty crap imo.

Actually @Di11y I’d be pretty annoyed at a delay to getting keys because the previous owner was mopping a floor.

I think wipe down as you pack, clean bathrooms & kitchenthe day before then one last Hoover once empty is good enough.

After we had packed our removal van my partner followed them to the new house in our car and I stayed behind and cleaned, then got the bus with the hoover and cleaning stuff.

We cleaned ourselves, but not professionally.

The previous house to this was dirty when we arrived though.

This house had a welcome bottle of bubbly, with a folder of manuals for the boiler, etc plus a page detailing which Farrow and Ball paint colour they had used. Very appreciated.

It is possible to get the house cleaned without a delay! Pay for professional movers and professional cleaners! Our movers packed everything up on the Thursday and were out of the house by 10 am latest on the Friday. Cleaners came in a big group at about 9:30 and were finished by 11:30, keys were with the agent at 11:50. Oven got professionally cleaned the week before.

I’ve always cleaned when moving out, though my cleaning standards in my teens and 20s probably weren’t very high! Since then, yes, leave it as you would like to find it.

The past couple of moves I’ve paid a cleaner. But if you can be organised enough to pack and clear room by room, over a few days, it’s easy enough to clean as you empty each room.

It is possible to get the house cleaned without a delay!

We know. Haven’t you read any of the other posts? Most people balk at paying professional cleaning rates for the easiest clean in the world, ie an empty house. I know I do.