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.

I’ve always cleaned and vacuumed as the removal men clear a room. I couldnt bear the thought of leaving a house dirty!

My DD moved in to her first home in January and it was in a disgusting state, the previous owners were obviously not that into cleaning! Cobwebs, filthy windows, the kitchen sink was shocking and thick limes ale all over the draining board and splash backs! Bathrooms and loos stunk of pee and the fridge still had rotting food in it which they actually came and collected when they realised they’d left it behind! It’s an eye opener how some people live

Having moved into two houses that were really disgustingly dirty, and I am in now way a clean freak, I would never leave a house dirty. It absolutely ruins the excitement of your new home.

This was our house when we moved in, we didn't get the keys until almost 5pm, was pitch black outside and pouring with rain when we finally got in, I just burst into tears after such a stressful day at the thought of having to clean it all with 2 young kids before unpacking everything. There was dog poo all over the garden too, grim!

We blitzed ours when we moved out followed the movers round the house as they emptied rooms. Unfortunately the house we bought we weren't blessed with people like us. They weren't gone till sn hour after completion and left the place filthy. There was even hair still in the shower and the place stank of cats. Way to burst a moving bubble!

Cleaning is standard practice. I’d say most people do it, some better than others. I’ve always cleaned mine and moved into houses which have been cleaned.

If time allows get it professionally cleaned. If not, do the very best you can - leave it as you would like to find it.
I also leave a bottle of wine or chocolates and a type written sheet of when the bins are collected, the best local GP to register with, recommended dentist, cleaner and so on.

Before I moved it was cleaned into...not very clean but the lady did have 4 children and one of them was a newborn so I understood.

The house we bought should have been professionally cleaned prior to us moving in - it was part of the contract as it was filthy during viewings. They didn't have it cleaned and it was disgusting, even had a decomposed rat on the flat roof. The house we sold didn't complete until 4pm and we'd been told all day that it was unlikely to happen so it was hard to clean when still full. We also had a 7 week old baby. It didn't get a thorough clean before we left but I hoovered through and left bathrooms and all surfaces clean. We also left a folder with all household details (such as boiler & thermostat instructions), local plumbers/electricians business cards and takeaway leaflets along with a bottle of champagne.

Also box with kettle, tea, coffee, sugar, biscuits and cups. Both you and removers will appreciate at other end that you can access this straight away.

I've only ever sold / moved out of one house we did this.

Ad we left a 'manual' too. We left all the plans we'd had done for building work over the years we'd lived there, sketch plans of where less obvious things we'd discovered over the years as well. Things like where the water and electric main cable came into the property and where the drains left. Things like that.

The people who bought the house were not local so we left a list of names and addresses of local tradesmen we had happily dealt with. And the names of our their neighbours.

We always pay for packers now, so as they pack, we clean!

We moved into a new build and did a part exchange so was easier but yes I would expect to leave a house clean enough to move into. We left in laws at old house finishing the clean while we moved into our new build.

As a child we did a council house swap. I remember being at home with neighbours cleaning our old home and my mum running in telling us to stop. She had just been to the new house and it was filthy. They were lifting up carpets and shaking the dirt (including cat poo) off them and on to the floor. Mum was disgusted. Even before cleaning to move as we were doing our house was cleaner.

Majority of packing done weeks in advance, as rooms were packed up thorough clean. Day of moving as the boxes were taken to van hoover through and clean the bathroom. It's a stressful tiring day but o could never leave a dirty house. We bought our last house from friends so you can imagine how clean they left it for us

Also box with kettle, tea, coffee, sugar, biscuits and cups. Both you and removers will appreciate at other end that you can access this straight away.

In our current house the previous owner had died at the grand old age of 99, and we paid the asking price because we thought it was fair and didn’t really ask any questions so it made it a really easy sale for them and all we got was a scribbled note on the back of an envelope about how it was his mother’s house and he’d taken some sentimental plants from the garden. Didn’t even have the grace to say enjoy your new home or fill in the holes where he’d removed the plants.

I think we had eight skips in total to gut the house in the first week!

I thought you had to clean a house you left? My parents moved house as each room was emptied by the removal company I dusted and wiped down windowsills, doors, skirting boards and lamp shades then vacuumed the carpets. It was fine but probably could have done with a couple of extra pairs of hands to be honest!

Wow, lots of different experiences here. Some of them sound awful!!! Can’t believe anyone would leave a place in a state but as another poster has said, some people just don’t seem to see their own filth. There’s no excuse for leaving crap behind though.

I think it’s taught me to make sure it’s a matter the solicitors put into the contracts, re the state of the property on completion.

I've never sold a house but when we do I will leave it clean.
Wasn't clean when we moved in here but wasn't filthy either just needed hoovering, bath cleaning and cupboards wiping out.
They did leave a load of crap in the garage though which was annoying.

I’ve only lived in rented HA properties. Mostly they’ve been ok, but when we did a house-swap with a lady, she was adamant that we needed to be ready to move quickly (fine by us), and that she had people ready to help her blah blah. So I got everything packed/decluttered/ready in the weeks before the move. I made sure my old flat was left pristine. Left flooring down, a dishwasher there (she was happy with that), lightbulbs (plus spares), a small box of tea/coffee/snacks/toilet roll etc.

On day before moving day, she announced that she didn’t have anyone to move her stuff. So we tag teamed it (I’d booked time off work for moving, so HAD to move on that day), and used the van we’d hired to also move her stuff. The garden was left in a state, rubbish etc everywhere; the house was FILTHY (and - as I found out in the next few hours - had a huge flea infestation). I literally sat and cried. Had I known the issues beforehand, I would have booked us into a hotel for a couple of nights, had our stuff put into storage, called in cleaners to do a deep clean, pest control to fumigate the bloody place and someone to paint the whole place whilst it was empty (walls were filthy too). I’ve never forgotten just how crap that time was. It was like she hadn’t bothered much with cleaning beforehand, but then stopped entirely once we viewed the place. Horrible times!!

We've sold and moved seven times, and never yet found a dirty house.

As a seller I always clean up before departure. Kitchen and bathrooms absolutely sparkling, disinfected, wrapped soap on sink, fresh loo roll on the holder, cupboards washed out, any white goods sold with house (FF, ovens, hob, WM ) all cleaned/washed/defrosted.
Carpets hoovered, smooth floors washed, garage swept.
Years ago we moved in to a (spotless) house where the sellers had left for us a bottle of wine, two wine glasses and a welcome to your new home card. It was so nice we've done the same ever since.

I would clean - poor form to leave a dirty house behind you. Doesn’t have to be perfect but yes I clean all the cupboards the drawers etc

Doesn't take long to clean an empty house. I got my cleaner in and we did each room as the furniture was moved out.

Most of the kitchen had already been packed so only a few cupboards needed a wipe out. I left her to finish off when we left (we "sold her" with the house - good cleaners are a rare treasure)

I've only moved once into a house that was dirty. I had two small children and I just sat and cried.

Do the best you can depending on the timings on moving day. Get the oven cleaned the week before you move, don't leave any rubbish, clean kitchen and bathrooms. That should be sufficient but great if you have time to vacuum once your furniture is out.

Clean it! I got my oven cleaned the week before (and then tried not to use it!) hoovered rooms as we cleared them. As much as a big clean our last weekend and then wipe of surfaces/skirting boards/bathrooms and hoovering again as the house was cleared. This also meant the cleaning things went in the car with the kettle and mugs so they were easily in reach when we got to the new place.

Things went wrong on our moving day, we didn't get in until past 5 and the movers had to do a dump and run basically. The house was a fixer upper and looked even worse with all the furniture out. It was dirty and grimy on top and it was winter so dark by the time we got in. We managed to get the bedroom and living room cleanish and habitable but it was so depressing sitting in a dirty house when we'd just left our lovely little one sparkling clean. My mum actually cried when she left us!

We've just moved, for context, our Seller moved out the day prior to us moving into her/our home, and we sold our house to a housing association so they weren't moving someone straight in.

Our actual moving day was very rushed and stressful as keys weren't released until 12:50, didn't actually have them in hand until 13:20 but the time we got there and we supposedly had to vacate our old house by 14:00 contractually... we were actually out by 4pm.

It was a huge relief that our seller left our new house clean, it just meant we could at least unpack the kitchen and use bathrooms, bring able to unpack the rest of the rooms was a bonus. Our seller also left us some helpful notes about the neighbours names, local shop opening times, utility providers etc, and she came round the next day with a bunch of flowers!

I think if you can leave the bathrooms and kitchen clean, this would be appreciated.

I left the bathrooms or the old house perfectly clean, we left the kitchen sides, cabinets clean etc, but didn't have time to sweep up after we'd moved the large appliances etc as we were just rushing to get the van packed. Everything else was mostly clean, we had a quick run round with the vacuum but didn't do a deep clean or anything.

I clean cupboards as I empty them. Kitchen and bathroom got the once over, on the day and cleaned floors, sills, and skirtings as rooms were emptied.

Moved into a sticky shit tip, which is amazing considering only one person had been living in it, part time. They had been kind enough to dump anything they didn't want to take, randomly, in the rubbish and recycling bins, including bank statements and other personal information. They also left us a crate full of both half drunk and full bottles of pink champagne and beer, in the garden.