To leave the house not entirely spotless?

[Amimissingsomethinghere]

On the day of completion how clean was the house / flat you moved into? Did the previous owners leave it in a clean state for you?
Seriously stressing about how to get everything done and moved and packed and cleaned.
I was going to hire some cleaners to clean for a bit to leave the property nice and clean but a friend said I don't need to?
I plan on deep cleaning and getting professional cleaners to clean the place we are moving into... so wouldn't really mind if it wasn't cleaned but what's protocol?

No matter what you do the new owners will moan so don't bother lol.

Really, you should prioritise getting the property you are leaving clean before the one you are moving into. It's only common courtesy.

It is normal to leave it 'everyday clean' rather than 'professional clean' in my experience.
I would hoover/mop each room once emptied and ensure you don't leave any rubbish but hiring professional cleaners shouldn't be necessary.

You don't need to hire professional cleaners but if it takes the pressure off you and isn't hugely expensive it's a good idea - one less thing to worry about!

We hoovered and wiped down so it was clean but that was it. Then again our buyer was a complete arsehole - even the estate agent asked me if I knew of a dead pigeon to put in the water tank!

I found it wasn't as bad as I thought. Once furniture was emptied (wardrobe etc) we pulled it out and I dusted behind. Then touched up any bumps in the walls (not many). I cleaned cupboards out as I emptied them while packing This was before moving day.

Then I wiped windowsills and skirting and ran the hoover over each room as it emptied. Presentable but I didn't go mad.

The owners of our new house had done the same as far as I could see.

We are selling a relatives empty house now and will leave it hoovered throughout, kitchen worktops, cupboards inside and outside wiped down and bathroom clean.

I hoovered my way out of our last property only to move into the filthiest house. Luckily the hoover was the last thing packed so first unpacked.

The home owner went to work that day and she left her removals team to it. The main bedroom alone filled the hoover with dust and dirt. There was the remains of a roast chicken dinner in the plug hole. The list goes on.

But even if the house was immaculate you still would want to give it the once over so you know it's clean.

Hope your move goes smoothly

Is it a rental? The letting agent might except a deep clean.
If it is sale leave it clean not necessarily spotless.
They'll probably have it repainted anyway.

@strawbmilk That's horrible.
My Dsis left wine flowers and a spotless house when she arrived at her new home it was filthy.

We just moved...I did a deep clean as I was packing. We were lucky and loaded most of our stuff into the vans the night before so as rooms were cleared and emptied I hoovered and dusted then closed the door and didn't go back in to the room.

On the morning of the move we loaded the last few things into the vans and again I went round as rooms were cleared doing the last Hoover/dust. I mopped on the way out the door. The only thing I didn't do was wash the windows.

Clean floors, edges & ledges, inside of cupboards and bathrooms.

I thoroughly washed out the kitchen cupboards and cleaned the hob and oven. Bleached the sinks, bathrooms etc and put the hoover round each room (inc skirting boards etc) as we emptied. It was certainly clean, tidy and fresh smelling.

The house we moved in to had chips in the oven, dirty marks up the walls, the kitchen cupboards were sticky with fat residue but they thankfully had cleaned the bathrooms.

I would suggest you leave it how you would like to find it.

I got cleaners in and they followed the removal men round and cleaned behind them. It was stress free and money well spent.

It's common courtesy to leave it acceptably clean so that people could in theory move in without having to scrub everywhere first. I've had a full packing service the last three times we moved, so just cleaned behind them as they emptied the rooms.

Our buyers last time were so horrible, trying to knock £150k off just before exchange, quibbling right up the wire on the day of completion (as in insisting on coming round to 'inspect' the house in person on completion day before the money could be released, holding up a chain of about 5!) that we just left it everyday clean rather than deep cleaned as I normally would. So no visible dirt but I did not clean the windows or deep clean the bathrooms.

Our new house was absolutely spotless though, and I really appreciated it. But then we were much nicer buyers and they were moving very locally so presumably wanted to preserve their reputations!

When we sold our lovely house to our ungrateful rude buyers, we cleaned it from top to bottom, as we thought that was the right thing to do. The removal men even helped us as we were ahead of schedule.

Bitterly disappointed upon arriving at our new home though. The sellers and their removal men were still there, we were told by their estate agent that the sellers were cleaning, but when we finally got to move in two hours later, the house was smelly, filthy and there were scuffs and holes in the wall from where their removal men had been careless. Spent most of the next few days hoovering and cleaning. Made the whole experience a lot more stressful than it already was.

We:

• cleaned bathrooms and left toilet roll
• vacuumed all floors (especially wiping floors with big wipes after they removed furniture - v dusty!)
• cleaned kitchen and surfaces
• quick wipe inside cupboards, not scrubbing away at stains.

We didn’t clean the windows/glass.

It is absolutely stressful on the day. I found it useful to have the removers there early, one person supervised them, I stayed behind and spent an hour on the last minute stuff. Huge disposable floor wipes are your friend!

Oh, and we used the full packing service so just cleaned as they removed the boxes.

Generally tidy and clean is fine. You're moving bits and bobs out, boxes etc you're going to leave fibres/dust from the boxes etc inevitably. Seems OTT to do a full clean after everything has been removed - presumably your hoover was removed too?

Likewise when moving in - boxes etc everywhere will create mess when all the paper is removed and things unpacked.

I had my previous house deep cleaned! Lucky I did as I ended up having to take the keys to the buyer due to COVID as the estate agent refused.

Cleaner here..I work for a ll and do end of tenancy cleans. No way would he let anyome move into a dirty home!!

I have always left the house pretty clean - bit not had professional cleaners.

The issue is that you usually have to be ready to complete by Noon - have all the stuff in the van and ready to hand the keys to the Estate Agents. so it is a question as to how fast the removal men get your stuff into the van, and if you can work behind them - clean as they empty a room. They won't want to work around a team of cleaners.

I just swept, hoovered and wiped as they emptied rooms.

@EhUp

It is normal to leave it 'everyday clean' rather than 'professional clean' in my experience. I would hoover/mop each room once emptied and ensure you don't leave any rubbish but hiring professional cleaners shouldn't be necessary.

This - 'everyday clean' is fine and what I've always done - a professional clean is nice but unnecessary imo/e.

Whenever I've completed on a property I'm just pleased to find it hoovered/mopped/surfaces wiped down etc, and any rubbish cleared.

I left mine spotless after a deep clean that my then cleaner and I did together. Moved into my new house to an equally spotless place and the vendors had left flowers, wine and a welcome card.

Leave as you'd want to find or at the minimum the bathroom and kitchen hygienic.

Don't be like the people and their family of the house we bought. Lots of ostentatious vacuuming while leaving lots of issues.