To ask that the sellers of the house we've bought pay for all their rubbish to be collected

[Rain2122]

We've just moved house. The sellers left loads of stuff all around the house e.g. old mops and brooms, loads of half empty cleaning products, wardrobe storage things you put clothes in, dead plants, a cat bowl, a wooden unit in the downstairs toilet. They also left the fridge-freezer despite saying on the Fixtures & Fittings list they were taking it, so we will need to pay for removal.

I went around gathering up all the smaller bits and have piled it up in one corner for now with the intention of gradually disposing of it or filling the car for a tip trip. I wanted to take a photo but OH started putting some of it in the bin already, though there is still a lot there.

The latest thing to annoy me is that they'd also left the recycling bin half filled - we stuck some recycling on the top and put the bin out for bin day today but the bin men have refused to empty it because apparently the sellers have dumped non-recycling stuff in it!! So now my OH is saying he's going to have to sort through all their rubbish which has been in the bin which is disgusting.

Am I being unreasonable contacting our solicitor about this to see if we can get the sellers to pay for all this rubbish to be collected? I don't like to make a fuss and suspect the sellers are still in contact with our new neighbours so we don't want to appear 'difficult' but it doesn't seem fair for them to leave us to deal with all their rubbish!

Honestly, OP, just look at the price of a small skip. I hire one every 5 years or so and have a massive clear out. By the time I'd spent loading up the car, driving to the tip and then unloading again, it more than pays for itself. You keep it for a week and you blitz everything. It is genuinely cathartic and helps keep on top of unnecessary mess and full cupboards.

Thanks everyone for your advice and thoughts. We sent our solicitor photos and asked what could be done without incurring significant legal fees and she has replied saying she’ll contact the seller’s solicitors saying we expect to them to pay for all this stuff to be removed, and said she won’t charge us extra legal fees for this. (Our solicitor is brilliant.)

I know some people are saying this is common and just hire a skip but if more people complained maybe it wouldn’t be seen as acceptable.

May be if more people didn't expect conveyancing to be for £500 things like this would be properly disseminated in contracts and solicitors would have more time to explain expectations to clients.

It’s actually in the legal contract they signed to leave the house clear of all furnishings and rubbish - and the costs that occurs.
This is why your solicitor isn’t charging you for the letter.

Nice idea but most solicitors would (quite rightly) charge you almost as much as that for agreeing the wording then holding and releasing the funds, it's an administrative nightmare. In the first instance I'd ask the agents, then the solicitor but in the meantime just get it cleared and send them the bill

Utter rubbish - literally - I think you’ll find that the solicitors do hold cash back for these situations - and the rental market works under these provisions - so no sure why you’re on about.