Completed on house sale today. Got the call at 10:15am to inform us. Called EA to enquire about the keys, who advised they weren’t available yet, seller was in the process of moving things out. Now EA had called a couple of days earlier to say seller stressing about moving their stuff, obviously we didn’t know completion time, but asking how flexible we were. 4pm was mentioned. I’d stated we could be a little bit flexible, however not as late as 4pm. We got a phone call from EA again today at 12:30 to say seller going as fast as they could, we may be looking at 4pm before we got they keys, asking us to ring seller at 4pm to check if keys ready. I text seller to say we would meet him at the property for 4pm to get the keys. I got a text back to say he was struggling for 4pm as he didn’t get his keys to his new place until 12:30pm, so I called the EA to ask them to deal with times etc as nothing had been offered in terms of when he might be done.
Anyway, long story short we picked up the exs keys from the EA at 4:20pm and he gave us his keys pretty much at the property at 5:20pm. Said he’d taken everything, best of luck etc etc and then he was gone. So we get into the property, obviously looks weird with nothing in. Opened all the windows. House was actually really not very clean. We bought a brand new Hoover, and have filled up over one bin bag with Hooverings. Cupboards filthy, general dirt and dust and grime. You expect some, but the house needs a proper clean. Going through the house, there are multiple items left - some crutches, boxes, old travel cot etc. In the loft, which has been used as a room, they’d put dividing plaster board all down a section of it to store belongings down one side, however this has been pulled out and left in the room. The worst thing is that dog poo (multiple) has been left in the back yard. On leaving we were shutting all the windows and both living room top windows don’t shut. One seems to have dropped, and we didn’t have a hammer to sort it. The other the bracket so just completely bent and broken, so we can’t shut it properly. The whole day has been wasted as we had taken annual leave and didn’t get into the property until 5:20, almost 7 hours after completion, plus it was left in a state and the issues I’ve already outlined.
I don’t think IABU, but the question is what can we do, if anything? All of the items need shifting, we don’t want them. And the windows are an issue. Is there any recourse? It’s the first time we have bought a house and it’s left a sour note; I’m feeling very deflated right now and any advice would be appreciated. Some photos attached of what’s been left (not everything) and the broken bracket.