To be miffed about my filthy house

[constantlylactating]

Bought a house with DH and 2x young DS (5 and 5 months), moved in last Friday. It was an older lady living here alone, the house was too much for her, and as such we expected to have to roll our sleeves up and do some serious cleaning.

On moving day we didn't get the keys until 4.45, so when we arrived we were shattered. The house was so filthy when we were moving our stuff in, I could have cried. It stank of dogs (still does a week on) and every room was caked in layers of filth and grime- the kitchen and bathroom were so bad, I wouldn't even take the baby in them.

She had also left several things in the house- a huge wardrobe full of clothes, huge old dresser, dirty old fridge, oven, cupboards full of plates and food, and a shed packed full of broken tools.

We ended up in a hotel that first night, and we booked a deep clean with a cleaning company for the next day. Cleaner arrived and was horrified at the state the house had been left in. It took her 4 hours just to do the bathroom- she unearthed piles of dirty razor blades tucked behind the sink.

We need another deep clean as she didn't get round to most of the house. We also need to book a skip to get rid of all her crap stuff.

We expected a certain level of work, but honestly this last week has been really hard going, and it's still nowhere near clean enough for us to unpack most of our stuff.

AIBU to have expected better, or is this just standard?

This is the second house we have bought, we didn't have any issues at all the first time around.

Oh lord haha!

I mean, presumably you looked at the house before you bought it 🤷🏻‍♀️

Oh sorry.
It's just OP said the whole place was caked in grime and each room needs a deep clean (floor and walls scrubbed). I couldn't imagine living there with a 5 month old baby (though a babe in arms is preferable to a crawling one I suppose).

I admit I have never been in OP's position.

They're being ripped out because the whole house is caked in dirt and grime.
I stand corrected though,

Saw a video the other day where someone bought a house that was so soken in cat piss they basically had do demolish half of it, as it was rotten through. You do wonder how it was possible to live there - sometimes my pets have accidents, I can smell one tiny patch from 2 floors away.

I bought a filthy house, I'd not have been able to afford it had it been in great condition. My first priority was to decorate one room and put new flooring down so the toddler kids had a room to play in/eat in etc whilst I did the rest of the house up. next was the kitchen then the bathroom and so on.
To be frank, you would have seen the condition of the house when you looked around. You know that rooms are alwasy MORE filthy when furniture is removed as muck collects under and behind stuff so should have factored that in.
Personally I always clean a house after moving my stuff out but an old lady.... no I'd not expect them to.

We moved last week and like you also got the keys around 5pm!
It was an absolute god send that the house was clean enough for us just to unpack especially as I had spent a significant amount of time and energy making sure my old house was spotless for our buyer!!
We were very lucky by the sounds of things, I would have been a broken woman if we got here after 5pm and it was bloody filthy.
I think every house should be cleaned to a professional standard ready for the new owners, perhaps it needs writing into the contract that a professional cleaning company must be used before completion (they could exclude renovation projects like barns that are un-livable) and it would just become part of the cost of moving.

Our house was so gross when we got the keys, thank goodness we weren't moving straight in. They hadn't so much as wiped the sides down since we viewed 6 months previously. Kitchen soaked in dog piss, floors sticky, bottom of the toilet literally caked in shit where it had overflowed. Don't know how people can live like that! No idea what we would have done had we been moving in that day. Hotel I suppose.

Unfortunately, this phenomenon is more and more common as our society and caring infrastructure prioritises the elderly remaining in their home. ‘The only way I’m leaving this house is in a box’ type thing. The previous owner’s sons and their families were probably completely worn out from years of caring and just wanted shot of the place. They possibly had next to no energy left to go the final mile and empty the property.

I would say that for every property in this state, there are perhaps 10 more in a milder state of disrepair and filfth that new owners face. I used to work in pensions. It was not uncommon for the newly retired to see their tax free lump sum as an opportunity to buy a boat or go on a world cruise. People do not think about the fact that they will live another 30 years and how, during this time, their most precious asset would need a new roof, or drive, or windows.

If I were the OP, I’d be assuming that the visual state of the house was indicative of more deep rooted problems: get the boiler, the oil tank, and electrics looked at.

But did you not do a final inspection before settlement?

Are you in England/Wales? I've never heard of people doing this, nor it being called 'settlement'.

Our house was similarly gross, including fleas and several holes in the roof which we found out later on. This house must be truly massive or filled with hoarders crap for it to be taking so long to clean. Surely a deep clean should have more than one person?

We moved into a similar house when we had babies. We just rolled up our sleeves and got on cleaning it and taking things to the tip. It’s annoying but it would never have occurred to us to complain or sit wailing about it. All the shit and crap we went through is part of the family’s history and story telling now.

Well good for you eh

Pretty depressing for most people to be faced with such a task though.

We bought a house like this. Ripped all the carpet out as we walked through the door. Couldn't afford to pay a cleaner so we did one room at a time. It took a while but it's been a lovely home for many years. The bathroom was first as there was a hole in the bath 😂

Older people have the same desire to run their own lives as younger people.

Gunz
Ours was also a bank repossession. Ex council, owned by a young family. 32 years ago.

The carpet in the lounge and hall way were black, where I guess people viewing or perhaps even the previous owners hadn't wiped their feet, bedrooms not much better.
The walls on the stairs, grimy. The kitchen work tops were yellow with grease and cigarette smoke, as was the living room ceiling.

The back garden, you couldn't actually see as the grass was so long, and around the side of the outhouse where the back gate was, was full of broken and half full milk bottles, dirty nappies, car/engine parts, tins, dog faeces etc

The outhouse was about the same as the garden, full of their

rubbish.

DH and I were still living with our respective parent/s at the time so we were able to clean, decorate, new carpets and do something about the garden, it took us a good few weeks before we moved in though.

Ultimately hoarding (which is what this is) is a recognised and very complex mental health condition. She probably felt she could manage the move and to let cleaners in etc but in reality moving was likely significantly harder for her than she ananticipated. People who hoard often find it extremely distressing letting people in to their home, her sons may not have been allowed in for a long time to see how she was living. She may not have felt able to let cleaners in at all. Op has been ill informed and naieve to think an old lady living in that condition would leave the house clean and shiny.

Good luck op, that sounds really hard especially with a baby. Definitely leave some of furniture of it is ok condition out the front, hopefully some will be taken. You definitely need more than one person for a proper deep clean though, I have a small, tidy and clean house and once got a deep clean and there were two people.

Surely you knew the level of dirt and smell, you must have viewed it right? We instantly discounted a house because the owner was a heavy smoker with a dog who lived their decades and it would take too much work to 'fix' that.

Was it bought at auction? if so theres no recourse as its buyers job to empty the lot.

If it was bought via estate agent then what does your contract say about fixtures and fittings? usually sellers are not allowed to leave random stuff behind and you CAN actually sue for the reimbursement of disposal costs unless it was stated in the the contract that it was being left.

You might be able to to claim back your money for the hotel, removals and/or skip fees but I don't think you'll get anything for cleaning when the house was likely clearly in that state for a long time so bought with knowledge and priced as such.

I don’t know why youre surprised. It’s generally not worth pursuing legally for the stuff left behind; it’ll cost you more in legal fees than in paying to get rid of the stuff. And there’s no contractual requirements for cleanliness

Try and focus on why you bought the house over another one in great repair. No doubt you have bought what you could afford.

Sounds like where you have gone wrong is buying a house that needs work and expecting to just move in with a young family.

I have done the same - ours was vacant though so we got the keys in advance to go in and clean. It didn't feel nice though until we had redecorated and changed the carpets bathroom and kitchen.

So you can't afford the house?

Houses that are discounted are done so because bringing them back to livable condition will cost the full price, if you couldn't afford it at full price then you likely can't afford the referb.

You don't just get a magic house thats really cheap but just needs small jobs that could be done over time and assume that the big issues from viewing will have been sorted for you. That literally why its cheap.

That's quite cheeky. Dirt is one thing but leaving a load of junk is unacceptable. Contact your solicitor.

Our sellers left our house in a similar state including a used toilet brush with poo smeared on it. As well as broken chairs, Christmas decorations and all sorts that were not agreed to be left. I paid for a deep clean and the solicitor said he would get the cost back but nothing ever came of it. It’s gross and has left a stain (literally) on the whole thing for you, but just think in a few weeks you’ll be sorted and can put the whole thing behind you and start making memories in your new home

OP got a house she couldn't afford really cheap specifically so OP would have the money to do the work.

That is litrally how doer-ups work. What OP is now spending was already accounted for in OPs big discount, you don't get discounts on discounts lol.

People are completely missing the concept of a doer-up.

You get a discount because they aren't deemed livable, your not suppose to move straight in... OP was compensated for that by getting a house she couldn't afford cheaply.

Trying to live in it is her own fault.

Houses can be sold in an state even condemned, they do not ever need to be 'move in ready'.