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.

Of course doer-uppers are cosmetic issues, that is literally what it means!
'They are about safety issues like outdated electrical wiring, water/damp/mold damage and roof/structural problems etc' No, that is a renovation, not a simple doer-upper.

Maybe one day you'll end up a lone elderly lady with no support. It is what it is. You're resolving the problem, it's not an ongoing thing, so just move on and enjoy your new home.

I had this exact situation when we moved into our current house. Your contract would have said she agrees to leave the house clean and tidy with all possessions removed (except any you both specifically agreed she would leave on the list of fixtures and fittings).

Unless they’re very good, your solicitor won’t really help you/care as their job of helping you buy the property is done.

Keep receipts and invoices that you’ve had to pay for the deep clean, any rubbish removal and skip. Take lots of photos if you haven’t already. Get a statement from your cleaner. Tell your solicitors to tell the seller about the state of the property and that you expect her to cover your expenses and that you will take her to court if she doesn’t. Give her a couple of chances to pay (with a deadline) and provide the receipts/statement etc. If she doesn’t pay by the deadline/doesn’t respond, raise a small claim through court. It is so easy, it costs very little and the judge will find in your favour. Not to mention it is very satisfying - people have no right to leave their rubbish and dirt for you to clean up.

Your contract would have said she agrees to leave the house clean and tidy with all possessions removed (except any you both specifically agreed she would leave on the list of fixtures and fittings).
That sounds really unusual as a clause. The standard English law inclusion is merely "vacant possession" (no extraneous furniture or rubbish), with stipulations that the property should be in the same condition as when it was seen (i.e. no new holes knocked in walls). OP explained the house was dirty when they viewed it, only they naively didn't realise that hoarded pules of stuff might also have dirt under them.

It’s been a standard clause in the terms of the last three houses I’ve bought over 12 years (and with different conveyancers) so I’m not sure it’s that unusual. It’s in the property information form (which forms part of the contract). Section 14.4 of the standard Law Society Property Information form 4th edition specifically asks if the seller will ensure all rubbish is removed… and the property is left in a clean and tidy condition (see attached photo). Either way, it wouldn’t hurt OP to check her contract/terms and rely on them if the seller hasn’t left the house in a reasonable state.

The items not being removed is a clear cut thing

Clean and tidy is subjective, it cant be enforced.

It sounds like you hoped for all the benefits of a discount but without the drawbacks.

You can't expect a hoarded house to be clean or in decent condition - it's just not realistic, especially when you're receiving a huge discount on the property.

There's a reason a lot of the homes on those TV shows are condemned in the end - hoarding destroys homes.

We moved into a house that has / huge dogs the only thing that got ride of the smell was getting new carpets and underlay. Sounds a nightmare I'd be chasing the solicitor up today. I'm sure it's 2 weeks you have to report issues

You paid less for the house than it’s worth because it was so grimy and filled with rubbish, you knew you’d have to put some serious leg work in to make it habitable. There’s no way you viewed the property and didn’t realise it would be filthy and trusting the seller to clean it before leaving when she clearly hasn’t been able to clean it for years by the sound of things is pretty naive.

Sounds like you need another couple of deep cleans and the flooring will need replacing unless it’s hard wood to get rid of the dog scent. You will also likely need to repaint everywhere since strong smells tend to stick to walls.

Chase up your solicitor! Take photos of everything. The house is supposed to be left empty, unless you have agreed to buy specific things.

Clearly the woman was a hoarder. If you couldn't move the junk to see walls, etc, I'm not sure why you expected the house to be cleaned. The poor owner was clearly mentally unwell.

I hope you get some compensation, and that your solicitor is helpful!

Ah. The contract itself is "vacant possession". The TA6 is not the legal contract and is not mandatory even though it is usually used. Because it isn't the actual contract clauses, "clean and tidy" in this context has no legal definition, so enforcement won't work sadly unless it's tangible items. The seller can also just tick "no" on this form. This is often done e.g. leaving garden furniture or whatever, which may or may not have a price attached; auctions will often tick "no" because it is bought as-is with rubbish, dirt etc.

Anything back from the solicitor, OP?

Where did I say we received a huge discount 😂 it was a little bit cheaper because it needed all new windows. The house next door has all new windows, and sold last year for just 10% more than this one.

Heard back from my solicitor today finally! They are going to start chasing to recover all of our expenses so far, including professional cleaning.

I don't hold out much hope, but even a couple of hundred pounds back would pay for another clean haha

My neighbour did this. Not sure about filth although wouldn't surprise me as she was also late leaving, carrying out furniture to the last minute so i cant see how she had time. She hid random things in bushes and new owner needed a skip.

But the best part, a day or so later, she came to visit another neighbour and stayed late. Under cover of darkness, they both snuck to the skip and loaded up her car with her junk, and left what she didn't want! I saw them from the bathroom window!

Call them!

Oh god 😂 most of her stuff is outside the garage, she's welcome to collect it 😂

Where did I say we received a huge discount 😂 it was a little bit cheaper because it needed all new windows. The house next door has all new windows, and sold last year for just 10% more than this one.

10% sounds pretty good to me 🤷‍♀️

New windows simply wouldn't be 10% of the house cost. They will cost you what exactly - £20k? How much was the house, £300k?

House cost 320k, the quote we are going with for windows is just shy of 7k. I know they will add more value, which was why we were happy to purchase at 320k, in the knowledge we would need to fit windows.

I think you were naive to be honest. You made big assumptions with too much positivity.

That said, I hope you can crawl some cost back as the lady should have done it before you moved. However from what you have said it was like before you bought it, you have exactly what I would have imagined! You’re lucky you’ve not uncovered worse things like damp, rot or infestations.

Ok, so reduction in house price £35k, cost £7k, that's £28k inconvenience money to get the job done. Air B&B / Vrbo for a month with stuff in storage £5k, windows done for £7k. £23k left for cleaning, carpets and a load left for inconvenience. It's not really a bad deal!

We're living in it fine after those initial cleans, none of us minds living here while we have work done (windows, plastering, floors etc).

The point of the thread was just to ask if I was being unreasonable to be annoyed at all the crap left behind for us to get rid of, and the fact a professional clean wasn't completed as promised.

My solicitor is now chasing the seller for us, so no- it turns out it was right for me to question it. All good, we know we'll get the house looking how we want it, we know there is no damp etc, so any money refunded would be a bonus. As I said in another reply, even if we just got a couple of hundred pounds back, it would fund another deep clean for us.

Where has this reduction of 35K come from?

@constantlylactating Fingers x you should get some money back for clearing out the junk left behind. It's very common that people do this, not realising that vacant possession really DOES mean vacant.

Purchase price £320k. £355k - 10% = £319,500. I rounded down to £35k. Which is quite a lot of reduction for £7k worth of work.