AIBU to leave small decorating and repair issues when moving?

[Newhouse20938]

We're moving house soon after spending 10+ years in our first home, and it's got me wondering what everyone else does when it comes to all the little things you've hidden over the years....

We've decorated and changed colours in most rooms, but because there was heavy furniture in the way, we've often just painted around it rather than moving it. For example, the wall behind my daughter's bed is still pink, even though the rest of her room is now sage green.

Now I'm thinking ahead to moving day and what it's all going to look like once the furniture is gone. I don't have any of the green paint left, so I'm worried it's going to look a bit of a mess. One wall is literally going to be green and pink!

Another example is in our bedroom, the carpet is ripped underneath the bed after I tried to move it once and caught it on the metal support bar. The bathroom window doesn't lock, and I've lost the key for the back room window, so it can't be opened at all.

I'm probably overthinking it, but is this the sort of thing most people just leave when they move, or do people tend to fix and touch up everything before handing the house over?

I suppose deep down I don't really want to paint a wall or replace carpet when I will be busy anyway moving.

We are moving in two weeks and are moving everything into storage between now and then. We will have time to touch things up before we go, so will be doing that when we’ve emptied it out a bit. Our buyers have told us they are not planning on decorating, though, and asked us to leave a list of the paint we’ve used so they could do repairs themselves as needed. They’ve been really good buyers, though, so we will do what we can. If we weren’t moving everything into storage first, we probably would’ve just left them the spare tins of paint and told them where they were for.

It wouldn't be funny at all.

Ask yourself how you would feel inheriting someone else’s maintenance issues after spending a lot of money to buy a house where these issues are not obvious. Imagine them moving in and seeing the half painted wall. I couldn’t do it to someone.

Well sold as seen I guess.

Painting round a bed is pretty lazy.

Although I think I would have preferred that to the shit DIY paint job I had in my house, where the previous occupier left thick caked swirls of paint that had to be removed all over in order for me to get a decent finish.

Next time I buy a place I will be a lot more careful to inspect the state of the walls and the decor.

I would expect there to be some decorating to be done when I moved. I am bit surprised about waiting around a bed though, that seems a bit much and would look pretty awful from day one.

Honestly, I think if you're not prepared for a surprise as small and fixable as walls that need painting then you are going to struggle to buy a house. I've never seen a house without issues, and I've certainly never lived in one. Generally I think the only time where you could really feel betrayed is if they turn out to be structural.

I moved in with a snow storm on the way to find the boiler didnt work! (And needed replacing entirely)

It's just how it goes.

Don't sweat it.

Legally you have at least a week to report things like this once you buy a house and the seller has to pay to repair or replace it!

I don’t know about the legal side, but I definitely would not have let this go. The buyers were obligated to report such a major issue.

Did you not discuss this with your solicitor, @BiteSizedLife ?