Bought house - vendors left lots of stuff

[CarrotVan]

We completed on Friday and were able up pick up the keys at 4pm.

We got to the house to find piles of rubbish in several rooms (two bin bags worth in one room), appliances left, cellar and shed full of rubbish, plug sockets hanging off the walls, stuff still in cupboards, laundry still in tumble dryer, pictures on walls, broken glass in the carpets, filthy everywhere. The vendor had left so weren’t still packing up

It’s going to cost quite a bit to clear it all. Where do we stand on recouping costs?

Speak to your solicitors

Contact your solicitor and inform them ASAP. You will need to provide an invoice for the cost of clearing everything that wasn't listed as part of the sale and then the solicitor will then deduct the cost from the money forwarded to the seller.

We moved into a house and the vendors left the garage full of rubbish, we contacted our solicitor and it was removed the next day, under threat of them being invoiced for the removal.

They're in breach of contract. They're responsible for the cost of sorting it out. As others have said, speak to your solicitor first thing Monday. Subject to what they say I'd probably be phoning round to get people in to sort it out on Monday afternoon.

How rotten for you. Agree get in touch with solicitors and get on with clearing up. Make sure you have a bill or invoice for expense. Take photographs and send them to the solicitor if he requires them.

Thanks all. We’ve taken lots of photos and made a start on cleaning. I did six hours today!

Get a company to quote for clearing the cellar and shed and send the quote to your solicitor.

In reality nothing will happen. You'll be advised that the cost of taking action will be more than the cost of you clearing it. Even a strongly worded letter from your solicitor will cost you. It's annoying, and leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but it's pretty common.

* Contact your solicitor and inform them ASAP. You will need to provide an invoice for the cost of clearing everything that wasn't listed as part of the sale and then the solicitor will then deduct the cost from the money forwarded to the seller.*

^This

@nutellamagnet

In reality nothing will happen. You'll be advised that the cost of taking action will be more than the cost of you clearing it. Even a strongly worded letter from your solicitor will cost you. It's annoying, and leaves a bad taste in your mouth, but it's pretty common.

The cost of taking action absolutely will not exceed the cost of clearing the rubbish. However, it is likely to be a small claim so the OP should do it themselves rather than use their solicitor.

I understood that anything left behind by seller became the new owners goods. Is that not the case?

I was originally thinking of wood piles, coal, oil in tanks, goldfish, old master (paintings not school teachers) in the loft etc.

Not much you can do. People’s idea of clean and empty isn’t universally the same.

It sucks though.

Our vendors left a lot of crap. We got a skip and chucked it all in. Annoying, yes, but in the grand scheme of things a couple of hundred quid was nothing. I'd do that, then forget about it.

The cost can't be deducted from the price as the price has already been paid
Solicitor can write to the sellers' solicitor making a claim,but if sellers don't pay up ,and normally they don't,you will have to sue

My vendors left loads, including washing in the machine!

I called the estate agent and they dealt with it. Not sure why but they came round and just took it all away for me! I assume they then tried to bill the vendors

You can pursue the sellers for costs.

You have to take reasonable care of the stuff and give the owner the opportunity to get it - the "involuntary bailment" rules apply. You can't just throw it away (except unarguable rubbish), take it for yourself, or leave it in the garden to get rained on.

Was the vendor the occupier? A right mess sounds more like what a disgruntled tenant would leave. Though maybe it was just making a hashup of the removal.

Yes something will happen tell your solicitor straight away they are in breach of contract. If they don’t pick up rubbish you can charge them for removal

@user1487194234. If it comes to that small claims court is quick and efficient. But solicitor should deal with it

I would have immediately called the Estate Agents. If they were good they might have been straight on it.
And then called the solicitors.

What bastards.

Was it rental and they just left the tenants to move, or something?

Weren't you given the option to check the house was actually clear prior to completion? Agree, contact solicitor ASAP.

@Elouera

Weren't you given the option to check the house was actually clear prior to completion? Agree, contact solicitor ASAP.

That isn’t usually a thing.

On Completion day everyone is in the same mad scramble to get their stuff loaded up and cleaning behind the removal men before dropping off keys and picking up the new ones.

Happened to us and in the end we just slowly cleared it ourselves
Was annoying but just felt like too much hassle trying to claim the money ha k

No court proceedings are quick or easy at the moment

@MarianneUnfaithful- on our completion day, we went to the property to check it had been cleared of the ceiling high furniture and rubbish. It had been empty, so I can understand this is different to when someone is physically moving out the same day.

It was the owner occupier leaving. I think she wasn’t a practical person or a planner and left it all to the last minute. Because she wanted to exchange and complete on the same day (that she chose) it was all very rushed.

When we picked up the keys the estate agent said if it’s not as it should be take photos and contact your solicitor. I think the agent knew it was bad and also didn’t want us to come to them