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Original poster

Should you clean the house you're moving out of?

84 replies

WantToMoveNorth · 20/01/2013 19:56

We are due to move house in a couple of weeks and I was planning to do a thorough clean of our house before we hand it over to the new buyers (clean oven etc). However as I will be 30 wks pregnant with twins I've asked my Dh & ILs for a hand but they've all said I don't need to clean, just a vac will do! Surely it's polite to leave the house as clean as possible or have I got it wrong?!

Thanks!

OP posts:
fridayfreedom · 20/01/2013 21:20

I cleaned ours at 6pmths pregnant. The buyer rang to say thank you, however I sat and cried on the stairs of the new house as it was so filthy !

specialsubject · 20/01/2013 21:36

as much as you can is courteous - remember it doesn't all have to be done on the last day - as you clear out cupboards you clean them, and you reduce the cupboards you use. It won't be immaculate if you move on a wet day but you do your best with a last vacuum round. Main thing is that they can move in and use it straight away, so 'reasonable' not 'filthy'. Hopefully you don't normally have 'filthy' anyway!

if the oven is bad then call in a professional, doesn't cost a lot.

hope your vendors work the same way!

TreadOnTheCracks · 20/01/2013 21:43

I gave my old house as much of a clean as I had time to when we moved. Hoover each room as we emptied it, cleaned the kitchen and bathroom.

This house was absolutely spotless when we moved in and that's the last time it has been

BoulevardOfBrokenSleep · 20/01/2013 22:11

We're moving next month (touch wood) and I'm not planning to do any massive cleaning. Keep as clean as possible in the run-up, but moving day is usually hell on earth chaos, so I'm not going to go mad.
None of the five houses we've ever moved into has been spotless either.

Am planning to set professional cleaners loose on our new house before we move in though, as current owners have cats and I'm rampantly allergic.

PoppyWearer · 20/01/2013 22:14

Yes, we hired professional cleaners on moving day to give the old place a once-over. They were still there as we drove away (we knew and trusted them). The new owners were first-time buyers and massively grateful - they sent us flowers to say thank you.

CuddyMum · 20/01/2013 22:51

Yes and get the oven cleaned by professionals :)

Jergens · 21/01/2013 05:03

Absolutely. I think it's rude not to. The house will soon be someone's new HOME - how awful to leave your dirt in it. I would hire a professional cleaner if I couldn't do it myself.

iamwhaticallpregnant · 21/01/2013 05:16

yes because we moved into it when it was clean and it is just nice and polite to new owners. I am 36 wks pregnant so we have hired a cleaning company to do it this week. Will cost us abt 40 quid.

5madthings · 21/01/2013 05:16

God yes, we have always cleaned before moving. Not everyone does tho, we once moved and our new house was rank, hairs in plugholes, floors and kitchen filthy, it was awful!

StupidFlanders · 21/01/2013 05:19

I agree with jergens.

It's amazing how dirty houses are once all the furniture is out, a light clean wont be enough. i have always allowed 2 days before settlement to get it spotless (as close to) regardless of how pregnant I have been (once was induced the day after).

FellatioNels0n · 21/01/2013 05:30

It's a nice thing to do but not usual IME

RandomMess are you serious? Of course it's usual! I would be appalled if someone let me move into their home and immediately have to clen to bath and the oven etc! Although I do tend to re-clean, to an extent, regardless of how it's been left, but every single house I've ever moved out of has been left immaculate, regardless of how many children I've had and how young they've been - and I've moved house a lot.

Although I have had a habit of buying houses that have been left empty for a while so I tend to cop it from all angles! I've yet to move into a place that was as clean as the one I left.

foofooyeah · 21/01/2013 05:41

I would leave it as clean as possible - my oven was the cleanest it had ever been - I was lucky and the house I moved into was spotless.

AmethystMoon · 21/01/2013 05:54

Check your sale contract it was a requirement in mine to leave the house cleaned.

PatriciaHolm · 21/01/2013 09:10

Surely, you would clean anything you sold to someone, from a t- shirt to a house!

MrsCampbellBlack · 21/01/2013 11:45

Definitely clean and I have always left a card and a bottle of something.

The house we moved into had been sort of cleaned but was an elderly lady so not immaculate but my cleaner gave it a good clean. But she did leave some nice local history books and also details about bin days etc which was useful.

Toomuchtea · 21/01/2013 12:39

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Clary · 21/01/2013 12:48

Yes you are actually supposed to, I mean it is in the contract (well it was in ours).

I was mortified because having utterly cleaned upstairs, kitchen cupboards, bathroom etc in our last house before we left it, we were running late on the day and moved the last few kitchen things (fridge etc) without really having time to do more than a very quick hoover. The buyers were getting a bit antsy (like Sanity Clause on this thread, the chain meant it was about 5pm by then) tho so we needed to go but I wasn't happy.

Mind you our vendors didn't really clean very much in the month or so before they moved if you ask me Hmm

OP at yr stage of pg I might pay for someone to do it!

newpup · 21/01/2013 12:53

Yes! I cleaned our last house, left it spotless and when we arrived here the last owners had got their cleaner to go over it after they moved out. It was pristine. It is just good manners if nothing else, leave it as you would wish to find it, I say. Smile

Winternight · 21/01/2013 12:54

Yes.
Leave it spotless with a card and a bottle to welcome them.
Always.

fossil971 · 21/01/2013 12:59

Best thing is to try and get ahead with things like cleaning the kitchen, bathrooms, windows so that on the actual moving day you can get away a quick once-over and cleaning where furniture has been. I'm sure the buyers would rather you kept the chain going than fussed for ages cleaning up.

I think they put those clauses in because so many vendors do absolutely nothing - we once moved into a house so full of rubbish we had to get a clearance company in. Cleared, wiped and vacuumed is pretty good, anything more is a bonus (and very kind of course) IMO.

OldBeanbagz · 21/01/2013 13:00

I always clean before i move house but when DH and i bought the house we were in now, it was awfully dirty and the kitchen looked like it hadn't been cleaned for years.

There were 4 trays in the bottom of the oven collecting fat Shock. The lady who lived here obviously put a new one in when it got full rather than cleaning it out!

Thumbwitch · 21/01/2013 13:06

I would always clean a house I was moving out of! The first house I bought was partially cleaned but stank of cats' piss because the cats had saturated the concrete in the kitchen/diner - it was foul but the owners may no longer have noticed the smell. Took industrial strength disinfectant to remove that. Cupboards needed cleaning as well.

The second house wasn't cleaned very well at all but was a bitter divorce case so I don't really blame the poor woman.

The third one was cleaned beautifully and the owners even let me have their old sofa as I didn't have one and the movers were going to take it away.

We cleaned the house (well we had to!) before we left it for tenants.

LindaMcCartneySausage · 21/01/2013 13:07

God yes. Clean it as thoroughly as you can. I second what others have said about getting professional cleaners in. £40 or £50 is a drop in the ocean when moving costs are added up and one less thing for you to think about and do.

We moved into our place when I was 37 weeks and our regular cleaner came and gave the old place a thorough clean. Meanwhile, me, my DM and DSis cleaned the new place (we'd had builders in). The Sellers of the new place had left weeks previously and left it a bit grubby, but they had made an effort and we were renovating straight away, so we didn't care.

You're supposed to hand the house over in a clean and tidy condition under your contract. Check it and point to the clause and tell your DH that you're getting in professionals as you will be too tired and pg to lift a duster

AnnIonicIsoTronic · 21/01/2013 13:08

Pay a cleaner.

AnnIonicIsoTronic · 21/01/2013 13:10

One of those chain gang jobbies where three men pull up in a van with their own super-strength products & clean the place as though they're sanitising after a plague outbreak.

They are suprisingly good once you've removed all your stuff & emotion out of the place.

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