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Original poster

Did/will you clean your house when you moved?

25 replies

HootShoot · 12/07/2013 07:40

We did. We dusted and cleaned skirting boards, windowsills, cornicing, hoovered. We cleaned the bathrooms. Kitchen was cleaned to within an inch of its life, I don't think the sink had ever been so white. I even cleaned the oven.

The house we moved into is filthy

They must have just picked up there stuff and gone. They left dog vomit on the utility room floor. The mop water was black, the kitchen and hallway floors covered in dog hair and was so dirty I dont think it was cleaned for months. The sink is disgusting they didn't even bother to clean bits of food out of it. The whole place stinks and is encrusted with dirt. Dog poo in the garden. Oh and they took the kitchen units and curtains they were meant to leave behind. I just can't believe they would leave it like this, they are a professional youngish couple - its not like they were frail and being shipped off to a nursing home.

I think they are dirty bastards but maybe my expectations were too high?

OP posts:

ChoudeBruxelles · 12/07/2013 07:44

Yes - although apparently my cleaning windows, hoovering, mopping, scrubbing surfaces was not good enough for the builder we part-exed with as they bought in an cleaning company and charged us £200.

Bunbaker · 12/07/2013 07:47

Of course. We are in our fifth house and have always left each house spotless.

Original poster

HootShoot · 12/07/2013 07:49

Wow really? Does that mean we can try and charge the filthy kitchen/curtain stealing bastards for leaving the place in such a horrible condition?

OP posts:

Jan49 · 12/07/2013 07:52

It's horrible when the previous owners leave the house dirty. I don't think your expectations were too high unless you expected them to clean the house as much as you did yours. Their house sounds disgusting but what was it like when you viewed? It sounds like they just didn't keep it clean generally so they probably wouldn't do it when moving either.

When I moved I hoovered each room whilst the furniture and boxes were still there and just left it as clean as I could manage, basically how it would be if I were living there and doing usual amounts of cleaning but also cleaning behind furniture that wouldn't usually be moved. I'm not sure how people find time to do lots of extra cleaning when moving or after the removers have been.

Jan49 · 12/07/2013 07:54

I think you can try to get money back as they didn't leave the kitchen units, though it wouldn't be worth bothering for curtains only.

wonkylegs · 12/07/2013 07:59

I'm in the process of cleaning behind each piece of furniture that we take down, filling holes, touching up paint and next week will be cleaning the oven & scrubbing the bathrooms.
It'll be clean but may not be sparkling once the removal men tramp through it though.

Original poster

HootShoot · 12/07/2013 08:18

It was pretty doggy when we viewed but not as filthy as it is now. I guess they made an effort for viewings. The annoying thing is we know they had their van packed up at 12 and we didn't complete until 4.45 so they had a lot of time when they could have cleaned once the house was empty. They didn't bother with the bare minimum of even hoovering, ive never seen so much pet hair entwined in carpets or rolling about like tumble weed! Best get my marigolds on.

OP posts:

EagleRiderDirk · 12/07/2013 08:29

I didn't leave our house spotless but I had hoovered, wiped all the surfaces down, etc so it was clean. was a little hard to do a deep clean as oh is a ridiculous hoarder had a lot of stuff so we were holding up the moving process just getting his junk stuff out.

the place we moved too had done the same. not spotless but clean enough.

a previous place I moved into was similar to op, though thankfully minus the dog vomit. and they left a cupboard full of their baby's stuff (which my evil xmil wanted us not to return as it was now technically ours - our childless with no immediate plans selves).

Wuldric · 12/07/2013 08:33

Left our house spotless, with a bottle of wine for the folks moving in.

Moved into a spotless house. The only oddity was that the bin was full to overflowing with porn magazines and nothing else.

cavell · 12/07/2013 08:55

I cleaned the last place I sold to within an inch of its life - didn't want the purchasers thinking I was a dirty cow. I even got a thank you letter from the purchasers for my efforts (maybe thay had had a bad experience in the past).

Current house was pretty filthy when we moved in although perhaps not quite so bad as the OP's house. It looked okay on viewings - I can only imagine that the vendor completely stopped doing any cleaning at all once the sale was proceeding. We had driven a hard bargain on the price and I think he was very bitter at having to accept our offer.

Slainte · 12/07/2013 09:04

I had a cleaning company in to clean our house after everything was removed. I then had to re-employ them when we bought our new house as it was left in a filthy state.

We know the person we bought from an ex-colleague of DH and still see her from time to time and it doesn't seem to bother her an ounce that she left such dirt behind her.

RocknRollNerd · 12/07/2013 09:27

We part-ex'd with a builder and it was in our contract that they had a £500 retention until after they'd checked the state of the place including the garden. We treated it the same way we did rental accommodation and got in cleaners and a gardener which was money well spent as we got all the money back. To be honest I'd probably get the same cleaners in again should we ever move again as it was worth it to avoid the hassle and I'm very much in the 'we're spending so much money on this house move another £130 or so won't make much difference'.

That is awful about the state your vendors left the place in OP, you could try your solicitor and see if there is any chance of claiming some money back but I suspect you won't get far.

SupermansBigRedPants · 12/07/2013 09:29

My mum and DFiance scrubbed my last house down and df had the carpets shampooed, we moved into our new house and the landlord here said he'd had 3 cleaners in for 10 hours the place was messy when we viewed ridiculously so and I judged but to put the landlord £400 out of pocket is ridiculous.

A bit of respect doesn't go amiss when moving out, I know I wouldn't want people to think I'm a clorty bugger!

Trazzletoes · 12/07/2013 09:35

OP I feel your pain. I started an AIBU thread about this when I moved in to a FILTHY house. Previous occupants were middle aged, seemed perfectly normal - left drawers with pubes EVERYWHERE in the bedroom. I had to clean the kitchen sides before I could put the boxes down! Bathrooms were horrendous.

According to most people I wasn't BU, but the first few posters were adamant that moving was so stressful that grown ups should not be expected to hover their own intimate hairs out of their drawers. I wasn't expecting spotless, but basic hygiene surely...

Trazzletoes · 12/07/2013 09:39

Kitchen units - what does it say in that fixtures and fittings form you have to fill in? If they were attached to the wall and they said they were leaving them I think it's worth getting in touch with your solicitor it's a long time since I've done any conveyancing though

RocknRollNerd · 12/07/2013 09:42

Oh sorry - I'd missed the bit about the kitchen units in particular. Definitely talk to your solicitor as the F&F form will make it clear what was supposed to happen, if they've gone against that then you may well have some redress.

Alwayscheerful · 12/07/2013 09:45

I feel for you OP, we left our spotless, the house had never looked so good, we left a bottle of wine and a card too.

Our new house was filthy, they left the dishwasher full of dirty dishes and all their half- used jams and sauces in the pantry! I spent ages clearing out my clutter drawer in the kitchen and opened the drawer in my new kitchen to find the vendors left it all behind for me to deal with, they also left a car behind on the drive which blocked the removal van until 6 pm.

Some people are very thoughtless and selfish.

MrsLettuce · 12/07/2013 09:45

I've cleaned every place I've moved out of to within an inch of it's life, even when the LL has been a PITA and regardless of the state it was in when I took it on. I've moved a lot over the years but have never, ever, has the place I've moved into been cleaned first. Generally not even hoovered.

This house was fithy when I took it on, the worst of a bad bunch, I shall do my best to give it nothing more than a cursory clean when we move out. Fuck it. Karma seems not to apply to the cleanliness of houses.

curableromantic · 12/07/2013 09:52

I didn't clean my last flat when I sold it, it was pretty bad, particularly the carpets although I did remove every last bit of my stuff. I had actually planned to leave it all clean and some precious, limited edition parking permits to help with her move but she was so horrible during the sale I thought, sod her, she can clean.

SixPackWellies · 12/07/2013 09:58

Last place we moved out of, we cleaned, got the carpet shampooed and when we moved the bookcase to discover the painter had not painted behind it originally, (just around it), we set to and painted it.

And we left our big terracoota tubs of plants and a bottle of champagne for the new owners.

The house we moved into (in a naice neighbourhood, with very posh vendors) was so filthy I cried. They left rotting food in the fridge. The oven was so bad that I opened the door and retched as the smell of cold caked on grease was so horrendous. DH put acid solutions through it for a few days, then we got a professional in and then we ditched the oven.

They left used cotton buds on the bathroom floor. The filth went on and on. The first time we vacuumed the carpet, it actually changed colour.

The thing is- they had a 3 year old living in that place, and seemed normal enough.

specialsubject · 12/07/2013 10:55

obviously normal people don't leave a place like this. No-one except real disgusting slobs would leave this mess.

In addition they have stolen your property - and that is where you have comeback.

contact your solicitor.

MrsBungle · 12/07/2013 11:00

I scrubbed my last house to within an inch of its life! I couldn't have anyone thinking I was minging!

The house we moved into was superficially clean but all the hard to reach bits were dirty.

fishandlilacs · 12/07/2013 11:03

maybe just maybe (i live in hope) they booked a cleaning company who let them down?

If not then YADNBU....sounds disgusting. I'd always clean a house I moved into anyway and at least have the decency to wipe down and hoover, dog vomit! Nuff said.

fishandlilacs · 12/07/2013 11:03

Photograph the mess

Halfling · 12/07/2013 11:10

We just get the cleaners in before moving and the inventory check. Our letting agency is strict about professional deep cleans before handing over the keys.

Or else, they bring in the agency cleaners which charge exorbitant rates. Plus the inventory audits don't go well and you get charged for damages i.e. crayon marks on furniture, dirty carpet etc.

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