Anyone bought a house recently… What things would have been useful in a ‘handover’?

[WhoNickedMyName]

I’m doing a little handover list for the new owners. So far I’ve included…

A folder with all of the instruction manuals/receipts/warranty details for appliances that we are leaving.

I’ve told them where the mains electricity switches and the stopcock are.

I’ve given the details of bin/recycling collection day, the window cleaner and how much he charges, and the gardener and how much he charges.

I’ve explained why we’ve left stuff in the garage (it’s spare packs of bathroom tiles/oak floor/etc - all stuff that has been used in the house).

A bunch of local takeaway menus.

I’ve let them know we’ve redirected our mail but if anything turns up could they let us know and we will pick it up.

And finally I’ve added a little picture of our cat and asked that if he turns up at the house could they drop us a text and we will come and collect him .

I’m going to leave a couple of pints of milk in the fridge for that all important for them and their removal men, and of course, a card and a bottle of wine.

Is there anything else you might have found useful for the previous owners to leave for you or let you know?

Thanks.

that sounds lovely! The previous owner left us a note, he was a lovely little old guy but it did feel a little like 'this is how it's done'...so as long as the letter doesn't feel like that I bet they'll be delighted

Mind you they cleaned out the entire loft which was expected but having read the recent thread on here I'd say as long as you take all your shit stuff with you they will be happy!

Wow can I buy your next house?

Sounds lovely! We left a similar info pack for ours (sans wine). Spent the first few days at our new place clearing junk and trying to figure out the heating

How lovely! The previous owners of our house left us a file with all the instruction books for the boiler, freezer, alarm etc. It was very helpful. They also left a forwarding address and phone number and introduced us to the neighbours.

They left a loo roll in each loo too. :-)

That's lovely!

The sellers of my house left us a card. I'd rather they had cleaned the house and been open about all the things that were wrong!

Our sellers left us without hot water - could have done with some wine!

That is fantastic - what a lovely seller you are.

The only thing extra I could think of would be ensuring you leave the alarm code written out in huge letters/numbers somewhere very obvious! (If you have an alarm of course.)

I usually leave the stuff you have, but also leave a pack of stickers with our address on so they can forward mail and we don't have to pick it up from them.

Good luck with the move!

My vendor could have told me there is a cellar under the kitchen - took us 4 years to have found out!

your buyers are obviously much nicer than ours, who have also employed the biggest cretin of a solicitor I have ever heard of probably another thread They are definitely not getting wine!

How to work/override the boiler settings? Ours is quite complicated despite the manual instructions. Corner shop opening times or times your nearest pub does food for the first few nights?

Other than that sounds very comprehensive.

My vendor did similar - it was really helpful. She also left a folder of paint colour charts with the colour schemes for each room marked in case we needed to touch anything up.

Our vendors did most of what you describe, they also added:

• blueprints of the house
• a lovely, warm handwritten letter welcoming us to the house and describing how happy they were here, raising their two daughters
• left their pulleymaid in the utility room (for which I'll love them forever)

And more importantly, hired a professional cleaning company and the house (albeit old) was absolutely immaculately clean!

To be fair, we had just moved back to the UK, I was 5 months pregnant so we offered them the asking price and didn't see them/talk to them/demand anything, so that might have had something to do with it

I second the nearest local shop, but also nearest supermarkets and petrol stations. Our vendors also left us a list of useful numbers e. g. Local police and health centres, dentists, council contacts. We also inherited a lot of old light fittings and they left their supply of replacement lightbulbs which was good - saved us a fortune!

Ah thanks folks. I'll definitely leave loo rolls and thanks for the reminder about the alarm code - must add that to the list.

Cleaning is covered, I've got a company coming in on removal day.

Roses our buyers solicitor has been a bit of an arse and dragged out the whole process but in fairness to our buyer they are as frustrated with him and eager to move as we are.

littlecrystal I'm intrigued - how did you eventually discover the cellar?