Leaving a note for the people who are buying our house off us?

[ThePerfectNegroni]

We are assured that we are moving on Friday, by our solicitor although I will believe it when I see it.

I am writing a note for the people buying our house. What should I put in it? This is our first house. When we moved in we got a scribble left for us, a freezer full of loose breadcrumbed things (Findus crispy pancake? chicken kiev?) and a cellar full of junk. I'd like to leave something a bit nicer for the new owners!

What did you put in your note? I've put in recs for the doctors nearby that we like, takeaways and the names of people who live on either side.

Ive started a card for our buyers (fingers crossed exchanging soon) ive included the window cleaners number. Bin days (which one on which day) instruction books for boiler & apps Neighbours names & a bottle of wine .

We did a nice card last time and the time before. The one before that was such a pita and dragged the sale out so long (5 months when I was commuting 50 miles each way) I just left the dirty patch under the fridge

Our sellers left us a complete folder of info, including plumbers, decorators, electricians, bin days, all appliance instructions, paint colours and what needs doing in the garden every month, plus sticky notes at various key points with tel numbers and instructions, and a card.

When we left our house I did pretty much the same, and added a bottle of Cava.

I wrote a letter saying welcome to 123 Any Street. I included meter readings, the bin days and which gas box was ours (flat). I left a set if spare keys and the key for the loft door. The property was only 5.5 years old so I left the NHBC warranty and also proof the boiler had been serviced to ensure the warranty on it was valid. I also left the warranties and instructions for the white goods I was leaving behind.

I moved into my current to separate from stbxh. I moved from a detached house in the country to an ex-local authority house. I stood in the kitchen having just got the keys and with a sinking feeling in my stomach thought 'wtf!!!!'. Then I found a note from previous owners telling me how happy they'd been in the house and were only moving because of growing family. Thank you so much. I was so reassured and it helped me hold my nerve that first weekend. And it is indeed the happiest house I've lived in.

...all of the above and a few working light bulbs help! I moved into one house on a dark late afternoon in February to find the previous people had taken every single working light bulb with them. Not a propitious start. Couldn't wait to leave that one

Good luck with your move.

Our buyers have been so horrendous that I might sow some cress in the carpets if we ever move

We're moving next week. We plan to leave the stain and oil for the work surfaces in the kitchen (real wood) but hadn't thought of anything else.

May do a garden diagram, as we do have a lot in there so it'll help explain. Some lovely ideas on this thread.

Another Zombie thread, although relevant in this section!

I was going to leave a note and a bottle of fizz for our buyers. However, they have royally mucked us around so no they are getting nothing! I will leave manuals for the boiler and built in appliances though.

A list of the paint colours used in each room of the the house - manufacturers and names - if you haven't left tins in the garage.

I wrote our address for forwarding mail onto some sticky labels- hoped that made it easy for the few bits of mail that slipped through the redirection service for them to do.

printout of burglar alarm instructions, including the code and how to change it, boiler instructions

meter readings (had already shown her all the meters) including water that I had phoned through on leaving

Teatray, mugs, teapot, spoons, milk, electric kettle, WUL, sponge, sugar cubes.

Wine glasses and bottle

I was hoovering round prior to exit and asked if she wanted the old hoover (she did)

Cans of paint for touching up, with the colour label, and room name written on

New lock for the front door in a sealed box.

Not leaving anything at all for our nightmare buyers (pulled out of the sale twice during the process) was extremely passively aggressive satisfying. The stopcock was really hard to find .

Last time we moved (previous house) I left biscuits (they had young children) and flowers, details on bins collection, takeaways etc.
When we arrived at our house the sellers had left flowers, wine and a lovely note. Neighbours had also popped round (before we arrived) and left a plant and a note welcoming us to the area which was really kind of them and both were much appreciated.

You sound like us helen. I'm having yet another of our buyer's tradesmen here today so determined are they to find something in a totally remodelled house to justify a reduction

We will be taking all our nice expensive halogen spotlights and leaving them with a whole lot of Poundland ones. For them to put up themselves!

I've left disposable wine glasses whenever leaving a bottle which I find is more appropriate as they likely haven't unpacked yet, and also as not to inflict extra junk on someone who will then have 2 odd wine glasses that don't match their existing ones.

When we moved in we got a nice note which told us the names of some neighbours, what days the bins were collected, alarm codes etc as well as a bottle of wine.

I'd have loved this. We've never sold, but the vendor we recently bought from left a half-eaten pizza and neglected to give the keys to us or the agent!

We will be taking all our nice expensive halogen spotlights and leaving them with a whole lot of Poundland ones. For them to put up themselves!

Treat yourselves to nice LED ones on the move :-)

May seem stupid but I always like to leave a loo roll and some washing up liquid. It's nice to be able to go for a wee, make a cuppa and wash your cup. Couple of takeaway menus, bin days, anything like "this door locks funny, hold the handle up" etc., neighbours names if it's a chatty area and a nice card saying welcome to your new home or similar

The witch who sold us this house left nothing at all, not even an alarm code, and in six years we never quite sorted out the underfloor heating in the conservatory (among other issues).

In our previous place we left a bottle of champagne and glasses, and asked our buyers to let us know if we needed to collect any post from them (we'd moved a few streets away; we had a small baby and hadn't got around to sorting out post forwarding). Never heard a word and got de-registered at the GP as a result.

We went and measured up for this house after exchange so the owners showed us where everything was.

They left a welcome card, a note of instructions on certain things, and a bottle of champagne. A couple of days later the neighbour popped round with a note too of all useful info.

I thought the card and champagne a lovely touch, we have done similar, and so much better than a previous seller who also took every single light bulb and the loo rolls too. Oh yeah and the wood burner that was inc in the sake. Bastards.

Oh and the neighbour also brought a bottle of champagne with the note.

Love living here 😂

We will be taking all our nice expensive halogen spotlights and leaving them with a whole lot of Poundland ones. For them to put up themselves!

Treat yourselves to nice LED ones on the move :-)

Definitely leave the halogen ones behind - you won't be able to buy halogen bulbs after 1st Sept 2018 (UK won't have left EU by then so pretty sure we still have to implement the ban):

www.lightinginsight.com/the-2018-eu-halogen-ban-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

We've done similar to most others posts re: bins, appliances etc. However, I've never done the plan if the garden/what needs pruning as personally I'd find that quite patronising and it's their garden to do with as they want, not follow your instructions.

Left a note about bins, parking etc. All manuals for the boiler, cooker, freezer etc. Then went through the house from attic to cellar explaining things like which chimneys had been swept, window locks etc.
Also left list of local trades - window cleaner, plumber, painter etc. Finally tea, coffee, milk, biscuits, mugs cheap glasses & bottle of fiz in fridge & a bowl of fruit.

I moved house whilst in labour. Our buyers had been difficult because his dad was the solicitor doing the conceyancing. However, I still managed to clean everywhere and leave a card, flowers, a bottle of wine and a little folder with takeaway menus, bin dates and local info.