Pre-move deep cleaning.

[pyrrah]

The vendors of the house we are buying have SEVEN indoor long-haired cats plus the house is around 450 years old and other than the kitchen and bathrooms is pretty medieval looking still so no easy to clean bits (all the floors are original oak boards so at least no carpets to deal with).

The place is pretty filthy (old dried cat shit in cupboards) and the smell is unbelievable.

To top it all off, DH is severely allergic to cats.

Somewhere underneath it all is a lovely house.

It will no doubt take months to completely de-catify, but we'd like to kick-start the process by hiring one of those crack-den/murder scene clean-up squads to come in and do what they can.

Has anyone done one of those? Do you get them to work round the removal boxes? Is it v v expensive (in SE England).

Our vendors are moving abroad, so there is the chance that the property will be empty before completion date. Is it normally possible to arrange for a company to go in and scrub the place before you have the keys in your hands?

Depends on the buyers but there are possibly insurance issues if cleaning before the exchange has gone through. Do you have to exchange and move on the same day?

Sorry I meant depends on vendors not buyers.

Unfortunately you can't get the keys before completion unless the vendors agree (which they often will for things like measuring up for curtains, murder-scene clean-up squad maybe not ).

If I were you I'd just arrange for the deep clean on the day after completion and stay in a B&B for a few days until it's done. The removals company will charge you for a few days storage but it would be an awful lot easier than working around boxes & furniture and at least you can just move straight into a nice clean house.

I'm having my house deep cleaned on Friday it's £143 for a two bed semi se London .... Will stop talking to myself now

Our vendors agreed to let dh go in with a carpet cleaner before completion, but I think that was because the woman handling the sale was a bit naive and didn't realise it was not usual.
Don't arrange anything with a private company before completion in case they say yes and then change their mind.

Ask the vendors nicely, and say its because your dh is allergic to cats, not because they're filthy.
Explain that even if the sale should fall through its all to their benefit. I'd allow that if I could have someone there to supervise.

don't clean it until it is yours, which means completion.

also your stuff will be covered in cat allergens if you put it in earlier. So get the removal company to store it for a day or two, move into a travelodge and get the place blitzed before you move in.

Once you've exchanged contracts the vendor holds the property in trust for you. Ie it's almost yours bar final payment. And you're committed to buying.

No problems with asking to clean it after exchange.

However they will still be living there with the 100 cats so by the time you complete you'll only have to do it again.

I'd arrange an over night stay for you and DH somewhere on day of completion and one of those deep clean squads then.

Perhaps you could also get the deep clean folk to remove the carpets etc you don't want anyway which will help with the filth and cat chair situation.

Previous house to current one was utterly filthy the day we got keys. Cat and dog and careless owner. Garden front and rear were ankle deep in animal poo Bligh. And inside everything was utterly utterly disgusting.

We had arranged to stay in our rental flat for a further 2 weeks so have the place deep cleaned and redecorated. Well worth while.

To be fair even the cleaning squad said it was pretty bad.

Current one was immaculate the day we got keys.

The one we are buying now will be fairly dirty but no cats or dog so it won't be too bad.

I did laugh at "crack den/murder scene cleaning squad

mymum - I was wondering if the fact that it would be massively to their benefit might make the vendors agree to it!

I will find out from the removal people what it would cost to store all our stuff overnight (just had the quote through and it's for 3 vans..

Otherwise, it might be possible to get the clean-up team in before unpacking - we have ridiculously little furniture due to my building in so many cupboards and wardrobes here. Most of it is just random stuff that doesn't need to be unpacked - we can eat take-away for quite a few nights!

Doing any kind of cleaning myself isn't really an option - am on huge amounts of morphine till I have major spinal surgery and so no bending, twisting or carrying anything heavier than a kettle allowed.

Mrs Florrick - fortunately no carpets at all - all wooden floorboards or tiles - but not an easy house to clean. The floorboards are the ceiling of the room below so if you slosh a bucket of water over them it will just pour through the gaps!

However, less space for cat-hair to hide.

The vendors are planning to move to France, so there is a high probability that they will be moving there before completion data which would give me a window to do the clean-up if they agree.

We will be taking out our own insurance on the property as soon as we exchange so should be covered there.

The only positive thing I can say about the ick, is that they had a gazillion viewings and only we made an offer, and the agent said that a huge number of people were just completely turned-off due to the smell. Even the surveyor was gagging on the way round! So, we probably only got the place because it was so disgusting!

3 vans? And you don't have much furniture???

may I gently suggest some serious decluttering...

OP will your DH be ok in there even when the cats are gone?

I say that as someone with a severe allergy to them and there is no way I could move in to a house that had had that many cats living in it.

It is the saliva on the dander that people are allergic to not the actual hair. I think you are doing the right thing by getting a company in to really deep clean it but I wouldn't underestimate how hard it will be to complete rid the place of cat allergens.

Good luck!

Lol, yes, decluttering would be a very good idea! I don't know how we manage to accumulate so much 'stuff'. There are an awful lot of plants in large pots including an apple-tree though.

Even I was shocked when they said 3 vans - I think it's more like two!

I'm worried about DH too - it is the saliva that he's got the problem with. He struggles to stay in my parent's house for more than a few hours and they only have 1 cat. The kitchen is a modern (1970's) extension but the original beams from the catslide roof are in it and the cats have all spent a lot of time sitting and climbing on it and it's thick with hair, so the cleaning is going to be a lot more than wiping down cupboards and running a hoover round.

He plans to dose up on antihistamines and lay in stocks of steroids and inhalers - I've made him check out the possibility of a local B&B in case he needs to live elsewhere for a bit.

I'm told it needs around 3 months to get rid of most of it.

I'm still trying to get over the fact they let the cat sh*t in the cupboard and didn't clean it up!

Yes, and it's a huge walk-in cupboard as well!

There are litter-trays, cat-food and water in every single room and hair-balls and cat-sick in various corners.

I love cats, and my parents always had at least a brace of Siamese running around, but this was something else.

I vowed there and then I will never become mad old cat lady in my dotage.

One thing I can say is that the cats looked incredibly well-fed, healthy and loved and were in beautiful condition... was just the poor house that has suffered!

We did get into an unoccupied house between exchange and completion to clean. Ask your solicitor. We made a formal arrangement and took meter readings before we started so that we could use electric and water.

Does he get asthma OP? I think you are wise considering him staying out of the house at least to begin with.

We moved into a flat that had had a cat in a year before and I didn't last the night - had to move out again by myself and look for somewhere else until my DH could join me.

I cant believe that you are buying this house

It must be at a very knock down price I presume. It does sound like an unbelievable amount of work for anyone let alone if there are disabilities and allergies to take into consideration.

Erm - sorry to add to the litany of stuff to do, but as someone who moved into a house with only 2 cats in it previously; I'd add a visit from Rentokil to spray twice for fleas too.

110 very well spent in my experience as once you move your stuff in, you will have to clean and hoover all soft furnishings twice daily if there is a bad infestation. You won't know if there is an infestation until the cats are gone and you become the victims so I REALLY recommend pre-emptive strike.

Carpet cleaning helps enormously with flea erradication but our house was crawling with the little sods on the ground floor which was all wooden flooring so don't underestimate what will crawl out of the woodwork for literally months.

Wait until exchange and book a heavy squad of cleaners to come in. Possibly decorators too as it may be easier just to industrially sand cat hair crud off of beams and repainting. The people we bought the house from had booked contract cleaners to do a deep clean. They shoved a hoover around half heartedly, told us they weren't allowed to use bleach and generally did a rubbish job so I'd look for references and guarantees too.

Alternatively, call one of those obsessive OCD cleaning programmes with a few pictures and see if they'll feature the house in return for supplying you with a willing team of marigold wearing fanatics

Not a knock down price at all - however, an amazing and totally unique house in a great location and we can see beyond the cats, although we probably only managed to buy it in the first place because a lot of people couldn't!

[There is a HUGE amount of work needed to pull the place together - but we factored that in when we set our budget along with my being able to project manage but not actively restore... was a choice between expensive house needing no work or much cheaper project house and the latter won. But yes, we are probably completely bonkers.

Fortunately it's reasonably water-tight so the roof and walls can wait till the summer rather than needing to be done instantly. Sorting the cat issue is one of the less onerous and expensive items on the list .

Decorators aren't an option - it's Listed and due to the property itself and where it is, the Conservation Officer wants to be involved in every decision - and if I industrially sand the beams he will probably prosecute! I've already had him round before we put in our final offer and he took a gazillion photos.

I'm hoping that fleas won't be an issue as they are indoor only cats - I've been there 7 times now and the surveyor and I spent 4 hours crawling round the place on our knees and I didn't see any then (and we were vaguely looking!) I believe there are powders that can be sprinkled liberally to kill the blighters if there are. Will investigate Rentokil as well.

V tempted by the OCD cleaning programme people! Only thing is that I don't want to totally insult the vendors before it's completely ours!

DH is adamant that he is going to be find - I am looking into options as the only times he has asthma attacks is overnight stays in cat or dog occupied houses.

The one thing I have learnt from the experience is that having animals around when you are selling is really not a good idea especially if there is more than one and they smell. I honestly believe that the house would have gone for a LOT more if it had smelt of roses and expensive furniture polish. Even we struggled to see past it. They had masses of interest and viewings, but only we made an offer - and much of what the survey threw up is not things that you would notice straight off, so I can only imagine it was the cats.

Am going to broach the topic with their estate agent (who is only too aware of the cat issue), and if he sounds positive then see if there is even a company that will clean houses that aren't standard.

Thank you all for the advice on everything!

I'm going to worry about your DH. You say the only time he has had asthma attacks is overnight, well he's going to be living there isn't he? I just know how ill and miserable I have been in the past.

Hope it works out ok.

OP please link! And then post the "after" photos for us to drool over!

If it's that bad I'd be making the vendors deep cleaning the place when they've moved their stuff out a condition of the sale. Quite apart from the fact that vendors should leave their sold houses in a clean and tidy state.

I wouldn't personally try to clean the house before you move in. It is highly likely that it will insult the vendors and it is useful to retain goodwill with people, especially with an old house. It might be useful to be able to call them in a month or two to ask if there's a knack with a dodgy boiler or other random query.

If you are planning a lot of work to the house, especially under the observation of a conservation officer then it makes sense to move in with the minimum of stuff possible anyway. Even more so as it will allow you to clean the place thoroughly. Your removal company will quote for long term storage which is usually cheaper than renting a storage unit as the stuff is crated and you can't access the stuff at all until it is delivered back [so v careful packing required].

Perhaps for day 1, beyond the surface cleaning, focus on one particular bedroom to ensure that the carpets are gone, the windows open and it is well ventilated and the room thoroughly scrubbed so there are no overnight asthma attack.