What useful things have you been left by previous occupant?

[wowfudge]

I'm adding this thread as I have just finished coat number three on a ceiling with the help of a roller extension pole the vendor left in the first house I bought. They never reclaimed it.

There are frequent threads about how rank people have left places and we had to hire to skip to get rid of the crap left by the previous occupants of our current house so I thought a positive alternative would be good.

We moved in 10 years ago and our sellers left us a bunch of flowers and a bottle of champagne in the fridge with a welcome card!

A sticker on the window for a sail club. We had lived in the town for 5 years and never knew there was a sail club. Changed how we spend our summers.

I plastic doorknob left on the mantelpiece, which was very useful as she had taken all the handles from the doors with her.

A toaster! It finally gave up the ghost 7 years, and 2 moves later. We were really sad when our 'free' toaster died.

The 'broken' vax that they couldn't be arsed to get rid of. It needed one cheap new part

This house we were left a tiny fridge freezer (clean but useless for a family sadly!), a huge carpentry bench thing in the garage belonging to the ladies late husband, all their gardening tools of various ages and absolutely shitloads of renovating to do as they hadnt done a single thing since the house was built in 1974

Curtains for floor to ceiling windows that are about 4 metres wide. They might not be yo our taste, but would cost a fortune to replace.

Bizarrely we discovered that the garage of our house has been properly floored and has a radiator in it. While we don't actually put the heating on in the garage, it's nice to know we could.

I left a bottle of bubbly and in the shed left all the paint with instructions as to which rooms it went in for touch ups (whole house was shades of white/antique cream) I also left a list of ' house' instructions re boiler bin days when the chimney needed sweeping etc and they sent us a thank you card. My new house had one of those long handled telescopic brooms left behind it's curved and it the best broom ever.

An apron, which is the only apron which has ever fit me well.

Appliances - the vendors wanted £££ for them, we said no, they left them anyway.

Our vendors also ended up paying our phone bill for a year after we moved in - I tried repeatedly to get it switched to our name but BT couldn't seem to work out how to do that as it was a business line. We didn't use the phone much I hasten to add!

This is slightly different, but when we were burgled, the burglar left a really nice old fashioned wooden screwdriver behind, it's always been my favourite.

steps! When my car was broken into they left me a screwdriver which has become my go-to screwdriver over the years.

59 packs of b&q replacement bulbs for Christmas tree lights.

Trampoline (past its best but usable)

IKEA shoe cabinet.

(We won't dwell on the old toilet in the shed, or the van seats in the loft, or the poo blockage in the downstairs loo)

My personal favourite so far has been the welding mask and machete - I picture them in use in tandem. God knows what is going on!

Previous place:

• A lovely mirror in the bathroom. Completely unsuitable for the bathroom so we bought another one and moved it to the bedroom. We brought it with us to the current house and it's in the lounge.
• A Swiffer - very useful.
• A telephone - few paint splatters but have used it as a spare.

Current place:
Would all be on the 'rank things people have left behind' thread!

Flaperon, "Every cloud" and all that.

Not like the telly when said screwdriver would be taken away for analysis.

Wardrobe, sideboard, tumble dryer, ladders, lawnmower, various gardening tools and a beautiful trunk which is now dds dressing up box. The previous owner's daughter was in touch via email in the run up to the move as they cleared the house offering various items which helped out no end. They also left loads of info about the house and how to operate things like the log burner and contact details for reliable local tradesmen. They even let my workman in before completion so I could get the house rewired before moving in with my 2 yr old.

Really lovely people who I'm still in touch with.

Well ours took even the light bulbs and unscrewed the house no and took that. But left us their wedding album! They had been married for 60 years, the pics were lovely

That's hilarious Soncey!

The previous owner of our house left a log in the downstairs loo.

I would have had to rock up on their doorstep to return that - just to eyeball them after taking the bulbs and number.

I rent. When we last moved we moved into an unfurnished property. However, our previous flat had built in wardrobes so we were going to have to buy some for our new flat. The night before we were due to move in the letting agents called saying the tenants had left their wardrobes behind and that the landlord was unable to arrange for them to be removed until 2 days times. We just thought 'bingo' and said they could stay. They are huge IKEA wardrobes and perfect for the amount of stuff we have (albeit black ash so fugly).

A dualit toaster, an electric can opener.
didn't make up for the evil neighbours who made our life hell that they "forgot" to mention in the selling details

In my first house the previous occupant left a double bed, personally I couldn't touch it but most of my poor unsuspecting friends slept on it (I was a student).

Love the welding mask and machete, I'd have been terrified though!

They went to Spain. I have kept it in the attic in case they want it back.

I wonder if they put the light bulbs in their suitcases. Some people do weird things.