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.

also had a machete left behind, not that useful though

bottle of fizz was the most welcome item

Friends found a huge pile of newspapers for the fire in the wood pile when they moved - as they used them over the winter, they discovered it included a huge collection of 70's saucy mags !! Lol !!

forgot all the horrible gnomes and concrete animals that lined the garden.

Thankfully between getting the keys and moving in, they were nicked by a relative of the dead old owner so we did not have to skip them all

1 horrible dog remained as hidden by a bush and its some how survived two skips in the last 3 years and its staying there as we move out soon for the tenants to be freaked out by

A spare back door key which I found rusting away on the patio about 2 months after we moved in. The guy was a police man
About 6 months in we also discovered that pretty much any key worked in our front door, which is very handy if you ever lock yourself out! or want to get your house decluttered for free;)

2 small fridges. Now in the garage being used as beer fridges. Fantastic

A letter embosser with our address, not much use elsewhere!

Our seller was meant to totally empty the place. On the morning of the day we got the keys my solicitor called to say their solicitor was just off the phone and because they hadnt moved their old washing machine and cut the grass (it was like a jungle) they were giving us £500 back off the price of the house!!!

I might add that sometimes there is an expectation to leave things. My mother was down sizing and the buyers went through an inventory of things she would consider leaving including expensive rugs, chandeliers, bookcases. They signed a document saying they agreed to pay a certain amount for items they wanted and would pay on exchange. At exchange, no money. Mother ended up running round selling the stuff and getting three times what she'd have got from buyer. When they turned up on day of moving in the wife commented on absence of goods and we said they hadn't paid for so the agreement was null and void, and their small child piped up saying that mummy had no intention of paying and just expected the 'old bat' to leave the stuff there as it was too late to do anything about it. Out of the mouth of babes....

Our house was purchased fully furnished as the previous owner was moving in with his girlfriend, most of it we were very grateful for, apart from the collection of clowns in the kitchen. They were the first thing to go