Cleaning before you move (on a sale)

[AnonymousBird]

What's the correct etiquette on this? It's such a long time (15+ years) since I did a "proper" move as it were, and then it was from a tiny flat so not much furniture to move, and I genuinely can't remember what cleaning we did as we left. Tiny place though, would have taken ten minutes.

Now selling a large family house, which obviously we are vacating on the day of completion. Some packing up/furniture moving will be done the day before, I believe, but clearly the house will still have a lot of things in it until the morning of the move.

How far is one expected to go with cleaning up as furniture is removed? I'd like to leave the place presentable, but there will be lots of places where heavy furniture has been so never normally moved (eg. very large chests of drawers, bunk beds and so on), so am expecting real dust piles and so on under/behind! Is a quick once over with the vacuum enough, or should I/do I need to hire in a band of cleaners who can do the whole place in an hour once it's empty? I am very happy doing my own cleaning, before anyone says, but suspect with lots going on on the day, I simply won't have time to do my own thorough clean as timescales tend to be very tight.

Also, will be lots of hanging hooks in the walls. Do I leave the hooks, or remove and leave a hole? Some of these we can fill and touch in, but again, time frames will be short (though I suppose we can take pictures down and stack them a week beforehand, and fill and redecorate).

TIA for tips.

One question for you - how would you like to receive your new home from the sellers? Would you be happy with a quick once-over or are you expecting a decent clean?

It is very likely the new buyers may want to do their own redecorating, but from my perspective I think a good professional clean and removal of all junk and hooks in walls etc before moving is good manners.

I remember moving into my flat 9 years ago, the seller did a very poor job on cleaning up after herself (dirty pig!) and that left a very unpleasant feeling as we were moving into our new home. Really spoilt what was meant to be a happy occasion.

We were moving from a small flat so we were able to clean it to a pretty high standard.

We realised that a single mum moving out a three-bed-semi would probably not be able to do as good a job of it it was gross and it would have been nice if the bathroom bin had been emptied

We paid for packing as well. So I cleaned the kitchen and cupboards and wardrobes after the movers packed everything into boxes. This is the day before completion.

Then on the moving day, I vacuum and wipe after the movers remove the furniture.

I do the best I could given the circumstances.

I left all the hooks. I think at least don't leave a dirty place so the new owners feel disgusted when they arrive.

leave the picture hooks - this allows the new owners to put up something which makes the place look homey and also gets the pictures out of the way! They will redecorate at some point so can arrange to their plan then.

as for cleaning; in the week before the move I gradually vacated rooms (it was a big property which was why we were moving) and so each empty one got cleaned and then left. Big one is the kitchen; gradually empty each cupboard, clean it then don't use it again.

bathroom clean the night before (and leave toilet roll!) and if possible follow removers round with a vacuum IF situation permits. Oh, and takeaway the night before so no need to use kitchen!

basically it is good to be able to move in and not have to start cleaning immediately.

We moved back in June and I hoovered all the rooms and cleaned out the cupboards in the kitchen. To be honest everyone has different standards but
I think it is fair to expect that the house should be hoovered, bathrooms, kitchen and toilet cleaned and grass and so on attended to.

It is difficult to do this however if you move from one house to another on the same days as we did. From what I have noted from our buyer she has OCD and has stripped the house back to new. It was only ten years old so each to their own!

hooks - either leave hooks, or if you remove them, fill and paint and make good.

cleaning - properly clean the kitchen and bathroom a few days before. Then on the day give a quick whiz round and bleach in loo.
Run a hoover round whole house room by room as they are emptied.

I paid a couple of cleaners to follow the removal men round. Doing kitchen cupboards etc. we did know the people buying but I would have sent that 200 quid anyway. In the scheme of things it isn't much. And there is usually time between the house being emptied no the bank doing its stuff for cleaners to get round. You are right tho I was a mess, exhausted, emotional over whelmed and so might have struggled myself to do it. I suppose it depends on the size of house etc.
I didn't fill in picture hook holes as they are tiny.
Please don't do what our sellers did. Remove all their many (awful) wall ornaments, curtain rails, mirrors, shelves etc, fill in the holes badly and then paint over them in a paint slightly the wrong colour and sheen designed to drive me mad until I can get round to painting every single room. Sigh.

The vendors here had millions of photos all over the walls. It took us months to find and get rid of all the hooks!!

If you can't find the time to do it yourselves (and I really don't blame you, moving day is always an incredibly busy day - as are the few weeks running up to it) then I really think it is a good idea to hire in some cleaners who can work round you as you move out.

There is nothing worse than moving into a dirty house!

Thanks everyone, this is very helpful, and confirmed where I figured we would end up - a decent clean right through will be required over the course of the last week, as and when we pack up and can do certain areas and a final go with a couple of cleaners following the removal men as the house is finally emptied of the large furniture.

It's a big house, with not a small purchase price, so I believe the purchasers are entitled not to start cleaning when they move in!