How much cleaning do you need to do when selling?

[Ladybird909]

Quick question! How much cleaning are you supposed to do when you sell a property?! It's generally fairly clean and obviously I will clean the kitchen and bathroom thoroughly the day before we complete but do I need to book a window cleaner, clean the carpets etc? Does it have to be spotless??

Is this for viewings or when you actually move out?

I would say it needs to be spotless, regardless of whether its a viewing or the actual sale.

OK read it properly. No specific standard, you could leave it dirty if you wanted but courtesy to run vacuum round and kitchen /bathrooms presentable. More than that is up to you but not a legal responsibility like end of tenancy cleaning.

Do you mean for viewings or after it's been sold? For viewings it's in your own interests to keep it very clean, particularly bathrooms and kitchen, but on moving out there is no actual requirement to leave a house clean ... fortunately most people do though.

Sorry, I mean for when you actually complete and move out x

So, am thinking spotless kitchen and bathroom, hoover and dust but no need to do things like wipe down the walls (unless there are obvious dirty marks) clean windows outside, clean all the wood work etc?

When we sold my dad’s flat we asked his cleaner to do some extra hours the day before completion so it was spotless for the new owner. It was important to us that his flat looked its best.

However when we moved into our current house it was filthy ... flea-ridden carpets, unspeakable grime all over the kitchen, plus they’d taken light fittings including all the bulbs, left massive holes in the plasterwork and even took the cooker knobs . What made it even more galling, we’d paid the full asking price (thanks dh ... ) so for a short time we were the proud (?) owners of the street’s most expensive house ...

There is no actual required amount of cleaning. I had planned to scrub ours, but our buyer was a bloody nightmare (think, going AWOL and not paying the deposit so everyone was had to delay exchanging until the following week - no reason or apology!) so we just had a cursory hoover of the dust-bunnies but no special cleaning.

Our new house was a bit grubby, although apparently they'd been cleaning all day (which delayed us getting in), so it must have been pretty filthy to start with.

Personally I think everyone has their own standards of clean, and I'd save my energy for cleaning the new place to my standard, rather than arriving knackered to a possibly filthy house...

I scrubbed the kitchen and bathroom and did a normal clean everywhere else. It wasn't spotless but it was respectably clean

My worst moving experience was the seller standing in the kitchen with a j cloth in her hand two hours after completion while I had a furniture lorry outside. I had to ask her to go.

I normally clean the inside of the cupboards as I empty them, scrub the kitchen and bathroom, hoover each room as it's emptied. I don't think anything more is reasonable.

And as for people who take light bulbs and toilet rolls - there's a special corner of hell reserved for them.

Nobody wants to be delayed in getting the keys because the vendor is running about cleaning, that's one thing to bear in mind. Completion days are very rushed and people appreciate the house will not be spotless having had all the furniture only just moved and people tramping through all day. It will be their house to clean as they want.

And as for people who take light bulbs and toilet rolls

I'd never use (or leave) the previous owners old bog roll! May be irrational, but that would be the first thing to go.

We hovered, washed down cupboards etc, but moved into a dump. We may be moving again soon and it'll just be a basic clean of any obvious dirt/dust, I'll be saving my energy for the new house.

Our vendors very kindly filled the wheelie bins - with random rubbish, with no regard as to whether it was recycling or landfill. When he was sorting it out, DH found a briefcase full of bank statements.

The glass bin was very full and most of the bottles in it were still either full or half full.

We've been here 2 months and I still keep finding random tampon wrappers stashed in various places (we're not living in the whole house, yet)

So, yeah, do better than that on moving day,but it's rare for it to be possible to get it perfect at that point.

Opened up packing cartons make great temporary doormats when people are trailing in and out and it's filthy out.

That really is irrational! Don't you use the paper in public loos?

The last two houses I have sold, the vendors have had a clause in the contract that they would be handed over in a state commensurate with professional cleaning. Similarly it has been in our purchase contracts.

Yes but that's different

It just feels wrong, like wearing someone else's clean knickers!

But it's been noted and I will leave loo roll when we move.

Most of the houses I have bought have been relatively clean - clean enough for me anyway, apart from one which was unspeakably filthy. I would just clean up as you empty it, dust and hoover, clean kitchen and bathroom, but no need to go mad. I certainly wouldn't be washing down walls or woodwork or even cleaning windows.

Fantastic, thanks everyone, our buyers have been so great and so patient with all the delays from above us in the chain that I didn't want to stitch them up but wasn't sure what the norm was. And I have limited time available and young children so don't really want to spend lots of extra time cleaning if it isn't necessary x

We left ours spotless but had plenty of time to clean it once it was empty as we had both houses for a few weeks. The one we moved into was fairly clean but the kitchen was very grimy, greasy and sticky. They had also left a shed full of old windows, doors and other random bits of wood

There's no way I'd sign or expect a contract stipulating professional cleaning standard. Moving day is stressful enough without that kind of pressure. Ordinary standard cleanliness will do me.

Isn't that what you would expect to move into though BlueLady. As you say moving is stressful enough without arriving to find lower standards than yours.

Our last move took three days. Day 1, packers packed and filled lorry with all but our beds and essentials - and somewhere to sit. Day two last things moved, cleaners in. Money exchanged very late! Removals unpacked into new house. (Which had been professionally cleaned). Hotel that night. Next day we unpacked and removals returned to help reposition and remove boxes and cartons.

Previous owners literally drove up the track as we drove down on moving in day. They left so much stuff behind including one of those Victorian dolls with a china head which was propped up in the back of a cupboard and scared the absolute shit out of me when I opened it.

And an expensive gas barbecue.

Oh, and some whips. 😉

No, I wouldn't expect to move into a house cleaned to a professional standard. That's an incredibly high bar. I expect it to be clean enough, not that I've ever got that! Every move but one has seen me cleaning inside the old kitchen cupboards and then repeating the exercise at the other end.

Our vendors left this place amazingly clean, they had a cast of thousands on moving day (4 adult married sons, so lots of help.)

The house we left wasn't nearly as clean, but I knew they weren't moving straight in, and had immediate work scheduled, so I didn't stress. Left them some fizz, though.