Buying a shit filled shit hole!

[GrumpyBagFace]

We've just had an offer accepted on a house that's currently occupied by hoarders, dirty hoarders, with animals that have shit all over the house.

--We got a good price!

Anyway, what happens if they don't removed all of their faeces and tat when they leave? A man in a pub or a woman at work said they legally have to remove all of their belongings from the property. Is this true?

We moved into one like this. We got a house clearance company to empty it, it was two big truck loads, and charged back via solicitors. Take photos and have a clearance company quote just in case.

Just saw the pictures. Nowhere near as bad as I imagined.

And if they did leave the stuff, a lot of that looks reasonable enough so you could sell on Gumtree or ring a charity place with a big van to come clear it.

And the Aga! Oh, our shit hole came with a similar looking Aga - 60 years old. Still works but a bit tatty. I LOVE it. Total convert and Aga bore.

If still in working condition consider keeping it - it'll clean up and you can replace parts with reconditioned ones.

I haven't got around to replacing our various tatty parts yet - haemorrhaging money atm - but it cleaned up ok and it works so it'll do as it is for now.

Did they say if it worked? We weren't sure but got it serviced and guy got it up and running. Think that cost £100-200 (sorry can't remember exactly. Just know it was one of the more pleasant bills).

(I would buy for Aga alone! )

I think you want the contract such that it's clearly stated all possessions apart from fixtures to be removed, they almost certainly won't but then you can bill them.

The good thing about a rubbish clearance company rather than your own skip is that it's all done in a day and they drive away.

Also do look out for useful stuff, we acquired quite a few tools!

Good luck!

Another vote for just paying for it to be professionally gutted.

Thank you for these posts.

We've asked the solicitor to write a retention clause but we're not overly arsed if they leave all their shit behind. DH has found a couple of cleaning companies that will quote once we've exchanged.

nursy1, that's quite a sad story.

Pradaqueen, you're job sounds grim but satisfying. Great advice, thanks.

We're hoping to keep the Rayburn. It's in disgusting but working condition. It currently heats the hot water so we're going to get a combiboiler and use the Rayburn for cooking only.

This property probably isn't the worst but the pictures just don't show up the filth in all its glory. It's filthy. And as a wonderful touch, when we went for a second viewing, there was a used cotton bud balanced on the sink with an enormous amount of earwax! For some reason, DH & I almost fell over laughing at the grimness... we didn't fall due to the cat shit and piss on the bathroom floor.

I feel sorry for the cats

I have seen two cats. They look fairly healthy. They have a cat flap and food down.

I have cats and I love cats so I'm not being uncaring.

Grumpy
It was quite sad. Poor bloke didn’t last long after he moved. I think he knew he wouldn’t hence his stubbornness. However, the house and he himself were just deteriorating week by week.

Good luck OP, think of the transformation of turning it into a home.

We bought a shit hole & still aren't quite finished a year later but love seeing how it's changed.
Same as you with cat wee everywhere. Word of warning, don't do what I did & pour bleach onto it. It mixes with the ammonia of the wee & smells worse.
You need to get rid of the ammonia of the wee first before bleaching, wish I knew that before hand!
And be prepared for everything being a bigger job than expected as there will always be hidden nastiness.
We also had flies hatch under the floorboards so got it fumigated which was reasonably cheap.
It took about 6 weeks for us to be able to get it to a standard where we were happy to move in.

But that all said, think of the potential & keep reminding yourself of that in the trying days of clearing & cleaning it.

If anyone is still around and interested...

After a few more negotiations and a lot of faff, we have started signing documents and the shit filled shithole will be ours in the next couple of weeks.

Rubber gloves on!!

Photos of before and after please

Fab, can't wait to see pictures 🙌🏼

If the price reflects the condition of the house then I think it is a bit d aft to be hining like this. Budget for removal and cleaning then there will be much less stress. Yes they should shift it but given that they couldn't do this for a viewing then it is very unlikely you will get it like this when they leave.

Sleeves rolled up and rubber gloves on OP. When do you complete?

We'll definitely take lots of photos. Last time DH went round he took some videos which seem to show the horror better.

Hopefully we'll complete in the next two weeks. We've got cleaners and builders provisionally booked. Carpets are picked out and the nursery furniture is on order.

We're keeping £2,000 of the deposit back.

I've been incredibly skeptical and fairly negative up until now but I'm suddenly feeling quite excited.

Love the Rayburn. It's not as bad as I expected from the pictures but as long as you're prepared for what may occur then you'll be fine it's a few weeks maybe of getting things clean and removed and then you can live in your dream home.

Sounds like a plan OP. I would also recommend changing the locks as soon as you have vacant possession.

To cheer you up OP these are photos of houses we recently viewed....how they occupants of the first one are still alive with electrics and mould like this I don't know let alone the rampant woodworm everywhere that had just been painted and varnishes over.
The 2nd one? How heavy a smoker do you need to turn the blue bedroom wallpaper that stained? The floorboards under the remains of the laminate round the loo were so rotten the EA suggested we didn't walk in the bathroom. It was rank
And no we didn't offer on either lol

We looked around a house where an old man had died. He'd also had several bowel evacuations all over hardboard flooring. The stain was over 6ft long. We did not buy that house, but someone got a bargain (and a bad clearing-up job).

People who are as filthy as you describe have issues. They are unlikely to even feel the need to tidy anything on leaving a house; and their version of tidy wont' be yours or mine. In the end, you'll have a mess to clean up - to a greater or lesser extent, unless you can get a professional clean 'built in' to any contract? Fingers crossed you can, and best of luck.
.

Not a hoarder story OP but my parents bought a shell before I was born. It had no water or electric, holes in the roof, missing floors, rats, pigeons, all sorts of literal shit and junk dumped everywhere. They lived in it while they were sorting it. they cooked on a camping stove and slept in a tent in the kitchen. By the time I was born a few years later it was a beautiful home. No sign at all of the horror they had bought.

Why not withhold payment until the seller gives the place a thorough overhaul?