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Original poster

What did your sellers take or leave you with that surprised you when you moved I

255 replies

kerrymucklowe2020 · 25/10/2020 16:02

When we moved in we found out that the Sellers pulled coat hooks off the walls, took the bathroom mirrors, every lampshade, the washing line and EVEN the washing line post and prop!!!

OP posts:
SuperFairy · 25/10/2020 23:54

When we moved into our last house it was entirely different, 2 skip loads of rubbish bags were left on the drive, a whole load of shite was in the loft and the kitchen took the 2 of us 2 days to clean, the oven was minging and had half a dozen burned sausages inside in a layer of god knows what that had obviously been there for months.

When we moved out we left it spotless and left champagne and a card and I also left a few bits that wouldn’t go in the new house e.g. vintage style towel racks and dressing gown rail in the bathroom.

When I bought my first house years and years ago I inherited a beautiful antique king size bed frame and solid oak bedroom furniture and a glorious marble topped antique oak wash stand, all of which we still have and use!

OhTheRoses · 25/10/2020 23:55

House 1, many years ago, a bunch of flowers and bottle of champagne and the biggest skid I've ever seen in the upstairs lavatory

This house - all appliance manuals and receipts, helpful list of plumber, gardener, electrician, tree surgeon, vet, etc., neatlylabelled spare tiles. And flowers.

bumpertobumper · 26/10/2020 00:01

Down at the end of the garden, behind some shrubs, were loads of supermarket bags full of dog poo bags - their dog obviously pooed in the garden, they picked it all up but never actually threw it away for god knows how long EnvyEnvyAngryAngryEnvyEnvy

SuperFairy · 26/10/2020 00:04

@OhTheRoses

House 1, many years ago, a bunch of flowers and bottle of champagne and the biggest skid I've ever seen in the upstairs lavatory

This house - all appliance manuals and receipts, helpful list of plumber, gardener, electrician, tree surgeon, vet, etc., neatlylabelled spare tiles. And flowers.

Ah yes the useful file. We have always left that and had the same left for us this time, including very friendly next door neighbours details and contact numbers and food delivery menus which are absolutely vital for the first evening in an area that you are not familiar with at all!
catnoir1 · 26/10/2020 00:29

Seller left wine, a note with what all the keys were for and the takeaway menus.

MiniMum97 · 26/10/2020 00:42

I don't think it's weird to take mirrors (unless screwed to the wall) lampshades and washing lines tbh

Our sellers also screwed the cost hooks off the wall and took all the radiator covers which was a tad annoying. The house was also filthy dirty. We had two weeks off and spent it all cleaning. Didn't get it all done in that time. It was really gross.

AlwaysLatte · 26/10/2020 01:17

On both occasions that I sold a house I left a bottle of champagne and a card but didn't get anything like that back. Last house I bought (rental) had a concrete table and chairs in the shape of a fish. So heavy you can't move them an inch so they're there forever...

TheFormerPorpentinaScamander · 26/10/2020 01:22

I've never bought a house, but it's it usual for the vendor to leave coat hooks/curtains etc?
I hope my landlord never sells while I'm living here if it is. The buyers would get a shock when they move in and they've all gone with me because they are mine not landlords!

FatimaMunchy · 26/10/2020 07:46

Leaving curtain rails etc is usually done by agreement.

FatimaMunchy · 26/10/2020 07:48

bumper to bumper you win! That is really disgusting.

PhonyPony · 26/10/2020 07:56

We were left with probably 20 years worth of filth and grime 🤢. It's a lovely house, but the previous owner had probably never cleaned the bathroom in her life - I had to resort to using boiling water to clean the shower before it could be used. They hadn't even run a vacuum round 😖. After finishing cleaning our old house for the new occupants, we then had to set to work on the new one 😖.

TheLetterZ · 26/10/2020 08:21

All those moving into filthy houses surely it must have been filthy when you viewed it so you knew what you were getting?

changed4good · 26/10/2020 08:33

Cleaning, must have blocked that out. From viewing a lovely, spotless house to getting the keys 3 months later, we thought it was a different house. I was convinced they had changed the carpets to ones from a skip/public toilet Probably how they normally lived so could only imagine the effort needed to make it viewable. Secret alcoholic as found vodka bottles and beer cans behind the kitchen plinths and the bath panel.

OhTheRoses · 26/10/2020 08:37

All those faced with filthy houses, door handles removed, etc, did the contra t not specify the cleanliness and what would be left? All our contracts for purchase and sale have specified that cleanliness will be to a professional cleaning standard and precisely what would be left behind. Perhaps your conveyancing solicitors aren't up to snuff.

SciFiScream · 26/10/2020 08:47

Left behind themselves and their sofa! We paid and picked up the keys at 12pm. House was ours. Legally, ethically, morally.

We didn't need to move in with our stuff for a week so were making certain changes before we moved in when it was easier to.

We arrived and they were still there. Packing. House was ours! So we went upstairs and started ripping up the laminate flooring while they were downstairs still packing.

They had to collect their sofa the next day. The gas oven was leaking and had to be condemned the day we got the keys. The gas engineer arrived to condemn it while they were still there! We tried to get some money back for that but their solicitor said "it was to be expected given the age of the oven" 😡

Couldn't use it for 9 months when we finally had the kitchen replaced. We used a slow cooker and microwave for 9 months!!!

FatimaMunchy · 26/10/2020 09:07

Similar happened to our son and his wife. They arrived and the previous owner was still packing. She kept running in.and out like a headless chicken telling any neighbour who would listen 'They're making me leave my house'. She had agreed the sale and was still there long after the deadline so I don't know what she was expecting.
She left a garage full of junk and a hot tub which she had agreed to remove.
Later the neighbours said she had always been a nightmare so they weren't upset to see her go.

Tangledtresses · 26/10/2020 09:11

Most houses I've moved to it was lovely note , wine etc
One house he left me all the history of the house as he was a historian which was nice

But a flat I moved to, she had left her child's death certificate on the side, so sad as when I viewed the flat he had just been born... I don't think he ever made it out of icu.... she named him the same name as my son. I didn't meet her on the viewing.

NewHouseNewMe · 26/10/2020 09:17

As someone who is moving soon (touch wood), this thread has cheered me up greatly though added another worry to my long listGrin
Love the star sign one. That's just brilliant

Tangledtresses · 26/10/2020 09:18

One house I moved out

The removal men didn't empty the shed

Camping equipment
Antique garden table and chairs
Tools
New farrow and ball paint for the new house
And boxes of expensive fittings towel rails etc

So much stuff I was gutted when I got to the new place

FuglyHouse · 26/10/2020 09:26

The vendors of our first house left all of the hideous curtains, even though we'd said we didn't want them. The curtains in the kitchen diner were so filthy with accumulated grease, they were sticky. They also left us a water leak as the tap for isolating the supply to the washing machine wouldn't fully shut off. They must have seen the problem, but they didn't bother telling us or shutting off the main supply so the first thing we found was water dripping through the floor to the garage below.

This house we had a huge bunch of window lock keys, some of which don't work on any of the windows, and we have two windows with no working keys. Very odd.

BigBadBox · 26/10/2020 09:57

A massive sofa that would not go through the living room door with no obvious means of disassembly. There was an old single glazed window, which it could possibly have entered through when it was put in 30ish years before, or maybe it grew there?
We ended up sawing it into pieces to get rid of.

user1471538283 · 26/10/2020 10:09

Our other house was spotless and we were left flowers and a card. This house we were left with 3 skips full of rubbish (which he denied), a leaking toilet and the gas and electricity didn't work. I always leave the houses very clean because it's about pride. My friend years ago was left nothing including no light bulbs when we moved her in during winter in the dark. Another friend found out that the previous owners had painting around things so when they left there were these huge gaps.

PlanBea · 26/10/2020 10:25

I wasn't the buyer, but my parents were and I was moving in as their tenant. The house had been empty for a year as the previous owner had died and his niece had inherited the house. It was supposed to have been emptied but they somehow only managed to empty out the fancy TV and a few other nice bits.

They left half a bottle of vodka, a broken large TV, a freezer full of food (but the freezer had been turned off around the time the owner had died Envy), and about 6 bottles of sugar solution cleaner. Lots of tins of food best before my date of birth! There was also lots of damaged/broken furniture and a recycling bin full of wet, stinky carpet that the bin men wouldn't take.

My own house was a new build so shouldn't have been any surprises but the builders did accidentally install the built in microwave they had wanted £400 for so that was a plus Grin

Smallgoon · 26/10/2020 11:21

@isseywith4vampirecats

back in the 90s house in blackpool they left us kitchen cupboards full of food and jars fitted wardrobes full of clothes, childrens games toys kitchen carpet full of puppy piss a back garden with a massive patio covered in rubbish and the piece de resistance the poor puppy they had got just before the sale went through he was about 4 months old, sat looking very forlorn in the middle of all the rubbish 9we are talking bin bags full of all sorts including dirty babys nappies rang them up and made them come back for the puppy as we had two dogs and a cat of our own

over the next two weeks all the carpets in the house had to be taken up they were that manky, bagged the wardrobe contents and made them come back for them

4 skips for the food and contents of the patio
found out afterwards if we hadnt bought it then they would have been chucked out and it woud have been a repo so they didnt care as they went into rented

How could you trust somebody to collect their puppy and take care of it, after they'd left it in the first place? You should have contacted the RSPCA
Noshowlomo · 26/10/2020 12:59

God... dreading moving next year now, wondering what we’ll be moving in to!
When we left our last home (moved out of rented and into bought) and I definitely left a wedding dress boxed (I hadn’t worn it), and loads of tapes of Allo Allo up the attic.