What "surprises" did you find after moving in?

[thekaratekid]

I seem to find that most people upon moving into their new home discover something bizarre or something completely bodged (usually hidden) by the previous owner.

In our first house we found that the garage access door had obviously been broken during move day and as we opened it...it completely fell apart and was covered in still wet glue!

In the same house we also found the previous owners had lazily carpeted around large pieces of furniture...so two tone carpet in the bedrooms. Cue scrambling around trying to get new carpet fitted asap.

Current house, I assume that the vendors only ever cleaned what could be seen immediately at eye level or used useless cleaning products. The kitchen cupboards were a sticky, dusty mess of 15 years worth of grease and oil. The venetian kitchen blind was also sticky with grease. The sink drain brown with tea stains etc. I had to invest in heavy duty chemical degreaser and a drill brush and spent approx 10 hours scrubbing and breathing chemical fumes the day after moving in. Bizarrely the dirt was not particularly obvious when we viewed, I guess we didn't actually touch anything too much due to covid etc.

I appreciate the above is probably not as horrific as what some people find, but it always surprises me what people see as "normal" or feel they can get away with.

Anyone else find any horrors worth sharing?

We went to turn on the bedroom light and discovered there wasn’t a light, just a massive fan so changed it for a light but had to get an electrician to do it as it was clearly a bizarre diy job. We’ve been here 4 years and the bedroom is north facing and has never been a hot room even on a hot day.

Neighbours a few doors down had a leak from the bathroom after 6 months living there. They lifted the flooring to find a perfect square cut but sealed with silicone stuff. Upon lifting it they found the offending leaking pipe (with an ice cream tub under it that had been collecting water for the last 6 months!).

the loft had been "floored" using old doors and bits of dismantled flat pack furniture. when we removed it there was beer cans and soiled underwear instead of insulation.
the shed had been extended and locked with 3 padlocks , nothing exciting , just hiding a tree trunk!!!
holes in plasterboard walls had been sellotaped over then wallpapered.
random bits of plumbing cobbled together under the bath including a kitchen trap .
years of visits and letters from debt collectors and bailiffs

Rocked up on completion and they had barely stated moving. They had one small van to a 3 bed house with garage full of stuff so they had to drive to their new house unload and come back for more. Eventually finished in the dark. The water was turned off and drained which was odd. Turned out they'd hit the water tank and made a crack. Filled it with fibreglass filler and let it dry. Water pump also leaked. Woodworm in the airing cupboard. Fridge freezer didn't work. Deceitful fuckers.

A whip. It wasn’t even hidden, it was hanging up on the coat hooks in the hallway. There was also one photo of the previous owner (an elderly gentleman who was a preacher and apparently an exorcist - which could explain the chain in the old coal store) with a child pretending to hoover his beard.

Oh and I almost forgot. They'd taken the bathroom cabinet and left bare wires hanging out the wall.

The row of shelves I had liked so much had been ripped out of the walls leaving so many drill holes it looked as though someone had machine gunned the wall, plus they took all the light bulbs - but left me unasked for leaflets about Islam

A porn mag behind the bath panel. Prev owner very godly elderly lady but she did bring up two boys

@Thelnebriati

A live rabbit that the previous tenants had decided they didn't want any more, a shotgun cartridge, and in one move we found the garden was covered in tiny bones. You couldn't walk around without crunching.

I feel sorry for the rabbit. What happened to the poor little thing?

Nice ones. The owners left us their huge built-in TV, fancy fridge and washing machine for a few dollars. Threw in bags of chicken feed, garden fertiliser, and top-of-the-range garden tools, including TWO chainsaws, a karcher exterior washer, rakes, hoes and ladders. for almost nothing. Also 6 chickens and 2 quail in the de luxe run built by the owner himself. Place was immaculate. A joy to move in.

I moved in and there was a weird cabinet/safe thing in the lobby, it took me a few weeks and I eventually just broke into it with various power tools as I wanted to move it. Previous owners had left their gun cabinet and 5 guns, plus lots of bullets behind. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry, how do you not realise you've forgotten your 5 guns?!

I bought a house years ago, after my divorce, the sellers were lovely,the house immaculate, and the gardens too. On moving in day, I was just looking in one of the kitchen cupboards. and there was a row of things in the cupboard, as in a packet of sugar, a box of tea bags, salt and pepper and some tins of soup and a loaf of bread, and some crackers, all new stuff up to date, And a note that said, welcome to your house, just a few things for you, in case you wan't a quick snack before unpacking.., so lovely !!

Left an old wardrobe but the back strangely also had a door, to another world!

About 10 years worth of toenail clippings under the bath 🤢

We bought ours from an elderly couple who had paid for packers and cleaners to sort the place out.
The house was filthy, the bins were left overflowing and there was loads of stuff left behind! We found trinkets (mostly teapots) along the tops of one of the windows and alsorts of stuff in the loft including a large model boat, a box of old 70s kodak cartridges, a couple of what looked like bridesmaid dresses.
But I think more annoying was we paid £500 for a survey and all they picked up was the boiler and fuse box were outda
We had to get an electrician in to sort some garden lights out and he told us the electrics in the garage were a major bodge job.
And we had to replace the front door and 3 windows shortly after moving in!

@1forAll74

I bought a house years ago, after my divorce, the sellers were lovely,the house immaculate, and the gardens too. On moving in day, I was just looking in one of the kitchen cupboards. and there was a row of things in the cupboard, as in a packet of sugar, a box of tea bags, salt and pepper and some tins of soup and a loaf of bread, and some crackers, all new stuff up to date, And a note that said, welcome to your house, just a few things for you, in case you wan't a quick snack before unpacking.., so lovely !!

So thoughtful!

Oh I could go on for days. When we arrived there was a pile of rubbish on the drive and every room had rubbish left behind. Old swing and slide in the garden, table top dishwasher in the kitchen. The wall was full of mold. Old bits of lino practically had an entire dog of fur attached. Kitchen was revolting.
All of downstairs had to be rewired as switches randomly turned on lights in different rooms. All of the downstairs floor had to be replaced as it was held up with bits of metal. Two rooms had to be plastered as it fell off when we touched it 😂
I'm still finding random things and we still get their post 6 years later!

My sister found the shed skin of a snake in the loft!
We are moving tomorrow, hoping for no nasty surprises 🤞

The built in wardrobes stank of foot cheese and the seams inside were full of crude. Between the tiling on the kitchen worktop was just pure crude and the toilet had a loaf in there as in build up from hardwater?? Anyway had to get an industrial chemical to clear it where there was actual smoke in the room and then it had to be lifted out with a wire coat hanger that literally was the grimmest thing and it felt like the room had been exorcised ! Still makes me gag now . They were teachers with children but who has feet that bad that the wardrobe still stank to that level of parmesan . My parents moved into a huge house that had a mummified cat in a built in cupboard which was returned to them. The laundry room stank of cat piss and the room I was to have had chewing gum stuck all over the walls . They were part of a cat club where they had turns with the mummified cat each year which is bizarre but my mother turned it into the most beautiful home. We had no heating for the first year or two . There was no central heating only fireplaces downstairs.

I think that beats the foot cheese stenched cupboard . You win

Crude oil?

RedStef1983
This beats my parmesan foot cheese cupboard by miles ! In the grim stakes

Good luck @Flamingobaby37! You'll have to let us know if you find anything

Our finds were: a very rotted back door frame with a door that didn't fit properly; tons of dog hair in every radiator that made the place stink whenever the heating was on (we moved in in the winter); a bath that didn't drain properly because that too was clogged with said dog hair; kitchen doors that don't match the actual cupboards they're attached to; 'artistic' border of glass pebbles and tiles around the edge of the landing, glued with superglue or no more nails type glue, which was really just maskung the poorly fitted laminate; same as pp where loft is 'boarded' with old doors and the like; hot water tank that was sat on MDF in the airing cupboard... condensation/leak had rotted it and the plumber said he had literally no idea how it hadn't already through the ceiling! There was more, but I think I've blocked it out

Hopeisallineed

No what I ment was crud meaning
deposit or incrustation of filth, grease, or refuse. b : something disgusting : rubbish. c slang : a contemptible person.

Hopeisallineed
I have become spell check bound but here no option no edit

We found shoved at the back of a dressing table / drawers was the teenagers diary from the 90's. It was hilarious, talking about sneaking out, falling out with friends but most importantly 'making love with the power of love playing in the background, which was soo romantic'. It was so funny but I felt bad reading it so threw it away in the end!