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Original poster

What "surprises" did you find after moving in?

357 replies

thekaratekid · 16/08/2021 15:27

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! Hmm

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. Confused

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?

OP posts:
MrsBede · 17/08/2021 11:30

In my first house - bags of rubbish in each room, hair blocking the kitchen sink, dust, grime and dead insects everywhere, no skirting board in the main bedroom (had been covered by furniture) and the boiler was dead, which she must have known. Also, loads of furniture, some of which she had tried to sell to us and got arsey when we refused/offered her less than she wanted. Actually, some of it was quite useful as we didn't need to buy everything at once but she was a cf to leave it all. She wasn't ready to move out on the day we completed and I turned up at the estate agent's after work very excited as it was our first home to be casually told we could have the keys in the morning. They knew we were in rented for another couple of weeks, but still. We finally got the key the next day after several phone calls and were told her 'team of cleaners' hadn't been able to finish sooner. As I said, the house was filthy.

Worst of all, the original floorboards from the sitting room were in the cellar where they were slowly rotting and adding to the damp problem. Also, the outhouse was filled with junk. We paid someone to clear out the cellar and outhouse and a few months later our new neighbour, who had seemed really friendly , had a massive go at us as some of the stuff in the outhouse had been hers but when she came to use an item she discovered we'd got rid. Why she didn't mention she had stuff stored on our property in one of the many conversations we had with her from day one I have no idea. How were we to know it hadn't all belonged to the previous owner when she had left crap everywhere else, which we'd discussed with neighbour?! Would have been happy to continue storing it for her if we'd known...

mklanch · 17/08/2021 11:52

@Seeleyboo

When we moved into our house we found a rather old looking, as in design, Mickey Mouse toy. We threw him out as we were renovating the whole house. When we physically moved into the house 8 weeks later Mickey was on the side in all his glory. No one knows how he got there. I rang the old owners, they only moved a couple streets away and we got to know them. They said they had found Mickey on the side when they moved in, 1st occupiers as new build. They threw him out and he reappeared. They rang the developers who said that Mickey was part of the house. That each time they threw him out he reappeared. So i now have him proudly displayed on a shelf and we call him Mickey House now. He's clearly here to stay.
omg!! that would freak me out big time!
PickAChew · 17/08/2021 13:11

We had to fend off bailiffs, as well. Turned out previous owners hadn't been paying their electric bill, after they separated. Also had to write to the dvla about the various parking and Lane violation tickets we received. We've been here almost 4 years and still get statements for her car finance. We're also getting his invitations for a covid jab.

Annalisehm · 17/08/2021 16:57

Erm a secret stash of dvds. You can all guess which variety they where. All well hidden in the eaves of the wardrobes

Amaksy · 17/08/2021 17:25

Mouse/ rat traps under the kitchen cabinet. Still hear them in the walls but at least they’re not inside the house anymore.

Also found roof leaks that were nicely covered by paint jobs - be suspicious of houses painted all white!!

like7 · 17/08/2021 17:28

The cellar, which were going to use for storage, as terraced victorian house with no garage, had not been cleared. There was coal ovef half the floor from when it had been a coal cellar and old kitchen cupboards full of everything imaginable. Looking back I wonder why we didn't complain- it took ages to clear it out!

TMC7 · 17/08/2021 17:29

Bought our house 2 years ago from a lovely 80 yr old widow… found a box of viagra in the garage.

pollymere · 17/08/2021 17:29

We went to update the shower and the wall came with it. They'd used regular plasterboard rather than aquaboard. Totally missed by the survey. Also plug socket on the lighting ring.

ToomuchHeat · 17/08/2021 17:32

A gas leak! We arrived and as the house had been locked up obviously at viewing it hadn't we could smell gas, we immediately called the plumber who condemned the gas cooker the previous owner had connected it up himself. Also the boiler needed changing immediately.

About 6 months later had real issues with the electrics and found similar issues - the electrics hadn't been changed in over 60 years the previous owner had just put new switches on and behind the walls was disintegrating rubber - god it was horrible and bloody expensive.

Saxineno · 17/08/2021 17:33

My sister moved into a council house that had been used as a cannabis factory. The council has cleared the house, but not the loft. Full of dead plants, heat lamps, insulation etc.
Her stoner boyfriend was over joyed Daffodil

Whenigrowupiwanttobea · 17/08/2021 17:38

First night in our new house other half had a bath before work and gave baby bath at same time. He gets out and says he'll dress baby while I round up the laundry. Go downstairs to find an interesting water feature in my kitchen... the contents of the bath cascading through the kitchen ceiling. Took the side off the bath to investigate to discover that it wasn't a leaky pipe that was the problem. Nope just that the newly fitted bath was not plumbed in. No connection between the plug hole and outside waste pipe just thin air!!! Took 6 days for the ceiling and electrics to dry out before we could have a new ceiling put in! Previous owners had decided that as long as it looked neat and tidy and they never used a bath why bother plumbing it in but forgot to tell us!!!

poppy990 · 17/08/2021 17:39

Absolutely disgustingly dirty oven snd top of cupboards. Took hours of scrubbing to get to a reasonable state.
Can't understand how people can live like that.
They also let the front garden grow so much we could barely get in the door

poppy990 · 17/08/2021 17:42

Also due to unfixed bathroom leak we had to pay £5k to replace the whole floor which was about to collapse

Livingonthedarkside · 17/08/2021 17:43

Oh my god this thread was invented for me 😂

My old house the day I moved in I cried… we know it needed work but it was also liveable. We found out the week before completing that the house was a forced sale by order of divorce court proceedings and that the husband was the only one living there.

We moved in and found just before he left…
He opened the built in freezer door and put his foot through all the draws.
Broke and bent all the external doors so not one was lockable.
The boiler was now broke
Mouldy food in the fridge
His plate and cup in the sink
His children’s cloths in the cupboard, pictures on the wall
Cat poo under the bath behind the non removable bath panel.
Oven that was growing
The gas hob was plumbed in with flexi water pipes
Wired the upstairs plugs into the downstairs lights
Been turning the gas meter to run it backwards and left us with a gas leak and 2 machetes to dispose of.

Everyone that has lived in that house separated and it put my husband and I to the test, but the couple we sold too have even separated. I think I can say we moved out and into a house which seeems to have better luck 😂

MidsummerMimi · 17/08/2021 17:45

We discovered that we had what is known as “ an alien field”.
The house been empty for a long time, before we moved in.
Local sheepdog breeder and trainer used the field and we were happy for this to continue.
To prepare the dogs for sheep dog trials, it is very important to get them used to working away from the familiarity of their own fields.

DungballInADress · 17/08/2021 17:46

Not me, but DM bought a house with outbuildings, all of which were required to be cleared. In the stables was a 1930s wooden wardrobe, several damaged items of furniture and a broken fridge, on top of 2ft of impacted straw, horse pee and manure that needed to be chipped off the flooring with shovels. It took 4 of us 2 days to get it out. Also left DM a huge planning issue due to work they'd carried out on a listed building without proper permissions.

In a rental property, we were told it was part-furnished. When we moved in, we found EVERYTHING from the landlady's previous marriage. Pots, pans, cutlery, bedding, curtains, a handmade patchwork quilt. I couldn't put anything in the airing cupboard because there was so much already in it. Someone came round to look at the boiler and commented the attic was quite full, I'd never been up there and was 8 months pregnant, so he took a photo on a digital camera and showed me - it was like 1990s Mothercare; toys, cot, prams, car seat and what looked every item of baby clothing her child (then 11) had ever worn.

Alleycat1 · 17/08/2021 17:47

Moved into a 1930s house that we knew would need a lot of work. Fine - reflected in the price. However, what we did not bargain for was that the grey carpet in the bathroom, which we were keen to rip out immediately, was not, in fact, carpet. It was a matted mess of human and dog hairs! Beyond revolting!

Peanutsandchilli · 17/08/2021 17:47

A washing machine full of wet washing and drawers full of clothes, including underwear.

A crap load of paperwork including a log book of how shit the woman deemed her ex-partner to be with their child, and a document confirming her £60k salary after they'd been so petty by refusing to pay £200 for an indemnity policy for the knackered conservatory, which we were forced to buy.

Original poster
thekaratekid · 17/08/2021 17:50

Ok, the all too common stories about the bath water cascading through the ceiling has made me make a mental note to double check ours before having a bath! Shock. So far we have just been using the shower room, so bath has only had the smallest swish of water around it at most!

In our old house the previous owners kept getting parcels and all sorts delivered (expensive tickets, parcels of important looking documents) They left no forwarding address and suspiciously wouldn't provide it when asked (he turned up asking for the post). When we received the next round we returned immediately to sender...that soon stopped it! Bizarre.

OP posts:
Soontobe60 · 17/08/2021 17:51

Ha!
We found a shotgun in the landing cupboard in the first house we bought! This was in the days before mobile phones and we didn’t have our land line connected at the time, and we only found it in the evening. The owner came round 3 days later to ask for it back!

ROSCO80 · 17/08/2021 17:59

The house had been burgled the night before with all out stuff in store in the attached garage.

AnnieSnap · 17/08/2021 18:00

A large bottle of Holy Water in a kitchen cupboard (all were empty apart from that, do it felt deliberate)! The garage flooded badly whenever it rained more than a shower and all the door handles came off in our hands (I got trapped in the bedroom for a while due to that one). My hubby and the previously owner passed briefly on the drive on moving day and previous owner called out “there are more handles in the (flood prone) garage.

possumgoddess · 17/08/2021 18:01

House before this one... A huge floater in the downstairs loo. Filthy greasy cupboards and floor, where they had removed the cooker there were several old onion rings stuck to the floor. The house had been empty for about a month before we moved in. In our current house, dirt everywhere. Dust inches thick on all the skirtings, stained carpets, mouldy bathrooms. It looked as if it had been completely unloved and cared for.

Sitchervice · 17/08/2021 18:03

Not me but a family friend found a bloody mattress in their basement 😫

Sitchervice · 17/08/2021 18:05

@Alleycat1

Moved into a 1930s house that we knew would need a lot of work. Fine - reflected in the price. However, what we did not bargain for was that the grey carpet in the bathroom, which we were keen to rip out immediately, was not, in fact, carpet. It was a matted mess of human and dog hairs! Beyond revolting!
🤢