Thoughts on a previous cat home..

[ZombiePara]

Evening!

Not the most experienced in house buying, or cats.. other than being allergic to cats!

I've got my eye on a house, and visited it today - there was a fair amount of clutter (not hoarding level, but definitely had been piled into cupboards/rooms to keep the kitchen/diner/lounge/conservatory clear.

I only saw one cat, one set of food/water bowls, and a huge cat climbing-scratch-tower thing. There were 3 or 4 of the cat containment boxes used to take them to the vets in various rooms/cupboards.

On first entering the house, there was a smell and it was that musty sort of smell - I initially put it down to an older person not cleaning/having slight damp (ex MIL had this with an old property with damp)

As we went through the house it became clear it was definitely cat smell not damp.

My question - if I were to purchase this house, is it a smell that goes away with no cats in it? Would all the carpets need replacing/wallpaper stripping? There was no obvious staining to carpets or furnishing that I could see.

Any advice is greatly received, thank you!

I’d offer assuming I’d need to replace all non-porous flooring. If the cat has been spraying / marking or peeing in the house / missing its litter trays when it pees then carpets and underlay will need lifting (and surface underneath airing and sealing) and replacing to get rid of the smell. And if there’s a distinctive smell of cat in the house, pee is the most likely cause. The underlay is usually the issue because people clean stains from carpets but can’t do anything about saturated underlay and floorboards.

It was probably the litter tray

I would also assume that every wall and ceiling would need a scrub with sugar soap.

Years ago, we purchased a house that had dogs.

When they left, the house still smelt dreadful.

Cleaning the carpets didn't work, we had to rip every one out.

The walls will also have to be scrubbed, as animals rub against them.

If you clean and get the carpets changed or cleaned it will go.

No advice on the cat smell but having recently moved into a house that had a dog living there I would be wary of fleas from that many cats.

An exterminator was not something I had budgeted for but I don’t trust anybody to treat their pets for fleas now as twice this has happened to me in houses with pets 🤮😷

The previous owners of my house had a cat (or two?, but there was no litter tray when we viewed so I assume they toileted outside). They didn’t leave any curtains, and we borrowed my mums pet-suitable hoover the weekend we moved in to give all the carpets a thorough clean, and my MIL lent me her carpet washer to do the bedroom carpet. Then once we were in I booked a local cleaning company to come do a steam clean of the hall stairs and landing.
We’ve never had a problem with a cat smell since, and my cat allergic dad hasn’t had any symptoms after visiting since that first weekend.

Not necessarily OP, but I would get the carpets professionally cleaned, steam clean all hard floors, and wipe down all paintwork, giving special attention to corners and edges of cupboards, which cats rub on and scent. Soft furnishings can hold smells and if cats have urinated on carpets then getting the smells and stains out can be impossible, but if they look in good condition you may be okay.

Apologies for the delayed reply - shift work can be a right nightmare!

Thank you for all the replies - I have had an offer under asking price accepted, so hopefully that will allow some extra budget for cleaning!

I think once all of the vendor's belongings are out and it has sat for a few days empty (I'm bottom of the chain so have the ability to delay my move in, I'll pop back in and reassess..

After your advice I'm resigned to new carpets and underlay ( not that the carpets there were something to write home about, but they weren't threadbare so had hoped to go room by room over time)

Definitely not a letterbox smell-there wasnt one in the house and there was cat poop in the garden..

I wouldn't have thought about washing the walls, but will add that onto my list for post completion!