Did you leave a gift for the new owners of your house?

[Fourmoos]

We are moving soon and wondered what was the done thing re the new occupants of our home. Does everyone leave a gift and what would you suggest apart from champagne? Thanks.

The people I bought from left crumbs all over the kitchen side, soup splattered down the cupboard and skid marks in the toilet.

We left ours immaculately clean - got an end of tenancy cleaner in. Didn't leave anything though as we moved out two months earlier so couldn't really!

The vendor of the house we've just bought left us loads of ornaments and pictures, piles of bedding and clothes, a chain saw, motorcycle parts, large bag of family photos. Amongst other things. We had to get house clearance out to sort it. The one thing he didn't leave was any useful info about the house!

Left a log store full of wood, ( couldn’t be bothered to move it )

Just remembered also left hand soap in each bathroom, and a full roll of loo roll on each holder, as well as a folder with all the local takeaway menus.

Bottle of prosecco and a card is a nice gesture.

We left wine and chocolates, a manual for everything (took dh ages) , paid for a cleaner to deep clean the house. People we bought from kindly left us some flowers, oh and a swing set, two cupboards in dc rooms, chest of drawers, electric fire, Multiple shelves, old bath tub, old front door and side, multiple amounts of off cuts of wood, a rotten Wendy House, mouldy blinds... I'm sure there's more but that's all I can remember off the top of my head. Dh has spent ages going back and forward to the tip to get rid of the crap they left.

Previous owner had moved into this house shortly after the Coronation. The previous owners hung out a leftover flag to welcome them.

She left the flag for us, with a lovely note, over 50 years later, hoping we would be as happy here as her family had been.

We will leave the same flag for the new owners when we move.

(Plus a folder of house info)

No.

The owners of the previous house we bought left us a gift - a bottle of alcohol free wine in the filthy fridge in the filthy kitchen in the filthy house. We weren't touched.

No. She was an appalling woman who tried to start building works without my permission, before we completed. And then after we completed, she threatened to sue me for leaving the wood shed full of wood.

I feel guilty inflicting her on my lovely neighbours, and hope she moves on - quickly.

We left a card and an Argos voucher. We didn’t leave wine as the buyer was heavily pregnant so we thought they could either buy something for the baby or the house/rest of the family. They’d been so patient with delays on the house we were buying so we wanted to thank them. Lovely family and the perfect buyers really.

Like many other posters we were left an utterly filthy shit tip in the house we moved to. It was a nightmare. We offered on a dated house that needed a bit of sprucing up and by the time we moved it had been allowed to go to ruin.

We move again tomorrow to a new build. It’s a part exchange so we can’t leave anything at all other than boiler guarantee and other documents - Fensa etc (and curtains/lampshades).

I agree. That's why I left a houseplant. I was left chocolates and wine from my seller, and could have neither (pregnant and can't have dairy). The estate agents we sold with also gave us Cadbury Heroes. It was 3 more things to get rid of during the move unfortunately, though I appreciate the thought. If I need to buy chocolates for anyone I don't know, I tend to buy NOMO which is free from all the main allergens. They do nice caramel cup chocolates which are a pretty safe bet, but mostly I just choose something else.

We were left a garden and shed full of crap. 2 skip loads so far! A house that clearly hadn't been cleaned since we viewed. But they took the shower head and oven shelves with them.

The shower head ! 😮

This sounds great!

I would never leave alcohol because the person may not drink for religious reasons or be a recovering alcoholic.

We left a few notes on the house, keys, area etc. Including bin days.
Left a bottle of champagne and one of Schloer, and a box of chocolates from a local shop.

We also had it professionally cleaned including the carpets so they didn't have to clean before moving in

I've left a bottle of wine and a card each time I've moved, which I've done quite a lot.

I've never received anything when I've moved in but one lady did send me a card a few days later to say thank you for leaving the house so clean

We left a new home card with all the info in and a Christmas flower display as it was a December completion. However, drove past the house a few days later and they had dumped it on the driveway!

I would be delighted with an immaculately clean house and information about boiler etc. A gift is nice but unnecessary.

I've seen posters say they can't be bothered to get things like a dripping tap fixed for selling but will leave a bottle of wine. That would annoy me!

If I'm honest, my experiences of house moving have been stressful, somewhat adversarial and difficult, the last thing I actually want is friendly gestures from the former owners. I want a total clean start and to keep things on a totally business-like basis. I appreciate takeaway menus, boiler instructions, notes of paint colours but that is all I want from them.

Don’t be such a Debbie Downer. Most adults love getting gifts like that and if you don’t you can regift it to someone who will appreciate it.

But it depends on attitudes towards gifts in this sort of situation? Some people love getting them, some people (like me!) find it yet another hassle to deal with on top of a stressful situation. Yes, you can pass them on but it's yet another thing to deal with.

My Mum gave us a ripe fresh pineapple when we were moving house. Goodness knows why, we'd planned a few days of takeaways coupled with easy fruit like apples and bananas, not slicing up giant fresh fruit. Plus we didn't have a fridge for a while! Really thoughtless gift!

It's far far more useful to get to your new house and find it's immaculately clean, there are instructions for appliances/boiler available, some local info re bin days and neighbour names. And the keys have been labelled.

We left flowers and a teddy - they were a few weeks from their first baby arriving.

Also a sheet of paper in a card with things like bin day. We left the house spotlessly clean.

The people we bought from left us their breakfast crumbs and some fresh dog poo on the front lawn.

I left them a few notes with useful info. But no gift as they were twats who’d tried to gazunder me close to completion. They were FTBs, so I had thought about leaving them a bottle of champagne.

I left the place absolutely spotless - I think I went overboard given state of house I moved into. Similarly I filled and paint3d out all holes form fittings whereas my vendors did nothing but leave great ugly holes where they’d just pulled stuff out despite what vendors statement said

I left a large package of info for them including all manuals and some help tips re boiler etc. all warentees, packs of information on house history I’d researched some years earlier, pond maintenance stuff and instructions, and all the original deeds and planning consent docs for renovations. All clearly labelled.

I left a cheap bottle of plonk as a token gesture but a nice card message

they were nice, had been flexible and I wanted to show my appreciation of that.

my vendors were a bunch of lying, dirty , cheapskates. Didn’t know it at time..but as first 2 weeks went by I found out loads of stuff ….still pissed off with them. Funnily enough they left no forwarding address .

Our buyers were a bit annoying - but nonetheless, we left them a folder of useful info (instructions for the built-in kitchen appliances, heating, when bin day was, etc), a card, flowers and a bottle of Prosecco. I also left the house spotlessly clean - but surely this is to be expected anyway?

When we moved in we were gifted flowers.

I think it is a nice touch.