protocol on completion day - get a cleaner in?

[SparkyUK]

Just wondering what the protocol is for this. We are completing this coming Thursday (fingers crossed). I'm rather annoyed at our buyers as they keep putting off the exchange for totally trivial things, but we have been assured repeatedly that this time they really mean it and exchange will happen Tuesday and completion on Thursday.

Just wondering what the protocol is on cleaning the house before we leave. Obviously a lot of dust will be revealed when the removals firm moves our stuff out, plus we will be do our fortnightly visit from the cleaning lady for bathrooms and kitchens. Should we get a cleaner to come in and do a thourough clean after they've left (which would of course be while buyers are moving in)? Or shall I just get our regular cleaning lady in to do the bathrooms and kitchen the day before so that even if the place is dusty, it is at least sanitary? I'm pretty f*cked off at them for dragging things out so long but DH is horrified at the idea of leaving an ounce of dirt behind.

Nooooooooo, don't pay for a cleaner. As long as the place is generally clean then that's fine. I'd expect kitchen and bathroom to be cleaned well but dust and stuff in other rooms is fine.

I wouldn't pay for a cleaner! Agree with Sacharissa. Besides, they'll probably clean the place when they arrive.

It's good manners to leave the place presentable, but not essential. Presumably you will be taking your vacuum cleaner and basic cleaning equipment with you in your car (rather than letting the movers take it all in the van) so that you can give your new place a quick once-over before moving your stuff in? So do the same with the old place: once it's empty run the vacuum around and wipe surfaces. No need for anything more than that.

Just don't do what our vendors did. We had the keys and were parked outside but couldn't get in because the grandmother hadn't finished scrubbing out the fridge, and two weeks after moving in we relised that they'd left us a flea infestation.

No. Don't clean, unless you will be living around the corner.

I always potter behind the removal men with the vacuum cleaner so that the carpets are all presentable, and obv the kitchen and bathrooms are left in a sanitary manner. But it's not spotless by any means.

When I moved in to my latest place there were pubic hairs all over the bathroom. The shelves in the bathroom cabinet were covered in them too.

Just don't do that and you'll be fine.

I made sure that we ran a hoover around and wiped the floors (under where fridge/freezer had been and the dregs from unplumbing washing machine) and bathrooms were presentable. Have a bowl of basic cleaning stuff (Fairy washing up liquid is a good stand by !) and hoover to run round once van is laoded. They shouldn't expect a fuill spring clean.

Our lovely neighbour often smirks at how the old people who lived next door completely overdid the cleaning, washing walls down etc with a steam cleaner. The new people came in and gutted the place the first month stripping down to plaster to redecorate.
Lovely of the sellers you may think, except the sellers had stuffed the new buyers for several thousand pounds extra (long story) and relations were strained. On balance, think new buyers would have prefered a bit of dust and dirt.
Save your energy and money for the new place!
We complete in a few weeks and I will vacum where funiture has stood for several years etc, but don't plan to make it a labour of love. Will be saving my energy for flicking V signs at the old bag who lives next door but one who has stared at us and gossiped non-stop since we moved in a decade ago! thats my protocol for completion day!

I think a cleaner is OTT, though a lovely thought. When we moved out I cleaned the kitchen and bathroom thoroughly, and gave the rest a quick dust, swept the floors etc. I knew the builders were on their way to gut the place, but still felt I needed to clean up on my way out. Another reason not to get a cleaner in is that the move may not be straightforward. Our 'full packing' removal service went seriously wrong and we moved out hours late (having done most of the packing ourselves). So if a cleaner had turned up, they wouldn't have been able to do anything.

We always clean thoroughly when we move. Don't know how you could not?
And we always clean when we move in, too.

((It's just the little while between moving in the house and moving out that the cleaning suffers, lol)).

I'd leave it presentable and clean, especially bathrooms and kitchen as others say, but if you're paying for cleaners would have them at the other end for your new house instead ;-)

However clean a house looked, I'd still give it a going over myself once I got there so that I knew it was cleaned to my standards (which to be fair aren't exactly Kim and Aggie-esque but at least I know I'm happy with it then!)