To Clean Or Not To Clean?

Dora_the_Explorer_5

toys19 wrote:

I think we are all missing a trick here. I have bought 4 houses in the last 6 years, and in the contracts for each one I have insisted on a £500 penalty clause to cover the eventuality that the house may not be clean or there is rubbish to remove upon vacant posession. :beer:

Who decides how clean is clean ? You or an independant third party?

jaime-mg

I am just about to exchange and am now considering making it a requirement in the contract to have the place cleaned prior to exchange - I can't imagine anything worse than moving in to someone else's grime and muck! In fact I would be seriously hacked off if having paid the fortune i am about to, the place was not immaculate!

jezza1O1

I moved into a rented house recently that was left in a disgusting state - by the owners!! We're talking walls that came up a different colour when cleaned, black rings around the bath, spilt food in the fridge, filthy floors and cupboards, stained carpets etc etc. Generally minging.

The independant inventory agency, Leteasy, noted much of this when they came round, but we were horrified to find their report barely touched on the disgusting state of the house at all. Of course the report arrived after we had spent two days solid cleaning the place (it was that dirty) so that we could move in, and when we complained we were told there was nothing we could as we had cleaned the place - a nice scam, ay?

Upon moving out we left the place spotless and the inventory people even remarked on a number of specific points regarding the improvement. However there were a few crumbs in the oven door and some dust spotted on the dish washer top (incidently this is under the kitchen surface) and our filthy landlords therefore charged us for cleaning. I dont know how anyone could have the cheek...? We were left speechless but without a leg to stand on, paid up and moved on, with a little bit of my faith in humanity chipped away.

I think the worst point was Nick, from the inventory company, who refused to remove his shoes and proceeded to tread mud around the house. His response to our challenge? "You better clean it up behind me or Ill note it down on the report". Must get a kick from having someone follow him round with a cloth wiping the ground as he goes? What a joke the whole process was.

Anyways, purchasing a house? Yeah leave it clean cos its hard to move in and clean at the same time. I wouldnt expect it 100% spotless as the missus would want to re-clean certain parts, but we'd want it clean enough to not have to spend 2 days scrubbing before we can move in.

Cheers.

catkins

I agree that the house should be cleaned. I have always cleaned a house when I have left it. In the last 3 years I have lived in 3 rented houses. The first one wasn't too bad when I moved in but the second and third were absolutely disgusting. The loos were so bad in both that OH put a new loo in (in fact in both houses he put new bathroom suites). When we got to the house we are in now we realised as soon as we walked through the door that the downstairs carpet stunk of dog pee (when we viewed the house all the windows were open and the tenant had candles lit!! We pulled it up (the underlay was soaking wet) but are still waiting for the landlord to agree to new carpets (9 months on!). Don't think the woman in my present house had ever done any housework in the 4 years she rented! Then again I think the landlord should have arranged for the house to be cleaned but my experience of landlords has been anything but good (don't get me started on that topic)

myfairlady

We were so excited when we got the keys to our new house. It really spoilt it for us that the place was left so dirty. They had left food in the fridge and the oven was filthy, there was dust and dog hair everywhere. We thought the heaters were cream and they turned out to be white once we cleaned them. They hadn't even bothered to wipe down the toilet.

What annoys me is that they left us a letter asking us to forward their post!

Please clean your house before you leave it, it can really make a difference to whether you see any of your mail or not

Dora_the_Explorer_5

Please clean your house before you leave it, it can really make a difference to whether you see any of your mail or not

Sensible people have their mail redirected by Royal Mail (or whatever it's calling itself this week). I think witholding delivered mail addressed to someone who doesn't live at the address is classed as a crime -there may be info on this on the website.

boysmum3

I've moved about 5 times and none of the houses have been clean to my standards and 1 or 2 were just foul!!
If you don't clean then it may come back to haunt you anyway....I was seriously slagging off the dirty minger who had just moved out of the filthiest house i have ever moved into... turned out that the person (who i didn't know too well - but i was fed up cleaning and moaned to anyone who listened..or stood still near me!!!!!) was related to the previous occupant!!! Oooops!!
So definately clean!! You don't have to go mad but hoover, wipe skirting boards and clean the loo!

madmumatuk

I always clean any house I leave. I also clean any house I move into, but it helps if the previous owner make some effort to clean.

Does it really hurt you to do something so small - it really is easy once the furniture is gone?

garrapata

We've just bought this house two weeks ago, the previous owners left it reasonably clean (at least to start with) But of course we did a thourough clean anyway.
The day before the move they called us in to show us how everything worked.
And on the day, they also left us a "welcome home" card and a bottle of champagne. Really sweet.

As for our old rented place, we went back the day after we moved out and cleaned it all the way through till it was spotless. We couldn't have left it any other way.

And yes, I agree: it makes such a difference to arrive at a clean house. Please do clean!

Dora_the_Explorer_5

boysmum3 wrote:

I've moved about 5 times and none of the houses have been clean to my standards and 1 or 2 were just foul!!
QUOTE]
This is the point about cleaning when you move out. How clean is clean? Whose standards prevail? Does anyone have an objective solution?