Cleaning before leaving

jackyann

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

When you next sell, can I buy your house please? :j :j

You won't want it chick (but thanks!) - we've built it ourselves, so I go out feet-first in about 30 years (and some one else will worry about the cleaning!)

Debt_Free_Chick

jackyann wrote: »

You won't want it chick (but thanks!) - we've built it ourselves, so I go out feet-first in about 30 years (and some one else will worry about the cleaning!)

LOL - I so connect with the "go out feet-first" comment. That's how I feel about my current property but, alas, jointly owned with my ex and currently on the market (I can't afford to buy him out )

I certainly won't be here in another 30 years time but - like you - won't be worrying about the cleaning!

That said, I am cleaning, decorating, de-cluttering and generally getting things in tip-top shape every day. I'm stuck in cleaning hell whilst the house is on the market.

Ex is 300 miles away with his new beau and, perhaps not surprisingly, giving me no support of any description

PasturesNew

It can be tricky when moving out to find time to breathe.... it's OK if there's more than one of you, but if you're on your own and having to pack, alone, and go round and take the meter readings and get out all the keys, etc, etc and answer any random phone calls that come, and door knocks ....

Especially if you're then, also, expected to drop off the keys at one agents, be at the new address, collect the new keys, in order to direct the removal people as to what to do etc.... if you have removal people at all.

Moving's a 2-person game really. One to do the work, one to do the cleaning/unexpected.

DRP

jackyann wrote: »

It is MUCH easier to clean an empty house - if you clean then watch the furniture being moved, all the dust becomes visible!
I have done the following over my house moving life:
taken up a friend's offer to clean after we left (she did owe a big favour!)
knowing the new people wouldn't be in for a day or two, gone back myself to clean
told the new people that as they were anxious to move in as we were going out, I could only do a quick wipe-down
last time I hired a specialist firm - cost £300 for a large Victorian 3 bed - there were other reasons I did this and it was worth it (but could not have afforded that on previous moves!)

I always leave a box of teabags, coffee, biscuits etc; milk in the fridge where poss.
I leave take-away leaflets marked with recommendations, and a file with items of interest like local walks, details about doctors, hospitals, pharmacists etc; nearest supemarkets & petrol, and any good local shops or markets.
If the buyers are newcomers, instead of flowers, I make sure that the local parish magazine is paid up for the next few months, and pay the newsagent to deliver the local paper for a couple of weeks.

Call me paranoid, but if there had been lengthy or 'difficult' negotiations over the purchase, I would probably not partake of any food products left by the previous owners!

Angelicdevil

I hope to leave my flat immaculate when I eventually sell, complete with a homemade welcome pack of how everything works and where the meters\cutoff valves etc are hidden!

The whole process was exhausting, when I finally got the keys to my current home and stepped inside, I nearly cried (Ok, I lie, I did cry )

The previous owners left the place in a disgusting state. There was food splatters up the walls, grubby marks around doors and handles and the whole place smelt dirty.

Each time I viewed it was clean and tidy, it's like they gave up when they accepted my offer.

It was the last thing I needed that day.

bargainbetty

I wish the people I bought off had been as nice as you lot! I walked into stained carpets (new stains since we'd viewed) a filthy kitchen, dirty ring marks and cobwebs halfway up the corners where furniture had been. Luckily, it was my first home, and my parents didn't mind waiting two days for me to clean and scrub it before I moved things in.

It has never been so clean since.....

jackyann

DRP wrote: »

Call me paranoid, but if there had been lengthy or 'difficult' negotiations over the purchase, I would probably not partake of any food products left by the previous owners!

LOL!!!
Of course, I don't know if they went in the bin!!

We have never moved into a house that others are moving straight out of (ungrammatical, but you know what I mean!) - there has always been, for various reasons, some sort of gap - so I have never been on the receiving end of such gifts.
I do it, because I remember how touched my parents were by such a gesture when we moved.

I've also been lucky because there has nearly always been enough goodwill and understanding not to feel badly about the negotiations, even when there have been difficulties. The worst I remember was when we put in an offer on a house just 5 doors away. I agreed to pay £200 for the carpets (they weren't very good, and this was 1983). The woman came round the next day and said "my husband says that isn't enough"!!!!! I said I was happy with the agreement, and would not be too unhappy if they took them instead!
I never knew if she was using the "my husband" excuse, or if he really thought that any agreement between women was null & void. Anyway they left them, and they were barely worth £200!!!

chrisnewport

Angelicdevil wrote: »

I hope to leave my flat immaculate when I eventually sell, complete with a homemade welcome pack of how everything works and where the meters\cutoff valves etc are hidden!

The whole process was exhausting, when I finally got the keys to my current home and stepped inside, I nearly cried (Ok, I lie, I did cry )

The previous owners left the place in a disgusting state. There was food splatters up the walls, grubby marks around doors and handles and the whole place smelt dirty.

Each time I viewed it was clean and tidy, it's like they gave up when they accepted my offer.

It was the last thing I needed that day.

I can remember one event where I almost experienced the same thing as you experienced. It was one of the great and horrible time of my life. But yeah, charge to experience. :beer:

jozbo

Debt_Free_Chick wrote: »

Mine was cleaner on the day I left it than it had ever been in the 15 years that I'd lived there

I choose the level of mess I can tolerate on a day-to-day basis, but don't expect others to

May be a bit OTT, but I also left a vase of flowers and a "things you might want to know" note.

wow - i really hope we get this when we (hopefully!) get the keys to the place we're buying

however I think it's doubtful judging by the fact that the place is in a terrible state of repair and the owners have done zero maintenance in the 9 years lived there

motherofstudents

Our last but one house was in great condition structurally but very 'lived in' and that is a nice description. When we got the keys I was quite nervous but although it wasn't sparkling clean, it wasn't as bad as I had imagined and you could tell they had made an effort. I always leave things very clean and also leave a card and a plant as I just think it is a nice gesture. We've never had any awful buyers though !