KonMari 2016 - The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

musogirl295

GQ hearing that story makes my blood boil! Not following basic moving etiquette, let alone what's written in the contract is so rude. When we moved into our current house we knew the previous owners would be taking their very fancy light fittings with them. What we didn't know was that in taking them out they would be leaving us with 6 inch gaping holes in every ceiling with the wires poking out and no bulb holders! Our first week in the house we spent our evenings stumbling around by the light of the bathroom spotlights and 2 bedside lamps. We also found it would have cost us more to legally pursue it than just get the ruddy things fixed ourselves so they got away with it Scott free!

GreyQueen

musogirl295 wrote: »

GQ hearing that story makes my blood boil! Not following basic moving etiquette, let alone what's written in the contract is so rude. When we moved into our current house we knew the previous owners would be taking their very fancy light fittings with them. What we didn't know was that in taking them out they would be leaving us with 6 inch gaping holes in every ceiling with the wires poking out and no bulb holders! Our first week in the house we spent our evenings stumbling around by the light of the bathroom spotlights and 2 bedside lamps. We also found it would have cost us more to legally pursue it than just get the ruddy things fixed ourselves so they got away with it Scott free!

I'm sorry you went through that, and sorry for my friends, too. Their seller got off lightly compared to my suggested course of action; I would have told him that he had two hours to get there and get it moved or I'd put it all in the front garden and make no attempt to protect it from either the weather or passing W0mbles.

A bit of consideration and decency goes a long way on moving day. A lady I know who rents out her pre-marital home always has a vase of flowers, bottle of wine and welcome card waiting for her new tenants. The cost is neglible but the goodwill engendered is priceless.

silvasava

When DH & I moved into this house the previous owners emigrated. They had left in the house anything they didn't want or couldn't sell. Some odds were useful but most was rubbish - I drew the line at used make up left in the bathroom! Luckily we were in rented accommodation at the time & had a few weeks to complete the move and boy did we need it!!

Igamogam

When we moved into our house the owners where separating. He bought the house we where moving from - which was great as we hadnt even put ours up for sale and they took theirs off the market and also for the stamp duty thing BTW........ we didn't pay any !! We where moving to a 12 room tardis, from a tiny and a I mean tiny, cottage 10 foot wide and 20 feet front to back - it had been 2 back to back 1 up 1 down quarry mens cottages knocked into one - actually I loved that house and cried when we left. I went into each room and aplogised for selling it :eek: We went to the new house the day before we moved just to check on times etc as we where doing the move ourselves with the help of friends, sharing the van : load up at our old house. Unload at new. Fill up with his stuff. Empty and load up with ours again................. we where a bit concerned when we got to our 'new' house that they were not in and looking through the windows NOTHING was packed, not a box in sight. Our house was all packed and ready to go. We managed to get hold of them late that day and was assured all was ok for the move. We arrived the next day with a loaded van at the agreed time only to find they were barely awake.............we unloaded our stuff into the garden and went back to reload. On return they proceeded to carry out heaps of stuff threw it in the van, had an argument about a washing machine as they where disconnecting it and literally unplugged a fridge and a freezer and carried out full of food to the garden to await her van. They also had 2 small children to attend to - we where still child free at that time but had 3 cats which had come with the previous house ( owners emigrated) and the deal was that we would bring them into the house straight away and shut them in the small bedroom which of course hadn't been packed up as was full of toys, a cot and small child paraphernalia .
It took all day and was a nightmare - some of our boxes kept doing the journey backwards and forwards to our old house as friends of theirs eventually turned up and everybody got confused. We laugh about it now but at the time.........
The contents of the attic I have posted about before but it wasnt theirs although they left a motorbike in one of the outhouses which, after a month a I threatened to sell if they didnt collect and they also left 3 lovely Rhode Island Red chickens which they never mentioned and never offered to collect......we had eggs from them for years!
A few days after we moved in and struggling to get the CHand cooker going, we found out from neighbours that they had failed to mention the chimney fire 2 days before the move which had damaged the solid fuel cooker/CH system and the chimney:eek: We had taken possession of the house on that day but luckily had set up the house insurance to start the same day so we where covered for the repairs. This was always going to be our 'forever home' but I have never felt settled here..............but we have invested too much time, money, emotions and memories here so I guess we are here to stay now.

greent

Some horror stories here


When we moved here (just over 10 years ago) I was 7 months pregnant with child no 3 (and had hip problems) and we were going on holiday the next day (booked months in advance and we had wanted to move the previous week but the woman at the top of the chain didn't - she wanted to move the day we were going on holiday and refused to change - so the people we bought from moved into a hotel for a night.


That was about the only good thing they did. They stripped the house of any wall lights, leaving bare wires. They took an archway out of the garden, garden lights (leaving wires taped up with electrical tape sticking out of the pillars - and this was late October), toilet roll holders, the shower screen off the bath in the main bathroom. a telephone connection to the office, the wired in sound system (all of these were on the f&f listings) - and the most bizarre one - a small cupboard from the end of the fitted kitchen - you could see the sawdust where they'd chopped the worktop off in line!!!


They left us rubbish and bits of food in the kitchen cupboards, an oven which was so filthy it smoked as soon as it was turned on, a bin full of rubbish (and collection day was not for another week), boxes of stuff in the loft (all rubbish), a bathroom with mould and peeling paint (it hadn't been like that when we viewed) and 2 blown windows (which they'd promised to sort before moving) Oh - and dirty bathrooms which hadn't been cleaned in goodness knows how long and carpets which hadn't been vacuumed in ages.


We got in this house and I remember crying and crying. We had moved out of ours and filled and painted holes from picture hooks and had repapered a small section of lounge wall where we'd damaged the paper years ago but it was hidden by a bookcase. The day before the move we'd moved a cupboard and found we'd been lazy and not painted behind it so we did that there and then. The only things we left were tins of paint (labelled with the room) in case they wanted to do any touching up anywhere. The house was cleaned thoroughly - I even vacuumed the garage floor as we were leaving


I've never felt attached to this house


x

wort

Oh my what moving horror stories, and I thought I was hard done by when moving in my first house that the light fittings and bulb holders were gone. Also she took the porch door! And replaced it with one that didn't fit !
I am also A " smug loft owner "

I am also following the NBI thread. Although I have not posted it helps to read it and curb my spending. I haven't bought anything but food and birthday presents.
I didn't buy anything in the sales! Apart from dgs pjs in his next size.

Sunny but cold and breezy today so Washing is out , and hoping to go for a walk later with dh and dgs. Have a great weekend all.

tattycath

...and there was me thinking we got a raw deal. When I moved in :eek: there was loads of rubbish buried in the garden. Stuff in the loft that the previous seller had left. Lots of evidence of 'bodge it and scarper'. We've been together nearly 10 years and we are still sorting it all out bit by bit - as and when we can afford it. Every time we decorate or try to change anything we find something else that needs doing.

GrannyKate

Sympathy to all with moving horror stories. We had similar 16 years ago. Everything planned, boxes labelled etc. I was already living in temporary small cottage over here which turned out to be a bonus as we could use that for another week. Previous owner had not handed in keys, had not packed, cleaned or sorted anything. He was living elsewhere and this place still contained almost all of his late wife's clothes etc. The kitchen cupboards were stuffed full of food years out of date, dirty washing in machine etc covered in mould. Owner eventually turned up with keys only on insistence of his solicitor and then stood around while we and our moving team packed everything up into spare bedrooms, summerhouse and garage. All he had to say was he was going to do it sometime in next few weeks!!! It was then collected over several days but not any rubbish which we had to get rid of. Our movers were fantastic but there was an additional time charge of about £70. Our solicitor sent a bill to previous owner but it was never paid. I had found several hundred pounds in a cupboard which I had given back - a decision I regretted later. The next day an electrician turned up to remove light fittings which were not included in sale. He was quite clear that he knew he had no legal basis for removing them after completion date but we agreed they were horrible and were happy for him to change them for simple new plain ceiling roses.

tibawo

I have only rented houses and whenever the landlord has been to do the check out, they have tended to say things like how clean i had left the place etc. I thought this was just the norm but reading on here i can see it is not! In my thinking it is stressful enough moving without having to contend with someone else stuff and uncleanliness.


With all this in mind maybe my house is not as bad as I think and maybe i should stop kondoing now!!


Just finishing my brew and then normal chores begin...

GreyQueen

tibawo, it seems to have been my lot in life to move into rented homes which were dirty, scrub them into submission, keep them very clean, clean very thoroughly before leaving, then move into another grubby home........!

I couldn't imagine leaving my Stuff for someone else to clear up. Mum still chortles about the cord on the bathroom light when I moved here - we took if off and it stood up unaided like a tree, it was so feeelthy.

Spent 2.5 hrs on the allotment, barrowing spent barley grains around and then did a tip run with an IKEYA blue bag of pernicious weeds.

Have returned at 12.00 for a light luncheon and am still warming up before bathing and running laundry. Have included a cloth bag from the lottie shed which I was using to store carrier bags. Not ideal, have swopped it out for something else, so that will now be laundered and donated, it's a beach bag type thingy from a charity shop originally.