How to leave the house I sold

fiwen30

Gosh you all sound like lovely sellers!

We just completed on Thursday, and there’s nail holes, wall plugs, and broken sockets galore. Say nothing of the rubbish that was left behind, the garden waste in the wrong bin, and broken window handles. The walls and doors are
composed mostly of scuff marks, and whoever last glossed the woodwork also glossed a good 2 inches of wall, plus straight over all the light switches. Certainly not a card of bottle or plonk in sight!

It’s a good thing we already had plans & time to strip and redecorate, because otherwise it would’ve felt like moving into a grotty rental. At the risk of sounding sentimental, I felt sorry for the house to be in that state, and am looking forward to giving it the TLC it deserves!

somerlouise

I second fiwen30 ‘s comments. 

When we moved in to our current property it was a mess. Rubbish in the garden and a fence panel that had blown over. Plus a loft literally stuffed to the rafters with worthless junk like old mattresses and empty beer bottles. 

We have sold this property and are hoping to complete shortly and I will be leaving the property clean, empty and with holes/dings repaired!

MrsPorridge

Leave it in the state that you hope to find your new home in.

Bonniepurple

I tried very hard to leave the property in a decent state, but I was defeated. The buyers pushed for a week DH (self employed) was working full time.  The removal company let us down with 48 hours to go. To cap it all, the vacuum packed up midway through!  The buyers complained to the estate agent, who I suspect told them where to go - especially after I explained the issues we’d had.  DH was less generous.  He felt that as we left the property in a far better condition than when we bought it the buyers had nothing to complain about.  Perhaps the buyers did want a repossession with no kitchen, an unplumbed bathroom suite, 10 tonnes of gravel in the garden and smashed up furniture (which is what we had) compared to somewhere needing a vacuum!

davidmcn

gab3x said:

unsure what the custom is and more importantly what we need to do legally

What you need to do legally is comply with the contract. You have read the contract, haven't you?

Suseka97

We are moving out in the new year, assuming things go to plan, and we are already touching up paintwork and giving the house a good spring clean.  When we moved in the vendors had left it in a right mess and, as a result, I hated living here for several months until we had got on top of clearing the rubbish and redecorating.

Now I love our house and will be sorry to see it go - but our buyers are a lovely young couple and so I want to leave it in a really good condition, so they can just move in and plan their changes in their own time.  A card and a bottle of bubbly is a great idea - so its now on my 'moving out' list of things to do  

DD265

Our house was filthy, I ended up getting professional cleaners in to help with the oven/bathrooms as I just couldn't face it. The only way to get the shower in the en suite clean was to strip all the sealant and replace the shower heads. Splattered mud all over the walls from the dog, and they left a load of rubbish in the loft plus overflowing bins. They were about 2 hours late leaving (luckily we were FTB so could wait) and had apparently been cleaning all day - umm, where?

I would hate to leave a house in such a state for somebody else.

Flugelhorn

If you get someone to look at the dishwasher socket then check they are qualified to do kitchen stuff (?Part P ) 

A_Lert

Anything fixed to the walls is best left unless the contracts clearly state it will be removed.

theoretica

I think the state you leave the property needs to be consistent with the state when it was viewed - if it was was clean and freshly decorated for the viewings then the buyer can expect it to be similar on moving in.  If it was a filthy mess when viewed the buyer can't really expect better on completion.