What state will you leave your house in when you sell it?

NaughtiusMaximus

What was it like when you viewed it, from the sounds of it they'd gone months without cleaning?

The shelves, curtains and lampshades wouldn't bother me but I'd be pretty p****** off to move into a house as filthy as that. The house doesn't have to be immaculate but as long as it looks like it's been cleaned in the last week or so that's fine.

Seashell517

I'll do the normal level of cleaning that I do week to week, plus a bit more where furniture previously was. I don't know what the 'cleaning expectation' of my buyers is, and I'll expect to have to clean the house I'm moving into, so I won't be hiring a carpet cleaner or anything like that.

Doozergirl

We had the 'luxury' of a few weeks delay between moving and selling so we had the chance to do absolutely everything.   I hired a carpet cleaner, the ovens were spotless, we had a carpenter come in and tidy up bits like a wonky kick plate and replace the laminated edge of a side panel! 

The only thing we didn't do was touch up the paint work, which I would have done, but they're redecorating.  

It would have been different if we'd only had a day to move, but we'd still have done our best and hired cleaners to try and turn it over quickly. 

Angela_D_3

Ive booked a gardener and a cleaner for move out date.  I know i dont have time to clean but someone has to.   

TBagpuss

I've always cleaned before I left but have always needed to do a lot of cleaning when I moved in  
First house - mu parents helped me move in,. My mum brought her brand new Dyson vacuum and we had to empty it 3 times  just from cleaning the living room. Thankfully that was the only room which had a carpet. The house had been empty for a while (I think an elderly lady had lived there and it had been sold following her death, then it was bought by a couple who promptly split up and never moved in, and I presume didn't do anything to clean it, either)  

My first house will have been dusty when the new owners moved in, as I moved long distance and it took a long time sell, so had been standing empty for several  months  by the time it sold, so no doubt there will have been dust and build up of junk mail, but it was clean.
2nd house was absolutely filthy when I moved - the fridge (supposed to be included in sale) had broken about two weeks before completion and they just dumped it in the back garden. They didn't even empty it first, and the weather was warm, so it was truly disgusting by the time I found it - even after emptying it and liberal use of bleach, it stank the car out getting it to the tip. 
There was a heap of ..... who knows what  -  months of accumulated grease and crud I assume , in the oven - literally about 4 inches high. Those vendors also removed every single light bub in the place and took them with them, and removed curtain rails leaving large holes where the fixings had been. 

They also breached the contract (they had been part way through sanding a wooden floor, so the contract provided for the work to be completed and the floor varnished. It wasn't, was left with masses of splinters and nails sticking up. (as well as removing things like the curtain rails which were supposed to have been left)

Fortunately I wasn't moving straight in, I was living temporarily with family and had always planned to do some decorating and get a couple of bits of electrical work done before moving my stuff in, so at least I could clean it thoroughly before moving any of my things in.

On the plus side, I did benefit in that my new neighbours were very welcoming as they were so happy to see the backs of the vendors! 

Current house wasn't as bad, but I don't think they had done any cleaning at all since accepting my offer - dust everywhere, grease everywhere in the kitchen, and I genuinely thought the oven doors were made of smoked glass until I touched ( and then cleaned) them! 

None of the vendors arranged to have their post redirected or left forwarding addresses, either. I wonder if those things go together? With the filthy fridge people I got bailiffs looking for them several times after I moved in

lady1964

We got professional cleaners in to do our last house, not because it was filthy but because I’d already moved to our new house 200 miles away and my DH & DD both worked long hours and didn’t have time to do the clean I wanted the house to have. We also left a new home card and a bottle of Prosecco for the new owners. When our DD moved in to her place, the previous owners left a broken bed frame in her room, took the washing machine that was supposed to have been left and the house was very dusty and hadn’t been given a good clean. She had to live with the bed frame (with her own mattress on top) for almost 2 weeks until they could collect it and luckily, she had our old washing machine.

When my parents did a house move in the mid 80’s, the owners left it in a right mess and about a week later, my parents received a letter saying they’d left a bag of semen in the garden, turned out to be a bag of cement 😂

[Deleted User]

Our house was also left in a disgusting state. Thick dog hair everywhere, dirt, dust, mouldy bathroom, they even left dried on skid marks on the toilet bowl. The downstairs loo smelt strongly of urine we had to rip up the carpet in there straight away and the rest of the house just smelt of dog. Old tyres were left at the bottom of the garden and an oil stain on the driveway, which they had also walked through onto the carpet in the hall. 

They took ages to move out and didn't leave until around 6pm, the woman actually turned round and offered to have a whip round with the hoover! Like that would have made a difference, a deep clean is what was required. 

I don't think it was done intentionally out of malice, they were just generally dirty people. 

This was our first house and really put a dampener on what was supposed to be an exciting and happy day for us. Having been through it myself I would never dream of leaving a house in a state like that and will leave it in the state that I expected on that day we moved in. 

bolwin1

Thanks for the comments all - sounds like my expectations / standards are fairly normal. The place was just a bit grubby when we looked around (considering it was for sale), but nothing compared to when we moved in.
It's not as if there was a big chain with everyone moving on the same day - the vendors have been living in another property for a while & just using this place for odd weekend visits, so have had ample opportunity to clean it (or arrange for it to be cleaned). They aren't short of a few bob either, they have a home in London & one in Dubai. 
They've also not left a forwarding address or redirected their mail, so I'll just return everything to the sender. 

kazwookie

I moved last year and I am sure on one of the forms from the solicitor it lists things such as filling in holes / clean / no rubbish etc.

I clean my house / hoovered round / labeled keys etc, I did leave the oven uncleaned as they are ripping out the kitchen, the new kitchen I was already storing for them in the garage and lounge as there was so much of it.

Hannimal

Expect nothing - some people are unkind. My vendors cleaned the place but they left a loft and a garden full of stuff for me to clear at my own cost. I would never do this to someone, when I move I'd like for the new buyers to feel happy in their new home and not have to worry about anything excess I've left. 

My vendors were all-round a bit dodgy though. I think the neighbours will be happy that they are gone. For example, one of the doors in my house had been punched through several times and the punch holes were covered with a big metal sign that said 'free beer'. Kid you not. After I changed suppliers I got my final electricity bill from the last company, claiming I owed them nearly £200 for less than two weeks, even though I had supplied with meter readings. I phoned them up and they said they had 'conflicting readings' from me and the previous occupier. Luckily when I moved in the previous owners had forgotten to take the readings so I texted them pictures of the meters. It was sufficient to send screenshots of the texts and pictures of the meters to show I wasn't the one making meter readers up. I have absolutely no question that the vendors did this on purpose, the chap was an electrician so he knew exactly what he was doing. The electricity company said they'd follow them up and adjust my bill - which came to £13 for the two weeks. 

I guess what I am saying is that some people are rubbish and sometimes we get unlucky having to deal with them. Next time I buy I will budget for a deep-clean and I'll be glad if I can then use that money for something else. Next time I buy I will also do a tour right before exchange and will not exchange if garden and loft aren't cleared. You live and you learn.