Seller has left lots of rubbish after completion

Kabazzzz

Me and my partner completed on our purchase yesterday, just before 3pm. 

The sellers movers had let them down, so I went around to the house about 6pm to get a key from them as they still hadn't started moving out.  I gave my number and asked for them to text when they were out and to post the key through the letterbox when they go.  I know things can happen, and they looked really frazzled when I saw them so thought that we were being quite reasonable (we aren't moving in until Monday and are currently in rented).

Received a text at 11.30pm saying they were out, phone had died and she had only just found the charger.  Completely plausible and not really an issue for us.

We went to our new house first thing this morning and it was absolutely filthy dirty, to the point where I don't even want to take my shoes off inside.  Feel a bit disheartened as it has taken away any excitement of buying our house together.  We've booked a deep clean for first thing tomorrow morning and bought a carpet shampooer so hopefully, it will get rid of most of the smell of cat wee.  We are getting new carpets anyway but they won't be fitted until mid January due to fitters availability.

Anyway, all of the above is frustrating but can be dealt with, but the thing that is really peeving me off, and I'm wondering where I stand, is that they've left a huge animal cage in the garden, plus lots of rubbish all over the place ie a dirty potty in the utility room, children's garden toys dotted around the place and other general rubbish.

They came around briefly while we were there this morning to remove several black bags of rubbish that were on the front lawn (as they said they would in their text last night).  I asked about the animal cage and he genuinely seemed surprised that we didn't want it, said it weighs a ton and would probably be a chop up and chuck type job as it was too big to move.  He has agreed that they will, but it won't be for a few weeks.

I was just wondering if there's anything I can do, if it turns out that they just block my number and we never hear from them again.

And... thanks for reading this far..

elsien

Depends how bad it is I think. When my mother bought her house they actually moved more rubbish in between her final look around and completion. She got onto her solicitor and made them pay for a skip.
 I wouldn’t be waiting for them for a few weeks though - call a scrap metal person out for the crate and anything else that they would take? 

[Deleted User]

If they're the kind of people that are this disorganised and chaotic, they're probably not going to follow through with any of their promises.
Planning and organisation is something you make happen and these folks just aren't that proactive, clearly.
I think you'll just have to get on with doing their jobs for them and do these things yourself.

ThisIsWeird

Some folk just don't prepare properly for moving, and/or are disorganised about it to boot. I shudder to think of just what's in our garage for when we do.
Kaba, if you can, see if you can roll with it (not in it, of course) and put it down as a temporary annoyance that'll soon be a moving-in anecdote.

That cage - put it on your local Marketplace. If it's substantial, you can even ask something for it, or just let it go for now't.

It's horrible, and does indeed spoil that fresh moving-in anticipation, but in the scheme of things it'll pale into not even a memory - unless you keep it alive as a story :-)

Albermarle

Feel a bit disheartened as it has taken away any excitement of buying our house together. 

Even without the situation you have found, many people feel a sense of disappointment on moving into a new home.

Too much unrealistic anticipation, soon dashed by the house not being as perfect as imagined. In 12 months you will have it as you like, and all this initial hassle will be forgotten. Assuming nothing really serious crops up.

powerspowers

We had the same when we moved house last year! I spent days scrubbing our old house so it was spotless for the buyers. Moved into the new house and it was full of rubbish, plus the only toilet had broken recently and there were 6 peoples worth of **** in the bowl 🤢 

We felt the quickest and easiest approach was to get on with it and sort ourselves. It’s annoying but you’ll feel better once things are sorted. Rather than dragging it over Christmas and then unlikely to be sorted satisfactorily in January. 

housebuyer143

When we moved we were lucky enough to be moving and not having to sell at the same time because honestly the state of the house when all the furniture was out was embarrassing. 
If the buyers were waiting outside to move in, which normally happens they would have been horrified. 
As it happens I went back and scrubbed the place for 6 hours before it was sold. 

My point being, they probably intended to do it, but their plans went to crap and then it was too late for them to be bothered to do a good job of it. Even if they did it, I imagine you would be scrubbing it yourself anyway. The one I bought was in no means dirty but the first thing I had to do was clean all the floors, doors, skirtings etc as it felt gross. 

I would just forget about it now. Get a scrappy to get the crate and clean it. Moving in is always underwhelming in my opinion.

Kabazzzz

Thanks for all your responses.  It's been a pretty busy day, so I've not had the chance to respond.

I've had a bit of time to adjust my expectations.  We've had it deep cleaned by professionals and the carpets cleaned.  The carpets will need another going over but we can move in without feeling gross.  Still won't be walking barefoot until the new carpets are down.

Thanks for all of the suggestions re the animal cage, we might put it on marketplace  and do similar with all of the wood in the workshop.

I think I have come down to earth with a bump, but it is still a beautiful house and it will be a gorgeous family home once we've put our stamp on it ❤️. 

Mutton_Geoff

I know you will be better with all this behind you but the vendors are in serious breach of contract not allowing you full access at completion. I would speak to your conveyancers on Monday and tell them that you have had additional expenses (good on you for having an overlap on your rental/purchase but that is for your benefit, not the vendor's).

I'm not one for chasing compensation but in this case, it is definitely due including the costs you have incurred. Also have a word with the selling agent and tell them how seriously disappointed and inconvenienced you were, although you were not their client, they may give you words of encouragement on how to manage this.

It's great you got everything sorted, but my gut feeling is this shouldn't be coming out of your pocket, nor should the loss of amenity you suffered by not having your own keys at 3pm on Friday. Don't let anyone fob you off how serious this was.

Cloth_of_Gold

Kabazzzz said:

Thanks for all your responses.  It's been a pretty busy day, so I've not had the chance to respond.

I've had a bit of time to adjust my expectations.  We've had it deep cleaned by professionals and the carpets cleaned.  The carpets will need another going over but we can move in without feeling gross.  Still won't be walking barefoot until the new carpets are down.

Thanks for all of the suggestions re the animal cage, we might put it on marketplace  and do similar with all of the wood in the workshop.

I think I have come down to earth with a bump, but it is still a beautiful house and it will be a gorgeous family home once we've put our stamp on it ❤️. 

You could try using Tiptapp to get rid of the cage. I used it when I wanted to get rid of a couple of things and within an hour of putting my ad on their site I had several offers to take the things away. People give you a price and you can choose the cheapest. If it's something that someone can use they might offer to take it free of charge, which is what happened to me. The person whose offer I accepted came the next day and took the items - it was really quick and easy. The council would have taken them for a fee but because they were bulky and needed to be taken down some stairs wanted to do a risk assessment first!

Sistergold

Moving is very stressful and sometimes people just don’t realise how much needs to be moved. With children and pets without an overlap on their end it would be a miracle to leave the house sparkling. 

It’s good at least you still see why you chose the house. Good that you have had it deep cleaned. It can only get better from now on as you make the place more yours. ENJOY YOUR NEW HOUSE.