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What's the oddest thing your seller has left in your new home?

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KateySW
KateySW Posts: 107 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
I've only moved into our new house a couple of weeks ago and have been trying to properly clean each room as we unpack (it's been a gradual move as we were still renting our flat). I was cleaning the kitchen over the weekend and have found so many things under the oven and some other kitchen units, including loads of small children's toys, clothes pegs, ping pong balls (?), and (bit more yucky) old apple cores, bits of cheese and other large chunks of mouldy indistinguishable food :think:

I mean, tad gross but I know they probably didn't think to check under there... It just made me think though that this must happen quite often. I've always rented until this point so have usually moved into places which have included in the contract that they be professionally cleaned.

So, what's the weirdest things previous dwellers have left you when you've moved in? I'm sure there's a lot worse out there than mouldy food!
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  • Clutterfree
    Clutterfree Posts: 3,678 Forumite
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    We moved here 10 months ago and when I was cleaning a cupboard in the utility room, at the edge on the shelf the owner had left a loose Stanley knife blade and a hack saw blade! :eek: Luckily I was wearing rubber gloves so didn't slice my fingers. I'm sure it was an oversight as they were hidden in the back but what a silly place to store them anyway.
    :heart: Ageing is a privilege not everyone gets.
  • Ithaca
    Ithaca Posts: 269 Forumite
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    Conkers. Everywhere, all over the place, in literally every corner of the house. We still turn up the odd one or two over two years later.

    Apparently there's a folk myth that conkers keep spiders out of the house so I assume the previous owner (chap in his 80s) scattered them around to keep eight-legged beasties away (doesn't seem to have worked though!).
  • DumbMuscle
    DumbMuscle Posts: 244 Forumite
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    The last 2 houses I have rented have had a toilet in a box in the shed (left over from renovations, and never moved by the LL)
  • Slinky
    Slinky Posts: 9,985 Forumite
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    Our tenants when we moved back to this house left us a bottle of wine in the kitchen, not entirely unusual. However I think they forgot about a bottle of champagne and another of port they left in a cupboard in the garage.

    When we bought the house we inherited a long handled cobweb brush which is quite useful still. And a folding wooden ruler I use when wallpapering.
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  • Tiners
    Tiners Posts: 232 Forumite
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    There was a small gap of about 10cm in the the kitchen kick boards of one house I bought, when I was ripping the kitchen out I found 16 dog balls that had all been lost behind the base units due to this gap.

    Knowing how upset my dog gets when he loses a ball under the coffee table or sofa (whines endlessly until someone retrieves it for him) I'm guessing the previous owners must have had one very frustrated dog!
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,440 Forumite
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    A 'meals on wheels' ready meal in the oven - so burnt, it looked like a roast dinner made of charcoal!

    It was a sad reminder that the previous occupant had died - presumably with his dinner warming in the oven - and it was some time before he was found!
  • hazyjo
    hazyjo Posts: 15,470 Forumite
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    Several huge stashes of !!!!!! mags in the loft lol (if that's filtered out, 'dirty mags' will do).
    2023 wins: *must start comping again!*
  • mgarl10024
    mgarl10024 Posts: 643 Forumite
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    When my able-bodied parents moved in to their new place, I discovered a zimmer frame in the attic. Mum was not impressed when I offered it to her. :)
  • KateySW
    KateySW Posts: 107 Forumite
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    eddddy wrote: »
    A 'meals on wheels' ready meal in the oven - so burnt, it looked like a roast dinner made of charcoal!

    It was a sad reminder that the previous occupant had died - presumably with his dinner warming in the oven - and it was some time before he was found!

    Oh no, that is really sad :( feel grateful mine wasn't something like that!
  • Murphybear
    Murphybear Posts: 7,278 Forumite
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    We bought a bungalow some years ago and there was a clock in the shape of a teapot in the kitchen. 5 house moves later we've still got it:o
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