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Help! £500 Bill for cleaning post sale of property

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  • kdotdotdotdot
    kdotdotdotdot Posts: 329 Forumite
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    Anyone else wondering if this poster sold their home to this person: https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=6090840 ???
  • Halfie
    Halfie Posts: 132 Forumite
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    Oh sweety... our house had been stood empty for 11 months and previous to that was lived in by a very elderly infirm gentleman. Filth actually ran off the walls and tiles when we started cleaning and the cooker hood was a fire hazard cause it was so full of fat. And what came out of the carpet should probably have been donated to medical science! Believe me I considered this course of action too but figured it would get me now where as cleanliness is subjective... Ignore them. Costs of cleaning materials are, in my mind, part of moving costs! As for them trying to claim for painting materials.... taking the proverbial!
  • DCFC79
    DCFC79 Posts: 40,598 Forumite
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    edited 15 January 2020 at 4:39PM
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    NaughtiusMaximus wrote: »
    £650 labour charge for cleaning a house and a bit of redecorating (£38 of paint won't go far)???

    They were robbed :D


    Not just the paint but I reckon they were robbed on other items too.


    OP keep us updated with any further news.
  • EHomer
    EHomer Posts: 12 Forumite
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    kdotdotdotdot wrote: »
    Anyone else wondering if this poster sold their home to this person:

    Nope. The boiler was serviced at their request and radiators bled. Oven was spotless too. No leak on kitchen either.
  • EHomer
    EHomer Posts: 12 Forumite
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    Halfie wrote: »
    Oh sweety... our house had been stood empty for 11 months and previous to that was lived in by a very elderly infirm gentleman. Filth actually ran off the walls and tiles when we started cleaning and the cooker hood was a fire hazard cause it was so full of fat. And what came out of the carpet should probably have been donated to medical science! Believe me I considered this course of action too but figured it would get me now where as cleanliness is subjective... Ignore them. Costs of cleaning materials are, in my mind, part of moving costs! As for them trying to claim for painting materials.... taking the proverbial!

    I know how you feel. House we moved into was same. Empty for a year and full of grime. The kitchen was worst part here too. Getting our bill together for the purchase :rotfl:
    Urgh I don't even want to imagine the colour of the water that came out the carpet. Just think of the end goal of a home you made your own!
    One of our rooms looks like the 70s partied too hard and threw up everywhere. The carpet matches the wallpaper. They wallpapered around the wardrobe too... :rotfl:
  • EHomer
    EHomer Posts: 12 Forumite
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    So I replied to the solicitor

    Good evening

    Please do not respond to this request from them. The house was sold in a condition commensurate to their viewing, they were offered to come to the property when I went back to clean the property.
    To answer will I pay for their bill of items, the answer now will be as it will be going forward, and i refer you to Hamlet Act 3 Scene 3 Line 87... "No".
    I do wonder however what the bill would be for a house requiring renovation. If for a small end terrace it is to this value a house requiring full renovation must be a considerable amount.
    Please do not respond to any further communication from them regarding this as I am not paying for anything.

    Many thanks
  • SnooksNJ
    SnooksNJ Posts: 829 Forumite
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    tealady wrote: »
    OP are you in the USA by any chance. This is a UK site.
    I doubt someone would have their lawyer deal with this kind of nonsense at $500 an hour.
  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 0 Newbie
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    This is madness, ignore it completely!
    When I bought my flat the seller had strategically placed furniture around to hide the fact that the carpets weren't fitted, just laid down on the floor & there was smoke staining throughout which wasn't obvious until she took the pictures down.
    But to be honest I didn't care about any of that, I can see why she did it and it's my own fault for not noticing.
    These people are crazy for trying to get compensation! Why anyone would think it's worth the hassle I don't know.
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,442 Forumite
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    EHomer wrote: »
    I did receive receipts from the buyers solicitors some time ago but as these included costs for drinks etc I have already asked for a revised list. I look forward to your comments on the above.

    Just a thought... Are you sure your solicitor isn't treating this almost as a joke?

    You could almost interpret the para above as...
    They wasted my time by sending this stupid request, with a bunch of drinks receipts...

    So I played along, and wasted their time, by asking for a revised list without the drinks.

    What do you think of that?
  • Madmel
    Madmel Posts: 798 Forumite
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    Pretty sure I have posted this before but we had something tried on from buyers about missing window keys. The son of the vendor tried to claim that all the windows needed replacing - they weren't even locked. You could buy keys online for approx £2 each and it was 2 windows. This vendor had messed us around for months, the final straw being that she didn't realise that she would have to pay a deposit at exchange. She then wanted us to wait a further 3 weeks AFTER her current property had been bought by the property management people for completion. The window thing really was taking the proverbial.

    Our wonderful solicitor rang me and I could hear the trepidation in her voice when she told me. Her view was "how far do you want me to tell them to F off?" but slightly more polite. I asked her to send the reply quoted on page 2 from Arkell vs Pressdram. She was not familiar with the case but did her due diligence and sent the letter. She refused to charge us for it because we had educated her on a legal matter and she wanted to get one over on the other side. That was the last we heard of them.
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