Is that really necessary?

I've moved fairly frequently over the years. A couple come to mind. One was owned by an alcoholic whose wife left him. He obviously didn't want to leave and that was obvious with clothes scattered in every room, food left in the fridge and under the grill and bottles everywhere too. It genuinely looked as if he still lived there. We didn't stay long in that house. We had lovely neighbours on one side but the adjoining neighbours were awful.
The house I lived in when my marriage ended was in a horrible state. I knew it was bad but omg. They had painted round furniture and even paintings on the walls, the oven alone took a full morning to clean and we discovered rabbit droppings under the kitchen floor covering. The bedrooms were covered in children's graffiti. However, none of that was structural. My family and friends helped so much to sort it all out. I had painting parties and eventually I saved enough for a new kitchen. The neighbours were absolute gems. It was a really good price because of the state of it and I lived in it with the children for many years.

Having moved 19 times in all over the years have seen the best and worst at times, but have always left a clean and decent house myself, and my gift to the new people has always been two things. A small "house" book. This is a notebook with each room given a few pages. It contains the dimensions of the room and windows, the amount of wallpaper needed and curtain lengths etc. Any information, such as which floorboard to take up to look at pipes or whatever. At the back I list all the people we have used, such as plumbers and electricians who have done whatever work in the house etc. Then there is also a box with the spare roll of wallpaper for each room so that they can use it until they decide what they want to put there themselves. I have found people very happy to have that to start off.

Then through long experience , when I go looking for a house and then decide on the property I scout around for a b/b or small hotel close to the house. Then we book two nights there. Sometimes I have been able to organise an evening meal of casserole and jacket potatotes that can keep until we are ready, or we get fish and chips etc. That way if the removal van is late or there are any problems you know that you can go and get a shower and have a nights sleep in a clean bed. You also dont need to put the beds up first and make beds, especially if your things have come from abroad or been stored. Then the luxury of staying one more night in the b/b again lets you work methodically , without the need to have beds and kitchen ready when you are shattered. I think it is money well spent and stops a lot of tired and angry rows at the end of the day.

Must tell you of the worst thing I saw and felt so sorry for the family concerned. In these days of container removals, of course there is less likelihood of things being lost or stolen from the removal. However when we were moving to Damascus we were in the middle east at a port, when a very large crane lifted a large container and swung it across a harbour. At that moment the cranes chain snapped and the total container fell into the sea!! No matter what compensation you receive you have lost so much of your precious things, which are not necessarily worth money but matter a lot to you. I have certain things which I always carry with me and never let them be packed by anyone else.

After every move I think we all feel never again, but you never know what may turn up. I find however good or bad the state of your new home, having decent neighbours is the really important thing that can have a lasting effect on your life. It affects you so much more than the state of the rooms, but I can certainly look back on some hard cleaning jobs to get places straight. Couldnt do it these days so fingers crosse4d I can now just stay where I am!

Definitely leave it clean!

My daughter moved into a house that had a plug of the previous tenant’s long hair in the bath (discovered when it wouldn’t drain) - yuk!

Nicotine stained walls, yuk!

And finally - the carcass of a roast chicken in the oven …

By contrast - when we moved into our current house where the elderly owner had died, her sons handed over an immaculate, if dated, home with a card and a bottle of wine to welcome us on the kitchen counter.

We always leave houses sparkling clean for the next occupant. It’s just what you do!

a very large crane lifted a large container and swung it across a harbour. At that moment the cranes chain snapped and the total container fell into the sea!!
😯

I have certain things which I always carry with me and never let them be packed by anyone else. Good idea. However, there's a limit to what you can take if not travelling by car.

One removal firm advised us not to pack glassware, china, etc as they would do all thst and it would then be covered by their insurance. So I serpt it al, out on the dining table (we didn't have so much in those days, no inherited china etc). One removal man walked in and was extremely rude, swore and said we should have had that lot packed u already!
He was also obnoxious when he arrived the next day to unload. I hadn't wanted to move anyway and he was the final straw. 😥

Excuse typos!!

set it all out on the dining table

Define "necessary" in the situation described.

If there's power and water.....

Not that I'm against leaving a house clean and hoping for a clean one to move into but there's necessary and there's necessary.

In short, I have moved into dirty houses and coped, as I'm sure lots of other people have.

When I sold my parent's house after the death of my father, I visited it a few days before contracts where exchanged as it was my childhood home and I wanted to say "goodbye". I'd removed all the contents fairly soon after Dad's death. I was horrified to find builders in, they had knocked down a wall and were busy working. The new owners had copied a key so they could do work before moving in but it wasn't even their house!

Well done. Very kind - leave some loo paper too.
I once moved from Basingstoke to Jersey with an 8 week old baby. The tenant of the rented bank house knew about the baby but left the house without lightbulbs or loo paper…. But when I went into the kitchen, I just burst into tears, it was filthy and, honestly, I am totally not house proud.

Luckily I've been fortunate to have moved into clean homes 3 different times. When I moved out of those homes I left them clean. The people who moved in commented on how they found the home as if they were pleasantly surprised so maybe more often than not people don't clean before moving. I was happy it was appreciated but I just wanted to leave the home clean like I found it.

We’ve only lived in 3 houses since getting married 43years ago. The first was a new build and on getting the keys we spent the weekend cleaning the floors in preparation for the carpets and flooring vinyl to be fitted. From the day we paid the deposit my gram started to create a moving box with all the things we’d need floor mop, washing cloths, tea towels, cleaning supplies and osram mushroom lightbulbs. We took everything over to the house and DH to be at that time fitted lightbulbs into the light fitting so we could work later in the afternoon. There was a couple of snagging issues that needed fixed before the flooring was put down so we left the keys with the site agent that afternoon, but when we went back the next all the light bulbs had been removed. Needless to say I wasn’t happy and demanded the site agent get them replaced, he brought over so bulbs which had obviously been used so he got told replace with like for like or else I’d take the matter further, every time after that he moaned about the cost of the light bulbs.

We moved in somewhere on a cold November day and found that the heating wasn't working, all the hot water was being discharged through an overflow at eaves level.
We always suspected that the previous owner, who resented us not paying the full asking price, had altered the settings to make this happen.
Fortunately my husband was able to sort it out pretty quickly, but I remember sitting crying on the living room floor with my youngest child when it happened.

I have always cleaned a flat before moving, and wipe down surfaces, especially in the kitchen on moving in.

I have never had the experience of a filthy house, but when we moved in here, the seller had left 3 large heavy cupboards, and ancient studio couch, and an absolutely hideous ceiling lamp in the one front room. Contrary to the UK, in Denmark, when you move out, you are expected to take down all ceiling lights, except those in the bathroom and kitchen.

I stupidly contacted the seller, a most unpleasant woman, and asked what she expected us to do with the items mentioned, plus some ancient garden tools. Here a house is supposed to be completely emptied of all personal effects by the seller.

She said, she wanted the one large cupboard, so could we move it downstairs. I said we could not, as having employed a foot-rule I was aware that the cupboard was both taller and wider than the staircase, and that even if it had been smaller it was too heavy for me, and my husband could not move it alone. He offered to take it carefully apart, but she wouldn't have that.

Six weeks later, her adult son turned up, agreed that the cupboard could not be carried downstairs and asked my husband if he would take it apart. He did so- nine years later no-one as bothered to collect it - technically it is theft here to dispose of another person's chattels, even if they left them in a house you have bought and paid for, so we kept the component parts of the cupboard for years, but have gradually thrown it out. As I did the lamp, which she demanded and never bothered to come for.

We also discovered that the key to the garage door was missing - she claimed never to have had it, so there was no way of locking the house up when we left home, until DH had bought a pair of very solid bolts and screwed onto the door of the garage!

My daughter moved into a flat which had looked clean on the surface when she viewed it, but when the kitchen appliances were removed there were mouse droppings everywhere. We'd found the same thing when she moved her appliances from her old flat. Horrid, but unless you have a zealous cat I think that it isn't unusual.

Many years ago, my daughter and partner bought their first house in Bristol after a succession of rented accommodation.

I went to help with the move ,..... and it was filthy absolutely everywhere. For me, the worst was having to clear mouse droppings from every kitchen cupboard before even starting to remove the grime.

The worst house was the one I inherited from my grandmother who had been in a care home for a few years. Wiring was dodgy, opening cupboards dead mice fell out, the brambles had grown into the open door of the conservatory, filthy bedding on the beds, kitchen sink full of used tealeaves, etc. We rewired, installed a hot water boiler, did lots of cleaning, got a cat from a rescue and blocked up all the mouse holes. We moved in after 6 months. It was a lovely first home together.

We were moving into house that the local church organist lived.
Everyone was saying what a beautiful home she keeps.
Come to the day we moved in and it was filthy.
Gease in and on all the kitchen cupboards.
Floors were sticky.
Even the toilet hadn't been flushed.
It was so bad I took photos to send to my mum
showing how bad it was.
She was only in her 50's and was quite fit.
It turned out that she stopped cleaning after accepting
our offer.
I was so angry the next person who said it would be lovely and clean
I showed them the photos.

Moved many times but always cleaned the whole place before leaving. Also, have been entitled to remove fittings eg the curtain rails! I have though asked the buyer if they want items left, some yes, some no as perhaps not their style. All but one move was clean but of course how do you know up to standard unless you give things a wipe to find out so basically I went over everything anyway.

Definitely necessary!! When we moved from our last house we left it spotless. The new owner actually sent us a card thanking us for leaving the house so clean! Sadly we were not as fortunate with the house we purchased. Some people just do not care 😔

We moved into our house in Essex several years ago that the woman had spent ages cleaning. I really appreciated it but I can't imagine how much bleach she must have used. Everywhere smelt so strongly that it was days before my eyes stopped stinging.

We moved into a privately rented house but it was filthy, from top to bottom and most rooms. The chip fryer was full of old oil and kitchen surfaces and stove/oven covered in grime. Nothing was clean. We couldn't go to bed until we had sanitised the bathroom. We complained to the letting company but they said cleaners had been in. We told them that nothing had been done and it was a total disgrace. They didn't bother to send anyone to help us continue cleaning. We had no where else to go so we had to clean.

We always leave accommodation clean, rented houses clean, and when we sold our house - everything was clean and ready for new owners to move in.

we bought a house from a couple who were heavy smokers, once their pictures from the walls and belongings were gone we could not believe how badly stained walls etc were, which we did not notice when pictures were in situ. same house we also found a hole drilled through from the shower cubicle into the spare room build in wardrobe so hubby was a voyeur!

My father, a widower, moved into a house just before Covid. The previous owner had just packed a suitcase and left - food in the fridge etc. The sitting room was tiny and full of his furniture. Dad's stuff was dumped by the movers in every tiny space. I had a chest infection and a temperature...but was the only one available to help him. It nearly killed me. So many trips to charity shops and the tip, contacting the Heart Foundation etc. A real nightmare! He didn't stay there long and moved to a 3rd floor flat in a retirement block during Covid. The removal men weren't allowed to use the lift....they were heroes. Dad had to stay in the flat for 2 weeks before being allowed out in case he was harbouring the virus. The 1st time he did a Tesco shop he kept forgetting about the not hugging anyone rule and hugged all and sundry (he's a hugging type of man), picked up a mild case of Covid and hugged me. I've now had Long Covid for 4 years. He'd be devastated if he knew he was the source of this....

We have been fortunate as we have moved twice and both times the house was immaculate. A friend of mine moved into a house and had to rip all the carpets out and repaint everywhere as the previous owners were heavy smokers. They had left some curtains in the bedroom and my friend thought she would not be able to keep them as she didn't like the colour. I said l would wash and iron them, which I did, because the actual design was very much to her taste and I was sure that the colour was nicotine. I was proved right and they came up about seven shades lighter than they had been - a rather fetching ivory colour. My friend was amazed and delighted, and, as far as I know, still has them ten or more years later.

We had sold and put our furniture into storage while looking for our next home. On the day, I picked up the keys and arranged to meet DH there. I opened the front door and cried, the house stunk and was filthy. We stayed with my parents and didn’t move in for 8 months. Every night after work we’d be down there. We ended up pulling ceilings down, knocking walls down etc, a total change. It was a lovely house in the end but it never felt like home.

The last house I left (20 years ago) I was still cleaning as I backed out of the front door. I even left them a Moving In card, wishing them as happy a time as we had had there, bringing up our children.