Did you clean your old house before you moved out?

We moved last month, from a house I'd cleaned to within an inch of its life (which has been acknowledged by the lovely new owners). But the house we've moved into ... another story. Doggy smelling carpets, sticky worktops, tiled floors which when I mopped them turned the water black, filthy light switches, sockets and extractor fans. No instructions left for any built in appliances or the burglar alarm. The décor looks as if their grandchildren did the whole house in a day. And much, much more. Still, the 'bones' of the house are good and after a long-awaited (booked last February) holiday we've set to rectifying all the problems. It'll take a while though!

Most people on this forum would probably clean up before moving. But others don't do anything if they think they don't have to. Best thing to do when buying and moving is find out from your real estate agent what condition the home you're moving to will be in, so that a cleaning service can come out to clean if needed. Personally, I always arrange for a service to go in and clean up before I move in. That way, I don't have to worry about it.

I’ve rented since 2015. I’ve always cleaned the property I’d left, but everytime I moved into another property it was always dirty. I am totally disillusioned with the whole rental concept but can’t afford to buy a property sadly.

Just moved after 40 years, cleaned house before we left windows, cupboards, oven throughly cleaned week before. Even replaced double glazing unit that had blown.
No so in property we moved into cooker hob and extractor filthy. Windows & blinds dirty, some fittings hanging off wall edging strips on floor broken and carpets/ blinds & curtains were damaged by their cats. We only thought there was one but apparently they had 3.
Electric not working when we moved in.
Hubbys spent several weeks fixing things, old owner a poor DIYer
All top show that looked OK when we viewed but sale took 6 months and I don't think the owners did much at all once theyed accepted our offer.

I’ve always cleaned before leaving but these days I think it’s in the documents that you have to. The OP should have complained to her solicitor about it and the seller would be billed for cleaning and for having all the rubbish removed .
It would have been a good idea to take photos of all the mess and send them to the solicitor so that he would know that it was a genuine complaint . Too late now though .

I was thanked for leaving my house 'so clean' for the new owner. The house we moved into was a terrible state even though she promised me, 'I'll give it a good clean'. Our standards obviously differed!

We moved in March left old house spotless Our present house we did buy as a renovation project and it was absolutely filthy .It stunk carpets disintegrated as we lifted them .Spent a week cleaning then got tradesmen in for rewire etc never again ! Plumber redoing heating pipes found a leaking drain under the floor in hall cupboard ! Been like it for years likewise gas fire condemned in 2014! All clean and redone now lovely house but spent a fortune on it .

I was interested to see the comments about people taking the light bulbs etc when moving and not emptying the loft. People used to do that years ago, along with taking the carpets etc. I don’t think this would happen today if you are buying a property rather than renting. When we moved two years ago our solicitor asked us to sign a document stating we would leave light bulbs/fittings behind, empty the loft/sheds etc and leave the property in a clean and tidy condition.

We generously rented our old flat to a niece, baby, and her partner. When they moved we had to super clean and redecorate before could sell it . We even found a dirty nappy in the bin.

Not everyone has the " March out " standards certainly.

I thought you had to as a matter of course. I got a girlfriend to help me and we cleaned everything. Amazing what turned up on top of the high cupboards in the kitchen. I was exhausted and then you have to go through unpacking and sorting everything at the new house. Couldn’t stand the thought of it now at my age.

We thoroughly cleaned our house before leaving and then spent 3 weeks living in a caravan on a holiday site as we couldn't complete on the same day. Our new home was spotless everything very clean and nets washed etc. I was so grateful as we had been living with our furniture in storage so it was nice and easy to unpack at last

My friends sold their lovely large cherished house, which had become too much to cope with, to the owner of a nearby hotel. They left it in immaculate condition. Imagine their horror when he turned it into an immigrant hostel.
Several years later it looks like a dump, with filthy curtains at the filthy windows. They had lovingly restored it when they moved in as newlyweds, and it broke their hearts to see what it became. The new owner must have made a fortune.

When I bought my first house, 47 years ago, we exchanged contracts but then the sellers refused to leave. We had to resort to the law to move them out. They took things that were included in the price and hadn’t cleaned but the worst thing was the kitchen sink. They had emptied the fat from a chip pan into it , cleaned their hairbrushes into the fat and then topped it up with water. Nice people !

When we moved into this house the oven had a one inch layer of gunge on the bottom of it! I refused to try and clean it and we got in a professional firm. Had to wait 6 weeks.

Last move 2 years ago I was exhausted from several years with a husband with dementia and mobility problems. I just couldn't face cleaning a largish house on my own so I hired a professional cleaning company to do it for me. I'm so glad I did.

Gosh so much cleaning going on! When we moved into our present house, the previous owners had to leave a load of their belongings as they couldn't book a big enough lorry, they left a lot of valuable stuff in the safe but couldn't remember where they had left the key and half of the upstairs had no electricity because mice had chewed through the cables. They had also left the stables deep littered and when I started digging the bedding out (which took me two weeks) I had rats everywhere. Goodness a few chips behind the cooker and windows you can't see through are in a different league. It really didn't matter as we just loved the house and over 20 years later I still feel the same. I really don't sweat the small stuff!

Yes from top to bottom

Although I'm not renowned for my love of housework (!), each house we've left I have cleaned scrupulously from top to bottom.

I always leave instructions/manuals for any household equipment; a full loo roll and a spare, and working lightbulbs in all fittings. I also leave them a 'House Book' with details of room measurements, how much paint, wallpaper and curtain fabric is needed for each room etc. Details of how to operate the heating and burglar alarm etc. If they were moving from out of borough I also told them where to find the local recycling centre, hospital and doctor's practice. All of this was left in the kitchen with a welcome card and a bottle of wine.

No one has ever reciprocated for any house we have moved into. The first house we ever lived in was 'acceptably' clean but smelled, we later discovered it was damp and mold behind the wallpaper.

Our second house had not been lived in for several years. The seller (a single man) appeared to have vacuumed but didn't clean the bathroom, the cooker or the kitchen cupboards, and several lights were faulty.

When we moved to our present house we booked into a B&B for a week before moving our furniture in so we could repaint some rooms - I couldn't live with a brown living room and leaf green kitchen! I'm so glad we did as every room needed a thorough clean and repairs done. The built in cooker was unbelievably dirty and broken, cabinet doors were falling off and three radiators were rusty and leaking. I cleaned the bathroom twice but still couldn't get the brown stains out the toilet, and the shower didn't work! It was a very busy week and I began to wonder if we'd done the right thing in moving here. But we could see the funny side of it and had a lot of fun and laughs making it liveable.

Left it spotless and luckily houses l have moved too were spotless too.
My daughters house she moved too was dusgusting we had to literally chisel the dirt of the oven,it could never have been cleaned in years!

I moved recently and got professional cleaners in to ensure my already clean home was spotless.

I was shocked at how filthy my new house was. They hadn’t even emptied the fridge

Certainly did. The house we moved into unfortunately didn’t have our standards. Their cooker had more grease and dirt on it that it was easier to buy a new one!

Yes!
We found, in the house we moved to, in the attic, an old carpet someone had been sick on along time previously. A chimney they told us had fires in recently but was completely blocked off. A kitchen cupboard removed without notifying us they would do so…….and a kitchen drawer empty, except for alot of human nail clippings…..

My DD bought a house and when she moved in the couple leaving it had used the cupboard under the sink as the kitchen bin, and left food rotting on the base, they hadn't cleaned anything for weeks by the look of every room, and even left dirty water in the bathroom basin with the plug in. So disheartening.

I have always left a house in a clean and tidy condition. I would not even consider buying a house that appeared unclean when I viewed. It would put me right off! I don't even look at a house on Rightmove if the main picture looks scruffy.

We cleaned to the best of our ability but everyone's standards are different in life esp where cleaning is concerned !