Moving - to Fill or Not to Fill

[Skyedriver]

When we sold our house on Skye we left a few cardboard boxes along with a washing machine which was plumbed in as as help to the new owner along with a load of timber of various lengths widths and origin as she was intending to install a woodburner.
We received a letter from her solicitor demanding we remove everything or be charged for their removal.......

[sociopath]

DonkeyApple said:

Diplomatico said:

Hello,

Moving house in a few weeks. Do people generally fill holes from pictures, TV in wall, mirrors etc?

Or do you leave the fixing in place and ride off into the sunset.

We don’t have the paint for every room. So can’t paint over all of the holes we fill if that’s the consensus.

What has everyone else done?

I generally leave picture fixings in place but will fill any holes. I don’t then decorate to blend in.

I’ve always had the property cleaned once all our stuff is out because a lot of buyers seem to move in immediately. We took four days sterilising the latest property before moving our stuff in

What did you move into, a house or a pigsty?

I've never sterilised a house for 5 minutes never mind 4 days, and I'm not dead yet

[DoubleD]

Skyedriver said:

When we sold our house on Skye we left a few cardboard boxes along with a washing machine which was plumbed in as as help to the new owner along with a load of timber of various lengths widths and origin as she was intending to install a woodburner.
We received a letter from her solicitor demanding we remove everything or be charged for their removal.......

Did you ask if you could leave items?

[dundarach]

I would clean and fill the holes.

[Cpl nobby nobbs]

I have always (granted that's only twice) left the house spotless, my wife would not have it any other way, but I don't fill tiny nail holes or picture hook holes that's for the people that move in, they will inevitably Re decorate.

This last house we moved into 2 years ago biggest most expensive property we have had was disgusting, we had to wait as they where still inside moving out at 1500 after we had the keys at 1300 they said they where cleaning.

Like fk they where. My wife was in tears it was so filthy, OK we are not talking st on the walls or anything but once the furnature was out the carpets where gross, and let's not mention the kitchen dirty fkers, I ripped the carpet out the dining room swept the floor then spread a tarp and got the removals to put some stuff in there the rest went in the garage, then off to homebase to hire a rug doctor to try to clean them up a bit.
Oh and let's not forget the open bin bag full of used sanitary products lobbed into the bottom of the hedge because the bins are full all blowing about in the wind.

So no don't worry about a few holes, I would have been happy with that.

[Meeten-5dulx]

Leave the fixings.
Any paint, leave it and label what room it is for.

The people buying will ha e seen where pictures were and may well like it. If not, they have the ability to change.

I always clean any home I move into, I don't expect the previous owner to have done that.

[jonwm]

When we moved a few weeks ago the wife literally cleaned the house better than when we lived in it!!

We had a really nice couple who were FTB, they had nothing to there name so left:

Washing machine
Fridge
Freezer
All blinds
3 TV brackets
All lampshades
Paint for every room (from decoration)
Hedge trimmer
4 beers in the fridge

They were really grateful and I hoped it helped them on there journey, now if Rishi could refund my £8.7k stamp as a good deed to me I'll go on my merry way

[Nickyboy]

Diplomatico said:

Leave them in it is.

What if a downlighter bulb has blown. Would you replace or leave?

A friend of mine moved a couple of years ago, we helped them move then stayed for a takeaway, It wasn't until it got dark that we all realised there were no ceiling lights. The house had been nicely lit by lamps and they didn't even notice when viewing etc They had 2 lamps but were still in boxes somewhere,

[Evoluzione]

I'm planning on leaving an owners manual with mine as i've been here a while, it has many quirks which the new owners won't want to know about, but will need to know about.

[snowandrocks]

We moved into a new house last year, it was clean, there was a bunch of flowers, a card and a bottle of Bollinger left. There was also a folder with manuals for the appliances along with the service dates and contact details for boilers, water treatment plant and chimney sweeps.

Even my first flat as a student came with a sofa, kitchen stuff and a crate of beer, some crisps and some dip!

I think a lot depends on how you get on with the sellers during the process.

Edited by snowandrocks on Sunday 12th July 02:57

[Kermit power]

silversurfer1 said:

when my sale goes through i will fill and blend in any holes, have the carpets professionally cleaned and leave the place mint.

I treat people how i like to be treated and believe in karma.

SS

We went to see a typical family home a few years back, and the Estate Agent asked us if we'd mind taking our shoes off to protect the carpet, which was practically white.

I t mentioned to my wife that we'd have to factor in the cost of new carpets because these ones would be utterly impractical once the kids got anywhere near them.

The Estate Agent confided that pretty much every viewer had said the same thing. The owners had just spent thousands fitting the stuff, thinking they were increasing the value of their property, and the reality was the complete opposite.

When we next move, I'll clean and leave it at that

[xx99xx]

Evoluzione said:

I'm planning on leaving an owners manual with mine as i've been here a while, it has many quirks which the new owners won't want to know about, but will need to know about.

I did the same at last house with added info on other stuff like bin collection day, who the neighbours were etc. Plus removed most screws from walls, filled holes and painted. Left the ones I didn't have paint for. I seem to remember solicitors request that all walls are made good.

[hotchy]

My house came with a tv on the wall. He thought we could use it he said.


Had a hole nearly the size of the tv.

The tv had no plug.

Thanks.


My mum left a big bottle of champagne and flowers and a card to wish the new owners good luck. Thought that was nice.

Edited by hotchy on Sunday 12th July 08:10

[boyse7en]

Evoluzione said:

I'm planning on leaving an owners manual with mine as i've been here a while, it has many quirks which the new owners won't want to know about, but will need to know about.

I plan to do that too
I always thought it would be nice to get some paperwork with info like where the stopcock is, where the outside lights are wired from etc.

[paulw123]

I’d leave the picture fixings but clean everything else. Mine was that way and I got a nice letter with all the bits I needed to know.

5 years of hard work later and the house is barely recognisable so filling in a few holes in the wall would have been a waste of their time!

[PositronicRay]

Ask the purchaser.

Ours said leave hooks and stuff.

On our purchase the vendors made it very clear they were taking every towel rail, toilet roll holder, curtain rail, light fitting, and hook.

I asked they make good, they were as good as their word. Filled decorated, immaculately clean, carpets etc spotless.

I've actually never seen such an immaculate house, sent them a bunch of flowers as a thanks.

[oblio]

We clean (just follow the removers around as they finish emptying a room); leave the picture fittings in place; leave as much blurb about the house as we can; but don't fill in any holes - which there are not many of anyway tbh - assuming that most folks may want to re-decorate anyway.

[UnclePat]

Evoluzione said:

I'm planning on leaving an owners manual with mine as i've been here a while, it has many quirks which the new owners won't want to know about, but will need to know about.

I’ve always been bemused that there is typically no short handover-type arrangement when moving house, given it’s probably the biggest financial commitment we ever make and being the place you live it’s of huge influence on daily happiness besides.

Precisely for the reasons you & others have listed - quirks, workarounds, servicing dates, appliance manuals, bin collections, neighbours to watch for etc.

We moved early this year and as well as cleaning the house thoroughly, we left appliance manuals, alarm co. details, service dates, contacts for reliable boiler servicing, gardner etc., bin collection dates, paint colours used, tips on how to operate the central heating programmer, and replacement spare tiles, skirting board, paint etc.

We also left champagne, card & chocs.

Plus left them for free (with their blessing - to help out a single first time buyer) the existing, perfectly fine & working washing machine, cooker, fridge/freezer & window blinds. Not to mention several hundred litres of heating oil.

Contrast this with the tw*ts we bought the house from - pulled all the nice light fittings & replaced with cheap & bog-standard white fittings & dangling bare bulbs.

We also refused to pay the rip-off price they were offering their window blinds for - a couple of hundred - so they removed every single set before moving. Why, I have no idea - they are made-to-measure so what benefit would they get in their new home?

[myvision]

When we moved in the previous owners left everything the Hoover was plugged in and in the middle of the living room.
It looked as though they'd just said right let's leave now.
Clothes still hanging in the wardrobes and washing in the machine.

Took fking ages to move it all out. A sty note to say enjoy your new house.
they'd gone back to Canada.

[Diplomatico]

The people we bought the house we are selling from left us a picture on the wall. I thought that’s nice, not my type of thing but a nice gesture. Removed it and there was a massive hole where they had clearly tried to put the TV once upon a time. We then found 100s of holes etc where they had wired their surround sound etc.