Buying a house with a cleaning condition?

[Guest GirlFriday]

Hi everyone,

 

Long time lurker first time poster here... We're from the UK and have been here for nearly 2 years, ready to take the plunge in buying our first ever house (about time too!). We also recently had our first child so it could be baby brain clouding my rationale , but I'm having a little difficulty understanding the house buying process and hoping you can help?

 

We have found a house that we like and have put in an offer for it. Before we put in the offer we had advice from a conveyancer and also from reading on the internet as to how you're supposed to go about this stuff (we're very green!) and what we found out was that it is ok and pretty normal to put in your own conditions as part of the offer.

 

We were advised that it is a good idea to organise a pre-settlement inspection of the property to make sure that it is in the same condition as the day you signed the contract, and also that it is not unreasonable to add a condition that the property be left in a clean and tidy condition e.g all rubbish removed, all previous owners stuff removed etc (so we don't have to hire a skip or anything the day we move in).

 

So we made our offer with those conditions, and the agent has come back and said that the current owners were offended by the extra conditions, and we got the strong impression that they may pull out . I am really surprised by this as we did not mean to offend AT ALL but thought these were fairly straightforward terms that no one would find difficult. But now I'm not sure. As we're new to this, have we made a big mistake? Did you sell or buy and have conditions like this? What do you think - is it too much to ask?

 

Any advice would be appreciated as I said we're new and don't want to step on any toes but still want to be fair to everyone involved.

 

Cheers,

Annie

[Guest Guest75]

I've exchanged a few property's here and would not take offence at your inclusion.

It is common sense and really should be in a contract anyway.

I'd be furious if a vendor left a house in a mess.

 

I suppose adding it as a condition has highlighted the condition.

 

It's no offensive and the vendors are mad if they take offence - it is a bit of a buyers market at the moment.

 

You seem very nervous and frightened to offend anyone - don't be. The vendors just want your money. They will not be friends with you afterwards. You must ensure that YOU are happy with the deal as YOU have to live with it after.

 

As said I have dealt in property - here and in the UK.

Never made many friends in the business but did make a profit!!!

You cannot be emotional about this.

 

Hope I have helped and good luck!!

[soo_the_panda]

Agree completely with Tyke. We asked our vendor to have our house professionally cleaned and he agreed. He didn't - he left it in a filthy state - really awful, which was very annoying spending time and money on professional cleaners and also our time cleaning. We didn't put it into the actual conditions in writing and wish we had as maybe then he would have covered the cleaning costs! Good luck and enjoy your house!

[jim and adel]

Like what Tyke said.

 

Don't worry about offending - some people will take offence no matter what you do or say - as a long time lurker on here you'll have noticed this.

 

Jim

[minty]

I would play it the other way and say unless it is agreed to you will pull out and you want it done by the end of the week.

[Kingpin]

That's odd. Why would anyone be offended that you had asked for the house to be left in a clean and tidy fashion? I am assuming it is the Agent that has told you they are offended? Pay no attention. It is a perfectly normal request.

[xzibit]

Who cares if they're offended. Insist that it's in the contract and if they don't agree you'll take your money elsewhere. It sounds to me as if you don't include these conditions, you may be met with a filthy house upon moving day.

[Guest GirlFriday]

Thanks everyone for the reassurance. I know it's a buyers market at the moment but that's not an excuse to be brash and offensive (which we weren't, but you know what these things are like with Agents - chinese whispers at best!). It was the Agent who told us they were offended so that's what has put my hackles up a bit.

 

I'm not getting good vibes from this at all to be honest and I wish they would just make up their mind as we need to move on if they're not interested. They have really kept the house beautiful though so it would be a shame for them to throw toys out of the pram over something like this - makes me wonder if there is something else afoot, some other reason they don't want to sell to us. Now I am wondering if we've chosen the right house - perhaps we should just find another one!

 

I'll post again when I get an outcome though

[csobrien1966]

There is nothing unusual with putting your request into the conditions section of the contract. I have had it on quite a few of my contracts.

The only thing that A LOT of people will not agree to is a pre handover inspection.

The reason for this is SOME and I mean SOME hide things ie; damaged tiles etc under rugs, behind posters etc which is totally wrong!

There is nothing wrong with your request and I WOULD RECOMMEND EVERYONE TO DO THE SAME.

I certainly would expect carpets etc to be professionally cleaned before I move in.

[Guest GirlFriday]

so an update to our situation... the vendor has voiced concern that if we put a cleaning clause in the contract that gives us an out to cancelling the contract at the 11th hour if we want to, and as they are anxious to get on and move interstate this would be a bad thing for them. Apparently they are from the UK too and this is something that happens there, having not bought any property in the UK I can't comment.

 

Their agent is a total idiot - he is giving them bad information and its making us look like we are trying to wriggle out of things when we are not! I mean, as if someone cancels buying a house because a bin wasn't emptied or something! Why does he not explain to them that this is a standard thing to ask (if it is as you all have been suggesting) and that nobody would try to get out of a house sale based on this? He has also said that in all his years of experience in RE (he is older and I assumed more experienced) he has never heard of a pre-settlement inspection and kept getting this mixed up with the building inspection when we spoke to him about it.

 

Arrghh! Why can't they just let us sit down with the vendor over a glass of wine or two and talk about it! I've considered just going round there to chat but this feels inappropriate so I won't, but really - we are not trying to get out of the contract, we WANT to buy the house, but ONLY if everything is in working order and we won't be up for additional (unanticipated) cost when we move in. Surely this is reasonable?

[Kingpin]

House buying and selling equals stress. I feel your pain and we are only at the looking and making offers stage!!!

[minty]

If they are looking at moving interstate then you have the upper hand as they want rid of. I would call there bluff and put it in an email exactly what you are after and why and asked this to be passed on to the sellers. Explain that it's not a get out clause but a way to make sure that the house is left clean and all belongings are taken. Then give a timeframe say the end of the week for agreement and if not you will pull out. If they don't like it pull out as they are hiding something, most reasonable people would agree though.

[xzibit]

I'm a little unsure as to why you are fretting. Tell their agent that these conditions are going in the contract and if they want to sell the house they will accept them. I've bought a house in the UK and in our contract we were told that the house must be in a clean condition with all belongings and rubbish removed before completion of the contract. I also visited the property on the morning we were going to sign to make sure that nothing had happened (damage etc) as it had been about 12 weeks since I initially viewed the property.

 

I'd also be including these if I was buying here, and if they 'got offended' then I'd either presume they were pansies or had something to hide. You'll feel a royal fool if you back down so you don't hurt their feelings and discover some cracked floor tiles, a hole in the gyprock and the air conditioning stuffed.

[lorluc]

Totally do it! Wish we'd done something like that when we bought our place nearly 6 years ago. We turned up with the keys to find an old swing rammed into the bin, which made the bin men refuse to empty it....huge pile of rubbish including wood, metal sheets etc stuffed behind the shed....we turned the oven on and thing caught fire with the amount of grease inside...and i've saved the best bit to last............a compost bin full of dog poo!!!!

 

Anyway we were furious and contacted the agent straight away to express our anger, weren't too forthcoming at first but when we threatened legal action.....the vendors then sent us the money to cover having all the rubbish including the dog poo removed....

[Guest Lou]

I wish that we had offended the people we bought our house from. We bought it in August and we are still clearing out the rubbish they left behind. Why should you have to clear out their rubbish or clean a house they are lucky enough to sell in this market.

[Rammygirl]

They are not used to buildings surveys either, we put that as a condition on our contract and the vendors tried to keep our deposit when we pulled out as we were unhappy with issues the survey revealed!

 

We had to get a solicitor to write a letter to them threatening action in the end. The Agent was a bit embarrassed, but they paid up. Building surveys are not routinely done it would seem but buyer beware!

 

Can you just not stipulate that if the house is not left in a reasonable state you reserve the right to have it cleaned and send them the bill but not that it will effect the contract.

[csobrien1966]

The owners have to answer a questionnaire when filling out a sales agency agreement to state what works and what does'nt.

They also have to state if all things have been council approved and if all work carried out has been completed by a licensed tradesperson.

When you get the form 1's served on you this is where cooling off starts.

In there will be all council approval requests and the verdicts on the requests. Also straight out ask the agent.....Is there anything about this property you should tell us about?

ie; sheds or extensions built without council also ask the any termite evidence or treatment been carried out on the home by law the agent has to disclose it to you, BUT you have to ask! He works for the owners and has to work in their best interests.