Special Conditions in your contract- what to put in about cleaning

What special condition do you put in your contract regarding the vendor cleaning the place that you are buying? do you require professional cleaning? or do you just get your property manager to do it after you've bought the place before tenants go in? or...

 

You can request any condition be inserted into the Contract of Sale although whether the seller accepts it is a different matter.

Certainly if you have a particular cleaning firm you would prefer to undertake a clean you could request that although what would probably be easier is to negotiate the price and you cover the cost with a firm of your choice.

Cheers


Richard

 

Hey

Wylie, i am the buyer of a property and wanted to know what the best way to have it cleaned is. my solicitor suggested a special condition about getting it cleaned professionally. but the seller bawked at it. any suggestions?

 

I would tell you to get lost if you put a special condition about cleaning in a contract.

 

I always put carpets to be professionally cleaned, and ask to see to tax receipt, i do this the day before settlement at the pre inspection.If the house if the house is left filthy,we simply do not settle.

 

Yeah - forget about it. Most vendors in a seller's market would tell you 'no'. That's what's just happened. As wylie said, she (and we all) do our own cleaning to our own standard, after we've ripped out what we don't want anyway and put it in the skip bin.

 

I always put a special condition that all rubbish must be removed from the house, garage and backyard.

Whether they mr sheen the kitchen bench or not doesn't concern me.

 

Unconditional contract, get it for a better price. Use the money saved to sort it yourself

 

What if they leave you a house full of furniture, beat up old cars in the backyard and truck loads of rubbish in the garage? It's going to cost you time and money.

 

That would scare other buyers away. Likely get it for a better price as a result

 

True, but you'll need to budget for this as it could get costly.

 

Wouldn't be first time

 

That's easy - you are buying with "vacant possession" the property must be "vacant" ie devoid of "stuff", empty. If not either delay settlement, or instruct your solicitor to hold back money out of the settlement monies to pay for rubbish removal, or hold back funds "in trust" giving vendors 5 business days from settlement to come and remove or you get to keep the funds held back.

We've done settlements with all 3 of the above scenarios.

 

Exactly what you should do if stuff is left around, @Hodge the discussion was cleaning a vacant property.

I agree with @D.T and leave the clause out and factor this into your price if you feel cleaning will be an issue.

 

My Solicitor told me that the property should be in the same condition for settlement as when you inspected the property initially. My recent Logan property was pretty dirty when I got it, exactly the same as when I inspected it, I thought the vendor (owner occ) would have made some attempt to clean it as it hadn't been cleaned for 30++ years I think, however he didn't. I would say if the house is really dirty then it cant hurt to ask for it to be cleaned to a suitable standard upon settlement, that's what I'm going to ask for next time, can't hurt to ask! Luckily I bought well under market value so I can't complain however it took a week to clean the whole place including scrubbing ALL the walls...

 

You have to weigh up the costs of just sorting it out yourself compared to paying your solicitor to argue about it to and fro with the other side. It's more hassle to keep coming back several times for yet another "pre-settlement inspection" to argue about a few items left behind or what the definition of acceptable cleanliness is. Granted, if there are lots of large items that don't fit in the council bin, things would be problematic since waste needs to be transported to the not-so-cost-efficient tip by a relevant service provider with a trailer or van.

Particularly in cases of deceased estates, it is rare to find that the family has an interest in cleaning the property before settlement. I've even seen such folks leave the crockery and drinking glasses in the cupboards. It happens sometimes. I've been to the odd site for clients where I felt that given I was in the area and it was easy enough to do, it was simpler for me to just empty the contents of the cupboards into the wheelie bin, give the place a bit of a going over with some lemon-fragranced surface and floor cleaning products, and then head off, after having a lovely chat to the neighbours who inevitably kindly offer to put the bin out on bin night. Problem solved. You've got to pick your battles, and some things just aren't worth the agro of battling over.

 

We were disgusted after moving into a place we had just bought. Paid over $1mil and you'd think that the vendor would do the nice thing and have the place looking respectfully tidy.
We didn't think it would need to be part of the contract.
Dump. We just sold our house and got a professional cleaner in regardless of what's in the contract.
You'd also think that the Agent would have some sort of client advice as it is also a reflection on the agent. They do after all get paid . . .
In hindsight, upon inspection, would have looked at Window sills (where the windows slide), under cupboards etc, especially in the garage and/or games rooms etc.
Also mention to the Agent that "will the house be cleaned?"
Amateurs . . .