Are houses/flats typically clean with you move in?

<posh git>our cleaner does our oven for us <\posh git >

I would say yes, British homes are built to be air tight, and that leads to stuffiness and mustiness. I am yet to actually go into a non new house that doesn't smell a bit weird or strongly of air freshener.

We did have a self cleaning oven and the cycle took 12 hours.  Not sure we did it more than once.

We just rented a house and it was very dirty when my husband went to do the walk through and pick up the keys.  Is this typical over there?  Are the new tenants usually responsible for cleaning before move in?  The owner (who moved out in May) seemed offended when my husband told them how dirty it was.  He said the oven was filthy, etc.  I just wondered if our expectations are too high and this was typical over there.

Oh, so sorry this is your introduction to Glasgow!

We moved into a flat that had been vacant for months and they had just "refurbished" with new Pergo flooring, dual-pane windows, a new toilet, and a coat of paint. The how-to-install sticker is still on the toilet (amazing glue they used! Can't get it off!!!). When we moved in there was Pergo dust on everything, sticking to the walls, etc., and although the inside of the oven was clean, on top of the cabinets and the handles everything was kinda greasy/gunky. I guess their cleaner didn't bother to do up there...  I spent a full day wiping down all the walls, then getting the yutz off the top of the cabinets.  Drawers in the freezer were broken and held on with painter's tape. The front bathroom window had been left open for I don't know how long, so perhaps that helped as we had no mustiness. Or maybe it was because they took all the carpet out and the paint was fresh.  They've been ripping carpet out and replacing with laminate as residents move out - and it's a good thing, I think!

Other than that, it was pretty clean. Some of the flats I looked at, though, were in hideous shape - you'd think if they really wanted to rent them they'd have them tidied up before showing them??? But I guess not?

Our flat was clean and we have to have it professionally cleaned when we move out.  All of the appliances were new though.

I had to chuckle when I saw lyonaria's post...even though our flat has pretty good ventilation (windows on 3 sides) it still came with one of those plug in air fresheners.  Luckily now we've got our books out and have had many cleans with our preferred products and it smells like home.

We looked at a house recently and the last tenants got evicted and trashed the place. The landlord put money to fix the things they broke etc but pretty much said it is as is.

We just signed a contract on a new house and I stipulated that the house be professionally cleaned as part of the tenancy. We shall see when we move

Musty would make me think there's mold somewhere.  We don't have HVAC systems in the UK so you'll find you are ALWAYS fighting dust!

I have my oven professionally cleaned twice a year.  Am I the only one?     Was just done on Tuesday.  They don't have self-cleaning ovens here and for £40, the professional clean is 100% worth it!  They take it completely apart and soak it in tanks in their van.

Omg I would totally do this! We're selling our oven because our new place has one. And I spent a good few hours cleaning it to get it sparkly and new looking. I bought a kit that lets the shelves soak in chemicals in a big bag. It worked great but the elbow grease I put into it plus chemicals where you have to wear gloves  to use just wasn't worth it.

And I try to clean it every few months but this was be first time I realllllly scrubbed it out.

I'm so glad I don't rent anymore, but every place I moved into was clean.  I had to get everything professionally cleaned when moving out too.
Leaving a house that was owned, well it can just be left it a tip for the next person. 

After years and years of renting and being beaten on cleaning when leaving, when I had moved in with my then BF (now husband) and we sold his house, I was going mad with cleaning and he was like "What are you doing? They bought the house, they can clean the oven!" 

Life is good when you own a property in the UK. I don't have to answer evil cows called letting agents. There is a special place in hell for them. 

I've not rented before, but my husband and I own 1/3rd of a rental property. I wouldn't be shocked if this was a property you were purchasing, but definitely wouldn't expect that from a rental property. You're typically supposed to make sure the property is in the same condition you found it in (whether that's deep cleaning yourself or hiring a professional cleaner). This includes the oven. This sounds like it says more about the landlord than it does normal practices when renting a flat.

I'm convinced that sometimes the landlords let builders sleep in a property if they are getting work done in between tenets. 

I've not rented before, but my husband and I own 1/3rd of a rental property. I wouldn't be shocked if this was a property you were purchasing, but definitely wouldn't expect that from a rental property. You're typically supposed to make sure the property is in the same condition you found it in (whether that's deep cleaning yourself or hiring a professional cleaner). This includes the oven. This sounds like it says more about the landlord than it does normal practices when renting a flat.

1/3rd?  Is this a shared ownership thing?  I've only ever heard of them for living in.  Interesting!

1/3rd?  Is this a shared ownership thing?  I've only ever heard of them for living in.  Interesting!

It's because it was my husband's flat from before we got married. We got married, I moved over, and then after a year or two we started looking to move...but we were in a super popular area so didn't want to totally let the place go...so my two BIL's bought in so each "family" (technically just the guys I guess) own a third of the flat each. Gave us the equity to upgrade our house without losing the property that is just going to go up in value.

The place we bought was the dirtiest place we moved into.  All the rentals were pretty clean, though my neat freak partner still cleaned them all ceiling to skirting boards.  For rentals it was like they'd always cleaned the surface, but hadn't done any type of deep clean.  For the house we bought, we think the second we put in our offer they decided not to ever clean again - plus left us with a broken fridge and broken oven to dispose of.

The place we bought was the dirtiest place we moved into.  All the rentals were pretty clean, though my neat freak partner still cleaned them all ceiling to skirting boards.  For rentals it was like they'd always cleaned the surface, but hadn't done any type of deep clean.  For the house we bought, we think the second we put in our offer they decided not to ever clean again - plus left us with a broken fridge and broken oven to dispose of.

Were the fridge and oven included with the house?? Or did they literally just abandon them? Because I believe there is *something* you can do if it was in working order and meant to be included in the house but they ended up broken when you moved in.

According to the People Who Know It All at mumsnet you could at least stick them with the removal costs.  I've never had this issue so I don't know the truth in it, but it's worth a shot if it's recent?