I once saw a purchase agreement where the buyers agents asked that the seller clean the home before the closing. I see a lot of homes and this particular home was cleaner than average. I advised the seller to say no to cleaning the home.
The buyers agent said she wants to make sure the home is clean for her client and so she put it in writing. Putting things in writing is a great idea but what does clean mean? What if the seller cleaned the home but the buyer decided that it wasn’t clean. How would we resolve the situation.
In this case the buyer will be doing a final walk through as all buyers should before the closing. If the place is a total mess the buyer would have recourse because the closing can not happen without him. If the seller does clean the place before the closing and believes that it is clean that might not be good enough because “clean” is kind of vague.
Right now my husband would probably say that the kitchen is clean. I would disagree with that. There are no dishes in the sink, the floor is swept and the counter is free of crumbs or anything gooey but I wouldn’t call the room clean but he would and neither one of us are right or wrong.
In general sellers should clean before they leave and most buyers should plan on cleaning before they move in. When putting things in writing they need to be as specific as possible. Sometimes we ask to have carpet shampooed by a professional carpet cleaning company and sometimes we ask that the windows be professionally cleaned or that the cleaning cycle on the oven be run or that the fireplace be left free of ashes and pieces of charred wood.
There once was a home buyer who asked to have a furnace cleaned. They put it in writing. The home seller used his shop vac to remove dust inside the furnace and then cleaned the outside with some rags and a little windex. That isn’t how a professional cleans a furnace. The agent who put it in writing should have asked that the furnace be inspected and certified by a licensed heating contractor.
Be careful out there and if you put it in writing be as specific as possible.
