What surprises will the vendors have left behind when you move in, asks Edel Morgan

Moving home (and yes a few people are still doing it) can throw up some surprises. Some will find a pristine new home and flowers or a good luck note from the previous owner. Others discover the vendor's equivalent of a horse's head in the bed, ie decomposing food in the fridge, stripped light fittings or a rusty old cooker amid household debris in the garden.

Just how positive the experience is can directly relate to the "feel good factor", ie the amount of goodwill generated (or not) during the transaction. The smoother the sale, often the cleaner the house and the more likely the heartwarming touches. The more glitches, delays and friction, the more likely the nasty little surprise.

Everyone knows someone who started life in a new home under less than ideal conditions. One couple who bought a house for less than the asking price arrived to find some very welcoming skidmarks on the toilet bowl and interesting growth formations in the fridge. An acquaintance arrived at their swanky new apartment to find a filthy bathroom and a balcony crammed with rotting furniture which had to be cleared into a skip. The vendors only left one key and lost the pass to the car park and letter box. The most bizarre story was from a colleague who had to dispose of an antiquated cooker and a box stuffed with out-of-circulation £1 and £5 notes . He was afraid to take them to the Central Bank in case they were counterfeit.

Estate agent Johnny Lappin of Property Team Lappin found that appliances included in the purchase of his own home had been ripped out by the vendor. He says the vendors had no axe to grind, having got "a super price", and seemed bemused at the hostile reception when they called to collect a forgotten item - a part for one of the appliances. "I could have chased them through the courts but it would have been costly and time consuming," says Lappin, "and I didn't want to be left with a nasty feeling."

In his experience most people make an effort to clean up and would be "too embarrassed" to leave their home in a state. David Blanc of Sherry FitzGerald Blanc agrees that the majority are "pretty house proud", but in his experience, "Most people don't go overboard" and the bottle of wine and the professional house clean are the exceptions.

For the odd one who does push the boat out, hampers, flowers and gifts are not unheard of. One vendor lavished the works on the new owner, including an antique garden bench, and admitted the professional clean-up was as much to do with preventing the new owner gossiping to the neighbours. In hindsight he wonders if it was overkill calling it "an additional excrutiating layer of stress" he could have done without.

Some stick to thoughtful gestures like leaving instructions on how to use appliances and information on local services. Others leave "presents" of "useful" bits of furniture which can lead to friction . "In some cases they're left in good faith" says David Blanc, but the vendor often ends up paying for a skip to remove the offending items. He says nowadays people are more adept at moving house. "There's more money around and people are more used to changing home. Removing light fittings is not as common as it was years ago."

Generally it is agreed in advance what items are included in the sale. Even so, he says around four out of every 10 buyers insist on a pre-inspection of the property before closing.Solicitor David Lavelle says by law anything regarded as a fixture should be left in the property and under the requisitions of title vendors are required to leave "clear and vacant possession" when handing over. However when this doesn't happen he says it's "very rare" that people pursue a vendor to the District Court .

emorgan@irish-times.ie