move in ready

kevin l cowart

New Member
Jurisdiction
Georgia
This may seem trivial, but it's the principal of the matter. I recently sold my house. My contract said the house had to be left in "move in ready" condition. My Realtor said she would do a walk thru with us, but that never happened. I couldn't find an actual definition for what "move in ready" means, so we used common sense. Everything was removed. We spent approx. 6 hours cleaning the house. We
got it CLEAN. I mean cleaned everything! We took pictures on our way out. Long story short, the Buyers moved in, claim the house wasn't in "move in ready" condition, hired a professional cleaning service who charged $400 to clean and "sanitize" the house, which was already clean, and have sent me the bill. They are now threatening to take me to small claims court if I don't pay it. Is this right? I have asked multiple times for pictures of what was wrong or even an explanation and have received nothing but an invoice. Thank you.
 
Is this right?

What does this question mean?

You say you cleaned the house to a condition that you considered to be "move in ready," and your buyer says otherwise. Rather obviously, no one here has any ability to know who's right.

You now get to decide to (1) pay the amount demanded, (2) offer to pay some lesser amount, (3) tell the buyer to pound sand, or (4) ignore the demand. If the buyer decides to sue, then you can show up in court and defend yourself.

If I have to go to court, I don't think that's what a judge will want to hear.

Huh? To what does "that" refer?
 
What does this question mean?

You say you cleaned the house to a condition that you considered to be "move in ready," and your buyer says otherwise. Rather obviously, no one here has any ability to know who's right.

You now get to decide to (1) pay the amount demanded, (2) offer to pay some lesser amount, (3) tell the buyer to pound sand, or (4) ignore the demand. If the buyer decides to sue, then you can show up in court and defend yourself.



Huh? To what does "that" refer?

I'm referring to going into court and telling them to pound sand. the other question meant is it right that they can move in, start having stuff done and then send me the bill. What does "move in ready" even mean? All of my stuff was gone and the house was cleaner than the day I moved into it and cleaner than the day they looked at it and made their offer. I don't know what more I could have done. They were supposed to do a preclosing walk thru, but they chose not to do so.
 
I'm referring to going into court and telling them to pound sand. the other question meant is it right that they can move in, start having stuff done and then send me the bill. What does "move in ready" even mean? All of my stuff was gone and the house was cleaner than the day I moved into it and cleaner than the day they looked at it and made their offer. I don't know what more I could have done. They were supposed to do a preclosing walk thru, but they chose not to do so.

No, you tell the buyers to "pound sand" now. When you get into small claims court you show your evidence that you met the terms of the sale.
 
They are now threatening to take me to small claims court if I don't pay it.

There is no threaten to sue, there is only sue or not sue. Until you are served a summons and complaint I agree with the 4 options enumerated by Zdoodah.

They were supposed to do a preclosing walk thru, but they chose not to do so.

Then they accepted the house as is and waived any opportunity to address the issue. That works in your favor. Might be something in your contract about that. Read it.
 
I'm referring to going into court and telling them to pound sand. the other question meant is it right that they can move in, start having stuff done and then send me the bill. What does "move in ready" even mean? All of my stuff was gone and the house was cleaner than the day I moved into it and cleaner than the day they looked at it and made their offer. I don't know what more I could have done. They were supposed to do a preclosing walk thru, but they chose not to do so.

1) You respond politely to the new owners, in writing, and state firmly that you will not be paying them a cleaning fee.

2) If you are sued for the $400 you RESPOND, and SHOW UP at court, with your photographic proof of how clean house the house was when you left.

I'm beginning to think that this is like the "Write instructions on how to make a peanut butter and jelly" assignment, and that you are just a troll.
 
I'm referring to going into court and telling them to pound sand.

Rather obviously, you're not literally going to say that (you certainly could, but that isn't normally how mature adults speak to each other, even if that is the underlying intent), and you're certainly not going to say it in court.

What does "move in ready" even mean?

It's not a term that has any established legal meaning. In the absence of any evidence other than the words of the contract, I imagine any court would interpret it to mean a condition that a reasonable person would move into without doing any further cleaning or repairs.

All of my stuff was gone and the house was cleaner than the day I moved into it and cleaner than the day they looked at it and made their offer. I don't know what more I could have done.

I want to emphasize this point. You've told us this already, and I have no reason to doubt you, but I also have no reason to believe you. You've also told us that your buyer disagrees with you, and I have no reason either to doubt or believe your buyer. My point is that you don't need to convince the anonymous strangers who post here, and telling us about the pristine condition will get you nowhere. The fact is that you claim X and the buyer claims Y and has demanded $400. Unless you want to throw money at this person to make him go away, then you either tell him expressly (but figuratively) to pound sand or you ignore the demand. It will then be up to him to decide if it's worth suing over. If it ever goes to court, then it'll be good that you have photographic evidence of the house's condition when you vacated.
 
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