We were told "broom cleaned" doesnt mean cleaned with a broom. Breach of contract after buying a house. (NY)
Good morning Reddit, this is going to be a little long so I'll add a TL;DR at the bottom.
Location: Southern Tier of New York
My fiancée and I closed on our first home yesterday. The walkthrough was on the 31st and closing was on the 1st. During the final walkthrough there were still belongings in the house, but our realtor told us not to worry as the sellers were still moving out. Every window in the home was open, which we thought nothing of at the time. I noticed the floors were dirty but figured it was because they were still coming and going.
On closing day we signed the papers and entered our new home without our realtor, who told us realtors no longer attend closings or the initial entry after COVID. We felt that was a convenient excuse to not be there for us. When we walked in, the house was filthy. Dog hair, dirt, and debris everywhere, grimy countertops, food splattered on the kitchen walls, dried cereal under the dining room table, dried urine on the toilet, and multiple rooms smelling strongly of dog urine.
We immediately texted our realtor saying we assumed broom clean meant the sellers would have at least swept and wiped down surfaces. Our purchase agreement states: "Seller shall deliver the Property broom clean, free of debris, refuse and other personal property not included in this Contract." Her reply was "Sadly it does not." We have this exchange saved as a screenshot.
Taking her at her word, we felt we had no choice but to clean the house ourselves before moving our belongings in. Over the course of our closing day we cleaned urine off the toilet, removed dog waste from the back patio, disposed of a child's play set left in the yard, emptied a full trash and recycling bin, and hauled out a large old TV from the basement, among other things. We have photos of the personal items left behind. Our realtor advised us to throw away anything we did not want, which we did not feel was our responsibility. We spent the rest of our closing day crying and cleaning and ended up staying at a friend's house that night.
After doing some research we discovered that broom clean is a legally recognized real estate term meaning the property should be swept, vacuumed, and have surfaces wiped down, and that courts have upheld this standard. By the time we realized this we had already cleaned the floors without documenting them first. We were on a tight timeline and had been told in writing by our realtor that broom clean did not mean actually cleaned.
Beyond the cleanliness issues, the sellers left behind numerous personal items we had said we did not want. We believe this is a direct breach of our purchase agreement, and that our realtor misled us with an inaccurate definition of a standard contractual term, which caused us to clean rather than pursue any remedy.
We take responsibility for missing things during the inspection as first time buyers, but when I asked our realtor during the walkthrough about the condition at closing she confirmed it would be broom clean per our agreement. We reasonably assumed that meant cleaned with a broom. We were not expecting a deep clean, but what we walked into went far beyond that.
What options, if any, do we still have given that we approved the walkthrough and have already closed?
TL;DR: We closed on our first home and walked in to find it filthy, smelling of dog urine, and full of personal belongings the sellers were supposed to remove. Our realtor told us via text that broom clean does not mean swept, which led us to clean everything ourselves before realizing that is actually the legal standard. We have that text exchange saved, as well as photos of the personal items left behind. We took no photos of the condition of the floors before cleaning and are wondering what legal options we still have against the sellers and potentially our realtor.
Posted Jun 2, 2026, 1:10 PM UTC · locked