Seller has not moved belongings...What would you do? Pics inside!

[Rob Brautigam]

So I'm about to close on a 3-unit investment property tomorrow morning and I go check the place out tonight with my realtor for a final walk-through.

Good thing we did that.

The seller has basically emptied the basement into the backyard and is now waiting for the city's Bulk Trash Removal service to come pick everything up. This trash includes furniture, full garbage bags, cardboard boxes filled with various items, paint containers, plastic buckets, etc.

She ordered the bulk trash removal service 2 days ago, and apparently they can take anywhere from 5 to 10 days to come by and pick up  from the FRONT yard only.

My closing is (was) tomorrow morning. I spoke with my attorney and we decided to postpone the closing until they clean this mess up. I'm not buying a dump. The house is in good condition, but this display in the yard is unacceptable. If it was 1/5 of the amount of waste, I would consider closing under conditions (holding escrow), but this is crazy...I'm surprised all this came out of the basement!!

My question is what would you guys do in a situation like this? Has something like this every occurred to you before? Would there be a financial reimbursement from seller to buyer for inconveniences? 

I will most likely have a couple of days to think about this now, so I figured I might as well post this on the forums and see what y'all have to say about this.

Photos taken from upstairs back porch:

House for those interested:

[Lynn McGeein]

There are junk removal services that would come and pick it up for a fee.  I would send them the pictures and get some estimates, then have the seller deposit that amount in escrow with the closing company until the bulk trash takes everything with instructions to reimburse you from it directly when you present receipt from trash removal companies within a certain time frame.  If bulk trash removal doesn't get done or they don't take everything within the 10 days the seller told you, hire the company and get your money back from escrow.   If the seller won't escrow the funds, then don't close.  If bulk trash does take it all, seller gets their money back.