Mumsnet Talk

I have just received paperwork from our solicitors including the fixtures and fittings list on the house we are in the process of buying. The vendor is taking all carpets, light fittings, gas fires and surrounds. Is this normal? We are not too bothered as it needs complete redecoration so we planned to take the house back to brickwork and replaster before we move in (luckily we have somewhere to stay) so we can put in cables etc and avoid all the dust this entails. We were not planning to remove the carpets straight away due to funds but apparently the ground floor has parquet floors through so we can live with that. Upstairs would be just floorboards (presumably he has to remove the underlay if taking carpets?). It will save us the bother of removing and disposing of the carpets but might be difficult if the floorboards are in bad condition (splinters etc). We are first time buyers so not really sure what to do regarding this? Is it unusual?

If you want to renovate that fully, you are in luck. It will save you on skips!
Your vendors are clearly tight gits, it in this case it works on your favour.

It is normal if your twat. I have no idea why people do this, it is far more costly in terms of time and nuisance removing all these worthless pieces of junk fixtures and just seems very petty. I suspect they want you to pay extra for them but don't offer to and I bet the estate agent comes back and says that you can have some of them. If they are taking things such as gas fires, light fittings etc, they do have to leave the rooms safe (ie: Gas Safe engineer removes fires, electrician puts in replacement fittings, they can't just leave bits of wire and pipe dangling).

Parquet floors. Lucky you. Protect it from brick dust & building works, & clean & polish later.

sorry, should read if you are a twat.

god, wish our vendors had done this

getting rid of carpets is a PITA

not least because you have to get all the shit and boxes you've dumped furniture off it first

we're stuck with a rather dreffle 80s patterny number in the living room after a year

It is unusual, but not unheard of, to take anything that is bolted down like. The fireplaces.

You can get your solicitor to write into the contract a minimum fitting to be left after each removal for example if they are removing a light they replace with a ceiling rose/ bulb holder don't just leave you with bare exposed wires. Any gas appliances that are removed need to have valves shut off and end caps over the exposed pipe.

For electrics its good, especially at this dark time of year, to have even crude lighting in each room to aid your renovation.

Our sellers dug up plants and shrubs from the garden (leaving big holes in the ground) and changed the dimmer switches to ordinary light switches. We didn't know they were going to do this until we moved in.

Presumably the sellers know that you're going to do a complete renovation? In which case I think it sounds rather helpful - you have no idea how much room all this stuff will take up in a skip!

No they are not aware that we are renovating grendelsmum. I have made a list of everyones points here to ask solicitor. He also says trees/plants/shrubs are not included so i will find out what he intends to remove there.

There is a death cert in with the papers as his wife died 18 months ago. Just noticed her place of death was in the house. Hmm not really bothered by that - luckily i dont believe in ghosts! Would anyone else be put off by that?

No. Loads of houses had people die in them.
Unless it was a murder or something really grizzly. Is that why he's taking the carpets

no grown adult should be bothered by the fact that someone died in the house at some point.

Ha ha! No she died of a heart attack by the look of it. God knows why he wants to take the carpets. The whole house looks like it hasn't been decorated since the 70's. He is a bit odd to be fair.

No I thought not specialsubject. I bet some are though.

I wondered whether he had grown up children who have tactfully suggested that maybe he might take away his favourite carpets and curtains when he moves because someone else might not appreciate it?

My pals sold a house and fell out with the buyers so they took the velux windows with them. They are builders so they did reuse them. Buyers not happy as you can imagine.

A death there isn't an issue. Make sure you find out exactly what you'll be left with and get it in writing.

Sometimes vendors say that they are going to take everything so that they can offer to let you buy the things they have listed as being removed. If you call their bluff and tell them you don't want to buy their manky carpet then you will probably find that it's still there when you move in as the vendor would have to pay to have someone take it up for him.

We had this. The lady that sold us this house was a bit odd. We weren't entirely sure she would actually move out TBH. Was very shaky from the start.

I wrote a letter to the Estate Agents asking what she wanted for the fixtures and fittings, and as we had to go into rented accomodation when she would be moving.

No response from her, and we didn't want to rattle her cage and her back out so left it.

So on moving day, DH arrived (I was working) she was still in the house. She threw the letter at him and went a bit bonkers about what I had written. (Letter wasn't for her-it was addressed to EA) Then told him she had employed an electrician to take out every light fitting and the fire, and take them to the tip. Also the shed was dismantled and dumped. Loads of holes in the garden borders too.

Happy Moving in.

Make sure that you point out

you want the underlay taken away
you want the gas pipes and electrics left in a safe condition
The fireplaces will need to be left in a decent condition and although you will except plaster damage brick damage is not ok

The floor boards upstairs - you can hire a sander for a weekend and sand down the floor boards very quickly, which will then save you a bit of money until you can afford carpets of your choosing

getting rid of carpets is a PITA

Slightly OT but our recycling depot takes them - they're used to make indoor training surfaces for racehorses

They need to make good whatever they take out, so no bare wires, holes filled, pipes capped off etc.

Agree that they might be fishing for an offer for the carpets and curtains.

Ha they'd be lucky Getting

God I never would have thought to say they need to leave them in a safe condition and all the other things people are suggesting here. Tis scary being a ftb. What else might we get wrong? <wibble>

Thank god for MN!

Im a FTB too, Sols willing, I get keys in 3 weeks. The woman who owned it last passed away too, it was her daughter who did the viewing...she cried pretty much the whole time...bless. Our only condition was that she wanted a rather ornate curtain pole!

You could ask for a clear house clause. I think from most contracts i've seen they're pretty standard but sometimes they stand out more and the consequences are clearer. I.e. if they leave two skip loads of stuff not listed as being left (like the carpets they've said they're taking) they have to pay reasonable removal costs.