Angry at house seller?

Which is why i said i would be up front about that information unlike the seller in the scinario. I think that's acceptable to say "thank you for your offer, I will accept however under the condition that I will be removing X, Y and Z. I agree its silly to do that after the fact as that risks wasting everybody's time. I agree with the "don't accept offers under what you want" but the bartering process in England means it's likely you will be given an offer rather than a "yes please here's the money" so that's where the barter comes in, it obviously has to go both ways. The EPC is where they may come unstuck, food for thought for myself, If I ever come to sell.

There is a very simple solution. Don't accept offers under what you want🤷 It's not like they hold a gun to your head.
The idea of "I accepted your under x offer and now I will punish you for that" is really weird.
You are just risking sitting on a market for year+ like one seller near me because they want x price which is ridiculous for the area and state of the house.
And honestly if seller did what you just said to me, I would walk away.

@perfectpotato come on OP, did you lower your offer or just pull out?

This is not how house purchasing works.

A house is sold for the market price. It is worth what somebody will pay for it. This need not be the number you first thought of.

An EPC might cost them more than the 2nd hand radiators they removed

The problem comes from taking the radiators out making the EPC null and void and a new one will have to be done

Cant sell a house without an EPC.

Listen, to all of you posting this is unreasonable for them to take radiators, I'm going to hazard a guess that the buyer Perfect Potato has not paid the asking price for this house, in which case the owners have though (petty maybe but correctly so) they will make the shortfall up by removing the contents. I'm almost certain the vendors would be happy to leave theses items if you offer to pay for them.

I myself know I will be in the vendors position when I come to sell my house and I will make this clear upon sale, I'm selling all this for X price and if you want to pay less, you will receive less.

I very much agree. The vendor probably has an emotional attachment based in the time and effort they spent making their choice, and having them painted and installed. They have thought less about the cost of having them removed, chipping the paint, and finding they don't fit in the new house, and paying for replacement radiators, valves and installation. They have not asked themselves the question "what are second-hand radiators worth."

I can't believe that someone is going to the faff and expense of having the radiators removed and replaced, however cheap the new ones are. They really should have made that clear when you viewed the property. The mirror is easy to move but risks damage in the move. I have a really fancy mirror/cabinet in my new bathroom but i'd probably leave it and treat myself to a new one in my next house. It's quite common to take expensive light fittings but you have to leave something in their place.

@perfectpotato

Hasn't returned for three days. Let's hope it's all settled amicably.

Fixtures are items that are fixed to the building; therefore, they should not be removed. The item must be either physically a part of the building or on the land that the building sits on.
Some examples of fixtures are:

• Light fittings
• Radiators
• Security/alarm systems
• Fitted furniture
• Basins
• Bathtubs
• Plug sockets
• Faucets
• Dishwashers
• Central-heating boilers
• Ovens/hobs
• Integrated fridges and freezers
• Worktops

That's why I said IMO, I wasn't speaking for everyone.

Great that it's been appreciated when you've done it, just saying not everyone will.

On the contrary, each time I’ve done it the solicitor has emailed me to say the purchaser was so delighted and appreciative.
Not all people are that organised and the removal men often want a cuppa on arrival.

Who takes radiators! Mental. It's like saying who leaves the carpet? Those oak doors? Nope, we're going to put in some cheap white ones.

@perfectpotato It depends on how much you really like these items and or the house.

Be prepared to walk away or renegotiate based on the removal of these items.

If they mention these items before making an offer, it's fair game, but after an offer has been made, it's not on.

That's lovely, but just more stuff to chuck/put away as I'd have a box of all those items to unpack first.

Best thing a seller can do IMO, is leave the place spotless, with nothing left on the property.

Nothing in that article says that.

And all fixtures are remaining, just not the same ones but that isnt relevant. And nothing remotely about that specific situation is even hinted at in the article.

Whenever I've moved, I've left new soap in the bathroom, a kettle, mugs, teabags, biscuits, milk in the fridge as well as a bottle of wine and some flowers.

It just seems petty not to...

the pettiness of some people is shockingly endless, but as long as it's legal, there's not much you can so, so better be prepared .

how much money does one save on keeping the loo roll, when they just sold a half a million pounds or more house? 😂😂

I’ve bought a few properties in my time and despite seeing myself as quite savvy, have clearly been labouring under huge misconceptions as to what constitutes “fixtures”.

This thread has been a real eye opener!

Yes, but that doesn't detract from the fact it must be worth that time they are spending for them to do it.

I know all about local ceilings and comps, though of course those change over time and it can be possible to push that local ceiling by a small percentage with every sale in that area.

However whichever way you slice it, a very nicely done up house will be worth more to purchasers than a scruffy dump, as if nothing else it saves them the time & money it would cost them to get the house to the standard they want.

I know I don't have the physical ability to do work on any house I own due to disability, and I don't deal well with stress any more, so if I wanted a nice house with posh fixtures I either need to buy one already in that condition or pay someone to do the upgrade work. Therefore if I view 2 houses & one is say £30k more expensive but the other would cost me £50k to put in the same state, I'll buy the more expensive one. If I found out mid-sale that it was going to lose all those nice extras I thought I was paying for, I wouldn't buy it.

You need to stop treating a house purchase as something moral and personal.

It's a legal transaction. It's irrelevant if it's "right or wrong", what matters is if it's legal. It's your own interest to know what can or can't happen, and make sure what is important to you is very clear in the process, not expect the seller to be unwilling to maximise the amount he can get from the property.

It doesn't mean they WILL strip the house, but go with your eyes open and know that something being on the pretty photos of the EA listing doesn't mean it will be included in the sale when legally it does not have to be.

@Allergictoironing
Exactly...I can't get over what I've just learned...that even kitchen units are not "fixtures". So if a house has a bespoke "Smallbone of Devizes" kitchen (worth a fortune), the seller can replace with a cheap laminate basic range one and as long as they declare it on the form, that's OK.

Also, cast iron radiators are what gives a house its period "feel", just like original fireplaces etc.

The value of such a house with cast iron radiators, original marble fireplaces and a Smallbone kitchen, will be worth FAR more than the house next door which has had all the original features ripped out and tatty and basic kitchen and bathroom.

Wonder what Kirsty and Phil would say?

Quite a lot of developers do most of the work themselves to maximise the profit. There’s a limit to how much value you can add to a house without losing money because its price needs to bear comparison with its neighbours.

Nitpicking. OK, put the same conditions on a nice detached 4 bedroom house in a very "nice" area.

How do you think developers make their money? They buy a tatty house and do it up and sell it for plenty more than the cost of the initial purchase, the materials, and the labour.