House move. AIBU to leave an oven in situ?

[MovingFun]

Moving house soon. My buyer is very keen to move and get into the property, which is all good, if leaving me feeling rather hassled while I try and sort out 10 years of accumulated stuff in a tight time frame. Last bits and pieces being sorted out with solicitors.

Most recent 'query' is more of a demand that I agree to remove the freestanding oven from the property before leaving. On the fixtures and fittings I said I would be leaving it as I have a fitted oven in the new property. I intend to remove all other white goods. I'm not particularly keen on doing this. It's massively inconvenient - I have a family I need to cook for until we move. I have a vast amount of other things to do. I know the vendor is having works done on the kitchen almost as soon as they move it, that involve stripping it out and walls coming down, so they will have to clear everything else.

If I've stated I intend to leave it, do I have to remove it if they insist?

Leave it.

So basically - yes! OP you have to remove it if they say so. You can be petty and demand a change in moving date but you might lose a sale.

Write - well, they can ask, but my understanding is that the buyers are entitled to insist on its removal. You buy a house, not a house plus whatever rubbish the previous owners choose to leave behind. Let's say it wasn't an oven, it was a broken sofa. Would anyone say it would be find to leave that behind if you didn't fancy moving it?

OP we had something similar; our buyers wanted everything that wasn't nailed down taken with us. We took the cooker (which is now in the garage gathering dust), which we didn't want to do, but we didn't want to risk the sale, and already had a challenging relationship with the buyers, who were awkward and demanding, and our estate agents, who just wanted us to roll over with everything.

If you really don't want to do this (and I'm not saying you should), it might be worth posting on the legal board to see where you stand.

Is this a freestanding dual fuel cooker or a fitted hob and oven. If the latter then they are being unreasonable if the former then you are. To me, a freestanding cooker falls into the same category as white goods and should be taken. A fitted oven and hob is like a bath and should be left.

We can also get metal objects removed within a max of 2-3 days. Local travellers pass regularly sometimes with a pick up and sometimes with a horse and cart and remove all offending items promptly.

You could ask if they're willing to pay for an approved person (is it Corgi registered?) to come round and disconnect the gas on the moving day?

We took our sellers to small claims for the cost of a skip to clear all the shit they left in the attic, I had a thread on here about it at the time.

If you leave the oven when they've specifically asked you to remove it, and you say in your OP that it's a freestanding oven (therefore classed as white goods), then be prepared to be billed for about £150 for disconnection and disposal. Or to wake up in your new home one day and find your old oven blocking your front door .

Make an offer that works best for YOU.

Say NO, if you want to say no, and point to the terms of the sale. You were leaving it in the property.

Or say YES, BUT ... they have to agree to WHATEVER it is that you want, including pushing the closing date. And again, point to the terms of the sale.

Ewe the contracts haven't been exchanged, so these are the terms of the sale that they're discussing.

Ewe there aren't any 'terms of the sale' yet. That's what they're negotiating over. They want the terms of the sale to be that the white goods are all removed; the OP wants the terms of the sale to be that they're gone.

Sorry, Chic - cross post!

I really do not think you can demand that you leave your unwanted crap in the house for the buyers. Simple. It is a moveable object that they have no use for, so move it when you go.

Why can't you just get rid of it with all the other rubbish that you have accumulated in 10 years?

Even if you don't have a scrap man our local council charges £15 for a one off collection of "bulky" items. This can be an unlimited amount of items (excludes fridges, they cost more). I cleared out my garage last week and CBA doing a tip run, dragging metal items up 100 foot drive, so I paid the council £15.

They collected a tumble dryer, twenty or so flattened massive cardboard boxes accumulated from large purchases, 12 black bin bags (full of everything from cellophane wrapping to old paint tins) several rusty old bikes, a picnic table, old garden furniture, noticeboards, garden pots.

It was cheaper than a skip by far and all I had to do was dump them outside my front door. Collected in 4 days.

Thanks all. I can't be arsed with the fuss and sounds like it's probably more my problem than theirs anyway. So I'll deal with it. I might weep over the cost of doing it. I'm moving because I can't afford to live in the house anymore and am already at breaking point with the costs.

Thanks all. That's been really helpful.

Because Murphys - I need it up until the point I move because I have offspring who like to eat properly. As in fact, do I.

Haha SoupDragon I'm not far from Croydon and radiators we left out were gone in hours!

I'd get in touch with them and see what they say if you say you'd rather not. No harm in trying.

Yeah you can say 'no' to this.

Sale price was agreed as per the F&F list and yo usaid it was staying. They can ask, but you can say no.

Oh I see you've not exchanged yet. I'm wrong then!

MovingFun why not buy a posh microwave which can also double up as a oven/grill? I'm sure it can't be too hard to arrange for it to be disconnected/taken away a day or two before you move. We found we only ate takeaways/meals out just before moving as we'd packed a lot of our kitchen equipment anyway. And we were tired!

We live in SE London and metal objects last all on 10 mins here!

I know a man who lost his metal ladders. He was cutting his hedge and only went in for a wee and whoosh, ladders were gone!

whois I know you've corrected yourself but the law starts on the assumption that the seller leaves the house empty of everything that would not fall if you tipped your house upside down. Anything else has to be agreed by the buyer. That doesn't mean fixed bookcases are an exception though!

I live in London - we have the same £15 scheme but if you leave anything metal out on the pavement it will be gone by the end of the day. Scrap metal folk basically cruise around looking for stuff all day.
If you haven't exchanged yet then they are within their rights to insist that it is removed. aka left on the street with a council pick up booked

MovingFun why not buy a posh microwave which can also double up as a oven/grill? I'm sure it can't be too hard to arrange for it to be disconnected/taken away a day or two before you move. We found we only ate takeaways/meals out just before moving as we'd packed a lot of our kitchen equipment anyway. And we were tired!

I just can't afford it. I'm on my knees. Hence selling up and moving somewhere cheaper. It's ridiculous, once we've moved I'll be fine, but right now I can barely afford to get to work every day. Microwaves/take aways and meals out are beyond my reach until after the move.

Have you got some local friends? Explain your issue and ask if you could come for tea on oven disconnection day.

It is a negotiation though so you could say that you can't get it removed as you need to use it right up until you move. Are they asking for other things you can say yes to? It's a dialogue.

Thanks Purple. I'll sort something out. There's been a lot of stress around this move for a variety of reasons.

I've taken a deep breath and realised it's not the end of the world, just an annoyance I could do without.

I'm normally quite rational really.

In our street you could just leave your oven out in your front garden and a dodgy bloke with a van would come and take it overnight. We do that with all our scrap! But it's probably not very responsbile.