Greedy house sellers

[Strawberryshortcake40]

I'm selling my house at the mo. Am leaving things like curtain poles, curtains etc because a)they were bought to match the interior b)they won't necessarily fit elsewhere and c) I can't frankly be arsed to take them down and make good the holes and repaint areas in every room.

Stupidly I thought this was pretty much the civilised thing to do. However the house I'm buying, they are offering to sell me the poles/curtains in the house. Lounge windows (small cottage windows) - £350 a pair.... I have no recollection of what they were like but I don't remember them being hand embroidered in gold thread or anything to justify that cost! How can they even think that's okay? I declined obviously....

AIBU to think that you either leave such items or offer them for sale at a reasonable second hand price?

(Oh and on the vague off chance the vendors are reading this, I think taking out a few years old integrated appliance or offering it at £500 isnt polite either. (I can buy a new one for not much more!)

[CustardDoughnutsRule]

We've been stung on this. Vendors offered to sell curtain poles and as a matter of principle we said no. They took them and it was a total PITA on the day we moved in not being able to draw a single curtain until we'd put up poles. Plus they left us with a load of holes to fill and repaint. We definitely cut off our noses to spite our faces!

After that we said we'll swallow our pride and stump up for rails to be left in future. Curtains are easy enough to replace - they can be v expensive hence your ridiculous price, but they don't have to be.

You could call their bluff and hope they'll leave them anyway, or request another viewing in light of unexpectedly high prices.

[StarWarsFanatic]

When we bought our flat the people who had rented it before us had left their lampshades so we text them and asked if they wanted them back. It was a fluke that they were friends of ours as we hadn't realised it was the flat they had rented that we were buying. We have since had new lights put in every room as the replacement bulbs for the ones in place were really expensive and hard to get hold of. The electrician who fitted them said he would leave the old ones there in case we wanted to take ours with us when we moved which amused us as we wouldn't want the hassle. The flat was also sold with the appliances, including non-integrated ones included as well as the window blinds. Thinking about it it may because we were buying it from a landlord and the blinds specifically wouldn't fit most properties. I would have told them to shove it if they had offered to include for an additional price.

[brasty]

Our sellers left no working light bulbs.It was winter and we had to rush out and buy some before it got dark.

[SistersOfPercy]

I soled my late mums house a few months ago. At the back of the large garage were metal tool units that dad had fitted. They were really decent and had we been able to fit them in our garage we would have had them. We left them for the new owner a long with a brass fender they had admired and a rather expensive ornate mirror in one of the bedrooms that had been made to fit a space between the built in wardrobes.

Moving in day the guy was spitting feathers that we'd dare leave the tool cupboards in the garage and demanded we remove them immediately. I was distraught, I'm an only child, I'd lost my mum very suddenly and was trying to come to terms with this and selling my childhood home. He knew all this yet still chose to be vile.

It got to the stage where the EA gave him DH'S number as they'd had enough too. Dh calmly told him he would be over imminently to collect the things we'd left and to please leave cupboards, fender and mirror out for collection. The guy stuttered a bit and said he'd call back.
Half an hour later he did, nice as pie and said not to worry he'd sort it.

I'm still annoyed now. I was grieving and he knew it but still decided trip play arsehole over us actually trying to be nice.

[SistersOfPercy]

Sold. Bloody autocorrect

[Kotare]

There are some things which cost very little but cause a lot of damage if they are removed.

In this situation, I'd be going round the house with the particulars and the estate agent and noting everything I expected to be left. And taking photo's in case they cause damage removing stuff.

I would not share the list with the vendors as they would clearly see it as a price list. But I would double check big stuff and be prepared to walk away if they were being twats.

[TheLuckDragon]

Our sellers offered to sell us the garden bench for £70. We said no. Turned up the day we purchased the house and they'd left it anyway! Some people are just chancers and hope you'll pay.

[DiscoDeviant]

The first house we bought they removed the light bulbs, left massive holes in the wall where they’d taken the bathroom cabinet down. And they removed the SKIRTING BOARDS in the sitting room! It was bizarre. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry!

[Liiinoo]

My parents bought a very small house once assuming that the fitted carpets and made to measure curtains were included. A few days before exchange the vendors asked them for an extra few hundred for those items. They refused, partly because they were stretched to the limit already but also because they thought the vendors would leave the carpets anyway because what could anyone do with a cottage worth of old fitted carpet?

I'll tell what they can do with second hand carpets/curtains fitted to the tiny cottage rooms. They can pull them up, set fire to them in the garden and leave the smouldering embers to welcome my parents to their new home.

It sounds horrendous but on the plus side, under the manky old carpets were original quarry tiles downstairs and beautiful oak floor boards upstairs.

[hazeydays14]

The sellers we are buying from are taking all the curtain poles but leaving the integrated oven. They've offered us a few things for free which as first time buyers we appreciate!

We rented a one bed flat so have all our basics but they are leaving us a dining table and chairs which we don't have and sadly wouldn't have been able to put at the top of the priority list.

[OlennasWimple]

Sometimes the removal firm are the ones who strip the house bare (thinking of my friends who found that their removers had taken the potato plants out of their veggie path when they moved....)

If you are around a stamp duty threshold, it's not uncommon to have "fixtures and fittings" that are substantial but are not included in the sale price in order to keep that under the cut off point (HMRC are wise to this, and can look closely at what appear to be gold plated curtain poles and pure silk carpets)

[MummaTwinkleToes]

When we sold our flat the buyers said they would give us the asking price if we left the cooker and washer dryer (integrated) and the fridge freezer. Had planned on leaving the integrated stuff anyway so that was good for us. We also left curtains and the matching lounge cushions (freshly washed and ironed) and an ornate mirror which I regret leaving now. We have our house on the market now and I am dreading the negotiations. We have just recently renovated the house 8months ago and are only moving due to unforeseen family circumstances. I am willing to leave the new curtains and rails but certainly will be asking for payment for the 6month old range cooker and dishwasher (which we haven’t used yet) and I will refuse point blank to leave my washer dryer as I have a 6month old and toddler ds and I don’t have the time to replace. Also plan to take our bedroom curtains as they were a wedding present and children’s bedroom curtains. Reluctantly I am leaving the carpets that were fitted 3weeks ago.

[TealStar]

I can’t bear churlish grabbiness.

If I sold, and especially if I was given a good price for my house, I would leave all curtain poles, blinds, fittings, and integrated appliances, and then have the house cleaned professionally on top.

[HuskyMcClusky]

God, I wish my vendor had taken the (hideous) curtains! Would’ve saved me skip-binning the entire lot, and the carpets, the day I moved in.

The Buying and selling of houses can and does bring out the worst in people;(

As a solicitor who has done some conveyancing, I’d have to say yes, yes it does. The stories of pettiness I could tell (but won’t).

[treaclesoda]

I've also just remembered- our vendors took the wheelie bins!

I thought that was standard. I know when we moved house we were told by our solicitor that we had to take our bin.

We had friends who bought their first house and paid cash to the vendors, for the fridge, curtain poles etc. The vendors left them behind as they said they would, but the broke/trashed every single one of them first. They even stuck a sharp knife into the back of the fridge so that when they got the keys to their first home, they were greeted by leakage all over the floor. Their solicitor told them it was pointless pursuing the vendors because his fees would outstrip any money they would be able to recover.

[HuskyMcClusky]

The vendors left them behind as they said they would, but the broke/trashed every single one of them first.

I cannot fathom the way some people’s brains work.

[TheThickenPlots]

We arrived in our current house to find they’d taken all the curtain poles, the hooks on bedroom and bathroom doors and the shelf above the fireplace- pretty sure they should have declared them as they are fixed. They were moving into rented to so must have been storing all these somewhere just in case they fitted a future house. It just seems so petty to me.

[TheThickenPlots]

*too

[Laineymc7]

The are being very greedy. I just sold my house this month. I left all fitted appliances and fixtures and fittings. I was selling to first time buyers so I also left a few bits of furniture that I wasn't going to bring with me for them. Obviously checking they wanted them first. I also left them a card an bottle of bubbly. Moving and buying a house should be a nice experience.

[Laineymc7]

I also had our oven and house professionally cleaned for the new owners. I think you should leave a place how you'd want to find it if it was you moving in.

[Mummyoflittledragon]

These days everything nailed down has to be declared. Including fitted kitchen and bathroom. I do therefore think they’re in their rights to take the appliance. It sounds so spiteful though.

As a pp said, ask the solicitor to go back to the vendor and be clear that if they do remove any of the items, you expect it to be made good and no mess from the removed appliance.

I cannot believe some of these stories. I’ve never had any issues apart from the vendors leaving a dilapidated garage full of crap.

[Nakedavenger74]

If f&f are not included in the sale price and priced seperately then there's a risk it gets flagged by inland revenue as avoidance of stamp duty. Tell them the price you negotiated included all f&f and you aren't willing to be flagged up for fraud....

[DollyLlama]

I’m actually not surprised! House sales bring out the CF in people.

Battered the same thing happened to my parents! They turned up with 3 children (a baby, a toddler and a child in a wheelchair) to find the carpets ripped up and loose nails etc in the floor! Oh and a flood in the kitchen. Some people are unbelievable.

I remember when my mum was selling her place years ago and a woman was walking round viewing it pointing to my mums furniture saying “I’ll have that, leave that. I’ll definitely pull out if you don’t leave that!” Of course my mum told her to get out before she threw her out

[jay55]

My parents bought a house where the vendors had tried to take the letterbox off the door. Had the get a whole new front door.
They left the vile green and red checked hall stairs and landing carpet though.

[KitKat1985]

We've just done our fixtures and fittings form on our house sale. We're leaving all the integrated appliances, and anything fixed to the wall (like bathroom cabinets, curtain poles and curtains etc). I thought (hope!) this was pretty standard (it's our first time selling). Am hoping the vendor of the house we are buying also is happy to leave the similarly integrated bits that are in her house though or we're going to have to go out on moving day to get some bloody curtains! Also we've put down to take taking our freestanding fridge-freezer and washing machine with us, because I'm guessing the vendor of the house we are buying is also planning on taking her freestanding appliances. It's very difficult to do the bloomin' fixture and fittings form when you don't know what you are being left in the house you are buying yet!

Some of the things on the fixture and fittings list were just bizarre. Even things like light switches were on the bloody list. Do people really take the light switches with them when they move?! Though I have to say when we moved into this house the sellers had removed the light bulbs.