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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To think this buyer is being totally and utterly unreasonable?

164 replies

stillpinching · 12/03/2018 18:49

I am so stressed about this I don't know what to do - and I now feel powerless until tomorrow at least.

We are selling a house having already moved over 100 miles away. That's been a nightmare in itself, but we are/were finally due to complete tomorrow. Just a couple of hours ago I had a phone call from the agent to say the buyer has been round today and seen 'a load of rubbish' in the garden. This is bollocks anyway - there's a table and chairs, which, while not new, are not rubbish and are perfectly usable, and a few pots. Nothing has been said before about them wanting it cleared but now they're saying they won't complete while it's there.

Me and dh have work tomorrow and can't take leave at this notice and there's no one else to ask. We are absolutely on the bones of our arse at the moment and desperately need the money from this sale. I can't stand for it to all fall through now. Can they do this? I'm not UR am I - if they had said a couple of months ago when they put the offer in they wanted it cleared we would easily have got it done by now, but we haven't got a magic wand to sort it now.

OP posts:
Janleverton · 12/03/2018 19:28

Why not go now. Just drive now. Collect stuff into the boot of the car, seats down, drive home and put into your current garden until you can get around to getting rid of it. Or, a day’s pay may save paying them/knocking off the price.

MyKingdomForBrie · 12/03/2018 19:28

I don’t get why you’re so angry about this. You’re just wrong, it’s very simple because it’s a legal principle. It’s in the contract you signed. They’re not being dicks they’re probably sick of dealing with other people’s shit. You can’t be arsed to get it shifted so why should they?

SpringHen · 12/03/2018 19:29

Ok it should have been gone, but no need to make threats.

But in this case there is!
Because you dont sound like you would do fuck all to sort YOUR misstake if they werent stamping their feet.

AnUtterIdiot · 12/03/2018 19:30

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MyBrilliantDisguise · 12/03/2018 19:32

Is it garden furniture? Someone on Freecycle would take it, though it might seem odd to go to someone's house and take their furniture without them being there.

Don't you have friends/neighbours in the area who'd help?

JediStoleMyBike · 12/03/2018 19:32

I would hop in the car and collect now to be honest. Better less than a full nights sleep than losing a full day's pay if you are skint.

bigKiteFlying · 12/03/2018 19:33

We've always had things left in houses that we bought - it's often been a complete pain but estate agents and solicitors haven't been interested.

Surely if contacts have been exchanged they'll take a hit - I'd get in touch with your solitors and see what they say.

Celebelly · 12/03/2018 19:34

Also surely if they fail to complete you can sue them? Not that familiar with English house-buying and selling, but I'm pretty sure they're legally locked in to the sale and they can't refuse to complete on the grounds of something in the garden the day before completion date, when they don't even own the property yet. They could complain once moved in, surely, if it's still there and ask you to pay for its removal, but they can't demand it's removed when they haven't actually set foot in the place as owners yet.

MiniEggMeister · 12/03/2018 19:35

From their pov if you have left stuff in the garden how do they know you haven't left stuff in the house?

Our buyers left all sorts of random crap in the house and its VERY annoying. not to mention a full garage

SpringHen · 12/03/2018 19:36

It's really not that much trouble to take a table and chairs to the tip if you don't want it

Yes it is if you dont have a vehicle or £60 to pay a man with van.

PiggyPoos · 12/03/2018 19:37

Def put on Facebook group or a free page it will be gone in no time.

JaneEyre70 · 12/03/2018 19:39

YABU I'm afraid. You didn't want it, so why would your buyers? I would ask the EA to sort though, they are bound to have maintenance people if they run lettings too. And just pay the bill for it, far less hassle all round.

Thingvellir · 12/03/2018 19:39

You are the one being U - 'totally and utterly U'.

We bought a place once that had been let as a house share. We went in 1 week before exchange/completion (same day) when it was vacated by the tenants to do sone measuring and it was full of shit, nasty old communal fridge, bits of knackered furniture and not remotely clean. We threatened to pull out if the vendor didn't commit to clearing completely and having it cleaned (it was in a right state and we'd been clear we needed a clean done before taking possession as it was an ex-tenancy.

To me moving in with a load of crap still in the house was a massive issue for us as we where turning up with all our stuff and couldn't have moved all our stuff in to a house already full of crap. We had our lawyer draw up a letter saying the vendor would forfeit 2k in cleaning and clearing costs if it wasn't done by handover. It was done thankfully.

The vendor thought we'd be grateful for some free stuff! Er no thanks, we have our own stuff. If I was your buyer and I did a drive by to see stuff in the garden, I'd be worried about the inside as they obviously are. You are selling with vacant possession, that means not leaving your mess for someone else to clear up behind you.

Megatron · 12/03/2018 19:40

Also surely if they fail to complete you can sue them?

I think this depends on the terms of the sale. If the seller hasn't left the property as they requested, i.e. clear, then I don't think you can. (I might be wrong though).

AnUtterIdiot · 12/03/2018 19:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

MiniEggMeister · 12/03/2018 19:42

I'm slightly puzzled as to why you think they would need to request you remove it when they put an offer in? It's fairly obvious. It's also in all the paperwork you've filled in and signed with regards to what was remaining in the house and what was being taken. So unless you listed it as something that would stay and they agreed, yabu.

SpringHen · 12/03/2018 19:43

If they don't have £60 to pay a white van man they're in for a bit of a shock when they don't complete and find themselves with no house and no deposit, aren't they?

What?
WHY should the buyer pay the vendors clearance costs???
Theyll have budgeted for THEIR buying expenses. Not their expenses PLUS whatever vendor expenses the OP couldnt be bothered to take responsibility for!

keepingbees · 12/03/2018 19:43

I don't really understand why you left it there. It's not up to the buyers to specify that you clear the house and garden: If it isn't listed as being left then you should have removed it.

Maybe a slight overreaction on their part, but maybe they don't have the time or money to remove it themselves. They will be stressed too, have jobs to go to like you, and might be on the bones of their arse too.

MadAssHatter · 12/03/2018 19:46

yabu, empty means empty and it's unfair to the buyers to have to clear it out. We've been in our house almost for years and the shed is still full of things the sellers left behind! Some of its useful but it's a real pain that we will eventually have to sort it and arrange for it to be collected as some of it is too big for us to take to the dump

TheTab · 12/03/2018 19:47

Sorry, but I find it amusing that you thought the buyers would be delighted to keep the perfectly usable table and pots that you didn't find attractive or usable enough to take with you.

Chienrouge · 12/03/2018 19:48

Just can't believe they didn't say sooner they didn't want it

But how would they have had any idea you were planning to leave it? Unless it was on the fixtures and fittings list?
When you buy, you buy with vacant possession unless agreed otherwise. They are perfectly within their rights to ask you to move it.
In your situation I’d offer to pay them.

AnUtterIdiot · 12/03/2018 19:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Celebelly · 12/03/2018 19:49

I also think some people in life have lost (or never learned) the art of how to ask for things in a way that doesn't immediately put people's backs up. Ie. by being reasonable human beings and not going from 0-100 on the aggro scale.

Contrast:

'Hi OP, we went by the house today as we're so excited about moving tomorrow and noticed a few things left in the garden. Would it be possible to arrange to remove these as soon as possible as we have our own furniture to go there. Thank you!'

v

'THERE'S CRAP IN THE GARDEN. GET IT OUT OR I WON'T COMPLETE.'

I know which one I would respond more politely and quickly to...

AnUtterIdiot · 12/03/2018 19:50

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Jux · 12/03/2018 19:51

If I were buying a house where I knew the vendor had moved out early, I would go round the day before completion too. Just to check that the vendor hadn't just decamped, or that someone hadn't broken in and decided to squat or that a tramp hadn't broken in and died there or - well, there are a lot of possibilities, so just to check all is OK.

I wouldn't need to do that if the vendor were living in it up to the day.

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