WIBU to cut off my nose to spite my face? (House purchase related)

[Kitchenstress]

I am a FTB and completely inexperienced, so genuinely looking for some honest feedback. I'll give as much context as I can.

I made an offer on a house £5k under the asking price. This was accepted. The house needs a lot of work.

During the viewing the estate agent said that the house was being sold as-is - so we get the good (all kitchen appliances, some old, some newer) as well as the bad (attic full of old and broken furniture, HUGE gravestone in the garden to mark where the family pet was buried).

The sellers live outside of the UK so they would have to pay to have the house cleared and it would be a hassle for them.

With one month to go until the exchange date, we got the fixtures and fittings list today and they're asking for £50 per each kitchen appliance.

This is obviously very cheap, but I plan on renovating the kitchen next year so would have to clear the old appliances out anyway. I was going to live with what was there for the time being. I would incur the cost of removing everything obviously.

I'm annoyed that they have gone back on their word. They're now saying they will call some family who are still in the UK to ask if they want the appliances and we can have anything they don't take for free. I'm biting my tongue to avoid asking sarcastically if they will also see if anyone fancies a 3ft gravestone and some broken chairs.

If they do this I want the house cleared of the broken furniture and ridiculous bloody gravestone. I will obviously have to buy new kitchen appliances sooner than planned.

DP thinks that we should just take the hit but I am incredibly annoyed. If I had known this at the beginning I would have budgeted differently and insisted the house was cleared upfront.

If they want to take the appliances I would demand they take everything (from the loft to the gravestone) they can't just pick and choose

They either leave you the appliances in lieu of having to clear everything out or they pay to clear the lot themselves. They can't have their cake and eat it, their CFs.

We had a similar, but opposite situation when completing on the sale of a house last year - everything stated house sold vacant possession with only carpets, curtains and 2 sheds in garden left. Buyer dicked about for ages deciding whose name to put purchase in (after finding out they’d have to pay 8% stamp duty as a second property) then ummed and ahhed about whether to purchase as a company or put in son’s name - then wanted us to agree that, if son died between exchange and completion, we would allow change of purchaser. When we finally got them to sort that shit out, they then asked if we’d accept £5,000+ of asking price as payment for chattels (trying to drop the purchase price a bit) so we asked what they thought the carpets etc were worth - their solicitor came back with they expected we’d want to leave ALL the furniture for them so we didn’t need to worry about it - not considering that, once we left the house as we were living there, we’d need furniture for wherever we moved to and didn’t want to have to furnish a whole house!! Apparently they were gobsmaked we were thinking that way!!

Stick to your guns - either all included or all removed for completion!,

Can you please post a Pic of the massive gravestone?!

Thelittleweasel

Apropos of nothing I have never seen the point of "making an offer". You do not go into any other shop and say I'll make an offer on the beans.

Sorry I don't understand what this means?

What you do about the equipment is up to you. The danger is that if you start imposing conditions the vendor may simply pull out of the transaction.

Well this is why I asked for opinions, it's my first time buying a house and so far it's been super stressful. I don't know what's normal and what isn't.

The house has been vacant on the market since last summer, and we made our offer 2 months ago. I think it's unlikely that they will pull out, although I accept that there's a risk. I suppose they could decide to continue to rent it out and find new tenants, but the estate agent said that they were retiring and keen to sell. They've lived abroad for 20 odd years and were renting the house out in that time.

3 things -

1. If it’s not on the sales particulars it doesn’t matter what the estate agent said.

1. The fittings contents list trumps the particulars because it forms part of the contract.

1. You don’t ‘set’ and exchange date as such. You just exchange when everyone (that is the solicitors not the clients!) are ready to. I’m only mentioning this as you say ‘one month to exchange’ when that may not be the case.

It sucks that they have done this and all you can do is negotiate. Negotiations take place between you the vendor and estate agent. Once. Decision is made advise your Solicitor who will confirm with the sellers solicitors.

I’m a Conveyancer and it is not my job to sort out washing machines, it’s the agents. Then tell me what you have decided and I will make it part of the contract. Hope all goes well.

Do what you want to do. I'd get the house cleared personally as getting rid of a big gravestone will be a pain even without the other stuff in the attic.

Apologies for typos, typing on the run!

Crockof

Unfortunately I didn't think to take my own photo, but here is the zoomed in photo from the listing, cleverly hidden in the shadow between trees. That fence is about 6 feet tall!

I didn't even spot it before we went to see it, it was a bit of a surprise to be honest.

I would tell them you are not prepared to pay.
Are they willing to loose the sale for the sake of probably about £200.
You are in a better position to negotiate as a ftb

Have you priced a skip recently? They are mega expensive and unless you get a tiny one will be more than £100 plus you pay VAT then you'd need to add labour on top. I'd cost some skips and remind them they are getting a bargain.

It will cost you in at least time but also monetary if you have to get a man with van in to clear the crap they leave.

I would want it all completely cleared tbh. It’s so much more hassle to barter over their crappy appliances and who’s to say the dishwasher won’t give up the ghost as soon as you move in then it’s another expensive problem to get rid of.

They are very CF’ers!

If they pull out because you don’t want their crap left behind then you’ve had a lucky escape and it wasn’t meant to be. There will be other houses with sane sellers.

DollyPomPoms

Thank you, I appreciate your input.

We agreed a date to work towards as we are chain free on both sides, which is fast approaching. I didn't know that we had to wait until both solicitors were happy, that could potentially change things. We have already given our notice for our flat. Our solicitor hasn't been great, making typos in documents we need to sign, and telling us before we instructed them that we wouldn't have to pay stamp duty then telling us we did after we paid them! Lots of small things which are building up to stress me out.

You aren't kidding about the massive gravestone. That is as creepy AF. No deal on those appliances. Nobody is going to be making an offer on that house anytime soon. They will lose a whole lot more than fifty pounds an appliance if they try negotiating with that macabre boneyard in their garden.

In the current market a house needing work which has been vacant for so long is not going to have a queue of people to jump in with another offer. It will also be costing them money every month to keep the place empty.

It will also cost money to get the place cleared (especially if none of the stuff is saleable). I'd be surprised if house clearers would take garden rubble/gravestones.

Work out what you want and instruct your solicitor accordingly.

Gods I've just seen the picture - that is hideous, if you want it cleared make sure its in the contract.

Can't see what type of trees they are but presumably the surveyor mentioned if they should be looked at seperately?

Our vendor asked for £150 for “firewood” (we hadn’t seen any), £500 for carpets (in a doggy, smoker household with a lot of hard flooring) £300 for a wood burner that he’d installed himself and had no hearth (ie fire hazard) and £200 for a dishwasher.

We declined it all and he removed the lot - which saved us a job! Bought a second hand dishwasher for £60 off eBay that is still going 5 years later.

I would never agree to buy a house full of someone's crap. Who knows what lies beneath and what might be the final costs of dumping their rubbish? Tell the CFs to clear it before you exchange.

I would say either they leave it as is, as it was marketed, or they clear the entire house. They can't pick and choose.

The sellers of our house tried this with us - wanted to sell us the old appliances and crappy half falling down curtains. We said no, please clear the house. They dragged the white goods over the floor leaving deep grooves in the wooden floor. And a dirty house. And didn't bother to forward on their mail. Oh well.

Definitely insist on them paying to get the house cleared.

Call their bluff.

C8H10N4O2

I know! Everyone thinks I'm exaggerating about the gravestone until I show them photos

Surveyor didn't mention tree issues, they are all the way at the back of the garden.

Off topic but those trees look huge!

What you do about the equipment is up to you. The danger is that if you start imposing conditions the vendor may simply pull out of the transaction

And of course that works both ways - OP as the buyer can pull out now if she feels she has been lied to/manipulated/that they're buggering about

Apropos of nothing I have never seen the point of "making an offer". You do not go into any other shop and say I'll make an offer on the beans

Are you my BIL? Who suggested I offer 500 pounds over asking price to secure sale/have them take it off the market?
I believed him, more fool me - when I looked at zoopla I realized that like many others I should have put in a lower offer as it was overpriced and many agents/sellers expect you to go in 5-10k lower. That's usually been added in. I was very naive and not so internet savvy. Maybe it's a class thing - are you upper class?

OP unless you are going down to the local skip with a transit or have enough room in the boot for the broken paraphernalia then it might well cost a lot of time and effort to remove items (my old council used to charge 25 quid for each item to be collected and that was 12 years ago). Appliances can be collected by scrap men but they can also be fussy about what they take/sometimes new appliances delivered will take the old one but that won't apply to you if you are having a new built-in kitchen next year.

The sellers are chancers. Being abroad is no excuse. For that reason I would hold out and hold firm, taking a risk on losing the property if I had to. Unless it was my absolute dream house then they can do one. I would be surprised if they did not cave in order to keep the sale.
It is an either/or situation as others have said - clearing crap out the attic is no fun, the appliances were the reward for that.

As for the gravestone, words fail me. It makes my glittered cotton wool dead hamster cardboard box look lame by comparison.