Taking light bulbs from old house to new house

[EasterBun2001]

When we bought our first home we invested in LED lightbulbs throughout which are not cheap but have paid for themselves in ridiculously low energy bills.

Now looking at moving, my sensible head wants to bring the bulbs with me but I feel like this would be unreasonable for anyone moving in.

What would you do?

Replace with cheap bulbs. Don't leave the new owners with no lights

Having just purchased similar bulbs I say take them, but please replace with standard bulbs. I doubt the new owners will think to bring bulbs. Totally not unreasonable to take something that cost quote a bit. But would be unreasonable to not leave a replacement

I had expensive LEDs in last flat (lightbulb gloat alert) and it didn’t even occur to me to take them out.

You say they’ve already paid for themselves in reduced bills. Plus what percentage of the sale price is the cost of the lightbulbs? Do you even know you’ll be able to use them all in your new house?

Most importantly though - earn yourself some planet karma by leaving the new owner with energy efficient bulbs.

How do you know your current bulbs will fit the light fixtures at your new place anyway?

Screwfix do cheap led bulbs

Wow!!!! Just wow!!!! Possibly the most tight arse comment I’ve ever witnessed on Mumsnet. You clearly weren’t brought up proper (as my mum would say). 🙄🤣🤣🤣

It's in no way unreasonable if you replace the bulbs with cheaper versions. But you can't leave empty light fittings, that would be very unreasonable.
Although, the best thing you could do for your carbon footprint would be to leave the bulbs behind and buy new ones for your new house. Then there would be two houses running on low energy bulbs instead of one.

As far as I'm aware LED bulbs are cheap now (pack of 2 from I think it was B&M last week) so there really isn't much point. I realise they were expensive years ago but I'm a single mum on Universal Credit and my light bulbs are all LED. Honestly, I looked for old style cheapo bulbs recently and it seems you can't get them any more?

When we moved in to our first house many many years ago it had gas fires. When previous owners moved out they just turned off the gas & took out all the fires. Luckily my husband was a builder & checked - before we turned the gas on to make a nice cup of tea!

Its very bad form to leave the new home owner with no bulbs at all.
Really bad.

Replace them with a cheaper version and then you can take the ones you want with you.

The removal men packed our toilet rolls as well as the lightbulbs.

Menora
what is stupid is expecting to find lightbulbs and be shocked - and in the dark - when you realise there aren't any.

Lightbulbs are NOT included in ALL the fixture and fittings.

What is stupid is not being prepared when you move, but hey, some people clearly are

Be sure to take a al the copper wiring, any radiators, wallpaper and any lead off the roof as well, jeees! How tight are you?????

I have 2 Philips Hue lights (and will probably have more by the time we move) so what's tight about taking something that will cost me to replace in the new house?

I will also be replacing my towel rails, toilet roll holder etc with cheaper ones as they cost me a fortune and I like them! I'll do that before it goes on the market though.

Providing you honestly declare what is being left on the forms and don't leave people without lightbulbs etc then I don't see the problem of leaving cheaper stuff.

JosefKeller do you audit new places to check all the lightbulb fittings and purchase bulbs before you move then?

It genuinely has never even crossed my mind that I’d remove lightbulbs when moving. But, given that I’ve moved into a flat where the previous owner took the actual (very ordinary) pendants and left wires hanging out, I shouldn’t be surprised.

Lightbulbs are NOT included in ALL the fixture and fittings

They have been in every property I’ve ever moved in to or out of.

I don't audit anything, but I don't take anything for granted.
I check the property on the day or the day before exchange, and I would query anything that doesn't match the feature & fittings, but I am not expecting any property to be empty of surprises the day I move.

I have had lovely sellers in the past, that's just a bonus.

I'd leave all bulbs, always.

When we moved in here we left our old house in pristine condition, plus put flowers, wine and a 'welcome home' card on the worktop. I also left curtains and blinds the buyers had liked. Thirteen years on they still send us a Christmas card and they were so chuffed we'd not left it in a state.

The people we bought from took everything including skirting boards. How the fuck they had the energy to rip those out after emptying the house is beyond me, but they were arseholes and I'm sure they enjoyed their new home with excess skirting.

If there's an opportunity to be kind, take it. Moving house is such hard work; make it nicer for people if you can.

There is a 1980s movie called The Chain about removal men trying to do a chain of seven moves in one day. One of the people being moved (played, I think, by Nigel Hawthorne) took all the lightbulbs and door handles. He was not a sympathetic character.

The film is a story of the seven deadly sins. Jealousy, greed etc.
Each story, like the guy removing the lightbulbs represents one of the sins. I think that one was supposed to be greed, but cant remember exactly.😂😂

I’ve always left all the bulbs when I’ve moved out of somewhere ....and a loo roll in the bathrooms ... and a bottle of wine for the new owner !

Sorry JosefKeller. Think I misread your post. Thought you were saying we are all stupid for expecting people to not take the bulbs.

Blueopal15 we need more people like you in the world.

In the first house I bought they took the kitchen worktops, replacing them with cheap sheets of Formica . In compensation they left the most hideous wardrobe and dressing table I have ever seen, made of pink marble patterned Formica (they obviously liked Formica). I had to smash it up to get it downstairs. They also didn’t realise they had to be out on the day of completion, the estate agent had to go round and demand the keys. Their final act was to not have their post forwarded even though he worked for the post office.

I'd take Alexa bulbs but I'd leave cheapo replacements so they can at least see, especially this time of year.

Havn't you given the buyer a list of fixtures and fittings saying what stays and what goes?

Agree that leaving the house with no light is a dick move. Swapping out fancy bulbs is more reasonable, provided it wasn't specified the bulbs remain with the sale.

I took expensive bulbs when I moved recently, but replaced them with cheap bulbs instead.

One expensive one I did leave as it's an odd fitting, the bulb was going strong after 10 years, and I don't have a fitting the same in my house now so why bother?

To my knowledge you used to have to leave a bulb, may have all changed. But why not swap them all for cheap poundland ones so they at least see.