Seller is 'taking' furniture despite my including it in offer letter?

[Rae34]

I have a worse than useless solicitor who I have spoken to just twice even though my date of entry is in 2 days. Really tearing my hair out here and have had no documents of any kind but anyway.

He has finally contacted me and said 'the seller is taking x pieces of furniture during the move, is that okay?'. This means I will now have nothing at all to sit in in the living room to start - these furniture pieces were included in the offer. What are my legal rights??

Ask in legal, but as this is Scotland you may find fewer people know.

Were the pieces of furniture offered to you as part of the sale? I assume they must have been. It isn't normal to include furniture. You could always reduce the offer by an amount that covers to cost of the furniture or offer them the choice of £X with or £Y without, but if they never offered the furniture in the first place you are probably being unreasonable. If I ever sell I will be taking all my furniture with me. It has all either been chosen or given and much of it has been in the family for a very long time. Make sure you aren't demanding something they are given as a wedding present!

Edit Knole Sofa ..Wasn't sure of spelling, but knew someone who had a lovely old one that we were uber jealous of 🙂

In Scotland the deal is done when the offer is accepted.
Whatever (furniture, fixtures and fittings etc.) was in the original offer you made are legally to be left behind.
The answer is no they can’t take anything they agreed would be included.
I’d be at the solicitor’s office first thing tomorrow.

Espee That is incorrect. It’s only legally binding when the missives are concluded.

Scotland here. Have your missives already concluded? If it was part of your offer - i.e. it was listed as one of the terms on the offer letter, and you have their letter of acceptance that details them agreeing to the terms, then it forms a legal part of your offer. When you concluded the missives that all became legally binding. So your solicitor is being useless in that they forgot, but just clarify with them that it actually formed part of the missives.

And the furniture wasn’t included in the offer anyway.

@Esspee

In Scotland the deal is done when the offer is accepted. Whatever (furniture, fixtures and fittings etc.) was in the original offer you made are legally to be left behind. The answer is no they can’t take anything they agreed would be included. I’d be at the solicitor’s office first thing tomorrow.

Completely incorrect.

And if you haven't completed the missives, then Seller's solicitor will have requested that that clause be deleted, and would have used formal language around it - it wouldn't just come across as just a "oh, they've asked for this, is that ok". This assumes of course that your solicitor isn't completely incompetent and didn't miss it off the offer.

Do spare me the lecture @thecatsthecats. My brief responses here have no bearing on my responses anywhere else. If you want to know I am very unwell with endometriosis at the moment. I am also working full time from home during a busy period while trying to sort this out too.

In reality both myself and the seller's agent had been in very good communication with the solicitor's business advisor until 2 1/2 weeks ago. I have been trying in vain to contact the solicitor who has constantly ignored me until 2 weeks ago.

The solicitor has said he will send me copies of everything tomorrow. Here's hoping.

If we weren't in lockdown I would have been in the office long ago. All of their staff are working from home and the phone constantly rings out. People dont phone me back either.

have now been informed by the agent that the chair was never included in the offer. Another error on my solicitor's part.
Posted by the OP at16.07

No idea who the solicitor's business manager is
Is this a proper legal form or some sort of on line conveyancing set up

@Rae34

Do spare me the lecture *@thecatsthecats*. My brief responses here have no bearing on my responses anywhere else. If you want to know I am very unwell with endometriosis at the moment. I am also working full time from home during a busy period while trying to sort this out too.

In reality both myself and the seller's agent had been in very good communication with the solicitor's business advisor until 2 1/2 weeks ago. I have been trying in vain to contact the solicitor who has constantly ignored me until 2 weeks ago.

The solicitor has said he will send me copies of everything tomorrow. Here's hoping.

If we weren't in lockdown I would have been in the office long ago. All of their staff are working from home and the phone constantly rings out. People dont phone me back either.

OP, you haven’t confirmed. Are missives concluded or not?

@Esspee

In Scotland the deal is done when the offer is accepted. Whatever (furniture, fixtures and fittings etc.) was in the original offer you made are legally to be left behind. The answer is no they can’t take anything they agreed would be included. I’d be at the solicitor’s office first thing tomorrow.

The solicitor won’t be there- he/she will be working from home because of Covid!

A proper legal firm believe it or not. They were actually recommended to me by a friend. I think I have just ended up with a dud solicitor.

Yes missives concluded.

Unfortunately then you don't have a legal standing, other than trying to come to an arrangement directly with the seller. Seems like your solicitor screwed up, although they would have sent you a copy of the offer letter for you to approve, so you could have caught the error then.

By way of background in Scotland the written offer is legal binding, this is why we put offers in writing through a solicitor and not by telephone to the estate agents.
The written offer will include an entry date on average 8/10 weeks for the date of offer, the missives can be concluded at any time before that date. In the past few years solicitors are leaving it till the last minute to conclude the missives, this doesn't mean they are a rubbish solicitor.
I used an excellent solicitor for my sale last year and we concluded the day before the entry date.
The issue is mortgages, banks can do a credit check a few days before they release the funds and if they see some thing they dont like can withdraw your offer and this will leave you in breach of contract.
Your solicitor can say no to the clauses in the missives and they can go back and forward all day until they are both in agreement.
You would be entitled to pull out without fault if the furniture was in your offer but I wouldn't lose the house over a chair.

@Redyoyo

By way of background in Scotland the written offer is legal binding, this is why we put offers in writing through a solicitor and not by telephone to the estate agents. The written offer will include an entry date on average 8/10 weeks for the date of offer, the missives can be concluded at any time before that date. In the past few years solicitors are leaving it till the last minute to conclude the missives, this doesn't mean they are a rubbish solicitor. I used an excellent solicitor for my sale last year and we concluded the day before the entry date. The issue is mortgages, banks can do a credit check a few days before they release the funds and if they see some thing they dont like can withdraw your offer and this will leave you in breach of contract. Your solicitor can say no to the clauses in the missives and they can go back and forward all day until they are both in agreement. You would be entitled to pull out without fault if the furniture was in your offer but I wouldn't lose the house over a chair.

This is completely incorrect. An offer is NOT legally binding until missives are concluded. You can absolutely put a verbal offer in first.

The written offer is NOT legally binding. Either party can withdraw prior to missives being concluded. A solicitor will not conclude your purchase until such time as they have your loan papers from your lender and have taken your final instructions.

If the missives were concluded without your chance to review them, I would be absolutely spitting - unless you agreed to this in writing with someone.

BUT - if the missive are concluded, and the furniture formed no part of the paperwork, then you have no option but to just suck it up, or offer the seller extra to leave you the furniture.

I'd advise again, for your own stress levels, to forget about the furniture.

Then make a detailed and formal complaint about the solicitor AND the 'business advisor', whoever that is, because they have obviously given you the impression that all is well with your purchase when they've shown you no paperwork and agreed things without your explicit sign-off.

You live and learn!

OP states missives are concluded.

Let’s be honest op, if the chair is as lovely as it sounds then it’s probably very unlikely they would have thrown it in with the sale!

Make a comprehensive list of all the problems and put in a complaint. There should be a partner designated to deal with complaints then to the law society.

• By way of background in Scotland the written offer is legal binding, this is why we put offers in writing through a solicitor and not by telephone to the estate agents. The written offer will include an entry date on average 8/10 weeks for the date of offer* Nonsense Offer not binding until missives concluded Most offers now do not state a specific entry date

Scotland here also. I had a similar issue when purchasing my house. Listed as all light fittings included, low and behold after accepting offer we were told they were taking the spectacular light fitting from one room. We argued the point it had said all
Light fittings included but in the end they just had to replace with something similar to those in other rooms. Frustrating but we got nowhere trying to complain. Bloody loved that light

Complaints that can't be resolved go to SLCC not Law society

When I bought my first property (Scotland) my solicitor asked what furniture I wanted to ask for as part of the offer. I still have the dining table and chairs 16 years later! I also requested they leave the fridge/freezer. They replaced the posh one with a crappy old one.
I'm surprised you've not seen any paperwork and have no idea what is / what is not included for your purchase price. I'm glad you are getting this tomorrow.