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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU to think this is cheeky? (Property related)

226 replies

opinionatedfreak · 17/01/2021 22:18

We are due to complete on the sale of a family home tomorrow.

The person died so the house is empty.

I’ve just gone round to read the meters and discovered a pile of garden furniture in the back garden.

I’m assuming it belongs to the buyers.

AIBU to think it is cheeky to do this without asking?

YANBU = they are cheeky
YABU = what’s the problem the house will be theirs tomorrow.

OP posts:
Dopo · 18/01/2021 00:35

@FrackOffMrBubbles

I wonder how much you're adding to your solicitor fees by asking them to get in touch with the other side about this. Might be able to charge you for an extra half-hour

Conveyancing fees don't tend to work that way. It's not pay per email/contact etc...

Shame. Imagine the money they could make woth the mumsnet outraged brigade. The MOB.
veeeeh · 18/01/2021 00:36

I agree it is very cheeky. If they had asked you would you have said yes?

But in the times we are living in, I really wouldn't sweat the small stuff. Hope it all goes smoothly tomorrow for everyone.

Walkerbean16 · 18/01/2021 00:44

I don't understand why people are being so rude, it's pretty obvious why you would be upset about it.

Hope you are okay OP, hope you drank the fizz. Flowers

Thedarknightsaredrawingin · 18/01/2021 00:56

Yes it’s a bit cheeky but your reaction is a bit extreme too.

Ugzbugz · 18/01/2021 00:58

Yes its rude and until completion, nothing is guaranteed

Natsel84 · 18/01/2021 00:59

Hang on .. I do apologise if I've missed something. But how have they had access to the house before completion?
When I bought my house , the previous owner had passed away so the key were left with the estate agent. We weren't allowed access to the house until the money had been transferred. If we did want a viewing after the offer was accepted . We had to meet the estate agent at the house ?

PeggyHill · 18/01/2021 01:01

I think it is very cheeky, yes - they should have just asked!

To eveyone saying it's not a big deal, it's just one day, blah blah... yes, I agree, but that's all the more reason to wonder the hell they didn't just ask? "Hi, as the property is empty, would it be ok if we dropped off some of the garden furniture at the weekend? Thanks".

It would have been so easy to ask. Sneaking onto the property to dump stuff when you don't own the house yet and haven't asked permission is extremely rude and cheeky.

earthyfire · 18/01/2021 01:01

It wouldn't bother me at all. If it helps them I'd feel good about that. I certainly couldn't be bothered with doing petty things that would annoy them or delay the sale.

LadyPene · 18/01/2021 01:09

I would have been upset too. I recently took final meter readings at my grandma's empty house. Nearly 40 year of memories. As you mention, you say your goodbyes, take it all in one last time. When you have lost a loved one it is part of the grieving process. I would have been shocked to see garden furniture moved in. Equally had they asked, there wouldn't be a good enough reason to say no, the risk is theirs. Also equally, had they asked and you knew it was there you wouldn't have been surprised by it and probably could have largely ignored it.

slashlover · 18/01/2021 01:10

@Natsel84

Hang on .. I do apologise if I've missed something. But how have they had access to the house before completion? When I bought my house , the previous owner had passed away so the key were left with the estate agent. We weren't allowed access to the house until the money had been transferred. If we did want a viewing after the offer was accepted . We had to meet the estate agent at the house ?
It's in the garden, I know plenty of houses where the back garden would be easily accessible.
Iminaglasscaseofemotion · 18/01/2021 01:10

I really don't know how anyone could get thselves worked up about this. Who gives a shit. There's no one in the house!

Purplethrow · 18/01/2021 02:48

It isn’t a big deal in the scheme of things but when you have lost a loved one small things can be upsetting. I think I’d feel that the buyers (again unwittingly) have somehow show disrespect to the person that used to live there.

Sinful8 · 18/01/2021 03:16

@Iknowwhatudidlastsummer

It's out of order.

And pretty stupid, if someone was employed to do a last round and get rid of everything to respect the term of the sales - usually stating that the property is to be sold empty - their furniture would end up in a tip!

If you can organise that in less than a day in a pandemic you're wasted at an estate agents
Sinful8 · 18/01/2021 03:18

[quote WeeM]@opinionatedfreak also in Scotland OP and this would rip my knitting-it’s the not asking that would bug me. Our removal van was sat outside our new house full of our stuff for at least an hour waiting for the money to change hands...you don’t just rock up and start moving stuff in before that happens.[/quote]
So somone was shitty to you so you have to be shitty to others?

Sinful8 · 18/01/2021 03:20

@Cocogreen

Not very smart of them. What if the furniture is stolen and their insurance cover doesn’t start until after settlement?
Ahh yes the mid January Garden furniture crime wave!
GADDay · 18/01/2021 03:49

Meh.

There are so many other things to get excited about right now.

Let it go. Your aggravation is ruining only one person's day- yours

Furries · 18/01/2021 04:08

@Iminaglasscaseofemotion

I really don't know how anyone could get thselves worked up about this. Who gives a shit. There's no one in the house!
This has been the general feeling through a lot of responses.

I’m really surprised. The reason no one is in the house is because the owners died. I’m imaging if my mum died and I’m dealing with the grief, sale of the property, Covid, and all the other crap that could possibly happen. And to then find that new “owners” had already started moving stuff over before everything was legally finalised.

Yes, I’d be feeling bloody pissed off. And probably not in a “logical” way. My brain would be saying “it’s only one day”, but my heart and feelings would be thinking “this kind of hurts and they are CFs of the highest order”. Surely, they MUST know that the sale is due to a bereavement. Have a bit of flipping respect.

OP - I wouldn’t do anything to stop things going through, definitely not worth it. But I’d 100% be taking the fizz out of the fridge and drinking it.

mortensmike · 18/01/2021 04:11

When we moved house we had some fizz and chocolates delivered addressed to the new owners two days before exchange. They were delicious Grin they'd messed us about left right and Center so we figured it was fair game

sanityisamyth · 18/01/2021 04:21

My buyer already has a key to the house she is buying and has started taking down shelves and doing some painting. Literally couldn't give a toss what she does as long as she doesn't pull out!

inquietant · 18/01/2021 04:24

[quote opinionatedfreak]@waterproofed I think from reading the thread there are others who would feel strongly if someone assumed it was OK to leave things in what was still their garden.[/quote]
Psychologically we tend to feel irritated when others do things we would not do ourselves.

I would find it annoying because it isn't right - they don't own it until they own it.

But the others on this thread are also right - it isn't really worth being annoyed about.

Take the champagne and chalk it up to human difference. Hope all goes well with exchange Flowers

Mostlylurkingiam · 18/01/2021 04:47

O for goodness sake REALLY?! You are very silly to get worked up over it, should they have asked? Yes, is it worth getting angry and "taking the bottle of fizz" away? No, that's very childish.

MrsMaryClausFace · 18/01/2021 04:52

I can't believe some of the responses on here. You have every right to be pissed off OP, as someone else said, they could have asked!!!

People saying about things being delivered before completion... We had 2 weeks between exchange and completion when we bought our current house. I wanted to order some bits like cushions etc but the estimated delivery date was for about 3 days after completing, so I ordered them to the new address.

When we moved in, one of the parcels had been delivered already and I was MORTIFIED! I felt really bad, and was going to email the seller to apologise and explain that the delivery wasn't expected til after we had all moved, except, then something happened, completely unrelated and they were so incredibly and unnecessarily
rude about that thing I never bothered.

MaggieFS · 18/01/2021 05:14

I'd be annoyed. It wouldn't have hurt them to ASK.

HeronLanyon · 18/01/2021 05:33

They deffo should have asked and no doubt you’d have said yes.
I sold my mums house after her death. Lots of big emotions. This kind of thing might have upset me out of proportion as siblings and I had a final visit to say goodbye to the house and have a good old cry about mum - I know I’d have been momentarily irrationally upset about this if buyers hadn’t asked. Kind of disrespectful to my dead mum !!! I had buyers who were fantastic and would never have done this and would have felt comfortable just asking.
In other news. Well done for selling op and hope all went smoothly.

Mummyoflittledragon · 18/01/2021 06:09

@Hugoslavia

It was just so awful her strutting around the place with her children, elderly parents and a friend to show them round and treating us as though we were trepassing on her property just because we had exchanged that morning. She never afforded us the courtesy to move our possessions out first before she barged in. It wasn't as though we were dragging our heels either.
If you hadn’t completed you would have been within your rights to tell her to get off your property. That is beyond acceptable. As a seller you should aim to leave by 12pm. But the house isn’t available until the keys have been delivered to the agent. As for deliveries of furniture, you could have refused them.
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