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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Seller trying to charge £'000s on top for existing fitted window shutters!

347 replies

MrsKT123 · 16/01/2022 00:08

We're buying a house and have had the fixtures and fittings report back and our seller has noted that the fitted window shutters are not included and would be an extra few thousand £s if we'd like them to stay! (Don't want to give exact amount in case they're on here!)

We're already paying considerably over asking price, had no quibbles on around £5ks worth of work required noted on our survey and have said we're happy to exchange and complete in order with their timescale (they have asked for an extended period between exchange and completion). We love the house and just want things to go smoothly.

I'm really disappointed by this as I would not have expected them to be taking these as they're made-to-measure and I know the house they are buying and there's no way they'd fit. To me, it's like taking the kitchen cupboards or built in wardrobes with them.

Surely it's more hassle to them to get them removed and put good the decoration for all windows in the house (large 5-bed with some bay windows)?

YABU - you shouldn't expect fitted window shutters to be included
YANBU - of course fitted window shutters should be included

OP posts:
Mellowyellow222 · 17/01/2022 18:36

Am
I the only
Person who thinks it was incredibly naive not to ask during the viewings if the blinds were included? Every one is getting so cross about this, but a simple question early on would have established the position and then this could have been built into negotiations.

Clovacloud · 17/01/2022 18:36

The woman who sold us our current house did the same tactic about her very manky old curtains - she wanted £2k. She held up the sale for weeks over it. Guess what was still here when we moved in? Hmm

So say no, and hope they cave in and just leave them. If they are custom where else will they use them?

myusernamewastakenbyme · 17/01/2022 18:38

Im a bit annoyed...i sold my house back in the summer and didn't charge for the oil left in my tank...although i don't think there was that much left in it.

A580Hojas · 17/01/2022 18:41

@Mellowyellow222

Am I the only Person who thinks it was incredibly naive not to ask during the viewings if the blinds were included? Every one is getting so cross about this, but a simple question early on would have established the position and then this could have been built into negotiations.
You might not be the only person to think it ... but it helps the OP exactly how?
lilachouse · 17/01/2022 18:48

Were they on the original details for the property? Our seller tried this on ref the shed, the woodburner and some carpets! Shed and burner were both listed on the details so that gave them no room for manoeuvre and we didn’t love the carpets….I also said they could take shed if they made good the plot it was on. They backtracked….it was a divorce so they were keen to claw back any extra ££ but that isn’t my problem and doesn’t warrant such behaviour!

rwalker · 17/01/2022 18:54

@daisychain01
rwalker
I wouldn't expect them to be included . As for make good are you going to ask for rooms to be redecorated where theres been pictures hanging and removed .
They'll of cost £1000's not a surprise they are taking them.
Making good,mdue to marks caused by picture hangers on walls is not in anyway equivalent to removing fitted blinds attached to window frames. Most people expect to redecorate. You don't expect to have to do expensive remediation of a window frame, which is part of the fabric of the house. Not a useful comparison,

It's highly unlikely those fitted blinds will be useful elsewhere - a sensible and magnanimous vendor would leave them rather than being CFs to squeeze every last penny out of the sale.

Most of them just have a few screws attaching the shutter frame to the window and a bit of silicon you could scrape off .
This is not major work on a par with blinds and curtain rail they are not structural .

JudgeJ · 17/01/2022 18:55

@TheHoptimist

3. If they dont pay then you get the tank emptied and take it to your new house.
My daughter did this, emptied it and sold it to friends who were still using oil.
fetchacloth · 17/01/2022 18:57

They are fixtures so no argument.
What a CF!

Supernothing22 · 17/01/2022 19:00

House I'm currently in now listed the living room curtains at £200 a pair. They hadnt even bought them, I saw the listing 3 years previously when they bought the house and the curtains were the same.

PeachyPeachTrees · 17/01/2022 19:06

A chandelier is screwed in but isn't counted, just leave a working bulb on a plain plastic pendant. As the expensive blinds were not mentioned in the sales pitch I would have asked early on if they were included as so many sellers are cf and strip the place. I'm surprised they would want bad feelings considering you will soon live on the same road. I would give a counter offer of half and say it's final offer considering what came up in survey and you having no more money. The EA won't want to loose both houses if the chain breaks so speak with them to get a good deal.

Mollymoostoo · 17/01/2022 19:16

@DPotter

call their bluff and say no thanks - will cost them more to have them removed and the walls and frames made good and re-decorated.

I would class them as a fixture and fitting, just like a staircase balustrade or a fitted wardrobe

Yes, this. Let them take them out. They will soon back down.
Bignanny30 · 17/01/2022 19:24

I had used to work in the conveyancing business and this happens often where vendors say they want money for something that obviously isn’t any good to them in their new property, the vendors are just chancing their arm. Nine times out of ten if the purchaser says no, we don’t Want to pay for those blinds or that fitted wardrobe etc.so you can take them with you, the vendor leaves them anyway as it’s more hassle to take them apart when they’re of no use to them than to just leave them.

TheJade · 17/01/2022 19:26

I think people often take fixtures and fittings. I would always ask if those things are staying when viewing the house. I don’t think either you or the seller are unreasonable it’s just how house sales work and also what negotiations are for. Good luck

Tulipomania · 17/01/2022 19:36

Read the OP.

They aren't blinds, they are shutters that have been fitted to a bay window.

GlomOfNit · 17/01/2022 19:39

Of course they're fixtures and fittings. The seller is probably just remembering how much it cost to have them made to measure and installed, and is entirely a CF.

Reminds me of the less extreme example of this sort of behaviour that we experienced years ago. We were buying a modest house in a village, the vendors were moving to a house two roads away. We bumped into her on a walk a couple of weeks after both of us had moved into our new houses, exchanged house moving small talk and then she said, awkwardly crow-barring it in - 'Oh and are you putting lots of things in the loft? When you've finished, um, just let us know and we'll come and take our loft ladder back because we need it' Grin Said loft ladder was one of those aluminium ones and very much screwed down and fitted in place. I was completely wrong-footed and said something along the lines of 'ok, when we've finished using it' - and we then spent several years avoiding her on walks through the village! Grin She never asked again so maybe she realised what a CF she'd been. She was very strange though...

Herewegoagain84 · 17/01/2022 19:43

Of course YANBU. They are fitted precisely to those windows - there is no where they could take them. Often houses are valued a bit higher for things like fitted shutters / fitted cupboards etc. You’re already paying for them in the agreed price. We didn’t think twice about leaving ours behind - they’re being cheeky fuckers trying to recoup the cost - perhaps they didn’t do them that long ago.

Bignanny30 · 17/01/2022 19:45

#Tulipomanio Okay shutters!! You knew what I was talking about as much as I did so what’s your problem

TinselTinsel · 17/01/2022 19:47

When I bought my house, the seller offered various things for extra money, I said no thank you and she left them behind haha.

2bazookas · 17/01/2022 19:48

What does your solicitor say?

When they advertised the house for sale, the vendors should have mentioned all fixtures and fittings that were not included in the sale
(curtains, carpets, blinds ) and any that were included (plumbed in DW, WM etc).

fetchacloth · 17/01/2022 19:53

@2bazookas

What does your solicitor say?

When they advertised the house for sale, the vendors should have mentioned all fixtures and fittings that were not included in the sale
(curtains, carpets, blinds ) and any that were included (plumbed in DW, WM etc).

Absolutely this.Smile
DreamTheMoors · 17/01/2022 19:56

Ain’t no crook like a shutter crook.

sueelleker · 17/01/2022 20:00

@CoastalWave

Hmm Tricky one.

On the one hand, I would argue that you can get a better price for your house because you've got shutters - so in other words the shutters have helped to sell the house.

On the other hand, shutters are a stupid price. I've got shutters in two bay windows - £2000. Only been in a couple of months. If I was going to move, I'd be wanting at least £2k more on asking price!

If i were moving to a similar house, I would definitely take them with me if I hadn't got the price I wanted for the house.

It's like light fittings. I wouldn't leave particularly posh ones either!

Adding £2K to the asking price is one thing; asking for it at the last minute is quite another.
HandlebarLadyTash · 17/01/2022 20:02

Do you want them? I would say no thanks & ask them to fix any damage caused by removal.

takemetomars · 17/01/2022 20:05

@Wafflesnsniffles

Id call their bluff. "Sure, take them but you will of course need to replace them with curtains etc."
Wtf?? They would not be obliged to replace them with anything!
ChocolateCakeYum · 17/01/2022 20:08

People do weird things when buying / selling houses.

The person who bought our last house wanted all our furniture, like every single piece. We said no. Conversely the house we bought came with a free fridge as the owner didn’t want it any more.

Anyway, I would expect shutters to be left. What’s the point in taking them? Doubt they’d fit a different property, they usually made to measure. Call their bluff, they’re just after more £££