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

[MrsKT123]

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

[mathanxiety]

Do you not have early repayment fines in countries where it's normal to sell, pause, then buy?

No, except if you pay it off or refinance in the first two years.

[LadyPropane]

@mjf981

'Chains' don't exist in North America, or in Australia. Its a complicated British thing. I've lived in all 3 continents, and think the British system is very complicated and stressful. In other places, you sell and move out in the next 1-2 months. You rent, have another place bought, move in with family, go travelling. Gazumping or waiting months to years to complete the chain just doesn't seem to happen elsewhere. Its much more straightforward.

I live in Australia and we definitely do have chains.

I've never heard of someone selling a place, renting somewhere else for a bit and then buying a new place. Everyone I know, myself included, has moved straight into a new property once they've sold up their old one.

[whiteroseredrose]

If i liked the shutters I'd counter offer as they are now second hand.

With the chains, I'd be very wary of selling and then renting before buying the next house.

Prices have been shooting up here so my cash would effectively lose value.

[stuntbubbles]

Not helpful to you but I’d be delighted, I don’t like shutters and prefer curtains – sellers can pay to remove, dispose, and make good the walls instead of me, win-win.

I don’t agree that shutters are a built-in like a kitchen cupboard: curtains and curtain poles, blinds, window coverings, etc, all come up on the form as potentially to be removed – shutters are in that category. It’s just a few screws.

Just say no; I think agreeing will open the door to further messing around from them. Unfortunately you’ve no idea what the outcome will be: half the stories on this thread suggest they’ll leave the shutters and all will be well; half suggest they’ll yank them out leaving giant holes in the wall, and set fire to them in the garden. How much do you want them?

[ineedsun]

@Flatandhappy

I would tell the sellers you are not interested in buying them, you expected them included, but if they remove them then they have to make good which will cost. We bought a house with a conservatory at the back, on the second viewing the owners were there and the guy said they had to have made to measure blinds installed as otherwise the room was too hot and unusable. Last minute they wanted an extra 5k for them, we said no, blinds were left as clearly not usable anywhere else. Cheeky sods.

When we bought this house, they told us they’d had a gate made for the drive. We paid the asking price with a condition being that they fitted the gates. They negotiated to leave not fit because of timescale. When we arrived the gates only filled half the space.

[OnTheBenchOfDoom]

Our vendors took the loft ladders. The actual screwed to the floor inside the loft ones. It was a puzzle as they were moving into a rented property before buying. I couldn't quite get my head round it. We installed a much bigger loft hatch with an attached ladder which made access far easier.

We have also had vendors try to charge us for a shed that had electric fed to it. We told them no thank you but we did expect the wiring to be made safe. They left it.

Re the shutters Sarah Beeny recommends and promotes shutters.co.uk/ and they do an online quote so if you roughly know the window sizes or want to go round to measure up for new shutters, you would know how much they cost to replace. They are for you to fit yourselves, if you are not good at that sort of thing then you could hire a handyperson to do them. Alternatively they do offer a fitting service but I think it is a different company, it is on their website.

I hate it when people start penny pinching after a price has been agreed and I also would have assumed that the made to measure window fittings would be staying too.

[JustUseTheDoorSanta]

I'd tell the solicitor to write back that you had a reasonable expectation that app fittings would be left behind. You will not pay extra for them and if they aren't leaving the shutters then you want £6k off the asking price to fit new shutters and for inconvenience. I'd privately tell the estate agent to let them know you won't stand for cheeky behaviour like this, so please prepare you a list of alternative properties in case this one falls through and you'll be going back to other agents too. Leave them to talk sense into the sellers.

[JustUseTheDoorSanta]

*all not app

[Lalliella]

Tell them you don’t want them and now want to knock the same amount off what you’re paying if they’re not included. CFs.

[Cookiemonster2022]

Your sellers are just being greedy

[NotBabiesForLong]

The shutters are surprisingly easy to not just remove, but also to re-size. We had a new bathroom installed which resulted in a shorter window. I presumed I would need a new shutter. But the builder removed it very quickly and he easily amended the size.

We are not DIY experts so I could not contemplate doing this, but maybe your sellers are.

[NotBabiesForLong]

However, I think your sellers are being greedy.

[PinkSparklyPussyCat]

@EmmaGrundyForPM

so what do you do with all your furniture? Are the rentals unfurnished? In the UK it's very difficult to find a rental with lease of less than 6 months. You can of course get an Air B&B for a shorter period but that is much more expensive plus you'd have to put your stuff in storage. How does that work in Australia?

What happens about pets? Most rentals won't take pets in the UK.

While there are a lot of ways the UK system could be improved I think the idea of having to spend money renting or stay with family would be even more stressful.

[dworky]

@Iamthedom

I have shutters in my house and they are easily removed wouldn’t take me more than an hour to remove 7 shutters and fittings
They are made to measure but my windows are a pretty standard fit so I could easily sell them or give them to a family member who windows I know they would fit

If I was moving house I would be taking them with me as they cost over 3k and only 18 months old .
I have fitted blinds behind the shutters and I wouldn’t be leaving them either as they were an extra cost
And I wouldn’t leave my blinds on my patio doors as they were bloody expensive as well 😂

What about the lightbulbs

[Homerlovesdonuts]

Shutter should be included they are taking the p*. Let solicitors deal with it. As others have said if they want to take them they need to make good the walls and repaints the areas they were fitted to.

[Nidan2Sandan]

Our new house has those shutters and they were included (although the agent made a point of telling us they were worth £8k) but they would be very easily removed. It's just a fee screws, but they're extremely well fitted so I cant imagine they would fit other windows as perfectly unless the next house is essentially the same.

I'd call their bluff, say no thanks but please make good. Our last house the sellers tried to ask us to pay for all their white goods, we said no as we had our own and theirs were easily 20 years old. We moved in & they had left them all

Also, remember moving into a house as a kid that was a repo..they took EVERYTHING. Even the old fashioned wood bits that sat under the doors between room carpets. They also took light bulbs, sink/bath plugs, door handles, hand rail etc. Was insane.

[RandomLondoner]

For those speculating on Australian house prices, I've just googled and the figure that comes up as the median price is $994,579 AUD, which is £524,592.

It looks like houses in Australia cost roughly twice as much as houses in the UK.

[Rrrob]

Call their bluff and say ok they can take them. Our sellers tried to charge us for the summer house. We didn’t pay for it and surprisingly its still here.

[IglesiasPiggl]

Most sellers in situations like this are just chancing their arm for the outcome best for them. They don't really want to go to the hassle of removing and then either resizing them or selling them on. Their best chance of the highest second hand price is with you, plus that's the least hassle for them. Just say no thank you to buying them, but that you don't mind if they leave them for you to remove once you have decided what type of window dressing you actually want.

[Pumpkinpatch22]

I would go back to them and request money off for the requested works! Or tell them you need to lower your offer to account for window shutters!

[bcc89]

@Iamthedom

I have shutters in my house and they are easily removed wouldn’t take me more than an hour to remove 7 shutters and fittings
They are made to measure but my windows are a pretty standard fit so I could easily sell them or give them to a family member who windows I know they would fit

If I was moving house I would be taking them with me as they cost over 3k and only 18 months old .
I have fitted blinds behind the shutters and I wouldn’t be leaving them either as they were an extra cost
And I wouldn’t leave my blinds on my patio doors as they were bloody expensive as well 😂

Wouldn't you just included these in your house price? What the hell are you going to do with your blinds that won't fit in your next house?

Really baffles me, this. Just because something was expensive for YOU to buy doesn't mean your house buyer should have to pay for extra for something they didn't choose and that you can't even probably use again.

So strange.

[Wiredforsound]

Since they’re going to be living close to you, and you want the sale to proceed asap, I’d just politely say, “Very kind of you to offer, but no thank you. Please make sure the window frames are made good after you remove them”.

[Thisbastardcomputer]

I have shutters in every room of my house including a large conservatory (which we had a proper roof fitted) I say I spent over £15k in shutter but I got them trade price.

There's no way I'd think about removing them when I leave.

[pixley]

When we moved into our current house we were asked to pay for oil that was already in the oil tank - we said no way, take it with you - it was left!

[fargo123]

@Fedupsotired

I think things do need to change in England- like the whole gazumping crap but I'm glad we have chains. I really would not want to shove everything in storage, find somewhere to rent, then be in a contract for 6 months to then give notice to move. Maybe those in Australia have bigger houses and can easily move in with family but not sure my family moving into a 2 bedroom terrace would work 🤷🏼‍♀️. I'll keep the chains!

I don't know anyone who had to rent in between selling one house and buying/moving into the next. Somehow the dates all match up, even if they have to be jigged by a day or two to make it all fall into place, or the new house is empty for a week or so.

A lot of people I know tend to build their next house from scratch, and that's the only reason I know of people renting in between (permanent) houses. We did this when moving from one area to another far away whilst our new house was being built and just rented month by month. It wasn't a big deal.

Not to say renting/moving in with parents/renting the original house back for a short while doesn't happen of course; just never to anyone I personally know. The idea of a chain is the stuff of nightmares, when just one person can cause a negative domino effect for a bunch of families.