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

They are a fixture and need to be left. She is a cf. I would be wary of buying a house from somebody like this.

I've been thinking (too much) about this...

You're not allowed to charge extra for anything listed in the details (like the fancy range cooker mentioned earlier). If these shutters were featured in the pictures from the EA, then surely that amounts to having them included in the details, and there should have been a note saying that they weren't included in the price?

I had something similar - a fitted wall safe
I called their bluff; said OK take it, but all damage must be restored to pristine condition & the room redecorated.
I won.

Our sellers did the same albeit with blinds at £50 we paid it as couldn’t be bothered and we just wanted to move. But I’d call their bluff for a few 1000

Classic. Tell them you don't want them, they must be removed and any damage to walls etc made good or deal is off. Chancers.

All you need to say is your mortgage is approved to the current selling price and you're unable to exceed it.
Extras like this have nothing to do with mortgage or sale price – it’s a separate cash exchange, settled at the same time as completion. The cost isn’t added to the sale price so there’s no stamp duty on it – it’s often used as a workaround to going over a stamp duty threshold.

This all leaves such a bad taste - we are close to exchanging and I think this is the time when people begin to exploit their position (our Vendor is brilliant and we have worked with each other to make this process are easy as possible).
Do the OP's vendors need to sell to move? I would offer £50 if you really want them but it would annoy the bejesus out of me. Had our vendor come across as difficult, I think we'd have been likely to walk away - doing business with greedy people sucks the joy out of life, we have no time for it.

@PainterMummy

Yes as above, all their bluff. Be sure to state that you’re ha if they’re left but if they take them, you expect the walls to be repaired and painted.

yes this absolutely

[quote MrsKT123]@Kipperandarthur I can't believe they tried to charge you £100 for logs -wow!

Our buyers are taking some random things (in my opinion anyway) that they've not offered to sell us such as lightbulbs and the doorbell but at least they're cheap and quick to replace, unlike window coverings.[/quote]
They are removing and taking LIGHTBULBS and DOORBELL!

I have no words.

My PIL bought a house and when they arrived the sellers had stripped it. Light fittings were taken leaving bare live wires..

I once bought a house where the vendors wanted me to pay extra for their - tiny - pond. I said no thanks, take it with you. It must have taken them forever to empty and dig out the pond liner and then fill the hole back in again

@marpelier

Why is the property market so difficult over there? I have bought and sold several houses here in Australia. You view the house, you make an offer ( or it goes to auction ) and if your offer is accepted or you win the auction then you exchange and give a 10% deposit. 6 or so weeks after that you settle and that is that. There is a contract , that you sign on exchange that lists inclusions and anything unusual that is not included. That's it. If either party wants it changed you do it then, before any money has changed hands. Once it's signed it's done ( if it's an auction) if it is a private treaty sale there is a 5day cooling off period where you can back out of the sale completely. After that you can't stuff about changing the price or asking for discounts or wanting to take away the blinds or anything that wasn't in the contract. It's done. Most people get property and pest inspections prior to making an offer but that's up to you. If the place is full of termites or mould or falling down or whatever then you don't buy it or make a very low offer. It's pretty simple. We also don't have "chains" which seem to be where you guys sell on the basis that you will buy the next persons place, who sells on the basis that the next person will buy theirs and so. Why do you do that??????

Re: OP. I'd tell them to take them as it seems to be legal in your country and it's not worth the hassle to argue about it . Use the money you didn't give them to get your own window coverings if the weirdos do actually go ahead and take them.

This is interesting and sounds good in theory but how do people manage to get deposits? How do you pay a 10% deposit on a 500k house if you haven't got substantial savings? Surely this holds up the buying process?

They are being cheeky fuckers because you've been good in other ways like not renegotiating after the survey. Just say no thanks . It will likely prove to be more hassle to remove them ...

This ^^

You're doing the right thing is sayong no thanks, but do bear in mind that whatever it said in the agent's details means nothing - it's not a legal contract and is really little more than fluff

@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

This.

Tell their estate agent you're not buying them as they're firxtures. But if they insist on taking them out of spite/pettiness/desire/whathaveyou, then you will expect the job to be done professionally and properly or they'll be pursued in small claims court for damages.

We had this. The vendors wanted money for shutters, as well as a fiver for a shitty little flimsy metal shelf that ran along the back of the couch. It was embarrassing to be honest.

We said no to everything, apart from a lean-to computer unit that fit the alcove it was in perfectly.

Funnily enough, they left it all. When we left we didn’t do any of that nonsense. We asked if the new guys wanted our old fridge for free, just to tide them over, but didn’t charge anything. I would have been too embarrassed.

@fargo123 but then that's a chain isn't if? That's what happened when we moved, we had a simultaneous agreement and all moved on the same day, we just call it a chain 🤷🏼‍♀️

* We had similar with a seller trying to flog us their sexpond.*

What’s a sexpond?? Or should I not ask? 😩

We had a similar situation with our vendors. They removed every light bulb, didn’t leave door or window keys other than for the front door, left a shed full of all the crap they didn’t want to take with them and a recycling bin full of pooey nappies, had drained the oil tank (only heat source) completely empty (terms of sale included a half full tank) and removed (hideous) curtains we had agreed we’re included (it was winter and we needed temporary curtains until we bought new ones), so it was cold, dark and the piece de resistance was they had removed the u-bend from under the sink. All done in spite as we had managed to buy the house for a reduced price having been on the market for ages.

Absolutely agree that you say thanks but no thanks to the shutters but be very clear about how you expect them to repair any damage as our estate agents couldn’t care less about our situation once we had completed and their vague offers to “contact the vendors “ came to nothing.

Good reliable proceed-able buyers are hard to come by.

They are being ridiculous jeopardising your goodwill over some crappy blinds, in the grand scheme of the whole transaction.

I'd let them remove them rather than rip you off, just on principle.

I had this with the vendors of our previous house - the vendor insisted they would be removing all the carpets throughout the house (like they used to do in the 1950s!) unless we paid them £2,000. You're talking really really smelly old carpets that their dog had peed all over! So we didn't take any action, we just allowed our solicitor to keep them on the fixtures and fittings that were to be removed.

Of course, the vendors didn't do anything of the kind, way too much hassle to remove them. So we got the carpets at no cost - we eventually replaced them, but they lasted us for the first couple of years - we used a steam cleaner on them, and they kept us going while we were DIYing and dripped paint on them without worrying.

Your vendors may well do the same due to the hassle factor and are just trying it on.

Sex pond= hot tub

Our new bathroom was ridiculously expensive too. When we put our house on the market I think we'll take it with us, and if it doesn't fit in the new house I guess we'll just sell it.

That's just nuts. The house is surely priced to reflect that its got a nice bathroom. Yet you'd take it with you and leave... What in its place? Such weird behaviour.

Sellers are being CFers but when I worked fit solicitors doing conveyancing you’d get very strange interpretations of fixtures and fittings what could/should be left. We had one buyer had an argument through us and seller re the light fittings (switches etc) which seller tried to charge extra for and remove. We also had buyers and sellers debating over plants or plant pots which were decorative and apparently left…

In this case I’d pass on them and hope that they leave them but then you’re also putting yourself at risk of shutters being removed if they do decide to be silly buggers and remove them so I’d speak to your solicitor re what to do and maybe counter offer a nominal price for them, especially as they are expensive.

For someone who said you’ve been wrong believing these shutters were included. No, the seller and their solicitor are wrong, everything and I mean everything should be gone over in the Fixtures and Fittings form and it’s really the seller who are at fault not including them and then being CFers in trying to include them.

As to what other countries do what re conveyancing, yes England is strange re it’s system. As far as I know we’re not changing any time soon.

If they are noted in the particulars they should be included, if they aren't then they will be negotiable.

If you aren't happy with them asking for money for them either go to the agent to negotiate or ask your solicitor to go back to theirs and say you want them included in the sale?

I work for an estate agents dealing with progressing house sales and this is quite common.

They’re trying it on

You need to work out if you’re happy with the house without the shutters?!?

@Wafflesnsniffles

Id call their bluff. "Sure, take them but you will of course need to replace them with curtains etc."

They would not need to replace them with curtains.

Unfortunately if they weren't included in the fixtures list then they are within their rights to ask for money for them or remove them. As others have said, they could probably sell them on so it doesn't matter that they don't fit their new house.
Personally I think it's a bit ridiculous, I have shutters and if we ever moved I would absolutely see them as a fixture that came with the house.