To think fitted wardrobes come with the house...

[NeverMovingAgain]

We've taken bloody months and months to get to this stage and we're finally on the home stretch towards completion and exchange so it's entirely possible I've lost sight of what is and is reasonable but am I wrong to think fitted wardrobes should come with the house?

We've finally received a fixtures and fittings form today along with the paperwork we need to sign before we can complete and exchange and it says the fitted wardrobes are excluded from the sale.

Am I losing the plot to think they would surely be coming with the property? We're leaving them in our property, it never occurred to us not to because they are fitted to the space, so surley the whole point is they're designed for that room and you don't take them with you?

I've emailed to get clarification but was it presumptious of me to think they would be staying in the house?

I hope it's an error. From experience, people seem to rush these forms and I've had them before and asked for clarification and it was a box accidentally ticked.

If they are actually taking them with them...wow. That's awful. You need to then consider what action to take. Money off the price? Make the room good with the same flooring fitted in the gap and the wall plastered and painted?

Fucking brilliant that you have this. Doesn’t matter how fast the other mortgage in the chain is; fitted wardrobe CFs have fucked this, not you. You have fitted wardrobes “in writing” advertised as part of the house, so they leave them or they lower the price, or it starts getting very ugly indeed. Make sure you send a copy of this, where this wording was included, to all solicitors and agents you're contacting about this matter. Don’t back down - you’re right, they’re wrong. They leave them or they “give you” the money to replace them, fix up the flooring, etc. in a lowered house price. And it WILL cost thousands. Fitted wardrobes and fixings floors are not cheap; that’s why they’ve done this.

So get a quote for their replacement from a reputable company, factor in making good the walls and floor, as removing them will require at least filling the wall possibly even replastering, and then knock the figure off the asking price.

If they’re included not only on the description, as you said, but also on the floorplan then it’s entirely reasonable to assume they’re part of sale.

We bought our first house from a (weird as it later turned out) relative of my xh.
They had only lived in the house for two years and told us the carpets (flowery, swirly) and curtains (festooned satin) had come with the house when they bought it.
This was 1988 and they asked for another £500 for the carpets and curtains which we declined.
The day before we moved we went to see them about something and they were removing the carpet from the main bedroom and discovered lino underneath.
When we moved in, they had stripped the house, including all the lino they didn't even know was there, all the bulbs, bathroom fittings and even plants from the garden. I thi k this was before the f&f forms.
They even took a TINY 40cm blind from the cupboard under the stairs!

The house was marketed with fitted wardrobes and as far as I'm aware, if you has to make an insurance claim, they would be covered by the buildings policy, not contents. You could check with your own insurance company.

It's absolutely outrageous that this hasn't come to light sooner. Your solicitor will have something to say about it.

That’s really not how it works. The sellers would be idiots to accept this.

some of the stuff being posted is bonkers. They can remove the wardrobes and make good as long as it’s on the fix and fit for. Sure the op cam try to reduce the price but they are likely to tell her to do one.

Yes. They should have flagged it with the agent from the start.

They aren't taking them, they are trying to get you to pay for them by pretending they are taking them.

I've double checked the floor plan and they are clearly shown on there too along with things like the cupboards in the kitchen and under the stairs.

I think the time it's taken to come to light is what I'm most pissed off about. It seems like they deliberately didn't say anything sooner and left it until now in the hope it would go unnoticed in the last push to getting everything signed ready for completion and exchange.

If they’re fitted, they should be part of the fixtures and fittings, and would have been taken into account when the property was valued - in the same way as an up to date fitted kitchen would add value. As others have pointed out what state is the room going to be in if they remove them ? It’s CF of them and I would call them out on it. If you threaten to back out I can’t imagine they would risk the sale for a few wardrobes that would probably not fit in their new home anyway. Cheapskates.

That's the odd thing though I don't think they do want us to pay as there's absolutely no mention of us paying for anything in the information. It's literally just a box ticked to say excluded, there's no note alongside it or any mention of paying.

They referred to them in the EA details so you are absolutely right to assume they're included.

I would call their bluff - tell them if they want to remove them, that's entirely up to them but you will expect flooring and walls to be made good. I bet they'll leave them.

The person we bought our house from took all of the fitted wardrobes from the bedrooms and every single bloody curtain pole too!

Speak to your solicitor on Monday. He'll fight your corner.

I reckon you will end up with the wardrobes as long as you stick to your guns. But also be clear that the house must be in clean good repair as people can get arsey when backed into a corner and it has been known that efforts are made to not cooperate or leave damage.

I was charged (and paid, stupidly) for an integrated washing machine, which they never would have been able to take with them, and turns out it was 8 years old!

of course you can take It with you. You just detach from the door and remove. Then pop a new door on in the new kitchen.

I had this op. It was a beautiful antique hand carved wardrobe attached to the wall. I also assumed it was staying and was furious when I found it on the fix and fittings form it was going.

my solicitor and the agent both confirmed they could do this, they just need to make right. My own child is a solicitor and also confirmed it.

I went to war over discounts and it staying. They weren’t budging. And it was either accept or pull out.

a friend said to me, but you love the house, are you really going to lose it over a wardrobe. Which made me see sense. They did make good. The holes were plastered over and painted, the flooring replaced. You’d never know it had been there. I also argued it was in the particulars and on the floor plan. To no avail.

they can do this, they don’t need to discount, they don’t need to replace, their solicitor will have advised, they do need to make good. It’s then up to you if you want to continue or loose the house.

try to negotiate a discount or them staying but ultimately it may come down to do you still want to proceed if they go.

This is a good option as it would require recarpeting surely

I have left her a message but will definitely be ringing on Monday to chase it. She's going to fuming as the whole thing has taken so bloody long and we were finally approaching the end but I simply can't sign anything until I have clarity.

If they take the fitted furniture then surely they should leave the room completely decorated and painted and the flooring replaced. Just as if there had been no furniture fitted at all.

Yes they need to make good.

Sorry but I have negotiated exactly this on a property.

You say our offer was based on fitted cabinetry being part of the deal as we weren’t told otherwise by the agent. X cost to replace.

They say we’re only prepared to make good. You say full cost or nothing and point out even that will likely involve filling the walls, repainting and potentially also re flooring if the room is carpeted (fitted wardrobes are installed directly onto the floor).

They decide it’s not worth the hassle and leave them in place.

The sellers might tell the buyers to do one, but then the buyers might tell the sellers to do one. Depends how much they want to sell.

It is how it works if the house has been marketed with the fitted wardrobes as a feature, and they are pictured and described in the marketing literature/floor plans. We had this in a house move a few years ago. Fortunately we had the fixtures and fittings forms fairly early on in the sale. Same thing - saying they were dismantling and taking a quite high end fitted bedroom with them. Solicitor advised that the wardrobes were clearly mentioned and photographed in the brochure and included on the floor plans, so were considered part of the sale. We responded that it was unacceptable as they were clearly included in the marketing details and nothing had been mentioned at any of the three viewings we had before agreeing the sale. When we threatened to pull out, they backed down. Can’t believe the CF behaviour connected with house sales going on at the moment.

We had this in two bedrooms of our 3 bed and the garage.

garage had proper fitted shelves in it and had been used amazingly for storage.
Bedrooms had fitted wardrobes.

we were told a week before completion that the garage was being gutted and the wardrobes were being taken.

Although I questioned why because our buyers were moving into rented and then into a brand new build - we’d looked at the same property and it had bespoke fitted wardrobes.

our lawyer said there was nothing we could do to stop them taking the wardrobes. But we could ask them to make the rooms good or lower the offer.

I ended up getting a quote from a decorator and quote for carpet for both rooms (best match to patch the area) and presented these. Have a decorator friend so was able to get it easily and used the photos on website so they could quote (it included measurements). we also quoted for new wardrobes and the. Our lawyer said we’d keep £x in escrow just in case they pulled a fast one.

turns out it was a good idea. We arrived on moving day to one wardrobe gone and the other in pieces on the floor. Dismantled but broken.

we used the escrow money to sort it out.

When we moved into our new house, the previous owners had removed a fully fitted windows seat. I am very confused what the plan is, unless they are moving to a house with the exact same window dimension!