Buying a house- fixtures and fittings

[MumDadBingoBlueyy]

We’re in the process of buying a house and have recently found out that the vendor plans to remove all light fittings, curtain poles, shelving (including some built to fit around the chimney breast), and even rails that were fitted to the wall to create a dressing room setup.
We understand that technically some of these may be classed as fittings rather than fixtures, but this level of removal feels excessive to us — especially the dressing room rails and custom shelving, which seem integral to the use of the space.

Given that we made our offer with the assumption these items were included (nothing was mentioned about them being removed at the time), we’re now wondering:
Are we being unreasonable to want to renegotiate the price based on this?

We’re prepared to proceed with the purchase, but we don’t think the house is worth quite as much without those elements, especially as we’ll now need to replace lighting, storage, and dressing room functionality

when We moved to a largish old house some years ago we managed to secure it at a very good price as we were the only seriously interested purchasers. We were then approached and asked to buy the hideous carpets and kitchen appliances which were quite old, We refused to buy them and I was very pleased to think they would be gone when we moved in, sadly not and we had the hard work of getting rid of them.

Just looked up the blinds you have - they are gorgeous!!!
I do think the way we go about purchasing houses in this country is just...wrong!
It could be so easy but everything is a minefield usually reliant on the good will of the seller.
We were extremely lucky, the only surprise we had when we moved in was a bottle of prosecco (we'd left one for our buyer too!!) but some of the stories you hear about people having to move into literal filth are enough to put me off moving ever again!

A seller can take the light fittings but must replace with at least a plastic ceiling rose and flex. Leaving bare wires is unacceptable.

Our first house was a repossession . It was literally a shell but we knew that when we viewed.

This current house our vendors just stopped replacing lightbulbs after accepting our offer. The last few days before completion they must have sat in darkness in the lounge 😂

Do 5he details include the shelving and rails in the description

Isn't the general rule of thumb that if you turned a hoise upside down, everything that doesn't fall out is included in the purchase price, unless specifcally negotiated?

My friend's vendors took all the door handles, which is a new level of petty.

This.

If it's built in and quoted on the sales particulars it should definitely be left.

100% make sure standard electric fittings are left and have been fitted by an electrician for safety.

Curtains and pole, meh. I wouldn't argue. Just ask for holes to be made good.

How are the built in shelves a6nd rails secured, are there brackets,they can't just leave holes in the walls.

Under law when you buy a house you buy the house and only get the fittings if the seller doesn't want them. My niec moved into a house where the seller had taken every single light bulb and changed a lovely chandelier back to a basic white fitting. It was all legal because they had put what they were taking on th form. You are just unlucky but the seller is unlikely to allow you to drop the price because you made an assumption about their fittings.

This - re. bricks and mortar - is just not legally true. You make your offer based on the fixtures. Which definitely includes integrated appliances. You can also expect standard light fittings, so if the vendor wants to take away their lovely ones, they have to replace them with something, not just leave empty. Built-in furniture would also be included, as would bathroom fittings.

If vendors want to take this kind of thing with them they need to specify, and potentially expect to negotiate a lower price. Similarly, they can offer to leave things that wouldn’t be automatically included, such as carpets and curtains,

But the standard deal is never just bricks and mortar.

I feel this one is slightly more reasonable these days when there are fancy expensive lightbulbs. And if you are taking the light fixture it kind of makes sense. Smart bulbs, gold capped bulbs etc. And if I was taking a specific fixture then I'd want the bulb for it.

But in my flat it was agreed that all light fittings would stay and they had bulbs when I moved in. Although I have swapped about half of the bulbs. Cold white in a bedroom was not what I wanted!

I’ve always left light fittings but in my current house I spent quite a bit on lights I like so would take all or some. Same with curtain rails although we only have one so would depend on whether I needed it in the new place or not

would definitely leave built in shelving or make it very clear to estate agent if I wasn’t as i do think it’s assumed

however, that’s what the form is for and I think you should go back and ask

I don't think anyone is suggesting that one would just leave wires though, just that's its not unreasonable to take specific light fittings with you and of course they would be replaced by flexes, that's common sense!

I can't anything in writing to confirm integrated appliances have to be left, only that it's commonplace to do so although sometimes they are taken and further negotiations may derail the sale. Having had a particularly tricky time with the vendor up until now, I'm not risking it for the sake of a fridge! I'm leaving my buyer a washer, dishwasher and a piece of antique furniture that he liked that's worth 4 figures but is just too big to take and I honestly don't want the hassle of moving it. Therefore I'm sure I'll be forgiven for taking my EB blinds!

Fixtures
Fixtures are items that are fixed to the building; therefore, they should not be removed. The item must be either physically a part of the building or on the land that the building sits on.
Some examples of fixtures are:

• Light fittings
• Radiators
• Security/alarm systems
• Fitted furniture
• Basins
• Bathtubs
• Plug sockets
• Faucets
• Dishwashers
• Central-heating boilers
• Ovens/hobs
• Integrated fridges and freezers
• Worktops

Fittings A fitting is a free-standing item that can be easily removed from a property. Some examples of fittings are:

• Beds/sofas
• Freestanding appliances
• Lamps and lampshades
• Standalone wall cabinets and freestanding furniture

The Law on What is Included When Buying a House There is nothing legal in place to say what a seller should leave behind when selling a house. Therefore, a house could be left fully furnished or a house could be completely stripped down to the light fixtures and kitchen worktops. Legally a seller is not obligated to leave any specific items behind. However, the seller does have a responsibility to create an inventory to help explain to the buyer what will and won’t be left in the house when they move. In most cases, a seller will usually leave behind any fixtures and take all fittings when moving.

Anything can be negotiated. But the starting point is that fixtures will stay and fittings will go.

It really doesn’t matter what is reasonable, what you assumed, what was reasonable to assume etc. you don’t need to consult your solicitor.

you thought the house was worth X with the stuff you thought (rightly or wrongly) that they’d leave. If you now thinks it’s worth Y, revise your offer and they will either leave some stuff or reject your new offer.

Tight bastards. By all means reduce your offer! YANBU.

Thanks, we’ve just emailed the solicitor seeking some advice, as items fitted to spaces seem extreme to remove.

We’ve pointed out that we have taken the hit for the relatively large down valuation by the mortgage company and have listed a few items we expected to remain. Hopefully that will give us some leverage.

We will see what tomorrow brings!

Literally left everything for our FTBs including a bespoke L shape leather sofa, all white goods in the utility and furniture in the conservatory! All curtains, blinds a bed base too..

So you left your FTBs with the cost and hassle of disposing of your unwanted furniture and curtains as soon as they moved in. That's nice.

Yes! I hope it was agreed with the buyers!

we were left a rather oversized and ugly black leather sofa when we bought our first home and it was a right pain to get rid of

Blimey! Being criticised for being kind.
Absolutely agreed. First time buyers young couple with a baby moving from rented accommodation. They had nothing.
Sofa was bespoke hand made to fit the space they were absolutely delighted with it.
Obviously all agreed with them and via paperwork and left for free. Not unwanted at all quality stuff gratefully received.
We could have sold any of it easily. They’d pushed themselves to buy our property. Just wanted to support them.
We downsized left the place spotless.

Anything fitted or integral to a property should be left and included in the sale. But, if the buyer agrees to the removal of a fitted or integral item then any damage caused should be repaired.

When I was a first time buyer the sellers removed a set of fitted shelves and did not repair the huge holes that the removal made.

What is worse though, rather than the removal of items, is when the seller leaves you all of their unwanted crp. They asked if I wanted them to leave me some skirting boards that they have not fitted to the attic conversion. I thought great isn't that good of them. But instead of just leaving the items I agreed to they left: 4 cellar rooms full of old rotting wood, broken plastic garden pots and other items covered in dirt. They left an old walking stick, hundred of dried flowers in nearly every room. They "forgot" to take old clothing, 1970's tiles and paving stones (all broken), two shelves of old tin cans (beer) and 10 beer bottles. There were old toiletry products, a huge plant which was obviously too big to move. No attempt had been made to clean any* surface. So all my stuff was moved into a dirty, half emptied house. I cried for a good few weeks.

As I was driving to my new home I was concerned as I realised I had forgotten to give the top of my old cooker a wipe when I left. Little did I know what was ahead of me. I spend nearly a month cleaning the house I sold and then cleaning it again. The house I bought took many months to clean. Some sellers are just so inconsiderate.

We've previously taken curtain poles (unusual antique ones with ornate finials), vintage/expensive curtains and antique light fittings when we've sold. Also, antique mirrors and bathroom wall cabinets - which, like the poles and lights - are attached, so questionable as to fixtures rather than fittings?

These have always been specified as being not included on the relevant form and we've made good walls by filling holes/repainting and replaced the light fittings with rose, flex and bulb.

On one occasion we planned to remove a set of four Art Nouveau style wall lights, informed our buyers and let them know we'd replace these with alternatives. They were happy as I'm sure they weren't remotely interested in ours.

We've also sold stuff to our buyers - on one sale when we were downsizing from a very large house, we let our buyers know there were several pieces of furniture and art we wouldn't have space for at the new house. They offered to buy these (it wasn't done through the paperwork), so we emailed them a list with prices we'd like and negotiated around 5k for these.

When selling last year, we decided to include our Bertazzoni professional range cooker (five years old) as we'd never got on with it, plus a Smeg fridge freezer and one year old washing machine. Obviously the integrated dishwasher was automatically included.

Additionally we left our buyers a set of kitchen island stools as we knew we'd probably not have an island when we redid the kitchen in the cottage we were buying. The house we sold was completely renovated, whilst the cottage we bought was a project so we rocked up here to a place virtually stripped bare - no white goods except an oven that didn't work, so perhaps we should have not been so generous in giving ours away!

I was previously advised that if something is mentioned in the property advert - ie, "kitchen with range cooker" (as opposed to "kitchen with space for range cooker") it had to included as it formed part of the sales description.

Thanks all, the sellers are not backing down, we’ve said we have asked them to drop the price, we will be withdrawing if they do not agree, as we are really quite concerned what else will be taken

I understand a little about the shelving, but I think it's strange you'd expect curtains and rails to be left as they are generally quite personal taste wise, able to be used in another home and don't usually come with a house.

I took my light fittings and curtains as they were bloody expensive and chosen by me over the years.

Rails snd fitted shelves is shitty of them.