Buyer keeps asking us to go back and collect items

[Saccol]

We completed in my late father in laws bungalow 2 weeks ago. We were contacted as the buyer did not want items we had left ( believing them to be useful ). We duly collected these items as they were not fixed. They then contacted us again 3-4 days later asking us to get rid of more things again spare tiles etc which we again collected and disposed of. They have now asked us to go back again to remove a fixed coal bunker, the fixed shelves and workbench in the garage and a tool storage in the shed. The property is 100 mile round trip for us and whilst we have agreed the other items were not fixtures and fittings we are now becoming exasperated by them wanting us to go yet again and collect. The estate agent agreed they were now taking things too far and that we should block their number and that their solicitor would advise them that this was not something that we should have to do. It’s now two weeks after the sale and by no means is the property vast so they should really have listed all the items when they moved in. Do we have to remove these items as this is becoming very stressful

If you are talking about items fixed to the wall with nails, should they have removed the kitchen cabinets too?

The coal bunker and fixed shelves and bench in the garage would seem to be fixings - as they are fixed and not free standing or portable. Also they have not just appeared. The buyers could have mentioned everything they thought shouldn’t be there at one time. I suspect they are pushing their luck as you have been accommodating so far. That’s not to say I think they were wrong to ask for removal of the other items as they were not fixed.

That looks like a very handy bench. I'd want that. Some people are just chancers. The people we bought off took half the stuff they said was staying and left us a load of shit, including their half feral cat. I had to threaten to take the cat round to the local vet who they were friends with before they came and got it. Just block and ignore.

No, listen to your solicitor and stop engaging with them.

Our seller left manky a old dining sets, a cheap sofa with the arse hanging and a lift full of shit. We got rid of it and kept WWII memorabilia.

YANBU. Given the items mentioned, you were good to return at all. Block their number and tell your solicitor the matter is closed as far as you are concerned.

Yep ignore the buyers and ignore all these weird posters saying you shouldn’t leave anything. We are on our 4th house purchase, and there are always all the things you’ve listed still present, you either make use of it or hire a skip or throw it. There was an old 1920s wardrobe in our garage, my partner wouldn’t let me keep it, it was a bit knackerd to be fair lol. Still have an attic full of crap as well, there’s an old fishtank and a very old stuffed toy lion who I’ve named ‘Aspestore’ because he’s covered in old plaster falling from the attic roof, he’s very grand and dusty. God knows what else is there, hopefully a treasure, but more likely a thighmaster from the 90s and a load of carpet scraps. You were good to even collect the stuff you did OP, but give an inch and they’ll take a mile, or no good deed goes unpunished and all that.

I would inform the Estate Agent that you have returned to the property twice to remove odds and ends. You will not be returning again. Then block the sellers. The sellers should have sorted what they wanted you to remove within the first visit.
I have heard and experienced much worse 'random stuff' left after a house sale. The buyers have just got to sort it out themselves.
Friends took over a house where the sellers had literally walked out and left everything in the house - furniture, clothes, the lot.
My parents were left with a room full of furniture (which was clear when they had final visit). They discovered more horrors as they renovated! They dumped anything left they didn't want.
I had odd stuff left when moving into my house - some was useful ie a cupboard but most of it we just cleared to the dump.

Definitely not this item
if they are asking you to move this they’re really pushing their luck

If this stuff wasn't on your Fixtures and Fittings form as being left, you need to collect it. You may have meant well and felt it might be helpful, but they don't see it as that. Our seller did that too - left a load of random stuff, like a big pile of bricks, an outdoor oven, some fencing, the TV unit they'd had, etc. He felt it was useful. I did not. We didn't intend to use the garden or the front room as he had, so we didn't need his stuff.

The fixed coal bunker was presumably listed on the form and they didn't ask for it to be removed, so that can stay, but anything you didn't list, or didn't list as staying, needs to be collected.

I'd concur with asking them for a final list of things that need collecting.

Not even spare matching tiles?

No you don't have to go back yet again!

Mumsnet is mad. You have been given professional advice by a solicitor, yet are now asking strangers on the internet?

The estate agent agreed they were now taking things too far and that we should block their number and that their solicitor would advise them that this was not something that we should have to do.

That’s the correct advice. You don’t have to remove things like fixed work benches and coal bunkers; your buyers are mad.

You shouldn’t have left anything non-fixed because you ‘thought they’d be useful’ but that’s been dealt with now so you have no need to have any contact with the buyers again.

If there is a lot of junk to be removed it is annoying for buyers. But fixtures are fixtures and you shouldn't need to remove them. Refer those buyers to your solicitor and don't engage with them any further.

Ugh our seller did this to us, left stuff that he thought would be "useful" without asking in advance whether we wanted it, not listed on fixtures and fittings form. Anything that's attached goes with the house, anything loose should have been clarified before completion.

We had to go via our solicitor and the seller had to pay for it to all be collected and disposed of. He was out of pocket but it also seriously inconvenienced us.

What I can't forgive him for is the complete lack of thought for us and the assumptions made. I can see it's annoying to get repeated messages but your buyer is probably stressed out of their mind, dealing with sorting out and unpacking and then having to deal with extra stuff is the straw that broke the camel's back.

I hope you've set up mail redirection as that's another thing our seller failed to do...

YANBU
What a shame. Each to his/her own but I'd have found the shelves in the garage a godsend and liked the spare tiles.
Block now. That garage was sold as seen.

Don't worry, they need to use FB Marketplace. Block them. There is nothing they can do.

Work bench and tool storage- both moveable and yes, I think you should have cleared them out. Fixed items- depends on what you'd agreed. You can't leave a bunch of stuff on the assumption they might like it. I think they are within their rights to ask you to clear out the first two. But really this is a tad late to be discussing this. Hope it can be sorted amicably.

Our seller left some stuff like that in the loft at our house, plus a load of tins of paint in the shed that had been used to decorate previously, because they thought they’d be useful.

They weren’t. They were just more junk that we had to dispose of when we decorated to our own taste. I assume they meant well, but really they should have asked us if we wanted them before leaving them.

Your solicitor can contact theirs and tell them fixed items were not supposed to be removed. Block them.

I'd block them OP.

Their house,their problem.

It’s perfectly normal to leave tins of paint and some matching tiles. And your buyers should no more have expected workbench in garage and coal shed to have been dismantled than kitchen units or a front porch!

My last sellers left the place filthy and with a garage and loft full of crap and bits of furniture lying around. Carpets etc were all getting skipped anyway so it was more hassle than it was worth to make them come back and take away their crap.

Basic rule is to imagine tipping the house upside down, if stuff remains in situ its fixtures and fittings. If it would fall out, it’s your stuff to remove. So stops you taking the fitted kitchen, agreeing re things like fitted white goods, fitted blinds, lighting and stops buyers finding you‘ve removed door handles and left bare wires

This. It’s easy to give away tiles, tools, even benches if you don’t want them. People are glad to have this stuff for free.

They haven't really they were supposed to clear it before the sale lol
But the latest round sounds like fixtures so just ignore or tell them no