How tight is this...

[aloha]

We are buying a house. Offered asking price and was accepted straight away. We are very nice, no hassle buyers - eg we got a damp report on instruction from building soc which recommended that we get the damp course redone in places, but agreed it was probably just moneymaking for firm so didn't bother reducing our offer.
But yester day we go the list of stuff they are planning to take from/leave in the property. Amoung many other things they are planning to take:
The garden shed (nothing remotely fancy)
Every single blind (which were made to fit the windows)
All the curtain poles
The fully integrated dishwasher (which isn't v new - we bought one last week which we plan to leave for our buyers)
The bloody dimmer switches

• surprised they aren't taking the floorboards!

Tinygang - I bet if they thought of it, they would.
BK, really? Did you do anything about it?
Am increasingly pissed off. Dimmer switches! What are they like?

hi aloha

it all boiled down to how much we wanted the house... we complained to the estate agents, spoke to our solicitors, sent some stiff comments back having received their inventory... but they stood firm. when push came to shove, we wanted the house, so decided we could live with it. it's all in the mn archives somewhere!

the market's very different now though, so you may be in a better negotiating position than we were.

like you, we left the equivalent stuff in our old house. however, having been through this experience, and having found out how much it costs to replace this stuff, i have to say i will be taking it with me next time or charging our buyers

I'd look on Ebay shortly after you move in. Bet you a million pounds they'll try to flog the blinds on there. Let us know if you see them, so we can all lowball bid them and they'll be forced to sell them to you for 50p .

Absolutely bonkers, I do agree.

I would talk to your estate agent, and ask for them to cough up an electrical safety report though before you move. Our sellers removed the light fittings in the weekbefore the move, and it caused havoc for us afterwards. They had rewired the "single light bulb white dangle things" (thanks GeorginaA) incorrectly...

WHat I initialy thought was just being tight ended up costing us several hundred pounds.

You're welcome - what are they called anyway?!

when we bought our house they left us enough junk to fill two skips and a rabbit hutch complete with a rabbit, they moved abroad and couldn't take it with them (we had to get the RSPCA to take it away).

IIRC isn't there a form they have to fill in detailing exactly what they're taking? I once put an offer on a house where the woman wanted me to buy two fake electric candlestick things attatched to the walls, complete with fake dripping wax. Needless to say, I thanked her for her kind offer and declined. She said (via her solicitor) that she would remove them, and make them safe by taping up the ends!!!!

The sale never went through in the end - she'd had some building work done without informing the building inspector, but blimey, that riled me!

We paid £2000 for fixtures and fittings in the Hotel and spent Over £2000 on Skips etc.. to get rid of it all as it was vile and not fire retardent!!!

If your paying a good price for the property then I would ask for the items to be included or get a reduction on the price - I don't think people can be too fussy selling houses at the moment in most areas!

When we moved into our new house, the previous owners stole the nice, fitted living room carpet and had replaced it with one that was disgusting, had obviously been in the garage for years and didn't fit! They also stole the wood shelving and mantlepiece from the fireplace (honestly!) and left the electric lights upstairs burned out and all the wires dangling in the loft that could have caught fire at any moment. They even took some of the lampshades. Still, as someone said, it's not worth pursuing it legally. We never wanted to set eyes on them again.

have just been to buy some new trendy sockets and dimmer switch for my new kitchen .. do you want my old ones .. SNURK

Dimmer switches and made-to-measure blinds?

I didn't think you caould take things screwed or fixed to the wall, and if they do take them, i think they have to leave perfectly serviceable switches and the mess on the wall 'made good' - otherwise, it is not the house as seen.

Say you will reduce the offer by £1500???? That should scare them - they need to move over the summer, don't they?

Some people! Is the shed mentioned in the details? Anything originally mentioned goes in with the price...

Or say 'oh, if you're moving somewhere new, I'm surprised you won't be installing the trendy new sockets as in Twig's house, gosh, but then I suppose it's because the cost of moving will mean you have to put up with these old-fashioned dimmers, isn't it? never mind!'' in an offhand way

IME dimmer switches buzz, anyway.

sorry everyone, but legally vendors can pretty much take what they like (exceptions are things like fitted cupboards) - as long as they make it clear up front and leave serviceable replacements - e.g. in the case of light switches, light fittings etc - and make good.

aloha, you're much better off trying to negotiate the price down or start to suggest you will pull out of the transaction - if you think you have the upper hand in the deal because they want to move.

What about renegotiating the price because of the damp course?

feel petty enough to reduce price to take account of the shed and stores, which were on the orig details - and ther damp course. Grrrr.

do it .. do it ... do it ... do it

there are lots and lots of houses round here but it won't come to that because they'd probably have to reduce their price anyway ... do it do it do it

Will let you know how they reply to our politely exasperated email...
BTW Twiglett, just heard that apparently Goodrich is about to get a terrible Ofsted report!

once saw a programme where people moving house took their garden plants

Someone stole a really nice plant in a barrel from my garden on Saturday night. It was an anniversary present and I'm gutted. I'll never see it again. There are some evil people in the world

really .. has it been published yet??

(their head is retiring and they are in debt I believe because they spent money that was promised to them that never turned up .. but it is still a good, thriving school with lots of parental support)

There was a court case where some woman who sold a sort of small castle took an ancient terrace. She had to give it back I believe. Can't remember any details or I'd try to find a report, it was quite funny in a jaw-droppingly arrogant sort of way.

Not published yet Twiglett but 'it's the talk of the playground' !
Apparently some things are unfair - one teacher was 'failed' because the observers were mistaken as to the point of her lesson (thought it was about sentence construction but was actually about observation and thinking up adjectives). Apparently the silver lining is that a negative Ofsted means you get money, which would be good. Ho hum!

Took an ancient terrace? A terrace?

I had access to Goodrich's application for the Artsmark award - in which they said they lied to Ofsted about how much music they do - i.e they put a lot of curriculum time into the arts, particularly the school band. Can't be faulted for that, in my book!

Think it was a terrace - hundreds of ancient flgastones were lifted and removed (and then the place turfed over!)