Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

Property/DIY

Join our Property forum for renovation, DIY, and house selling advice.

Flip

Original poster

Should we buy this house?

12 replies

vj32 · 02/06/2013 22:42

We have had an offer accepted on a house of £250k plus extra for fixtures and fittings (chattels apparently) but having researched it today I don't think the value of the goods in the house are as much as we offered (with encouragement of the agent). I am not sure what to do because although we probably could stretch to cover the stamp duty it seems ridiculous for us to pay £8k more for the £3k the vendor wants... she doesn't seem to understand how this works... or is just ignoring it. The house is only on for £270 which seems to invite an offer at £250 and it has been on the market for over 9 months.

I think my solicitors will advise against paying so much for fixtures and fittings anyway, although there is very little clear information on what is a 'fair and reasonable' price for anything.

Anyone been in a similar position? Sorry if this doesn't make much sense! Been trying to research stamp duty and not getting very far.

OP posts:

PareyMortas · 02/06/2013 22:48

How much have you offered for the goods and what are they?

rubyrubyruby · 02/06/2013 22:55

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

BimbaBirba · 02/06/2013 22:55

She wants £3,000 for fixtures and fittings to get a bit over £250,000, is that right?
Ask them to make a full inventory and the price each item. The price should not be over what she would sell the chattels for on Ebay or Gumtree. She can't include things that are listed in the particulars of sale i.e. the estate agency's description.
It's actually quite hard to legally justify £3,000 worth of chattels! Plus you don't have to buy them if you don't want to, te can ply offer them to you.
Stick to your guns!

BimbaBirba · 02/06/2013 22:57

*they can only offer them to you

PareyMortas · 02/06/2013 23:03

Yes, what Bimba said.

Briony32 · 03/06/2013 16:08

Yes, be careful. The inland revenue are much hotter on catching anybody trying to avoid paying stamp duty now. As previous posters have said, you have to pay a realistic price for fixtures and fittings. When I sold my house (at 250k) recently, both estate agents said that charging another 5 or 10k for fixtures and fittings is perfectly normal and happens all the time, all very blase...but when it came to trying to justify it and including it in the contract, my solicitor strongly advised against it. By this time, we were too far down the line with the buyer, and felt we couldn't start again and find another buyer so had to sell at 250k. But your seller might not be like this, and it might waste a lot of your time!

I think there should be a sliding scale for stamp duty or you should just pay 3% on the portion over 250k. Our house was easily worth 270k or more. It's really slowing down the market.

Perhaps think about what you will do when you come to sell too...will you live in the house for a long time or just a couple of years? If it's just the latter, you will probably get stuck at 250k too. Will you add enough value to be able to put the house on the market significantly over (ie: 290k)?

Twitterqueen · 03/06/2013 16:59

Fixtures and fittings should really be included FOC unless there is something specific, eg a brand-new all singing and dancing range cooker. I wouldn't pay anything at all for curtain rails, light fittings etc, unless they were new and lovely throughout the whole house, in which case I might ask for a nominal sum of say, £200.

£3k is totally over the top IMHO - stick to the 250k

BellaI · 03/06/2013 22:03

I thought paying extra for fixtures and fittings used to be common but has now been clamped down on.

formicadinosaur · 04/06/2013 19:40

Can you say that you don't want the fixtures/fitting as it will cost you 8k.

GuffSmuggler · 04/06/2013 20:17

9 months on at £270K? Stick to your £250K offer and offer a nominal sum of about 1K for chattels if you really want to but the vendor should be biting your hand off!

Also you may need to justify chattels with receipts etc if Inland Revenue smell a rat and you could end up paying the stamp duty anyway if you are investigated so tread carefully!

lalalonglegs · 04/06/2013 20:29

Just refuse to buy the "extras" - as other posters have said, HMRC take a very dim view of these sorts of deals.

Original poster

vj32 · 04/06/2013 21:35

Hopefully this will have a happy ending... we have now spoken to the seller direct and she understands the situation and only wants the actual value of the items as she doesn't want to do anything dodgy. We are looking on ebay to get values and then will also get an independent valuation. We do want some of the extras and it isn't purely a tax fiddle - we are upsizing, doubling the size of our house, and she is downsizing and moving abroad so can't take very much with her!

OP posts:

Flip