They're taking the curtain poles and fitted units. Is this normal?

[ThePurpleCarrot]

We're buying our first house and I've just received the property information form. I'm shocked that it says the sellers are taking their curtains rails/poles/pelmets.

It says they are also taking their fitted units from bedrooms, hallway, living room, dining room.

Are we dealing with difficult people or is this normal behaviour in London area?

Oh yeah, house of former PM was stripped bare of everything, down to the light switches and plug sockets too.

To be honest I wish the sellers of our house had taken their flea-infested sofa bed with them, or at least chucked it out. Everything else they took, down to the bathroom blind (odder than it sounds, it's a unique shape so probably done for petty reasons), but they chose to leave that?

Boosiehs - I'm sure that former PM and his wife knew that about the plants, as they both had legal backgrounds. But then they're well known for being grabby

"There's none as tight as them as has brass" as they say in Yorkshire, apparently.

I generally assume that if it's not nailed down (and even if it is) there's a reasonable chance the sellers will take it. Lightbulbs is nothing, I've seen people take posh taps and toilet seats and leave el cheapo B&Q rubbish behind. So make sure it's all listed in the contract.

In this case it sounds like they're pushing to get more money out of you; as everyone says their new blinds can't possible all fit their new house.

Taking curtain poles and blinds isn't unusual. Taking fitted cupboards is but at least you have a heads up.

It wouldn't be a dealbreaker for me but I do reckon it's a ploy to get you to pay extra for them. If you call their bluff they may leave them but you'd have to be prepared for them call your and for the cupboards to disappear.

Depends how much you want them really.

Yours

They're doing it to negotiate a price, to get you back up nearer their original asking price.

Play hardball and threaten to pull out. Be prepared to sweat for a few days.

Fitted units can't be 'covered by the sale' if they are included in F&F forms to specify whether they're being left or not. You can take anything you like assuming you say so, which they have.

That said, you don't have to agree to it, and it doesn't mean it's normal - it's not!!

I know someone who's taking her curtain poles. Most people look at her like when she says so, and I know they're expensive, but to my mind it's not cricket to remove anything that would leave holes / marks that would require making good. I think it should be like light fittings - you can take them, but you're expected to replace them with bog standard white plastic ones.

Thanks all for your advice. It is a dealbreaker for me on principals I suppose. I just don't won't to deal with unreasonable people - I think it would colour the way I feel about the house. Luckily it's not one of those "special" houses. It's a house that we felt we could make a nice home out of but certainly not a "dream house". (I won't be doing any sweating olgaga )

It has though taught us a lesson and we'll know what to look for/get in writing when the next house comes along.

I will run all this by the solicitor however I think we'll be pulling the plug on this one.

Re people taking plants from the garden - the house opposite my parents was empty for a week or so between vendors moving out and buyers moving in. The vendors had lived across from my parents for years, so asked my dad to keep an eye on the house. In the hiatus, dad spots an elderly lady from further up the village in the garden of the sold house digging up the peony roses from the front garden! Out he shoots to remonstrate, whereupon he was given a mouthful of abuse about how it wasn't his fucking garden and who the fuck did he think he was?

Dad's reply? 'I'm the local Justice of the Peace (magistrate) so if you don't put those back, I'll call the police and see you in court'

Make sure whatever you agree is watertight too. When we bought our house the vendor very grudgingly agreed to leave 2 sets of curtain and poles, all agreed in writing... but they removed the matching fabric tie backs!!

All because they were annoyed with us because we realised the asking price was £50k above market value and offered accordingly!

Hope an even nicer house is just around the corner for you OP - often works out that way ime.

Aren't some people horrible Shoe. Don't you think everyone feels much better about things if business is carried out honestly and fairly. I'm still in touch (an annual email) with the lady who bought our flat in Scotland, about 6 years ago.

Quite often the vendor fills in this form quite early on in the process, so if they hasn't found their next home at that stage, they could have just assumed that they might need all that stuff... Personally I would just go back to the agent, explain that you were surprised at the extent of the removals and ask that the vendors revisit the list now... That gives them a chance not to lose you

Beachy - they only filled it in on 5 June. The form is dated.

I can't make this call to our solicitor until DH is back from business trip so I'm still here watching with interest all your opinions.

Why can't you call until your husband comes back? Do you think his going to think this is reasonable?

No it's not reasonable annh - and he who is the most honest, decent person I know will not think so either.

I am however quite hot-headed and my husband is calm. I don't want to make a decision about what we do or don't spend half a million pounds on without him being here.

In the previous house we bought, the sellers took the outdoor recycling bins and dustbin, clothes line, curtain tracks and poles, light bulbs, all light shades (there was not expensive light fittings, just cheap paper shades) and plants from the garden that had 'sentimental value'. I refuse to accept that the sheer volume of plants and shrubs that they took all had sentimental value.

In the current house that we live in, the seller took loads of things, but I was expecially gutted that he took a clothes airer type thing in the utility room that was on a pulley that came down from the ceiling. i had never seen one before and thought it was fantastic. But it wasn't there when we moved in.

The seller also tried to negotiate the price of thinsg that he was willing to leave. Strangely enough, we didn't want to pay £350 for a four year old wall mounted bog standard bathroom cabinet, or £850 for 10 year old curtains.

There's nowt so strange as folk.

At least you know, OP, what the seller is intending to take, and you can take a view from there. If it were me, I would go back to the agent ratehr than the solicitor (the agent has more interest in this sale going ahead, as they are paid on commission only when the sale proceeds) and say that you were very surprised at the extent of things the seller planned on taking, and could they give it some more thought.

It's pretty stingy - particularly as i doubt their stuff fits exactly in their new home.

You need to insist that they properly repair every single hole left in the walls by taking things down.

My mum does this sort of thing - she took the carpets with her when she sold last time.

When I moved I took my expensive curtains but left curtains behind which fitted - I did tell them I'd do this. I also had a nice light fitting which I took but again told them and left them an uplighter.

I was pissed off when we moved in to find they'd taken fitted shelves off the wall and left the wall with a load of holes in. Technically I think we could have complained as they're not meant to do this without agreement and they're meant to make good any holes. Bastards also took the gas oven.

afaik fixtures and fittings are meant to stay - so that would be a fitted kitchen, bathroom suite and fitted wardrobes.

People are arses ! Our buyers threw a wobbly because we had removed the soft furnishings (bedclothes, cushions etc), and books from shelves and pictures from walls. Luckily after a bit of hardball from us they went back to sticking to the agreed list that had been sent to them 6 weeks earlier.

Better luck next time.

Its not too unheard of for people to take things like that from houses. Our recent buyers left the curtain poles but took their net curtain wire and all the lightbulbs, and pretty much anything they could without ruining the walls and causing damage they would have to pay for.

Our solicitor was quite quick on that though and ensured we had a clause in that any repair needed from damage caused by their removal of fitted things, etc. would be born by them. They ended up leaving a lot more than they'd originally planned.

A friend was very thankful for that as her's had stated they were taking the fireplaces, and they left massive holes in the wall and plasterwork.

I wouldn't necessarily pull out for this reason but I'd be making very clear to them that they must make good any damage they cause from removal or pay for someone to do it.

Happy, those clothes airers are dead cheap and every so often the cord breaks and all the wet washing drops on your head (or is that just mine?) so I wouldn't fret!

What did the estate agent details say? I'm guessing they said 'fitted wardrobes' in bed 1 or whatever. So your offer was made in good faith based on the house you looked at and the details you had, in other words including fitted wardrobes.

So I'd be on the phone to the estate agent telling them that, and that before you phone your solicitor to withdraw from the sale you thought you'd give the estate agent a chance to rectify the position and phone the vendors to get them to re-do the F&F form.

fitted cupboards are goign to be damaged beyone all reasonable hope of using in a new (differently sized / shaped) house; this is all a negotiation tactic. Arses.

£300 solicitor's fees is nothing when you're spending £485K on a house, I'd pull out too if they do this! It's really not worth the hassle dealing with unreasonable people - they could be more of a pain further down the line when you have spent a lot more money...

Tell them what you expect to be part of the sale - i.e. anything mentioned in estate agent details, anything fitted (including units, curtain poles, door bell!) etc. If they do not agree to leave these, I would pull out before you spend another penny, and find a house you love.

Curtains, washing line etc. - I expect they hope you will offer them some extra ££ for them as others have said. It's up to you whether you want to do this.

Our vendor tried to sell us various stuff back - including a fireplace he had removed prior to putting the house on the market! He wanted £3K for it (original and marble). We said keep it. He rang us three or four times after we moved in offering it at a slightly reduced price as it was cluttering up his garage - we said no keep it, we don't want it. Some people just try to squeeze you for that little bit extra.