Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Property/DIY

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

FFS! Vendors want to take cooker with them - is this normal?

153 replies

WestMeerkat · 16/07/2016 09:38

We have just received the fixtures and fittings form and discovered the vendors are excluding the fancy double-width range cooker in the kitchen from what is included in the sale.

Is it normal practice for people to take their cookers with them when they move? I know technically it's free standing and not like a built-in oven and hob, but since it's connected to the gas supply which can only be disconnected by a qualified tradesman, it feels like it should be classed as a permanent fixture. It's not like a fridge that you can just unplug yourself and walk off with!

I am a bit shocked to be honest. The range cooker is the centrepiece of the kitchen, and the units and surfaces on either side have been built perfectly up to the edge of the range, and there is large double-width extractor hood above it. To be honest I wouldn't have chosen anything so fancy myself, but it's not like we can replace it with any old cheap cooker, it has to be something that perfectly fits the large hole that will be left behind, otherwise it will just look odd, and ruin the really rather nice kitchen.

I feel a bit robbed as we offered on this house partly on the strength of the lovely kitchen, and now it feels like its heart is being ripped out.

Is there anything we can do? If not, we are now going to have to budget to buy a fancy double width range - which I know aren't cheap! Also we are going to have to deal with the stress of trying to get a brand new range installed and fitted to the gas supply on moving day, before we can actually cook any food for ourselves! Really not what I need. Angry

OP posts:
bibbitybobbityyhat · 18/07/2016 12:04

Sorry, haven't rtft - has op answered what was on the property particulars? It all hinges on that and really IS as simple as that.

namechangedtoday15 · 18/07/2016 14:00

That's not correct bibbity, the whole point is that brochures / adverts / sales particulars will always say in the small print - please check that with your solicitor as to what is included in the sale or works to that effect (usually refers to moveable items) so the OP should not have relied up anything in the particulars.

LyndaNotLinda · 18/07/2016 14:30

You can't rely on the particulars but they're a good bargaining tool. As the OP hasn't been back to say that the cooker was specifically mentioned, then I think we can assume it wasn't and she is guilty of making an assumption.

Cookers are not like fitted carpets.

bibbitybobbityyhat · 18/07/2016 14:49

No, if the cooker is mentioned in the particulars then the op can argue that she quite correctly assumed the cooker was included in the price agreed and if it is to be removed then the vendors should negotiate with her (via the estate agent) over a reduction in price. You never see "fitted beige carpet" or "red velvet curtains" on sales particulars for this reason. The vendor has to approve and sign particulars before marketing, so any mistake cannot be blamed on the EA.

However, as Lynda says, the op's silence on this matter means the cooker probably was not on the particulars and therefore she is the one who has made the mistake.

wowfudge · 18/07/2016 14:59

Have to disagree that never see carpets mentioned on sales particulars. For the umpteenth time, what is on the fittings and contents form confirms what the vendor is leaving. The OP is free to negotiate with the vendors to have the cooker included, but unless there is some other bargaining chip available to her, she should expect to have to pay for it.

bibbitybobbityyhat · 18/07/2016 15:06

Yes, the fixtures and fittings form is the legally binding document. Yes, everyone understands that.

HOWEVER, if the cooker is on the sales particulars but after the sale price has been agreed the vendor decides they are going to take it, then the op is quite within her rights to take this further and attempt to negotiate a reduction in price! I'm quite happy to keep repeating it Grin.

WestMeerkat · 18/07/2016 15:47

Wow, this thread just keeps on going!

To answer pp yes we've checked the EA advert and it doesn't mention anything specific in the kitchen. I wouldn't class this as a "mistake" on my part exactly, more the fact that I'm moving around outside my socio-economic comfort zone, and in my normal world no one takes cookers with them when they move house, but then no one owns cookers worth thousands of pounds. This is what happens when you move to a "naice" area full of the aspirational middle classes! Grin

OP posts:
wowfudge · 18/07/2016 15:59

Blimey - so taking your cooker with you is a class thing. Well I never.

bibbitybobbityyhat · 18/07/2016 16:18

Ah well you live and learn, eh? Good luck with the move op.

DarkBlueEyes · 18/07/2016 16:20

You can always ask. We were intending to take our Falcon with us but unfortunately the buyers solicitor (their brother in law) started to get stroppy about it and so we had to leave it or risk the sale. I'm doing a new kitchen and am now forking out £3k for a new one. If you don't ask, you don't get!

I was so cross I took all the curtains and other things I'd intended to leave

moreshitandnofuckingredemption · 18/07/2016 16:42

I'm naice and I've never heard of people taking their cookers with them!

Rupster · 18/07/2016 16:51

It's not uncommon for a vendor to take the cooker with them. If they won't sell it to you (ask them), you could always ask them what the make and model no is, then you can be sure of an exact match.

SplinteryBottom · 18/07/2016 16:56

Also coming on here to say DOn't Buy a Smeg.

Awful range.

We bought a Stoves, which I'm a bit disappointed with. But the Smeg made me homicidal.

MidMay · 18/07/2016 17:03

Echo not buying Smeg cooker. When we sell will be leaving ours but only because it's a Smeg Wink. Ordinarily if free standing I wouldn't expect a cooker to remain unless on property particulars.

thenewaveragebear1983 · 18/07/2016 17:04

I hate this! Just been shown around a house, estate agent showed us the very nice cream 'range master' and said 'for the right price this will be staying'. I looked on line and they're about £1800. This is a 400,000+ house and the owner is downsizing. Good luck finding somewhere to store that bad boy! What is the 'right price' one wonders for a second hand filthy dirty range master? About £900? It's barely a drop in the ocean is it? I can understand carpets and curtains as a bargaining tool, but a 2nd hand cooker? I will be telling our vendor she can have it if she so insists, we'll just get a new one.

FraterculaArctica · 18/07/2016 17:08

I would expect anything other than a built-in (I.e. half-way up the wall type) oven to be taken, just like other freestanding appliances like fridges, freezers, washing machines. We recently bought a house with a similar kitchen layout to the OP, I.e. alcove that would look ridiculous with anything other than a range the same size. When we upped to our final offer we offered more cash than the offer they'd just rejected, but specified we wanted the range included. No idea if they were planning to leave it/sell it anyway but it felt like win-win all round. I agree OP should have negotiated this at the offer stage.

SENPARENT · 18/07/2016 17:27

What is the 'right price' one wonders for a second hand filthy dirty range master? About £900?

We sold one that was about 10 years old on Ebay last year for £200. It needed a couple of spare parts but it was relatively clean. Grin

dudsville · 18/07/2016 17:33

I wouldn't have expected that to stay. People take fridge/washing machine/dishas her. .. free standing up market oven I would expect to be taken.

Aworldofmyown · 18/07/2016 20:05

I'm wondering if you should be moving to this 'naice' area. With its aspirational middle classes.

It clearly offends you.

HarryPottersMagicWand · 18/07/2016 20:58

My kitchen is built up to and around my freestanding washing machine, freezer and fridge freezer, if I moved they would all be coming with me. Using the argument that a kitchen is fitted around freestanding appliances so they should be left is stupid. All kitchens are built to accommodate the freestanding appliances, if you have them and they are very much standard widths so another will fit in the space left. It doesn't mean they the magically become non freestanding just because a kitchen is fitted up to the edge of it. I'd be gutted enough to lose my built in dishwasher, double oven built into the wall and hob that's built in, no way would I leave stuff that I could take with me!

Hulababy · 19/07/2016 04:07

Only buy Smeg retro range - they seem fine, but echo those re the newer style ranges. My sister has had no end of issues with hers.

whois · 20/07/2016 16:43

Check this out - photo 7 or 11. nice example of a TOTALLY freestanding cooker

whois · 20/07/2016 16:43

Feel like it needs just a liiiiitle bit more work to be a kitchen

sashh · 20/07/2016 17:32

Can't you just disconnect/reconnect the cooker yourself if it has a bayonet fitting? It's about as simple as changing a light bulb.

How do people who use calorgas get on if they are not allowed to fit their cooker to the gas? Or do they need a gas safe engineer for the first installation?

OurBlanche · 20/07/2016 17:40

Main gas? It's a legal requirement that it is done by a man with a certificate!

You nullify all sorts of insurances if you DIY it.

Calor has a different fitting... made for 'the common man'