What did your sellers take or leave you with that surprised you when you moved I

[kerrymucklowe2020]

When we moved in we found out that the Sellers pulled coat hooks off the walls, took the bathroom mirrors, every lampshade, the washing line and EVEN the washing line post and prop!!!

They do. But when they don't stick to what they put on the form, you aren't going to delay the chain even if you find out before completion. And you aren't going to take legal action later, because you have just moved house, are busy, and may not have any money left. So the forms are not binding. My first house had a cellar with loads of rubble. She hadn't put it on the form...

@Ideasplease322

I am still puzzled by all this.

Do people not fill in forms to say what they are taking?

They do. You'd think both sides would read them... but experience shows me they sometimes don't!

I had one buyer argue and threaten court about something that was specified on the form as not being included. They maintained it was very unusual for sellers to take curtains etc, despite all my previous sellers having done exactly that.

They didn't take anything!

The elderly lady whose house it was had died and her executors didn't want the house contents so they just left it all down to the threadbare towels in the airing cupboard, broken crockery and mismatched cutlery in all the kitchen cupboards and a drawer full of granny pants.

It was a doer upper but that was a bit much. We had to assert ourselves and make them pay to get it all cleared as I really didn't want that job. They said they thought we might like some of it!

Interesting thread. Just had shutters installed; waited 8 weeks and they were not cheap! They are specially fitted for this home's windows and are unlikely to be of use anywhere else. What have people with shutters experienced? Were they left behind by your vendor or did you as a seller include them in the forms to confirm they were a fixture so staying?

With curtains, blinds and shutters I think it depends how general or niche/bespoke they are.

Shutters included as part of sale.

When I moved into my current house, we'd had an unpleasant buying experience as the seller was an aggressive idiot.

Anyway legally he had to be out by 2pm but was demanding to stay until 4pm (in December where it gets dark at 4:30). Anyway our solicitor stated the law and he left at 2 but in his haste left some random things in the kitchen cupboard.

A Tupperware full of KitKats
Cereal
Baked beans.

He also left a wardrobe in one of the bedrooms as it turns out it was built in the room and wouldn't fit through the bedroom door without dismantling.

The amount of dog hair was the worst thing though.

I agree, I’d expect shutters to be included, but would check the form as a buyer, just in case (not that it’s always right!).

We’ve just sold and are leaving all our blinds, but taking the curtains. We may leave one lot for the front room as there’s no blind on that, and it faces the street. But I’ll check with our buyer first if they want them, as they may have their own. And the pair we’d leave wouldn’t be the ones currently on that window as I love them so they’ll be coming with us But I wouldn’t want to leave them with nothing, the day they move in.

I have to say, I’m a bit worried about what we’re going to find when we move now though - some horror stories on here!

Some problems are caused by the estate agents I think, if they are having to negotiate a sale with difficult buyers (or sellers). Our buyers were cranky re dates and the agents seemed to want to keep the communication with them to a minimum and I found out afterwards that they didn’t pass on some questions I’d asked like did they want me to leave the curtains. I didn’t want them (cheap ikea that I’d hand sewn the hems) but took them as was embarrassed to leave them. Buyers told neighbours they’d never been asked and would have appreciated them. 🤷‍♀️

We acquired a lawn mower and a drum kit!

We were left with a card,box if chocolates and a long letter explaining where the meters,stopcock,water tanks etc were. They left the keys on an A3 price if paper and wrote which door each key belonged to. They also left a box if teabags, sugar,biscuits and a 1 pint of milk.
Fixtures wise they left all the light fittings, Roman blinds, carpets and every bathroom had toilet paper and bathroom cleaner in it. They were a lovely couple.

Making me wonder if we left enough when we moved! We just left a card, the obligatory folder with manuals for the appliances and (accidentally) three rather nice diffusers from Waitrose! Oh and blinds in all the bedrooms.

We have quite a bit of furniture left by the previous owners - mostly old/antique, some really nice, all quite useful as we upsized (and they downsized). They left a bottle of bolly in the fridge, and a picnic tea, some cut flowers from the garden in a cute old jug, loo rolls, hand soap and an old hand towel. And the place was absolutely spotless.

They took a chandelier that on reflection I think might have been original to the house. But we’ve gone much more modern in the decor and it would have been a dust trap ... so I’m less annoyed than I was about that

Threads like this always underline just how differently people treat strangers, from wonderful consideration and generosity to being absolute selfish arseholes.

I really wish there were fewer of the absolute selfish arseholes in the world, they really make life so much worse for everyone else.

Absolutely true blue grass we’ve brought houses left In pristine condition with cards and flowers for us- we always do the same but with 🍷
But a few the opposite of pristine 🤢 has to get one place treated several times for a terrible ant infestation urghhh

Our first house we got left a tonne of paperwork dating from the house being first bought. It was a row of houses built for the supervisors of the local factory. It was lovely to see the original deeds. We added in the paperwork from the estate agents of the for sale details and photos.

We left behind the Estate Agents details from when we bought the house - typewritten with a colour photo of the outside stapled on! No inside shots then. It was described as an executive detached in a desirable location 😁 Houses have moved on since then, so if probably wouldn't qualify for the executive detached label now.

@copernicium

Ours took every lightbulb and curtain pole.

What we thought was one side of a fitted kitchen was actually a counter top sitting over a washing machine, tumble drier and dishwasher...so half the kitchen vanished! They left plenty of mouldy food in the other cupboards though

OMG the counter thing - this is exactly what happened to us, except they left the (shit) white goods so we didn’t discover this til sold!

Couple of golf clubs in a random cupboard. Old roller blinds. A shed full of random bits of discarded wood and things like fire sealant and old tins of paint (I bought off a builder!)
Also when decorating discovered the cushion part of the window seat could come off and inside was several tins of paint, brushes, brand new washing line, hammer, wallpaper scrapers etc. Wish I'd discovered that before I bought all of those things to decorate the room!

I've told this before but here goes.

Our first home, in between acceptance and completion they painted the entire hall, stairs and landing purple. You see the purple that the 'post message' box is below? THAT purple.
Moved in on the Friday, 9am Saturday morning I was painting the lot back to white.

Used sanitary towels in a built in wardrobe. Could kind of understand if they had a teen daughter but it was just her and her husband.

They wired the kitchen so badly that if you had the cooker turned on and touched any part of the metal on the washer it was live.

They tried to charge us £100 for the worst curtains in the history of curtains. We politely declined and they left them anyway. Came in as dust sheets for the repainting of the hall to be fair.

Oh, and from the other side...

When my Mum died I sold her house. Not a typical 80 year old the house was extremely modern. In the bedroom were a set of beautiful built in wardrobes and in the middle an ornate mirror that wasn't built in, but I offered to leave as it fit there wonderfully.

In the lounge again, a fender, not part of the fittings but ornate and brass and matched. I said I'd leave it.

Now in my late Dads garage were a couple of built in cupboards at the back. We left them there as they were fixed to the wall.

Completion day we had the buyer ranting and raving down the phone about leaving junk for him to shift, turned out, he meant the cupboards.

DH, a much faster thinker than me was all sweetness with the guy, apologised profusely and said he'd immediately come and remove them and could he please leave the fender and mirror we'd also left on the front for him to collect. Silence.
Funnily enough they were no longer an issue and 'he might use them anyway so don't worry'.

We paid extra for carpets in 2 rooms as they were new and we had no money whatsoever to replace them as ftb. They were very good quality but absolutely hideous patterns! I look back at old photos of dc as a baby and ddog as a puppy on them and get a migraine, they were so dreadful.
Replaced them with nice, washable, hard wearing plain colours as soon as we could.

They also left a huge picture for free. That’s still in the garage as DH won’t tip it, for some weird reason.

I find it weird that people take carpet with them. Like, a whole room’s worth of carpet?! I’d understand a rug but I don’t understand taking carpet?! That’s like me taking out all the other flooring too...

I moved into a new build recently and it was a really pleasant day, despite the fact the house was bare bones (after getting keys we got our own tradesmen in for flooring, painting, extra installations etc.). Sales lady had left an admin pack, all the keys, goodies, a card, champagne, fancy chocolates and all sorts of goodies. That’s what I’ve enjoyed about buying a new build; it’s fresh. The previous owners are technically the builders but as the house comes with a 10 year warranty they’re always there to sort out snags/issues that arise.

Ah bliss! A fresh new home made just for us! It’s unlikely we’ll leave. Rather nice that our neighbours are in the same boat being new here too so there’s a healthy community spirit growing.

Ours moved to a derelict property they were doing up and they stripped the house bare. They took every lightbulb, the tv aerial, the burglar alarm, all the door handles (were fancy period ones), parts of the underfloor heating (not all of it but enough that it would no longer work), the smoke alarms, coat hooks, the integrated oven, and all the window keys.

They did leave us bird poo from their budgie everywhere.

@travelmad wow did you say anything? Did you have grounds to complain?

That’s the thing: what’s the worse you can do about that? It’s not like they’re depending on a review (although EA might note it...).

This thread has made me feel happier we chose a new build because at least the building company cares enough to ensure we settled in and got left good things. They want happy customers so they get a good reputation to sell more homes and recognition etc.

I suppose with a 2nd hand property the buyer isn’t really considered a customer that needs pleasing etc. There’s no real incentive beyond “buy my house for as much money as possible”.

@ChocoTrio no we didn't in the end. It had been a nightmare journey throughout the whole process that once we'd moved that we didn't want to have anything more to do with them. It probably would have been more hassle trying to get them to sort it than actually replacing the items ourselves.