Paying extra for shutters

[Legolight]

I'd welcome some advice please. We're due to exchange on a purchase in the next week or so and it now appears the sellers are expecting us to pay extra for shutters that are attached to the two front windows. These are bespoke shutters, fixed in place and I'm not sure how they would use them elsewhere.

We had blinds made to fit for our current home and we are leaving those in place for our buyers.

I'm not sure if it matters but we're paying a considerable amount for the house we are buying. I've even had doubts we are paying too much and it feels like this might tip me over the edge!

We don't know how much they want for the shutters yet. We will find that out next week.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and what would you do?

We have shutters, they will be part of fixtures and fittings when we sell.

@Fastforwardtospring that's helpful to know. Good luck with your move!

If it's any consolation OP, I once bought a house that had a small pond in a small garden. At the last minute they asked for extra money for the pond. I thanked them but said no, I didn't want to buy it and they should take it with them. Also that I expected the hole to be made good. They did indeed take it with them

@HerFlowersToLove that's an enormous amount of effort to take a pond! I'm starting to wonder what else might be missing when we get there

@Legolight the most hilarious/cringe worthy part was that they left the loft completely full. We had no contact so got our solicitor to contact there’s and say we could keep it for 2 weeks but they’d need to come a weekday evening and let us know in advance. We heard nothing back so dh took the lot to the tip. Mostly old videos and plastic tat plus tents with holes. Dh returned that Saturday morning and was on the drive putting the seats back up in the car as a white hire van pulled up with the old owner and his rather sheepish 19yo son who had come to collect the stuff (after our deadline). Their solicitor never told ours. We had to tell them it’ll still be on the top at the tip as it had been dropped off 15 minutes before! They were both body builders and my nerdy dh and I were a little scared. Turned out the 19 year old had been given the job of sorting the loft while they were away and had forgotten but they’d assumed he’d done it. All their stuff was in storage so they hadn’t realised. I felt bad but it’s not my fault their solicitor’s communication was crap (a general theme of the whole move). God I hate moving! Hope yours goes well xx

@m0therofdragons how could they not realise that all their loft contents was not actually there?! You would think they would start to realise after a few days!

But then as you say, moving is quite stressful!

Some vendors are really odd, The shutters won’t fit wherever they are going I don’t expect. I would say no you don’t wish to purchase them and you considered them a fixture. See what happens, but I would assume they are just trying it on and the shutters will still be there when you move in.

We declined to pay for some fixed window shutters in our last move. The vendors pulled them out and left them in the skip rather than let us have them :(

Shutters seem like a funny one. My friend said that her neighbour took theirs with them! I thought most were attached to the wall/window sill?

Wow @IheartJKR
That is stubborn! I guess you weren't keen to forward mail after that!

@IheartJKR that really stubborn and also pretty bed for the environment. What a waste! Out of interest can you remember how much they were asking for them?

@NewHouseNewMe yes, they are mostly all attached to the window edges I think. Not easy to take down.

@Legolight

If you had to pay for those 2 shutters yourself then you would be looking to pay about £1200 ish brand new. Although, I suspect you’d just get blinds which are much cheaper anyway.

There’s a good chance they will just leave them there.

@IheartJKR that sounds like they had a strong opinion on that and followed through too. Most people wouldn’t done that because it’s an extra hassle. I agree that they can’t take shutters with them to their next place. However, they might still be able to make money on them by selling on Ebay etc. Random and niche, but stranger things have happened. Throwing them in the skip just seems spiteful (especially since you saw them in the skip, presumably).

@Officebox thank you. Your post has prompted me to check completed listings on eBay and it seems people don't get a lot for them. Costs appear to range from £20-80 used. There are a couple of higher amounts but not a lot.

I paid £1500 for mine 4 years ago and love them. I am selling and of course they are a fixture and fitting! It wouldn't occur to me to ask more for them.

As others have said id also expect they're fixtures and fittings. Saying that my friend turned up Tom her new house on moving day to find the previous owners had taken the kitchen island with them, proper fitted island matching the kitchen cupboards - phenomenal what some people take with them
When we were kids we moved house with parents to find, at 10 I clock at night, there were no lightbulbs left in the house - we had a dark night, not least because the removal men had to deliver the nExt day due to snow

We’re nearing exchange and the vendors on the F&F form surprised us with two optional purchased items. Made to measure fitted bi-fold blinds and a venetian blind in the bathroom. Wouldn’t bother me paying for them had we not already been paying £20k over asking! Just think it’s a bit cheeky tbh.

Yeah it is cheeky @FManc

If our vendor takes the curtains - which are hideous but help in the short term - I will laugh.

@legolight

They wanted €1200

Disclaimer : it was when we lived in The Netherlands and our experience was that everything was a negotiation and that the owners want you to recoup them the cost of everything they’ve invested in the house.

We didn’t see them in the skip- our neighbours told us when we moved in as they asked us why we wouldn’t want them left up temporarily at least.

Shutters should be fixtures and fittings. We have some in our holiday home and if we sold, they stay. Don’t pay for them. If they remove them they are idiots and it’s highly unlikely they will fit elsewhere. Just say no thanks and you expect remedial work if they leave holes behind when they remove them.

@IheartJKR ouch! That's a lot.

@FManc I think that's it - it's a just little surprising but this thread has helped me to realise it's more common than I thought!

@Purplepooch good to know I'm not alone in my thinking.

@custardbear I think you have to now leave lightbulbs from a health and safety perspective. I imagine that was a long first in the house!

@HerFlowersToLove

If it's any consolation OP, I once bought a house that had a small pond in a small garden. At the last minute they asked for extra money for the pond. I thanked them but said no, I didn't want to buy it and they should take it with them. Also that I expected the hole to be made good. They did indeed take it with them

I wanted our sellers to take the pond, they didn’t and left give fish behind in it! Brilliant when we had a toddler. The fish lived their days out in a large tank in our living room! - the pond was filled in.

Some people have no class. I had made to measure blinds at the last house and left them as they wouldn't fit anywhere else and they would maybe be useful for the buyer. Our buyer beforehand had left blinds that we kept for years. I'm leaving some things here for free that the buyer said he wanted and we don't. Let them take the shutters but everything must be made good.

@user1471538283 I know. It's not great is it!

I'm still waiting to hear back from our solicitor with an idea on price.

Our solicitor has said we aren't ready to exchange and it's going to take a few more weeks. So frustrating.