Leaving expensive(ish) light fittings - would you?

[40grump7]

The light fittings I chose for our house were fairly expensive and I love them. All handmade and solid brass.

DH thinks we should leave them for the buyers - but I think they should come with us, or be negotiated for by the buyer. (They haven’t said anything about fixtures and fittings yet.)

We are selling and not immediately buying, so won’t know if we need them for some time. And anyway, maybe the buyers will want to put their own stamp on the place?

But DH thinks leaving wires hanging out where the light fittings all should be would be rude!

I don’t know. What is good form here?

replace them before you go to market and have the pics taken with the cheap ones in.
Nah, that’s bonkers advice. Have the photos taken with your house decorated and styled properly, you’re selling a lifestyle as much as a house. Even if buyers theoretically know they’re not getting the fancy lights and posh curtains, you still want them in the photos rather than plastic B&Q tat.

Last sale, we left all the lights and curtain rails as they fit that flat – no sense in moving a curtain rail for a square Edwardian bay to a house with a Victorian bay twice the size; the buyer had admired the sitting room light at viewing and sent us a thank you card for leaving that one in particular! Apparently the decor like lights and curtains etc was what drew them to the place in the photos too. Obviously the place we moved to left us nasty filth-ridden lampshades and fag-scented rags for curtains

quality of light

That doesn’t refer to the niceness of the light fittings , it’s about how much natural light the rooms get. Anyone buying a house based on other people’s light fittings, curtains or furniture is daft. Styling can definitely influence buyers but it shouldn’t be the be all and end all and no one should be expecting fixtures and fittings to stay unless explicitly stated or negotiated.

What are you gonna do with them if you removed them? Why are people so petty 🙄

Honestly, comparing fixtures to kettles and dining chairs. It’s so cheap 🤦‍♀️

@DwangelaForever

What are you gonna do with them if you removed them? Why are people so petty 🙄

Put them in her new house? Sell them on? Throw them in the bin?

It’s not petty. They are expensive and hers to do with as she pleases. She has no legal obligation to leave them.

I think it’s rather mean.

I think you do need to be very clear at every stage if they are removed, including in photos, during any visits, on particulars and in contracts.

It’s sufficiently shabby to make me pull out of a purchase if the removal of fittings suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

@LemonRoses

I think it’s rather mean.

I think you do need to be very clear at every stage if they are removed, including in photos, during any visits, on particulars and in contracts.

It’s sufficiently shabby to make me pull out of a purchase if the removal of fittings suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

I also think she needs to be clear up front.

It always surprises me, some peoooe put their house on the market then sit their thinking of how they can strip it bare. I swear some of them would rip up thr fitted carpet if they could.

I think it’s fine if you market it with the cheap shit fittings and ensure buyers know.

Don't be silly! Perhaps 'showhomes' should be stripped bare to reflect what people will actually be buying?

I think the strip it bare can also be a reaction to a low offer/too much negotiation...

Cheap curtain poles/ light fittings - mean to take. Anything beyond that ... yours to do with what you want. What’s not on, is leaving damage

Knowing how expensive these things are, and how much damage removing can take, I made my offer conditional on all F/F being left (lights, shelving, curtains, rails, every peg etc), and asked vendors if anything specifically excluded: so if buyers want those things, they can expect to pay (I feel I overpaid for house)

With my buyers: they got a bargain, I told them I was selling without f/F but have finally sold on for about ten percent of what I paid: if they didn’t like them enough to pay that, I’d keep to give to family rather than leave to be binned

We offered 10% below asking and 6 months later after no other interest they accepted. They then removed everything that wasn’t tied down including light bulbs and the batteries from each smoke detector. They ripped out wall mounted shelves (included in particulars) leaving 4 inch holes in the plaster.
The lady of the house had the decency to look embarrassed when she returned to collect her cat who was fast asleep on a chair beneath the hideous holes.
They also had to return often to collect mail which they failed to redirect.I think people forget that they may wish to remain on civil terms.

There is no way I’d just leave expensive light fittings just because they were there when viewed. They are not part of the home, they are removable and the f&f form is there
To clarify that. I removed by light
Fittings and replaced with white ceiling roses. I took curtain poles but left made to measure blinds.

In our old house, the vendor had all manner of elaborate light fittings that were not to our taste. The solicitor got in touch and asked if we would like to purchase them or have them replaced with basic fittings. We said replace with basic please. The vendors obviously weren't expecting that and couldn't be bothered so we ended up with a load of chandeliers in a 1950s semi.

Ebayed the lot and made just over a grand! It paid for loads of the decorating we did. Thanks, chandelier people.

@Botanicals

Honestly, comparing fixtures to kettles and dining chairs. It’s so cheap 🤦‍♀️

My light fittings are a lot more expensive than a kettle though....

I always go by the words “fixtures and fittings”. The light fittings are fixed. It is shabby to remove them. They were presumably made for the house. If the buyer doesn’t want them, fair enough. I think they sound very old fashioned and you can have them. But your buyers might think otherwise and it’s best to negotiate. Hopefully any buyer hates them.

@PresentingPercy

I always go by the words “fixtures and fittings”. The light fittings are fixed. It is shabby to remove them. They were presumably made for the house. If the buyer doesn’t want them, fair enough. I think they sound very old fashioned and you can have them. But your buyers might think otherwise and it’s best to negotiate. Hopefully any buyer hates them.

I don’t know why I get inordinately involved in this topic, but it’s clearly one of my latent bug bears because I buy and sell my homes quite often and at some point I sense I’m going to end up with one of these buyers who seems to think they’re buying my lifestyle as well as my house 😂

Attached is my living room light fitting. It wasn’t made for the house, it’s a designer item and I bought it myself at a cost of £1,500. Not only was it very expensive, it’s also clearly to a very particular taste that I wouldn’t presume my buyer to have. If taking my £1,500 Seletti light fitting and my handmade solid copper curtain poles rather than leaving them for somebody who probably wouldn’t appreciate them anyway makes me shabby and cheap, I’m happy to be called shabby and cheap. I would cheerfully write on the property information form that I’m a shabby cheap bastard and they aren’t included.

If you want to get technical about it, a buyer should always assume that unless otherwise indicated, all the “contents” of the property will be leaving with the previous owner. For insurance purposes, light fittings, curtains and blinds fall within the “contents” element of a claim in the event of damage rather than the “buildings” element of it.

Anyway, back to work, after I go and have a chat with the monkeys in the living room.

We took some designer lights when we moved out of our last house. I love them and I didn't see why I should have left them for our buyers, they were very particular and expensive. I got an electrician to remove and put temporary safe light fittings on.

presumably they were made for the house

Why would you presume that? Made to measure, bespoke light fittings that can’t be moved are hardly the norm

@Puffthemagicdragongoestobed

We took some designer lights when we moved out of our last house. I love them and I didn't see why I should have left them for our buyers, they were very particular and expensive. I got an electrician to remove and put temporary safe light fittings on.

Oh and we reattached them in our new house shortly after moving in.

I've always left curtain poles (and curtains / blinds) and light fittings and always had them left.

I think it would be really poor of someone to leave new buyers without working lights and to leave bare wires I think is illegal. I appreciated having them left for me even if not to my taste / old so I could use them until I got new ones if required.

It is totally up to you. You are free to take them if you want to as long as you replace light fittings and are clear in your communication about it.

Most people don’t take such fittings. That’s because they were chosen for that particular house and actually probably won’t work well elsewhere.

If there’s an item you really love and will use again, fair enough, but taking the attitude that fixtures and fittings are a place to squeeze a few hundred out of the buyer when you’re talking about a transaction involving hundreds of thousands isn’t the right thing. If you want to offload your stuff for money , sell it on eBay etc, rather than trying to get money out if a buyer who wants your house not your fittings and if you do ask for money, make it a token payment...it’s not the place to try to get 50% or even 30% of the new price for used goods.

No when coming to sell, except for items that you really love and very much want to use again elsewhere, expect to include them in the sale price. This includes carpets, curtain poles, curtains, all fitted applicances and might include some white goods. If you love any of these so much that you will use them again , then you’re feee to take them (not fitted appliances) if you spell it out up front. To take all your curtains, poles, light fittings etc is extremely odd.

And the more expensive the property, the more usual to leave stuff, even though it was probably expensive.

It’s always worth confirming via your solicitor that anything removed which causes damage, will be made good (so no gaping holes in walls) and exactly what will be left and taken.

Putting this request in writing or whatever assumptions you are making and having it passed on and confirmation given always outs you in a stronger position. People, are far less likely to remove fittings and leave holes if they have said they won’t and it has been documented.

With house buying, although you can feel like a pest, confirming every detail that matters to you is really worth it. Assume nothing without confirmation.

My curtains match the rest odmthe room, cushions, bedding, rugs etc. Wjy would I leave them? They certainly aren't "fixed".

Who would want the monkey light anyway? You are obviously welcome to it. Do you remove the matching wall lights too? Hopefully yes.

Put it this way - having moved fairly recently we removed 6 expensive Flos lights from the house after we had exchanged. We had made it totally clear on the property information form that they were not included in the sale and would be replaced with standard ceiling lights. This was on a house that was selling in the top stamp duty band. There were no questions or complaints about the matter.

Has the buyers wished me to include them in the sale I would have named a price, but they weren’t getting £5k of lights for free. Anyway, they are now in my new house and I am sure our buyers have installed lights to their own taste in our old house.

There’s nothing cheap or underhand about any of this. People agree to buy what you agree to sell and it is all totally transparent and documented in the contract. I know some people are just nobheads, but I guess something about house buying just brings out the worst in certain people.

Jaundice, fair enough if you love the items and want them for your new home.

Some people though, remove items that they know they will never use in another home, just because they have a fear of ‘giving something for free’ or in some way to be a bit spiteful. I think this often happens when sales drag on, or the seller feels badly treated, or that they’ve accepted a price below what they really wanted.

As you say, house buying and selling does bring out the worst in people. It’s funny how everyone who posts on MN has had the mean things done to them, in terms of arriving at a dirty house, wires hanging out of walls, garages full of old furniture etc, but o-one here has ever done any of those things. Hmmm.