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Original poster

Moving house - take fitted carpets

126 replies

Lotty32 · 09/04/2021 20:20

Moving soon and have lovely fitted carpets. If new owners don't want them - has anyone ever taken them with them? Does it ever work?

OP posts:
Changingwiththetimes · 09/04/2021 22:00

Come on people! As mentioned it was quite commonplace to sell the carpets on. It is not worth the hassle in most cases but sure why not?
You can remove anything as long as you say you are going to (I am taking my door knocker for example, as it was a present sent from abroad, I will of course replace it with something).

AnnaSW1 · 09/04/2021 22:07

Surely fitted carpets are part of the fixtures and fittings!!!

Beautiful3 · 09/04/2021 22:12

Carpets are part of fixtures and fittings. It is not normal to take them away!

PresentingPercy · 09/04/2021 22:13

It might have been done in a previous era (although I never have and I’ve sold houses over the last 40 years) but now? Just screams “tight”.

MotherOfCrocodiles · 09/04/2021 22:16

Don't see why you can't ask. Was looking at a house recently with smart new white carpets. Thinking it would be a pity that we would throw them out immediately as we like hard wood floor.

Svalberg · 09/04/2021 22:17

I removed my bedroom carpet in 1988! I'd only just got given it and folded it over at the edges so that it fitted the room ( there were gaps along the long side as it wasn't quite wide enough, a matter of 2-3 cm) I fitted it myself in my next house and cut it to size, room was smaller, it was fine just laid down rather than stuck down. Haven't been bothered, or poor enough to need to, take carpets since.

WitchesBritchesPumpkinPants · 09/04/2021 22:23

@Lotty32

Gosh I didn't mean to cause a row!! Was just asking!
You can't say boo without causing an argument around here. Don't give it a second thought.

Just ask your buyers. They bay gate the colour or want to put hard flooring down. The worst that can happen us they say 'no, we like them, sorry'

You'll need a goid fitter to make them look goid in another house. Might be best to phone around & get a price for the that before asking the buyers. It's important to get a good fitter.

(Ex trade, but overseas, so can't recommend anyone, sorry)

Inthemuckheap · 09/04/2021 22:30

Ask them?

I hate carpets and would rip them out so if buying your house I would be happy that you'd saved me a job!

ICouldHaveCheckedFirst · 09/04/2021 22:34

PIL took carpet with them from their first house which they sold in 1974.
Best Wilton, it was.
It didn't fit the next house so they offered it to us. Wrong size.
They moved again in 1991. Took the roll of carpet with them.
We binned it when we cleared the house last year.

I'd say no harm in asking their intentions. We sold a (rented out) flat a few years ago. We were told the buyer was keen for an early entry date because he had separated from his partner and was sleeping on a friend's sofa.
I got the EA to ask if he wanted the furniture. Luckily for us, he did. Saved us a huge amount of hassle, just for asking.
You have nothing to lose, OP.

justasking111 · 09/04/2021 22:36

To recut and re lay them will be expensive. Are we talking about very very expensive carpeting. Even so carpets fade differently in different parts of a room with sunlight, so you may be very disappointed.

SpiderinaWingMirror · 09/04/2021 22:44

People used to do this! My parents did in the late 70s.
No harm in asking.

SecretOfChange · 09/04/2021 22:47

It depends. I bought a house which had carpets during viewings and then they were gone. I couldn't give a toss as I was renovating the whole house and the carpets had to go, so it saved me a job really, and wasn't an issue at all.

Ohpulltheotherone · 09/04/2021 22:51

It’s not common to do it so it’s culturally accepted now that carpets are part of the fitting of the house surely?

That doesn’t mean you couldn’t send a note via the agent to say “by any chances are you expecting to replace XYZ carpet as we’d like to take them if you are”
They may well say yes go ahead! But honestly if you’ve not explicitly called it out in the initial F&F list then the expectation has to be that they will be left within the property.
I’m sure agents get all sorts of weird and random requests, just ask them to ask!

RampantIvy · 09/04/2021 23:00

Surely, you would have completed a fixtures and fittings form where you would have stated whether you were leaving carpets behind? So you can't chamge your mind afterwards.

BackforGood · 09/04/2021 23:11

It used to be really common to take the carpets with you. Even in the 1990s you still had to say in the brochure if the carpets were included.

We last moved in 2003 and brought a big carpet from the main room with us. Carpet fitter fitted it easily in our new house and it's done us well and still looks good today.
As others have said, if people are going to rip them out, it seems nonsensical to see perfectly good carpets go into the skip.
It is more common practice nowadays to include them in the sale, but it is by no means daft to ask. Would be a waste for them to not be used if you could use them.

TableFlowerss · 09/04/2021 23:13

@StephenBelafonte

Don't be daft you can't take the carpets.
That made me giggle 🤣
anyoldtime · 09/04/2021 23:14

This reminds me of someone who moved into their new house to discover the sellers had removed all the internal door handles and taken them with them when they left. Everyone thought they were joking when they told people.
Carpets come under fixtures and fittings (just as door handles come under fixtures and fittings too).

SnowdaySewday · 10/04/2021 00:13

@toocold54

I’ve always lived in council or housing association homes and you have to rip all the carpets/Lino out before you move else you get a fine. Which is ridiculous because they often don’t fit in the new property so you have to buy new and the new tenants have to pay out to replace what you just ripped out.
Same here - I think the council is afraid the carpet might have fleas in it.

DPs had a carpet that saw them through three houses, being cut down each time to fit first the main bedroom, then the middle bedroom and lastly the box room.

I was reminiscing about this with DM. “Of course we did,” she said, “It was good carpet. It came from Aunt X and Uncle Y's house.” So it had done 4 houses.

Peasbewithyou · 10/04/2021 00:17

I remember moving into a house where the previous owners had taken all the carpets, including the carpet on the stairs. They were moving into a bungalow... Confused

They had also removed the loo roll holders and all the lightbulbs.

ClafoutisSurprise · 10/04/2021 00:52

It wouldn’t hurt to ask, would it? It may be a complete non-issue if they have plans to remove them in the short term. I find that less cheeky than someone asking the vendor to remove the carpet - that request would have me worried about how much of a pain the buyer was going to be throughout the process.

When we sold our buyer made it known they were annoyed we weren’t leaving a mirror. They turned out to be quite the pain - including contacting us repeatedly on moving day to ask if we’d left and could they pick up the keys. How about you just wait until the agreed hour? We’ll be out then, promise.

CrazyHorse · 10/04/2021 02:59

Fitted carpets are included in the house sale. As are fitted cupboards. You can't just rip out your kitchen and take it with you. If you intend to do that you need to explain it to the buyers before they offer on the house.

Would you be taking the underlay too?

bedtimeshoes · 10/04/2021 04:39

You can't take the carpets - that's a very weird thing to do

Bobbots · 10/04/2021 05:12

I don’t know why people are being so over the top and sounding outraged. OP specifically said “if the new owners don’t want them”. In the last two houses we’ve bought, if the vendors had asked if we’d like to keep the carpets or if we’d mind them taking them, we would have told them to crack on and take them all because a) they were horrible IMO and not to our taste at all and b) they would actually have saved us time and money in ripping them up and disposing of them.

And like another poster says, the fact that the TA10 allows you to include specific info about whether/which carpets are staying means it is perfectly fine and legal to at least ask the question.

What wouldn’t be fine is to not mention anything, to write on the TA10 that carpets are included and then randomly rip them up and take them with you on moving day. But that’s not what OP is suggesting at all.

So OP - yea just ask them. As long as you do it in a polite and reasonable way there is no reason for it to be a big deal.

Bobbots · 10/04/2021 05:14

Also pp saying “you can’t take the carpets” are just wrong. You can. As long as that is what has been agreed with the new owners.

121hugsneeded · 10/04/2021 05:20

If the new wieners ( haha auto correct change - should say owners ) don't like the carpet it is up to them to dispose of them not you.

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