Buyers want access to measure up

[CantStartaFireWithoutaSpark]

Hi there, I’m not sure what is acceptable when it comes to selling our property.

We have sale agreed and are going through the legal aspects of the sale.

2 things that have come up:

• the buyer wanted our email to contact us directly if they have any questions
• the buyer wants access “for a couple of hours” to measure up and show it off to their families.

My partner doesn’t mind this. But I do. They have have had 2 viewings, one of which was after the sale agreed.

They have DP’s email and did ask him directly a 2nd time to see the property the week we are packing up. Even though we said no to the agent already.They want the couple of hours the week we are packing up, and also juggling WFH.

We are moving out and the property and it will be left vacant for maybe 2 months.
DP suggested we give them access after we leave, but I don’t want them knowing it’s vacant. Am I being unfair? Does anyone have any experience?

Note we are not nearby once we leave, so we can only rely on agent to manage access.

any advice? Is it ok to let them in? Am I being mean saying no?

Not the same thing. It's like saying we are going to take out a neptune kitchen and replace it with an ikea one and take the neptune kitchen with us. It is entirely reasonable for buyers to expect that fitted items are included in the price. It's like people who think they can charge more for their 3 year old fitted carpets, bonkers!

Looking at your other thread, you didn't get the offers you want and feel like you aren't 'breaking even' with your flat. TBH it seems like you're now trying to squeeze more money out of your buyers for items which would customarily be included. By all means piss them off, but you saw the types of offers you were getting before, 30/40k under asking, the market hasn't improved since then, if anything it's got worse.

They were told only integrated appliances were included in the sale. They were told it was not included a few weeks ago (maybe 3 weeks?).
They they are threatening to lower price over it.
That’s it.
If pissing them off by pushing back and saying no results in them pulling out. It’s better it happens now, cause it would likely happen eventually. So While it’s not ideal and a pain for us. It’s better we know now then later down the line.

I would only ever answer queries via the solicitor.

It's up to you but is it really worth losing your sale over, because the cabinet is not worth what you paid for it. Bespoke items more than anything lose a huge amount of value once they are no longer new. They may well have assumed on viewing that fitted furniture is included and been quite surprised when you offered to sell it to them!

Maybe they were surprised. But We were upfront. Nothing sneaky!

I guess losing the sale while not ideal, isn’t the end of the world for us. We are in no rush and have always toyed with the idea of renting it. So, I’m ok with taking our chances. DP is still deciding how we wants to proceed.

Anyone who pulls out of a sale because of a bathroom cabinet was never going to go through with it in the first place.

Wow they sound very entitled. And now they have your email addresses so are clearly intending to put pressure on in various ways. Maybe it's time to cut your losses and put it back on the market. I think they increased their offer with the intention of dropping it later all along.

FTB here. I would never expect someone to take a bathroom cabinet off the wall and take it with them - that seems underhand tbh.

That said, they sound very confused about whether they are buying or renting.

I agree with @Eastangular2000 - the etiquette is supposed to be that anything that wouldn't fall out if the house was tipped upside down should be included. I'd be very pissed off about a seller trying to charge me extra for a wall cabinet, or replacing it with a cheaper version.

The market isn't looking too rosy for lots of sellers right now OP. If you struggled to find a buyer before in a red-hot market I suspect you could have a real problem if you pulled out now, especially as I don't think all the fault lies with the buyer here.

You're not happy about letting your buyers in for a measure up, and you're trying to charge them extra for fitted cabinets. With all due respect OP, if I were your buyer there would be huge red flags.

One cabinet is not part of the sale. It cost us quite a few 100 a 2 years ago. It was always coming with us as it’s totally reusable. If you turned the house upside down if would fall off, as it’s not a permanent fixture to a wall. Hook on, hook off.
To expect everything you see is total CF. The contents of a property belong to the owner. A buyer buys the properly with the items that you can’t remove, kitchen, wardrobe, integrated appliances.

They are welcome to measure up, but not have their family around for a couple of hours while we live there. So I’m not stopping that whatsoever.

House furniture is not cheap, we’ve invested in our property and we will take what we can reuse because it belongs to us. Hardly a red flag.

The buyer seem incredibly naive. Our agent is not educating them and they assumed they could just have things. They wanted our (brand new) washing machine too, when quoted the price, they quickly said no. They also wanted a rug, a console table, and a few other random bits. We have them the prices less than we paid, they said no. Maybe the reality of how keys things cost has set in. But I’m not handing out any freebies cause they don’t know how a house sale works.

The owners are fully entitled to take what’s theirs. The buyers “demand” for basic supply of furniture (their words) is naive, so I’m not going to give them freebies cause they don’t understand how things work.

… and I didn’t struggle to find a buyer. 3 weeks, 3 offers, 2 of them cash. This couple wanted it so upped their original offer to take it off the market.

Sorry it was actually under 3 weeks when it went sale agreed.

But you said on your other thread you were struggling to get offers at asking and were going to lose money. You said your cash offers were low and were annoyed that they wanted a discount for being cash buyers!

It’s not going to get any easier to sell a flat in London by any means - it’s been a slog for a couple of years - and to lose a sale over a cabinet that is a fraction of the sale value is a bit silly to be honest.

@CantStartaFireWithoutaSpark absolute CFs. All furniture should be fixed to the walls for safety reasons, that doesn't make it integrated! 😅

I sold in March and the buyers included in some written statement that they wanted all bedroom furniture for both rooms and all of my living room furniture. My solicitor called them 'chancers', wrote back a revised offer that included the integrated fridge and freezer, light fittings and window coverings, and they never argued it.

If they're flaky enough to pull put of a sale over a wall cabinet I'd just let them. They won't find a cheap fully furnished house in this climate so g'luck to them!

If this is the case I don't understand your previous comments where you said first of all you'd replace it with a cheaper version, and then you said you'd make good the wall where you removed it?

If it's a cabinet that's literally hanging - "hook on, hook off" - the wall then there's nothing to replace or make good....

I'm honestly not trying to be provocative here but your posts are contradictory and keep changing when people disagree with you.

Best of luck whatever you decide to do but as others have said, to pull out of a sale in these market conditions due to a bathroom cabinet is absolutely bonkers.

Well actually there is a funny story about what’s behind the cabinet.

There was a very large mirror fixed to the wall (I think it was glued) when we moved in.

We removed the mirror to fit the cabinet 2 years ago. But to our surprise there was (not even joking here!) a massive penis drawn on the wall. Like huge.

so, respectfully, we have to do something with the rather large penis drawing.

This isn’t a joke, I’m serious!

🤣🤣🤣🤣

That's hilarious. In that case, leave the cabinet, saves you the hassle of camouflaging the cock!

Is it a Wanksy?

I’ve been on both sides this summer

we moved house away from neighbours. We viewed a house for 5 minutes and put in a bid which was accepted. We didn’t even step beyond the door in some rooms.

I went back after contracts signed and vendors were there and gave me a twenty minute tour which i really appreciated and they showed the furniture they were happy to sell and that which they were taking. We’ve been in sporadic contact, they left some bits behind and had to drop extra keys etc and i contacted them for some contractor details.

They also did a meeting of kids (ours hadn’t even seen the new house) so they met and could chat which were lovely

On the other hand, my neighbours are buying our house. They are complete assholes. They are only allowed to contact solicitor or estate agent, they are not allowed to contact us directly anymore. The agent has told them no negotiation and doesn’t bother us with their incessant phone calls to him and our solicitor. They’ve been told it’s the price, or deposit back. That’s what agents are for. He’s pretty sick of them too now.

We expect to sign any day now, I hate my neighbours so fucking much though, they are the reason we moved.

Alcoves. Bloody alcoves.

We've had an offer accepted today and I could really use a visit at some point to get the alcove widths to work out what can go where (old property so lots of chimney breasts) and what size bits of furniture to look out for prior to moving. Yes, our furniture is coming with us but we're upsizing so I'm going to need stuff for my craft room/woman cave/piss off and go ask your father room!

What a strange perception, its not like ya were giving them money for fun, you were buying their house

I must be super lucky, 6 weeks between mortgage acceptance and getting the keys, 1 year I would have lost my mind

Totally, I bought a house in the same area I rented in, literally 3 streets away and walked the dog passed it every night till I got the keys 😅😅 I wanted another viewing but EA wouldnt let me back in to measure up until contarct was signed but it all came together the day I got the keys *"I'm in Scotland "

I'd let them go in between exchange and completion accompanied by the estate agent!