Nightmare sellers

[JustOneMoreSec]

Hi, wondering if anyone has been in a similar position and can offer any advice...
We are 6-8 weeks to moving date (no fixed dates yet, but sellers are clearly in a hurry to move). We have agreed on list price.
We received yesterday the TA1, and to our surprise, the sellers are excluding the built in oven in the kitchen, the smart switches and the bathroom cupboards. They are also excluding, but giving us the option to buy the fitted blinds, bathroom mirror and some fitted furniture in one of the rooms.
We are totally confused by all this. Surely they are fixtures and should be included? The bathroom mirror maybe not, but the oven and the bathroom cupboards??? (They are mounted with the sink!).
On top of that, they haven't provided any electrical work certificates, even though they have refitted the kitchen recently and no gas certificates either.
We love the house and don't want to pull out, but there are so many red flags from the sellers! Sounds all really grabby and cheeky, even though they made over £100k since they bought the house 7 years ago!
Our buyers are lovely and we don't want to let them down.
We've told our solicitors that we won't accept a kitchen without an oven and that we need all the minor electrical certificates before we proceed. We've also asked for them to put some money on escrow, in case there are any damages when they remove anything that it's fitted (I'm definitely not paying for them!).
Are we missing anything? Has anyone had something similar?

They sound very grabby. Don't just roll over - tell them you were expecting everything that is classed as fitted to be left and that you are disappointed and politely request that they rethink these items on the TA1

Not as bad as that!

We offered on our first house because it came with a lot of furniture detailed on the agents blurb and it was because the family were moving back to their home country on the other side of the world. We couldn't decide between two houses and this swung it for us on this one.

Came to complete the inventory part of the paperwork and it was all missing! So we asked to be told they'd changed their mind and were moving to a semi about 20 doors away!

We were astonished! In the end we negotiated they leave about half of it.

But honestly!

You say "that's fine, but I expect all damage as a result of removing built in items to be made good to existing paint colours/finishes" and I'd put money on them not removing stuff as repairs are a lot of hassle.

I've never had built in kitchen items removed, but I did once buy a house from vendors who wanted to me to pay extra for the (small and unremarkable) pond in the garden. I said no thanks, take it with you and make good the hole you leave behind

They are not obliged to leave the fitted stuff. They complete the TA10 to state what's being left and what's being taken. This form forms part of the contract. However, if they had completed the TA10 and ticked they were leaving the fitted stuff, then back tracked, you'd have just cause to contest it. But contracts have not exchanged yet and if you are unhappy with their answers, ask your solicitor to get confirmation on their answers, as you were under the assumption these things were included within the sale price. If not and they are not included, there's not really a lot you can do, however, lack of building certificates for things are not necessarily an issue, there is always the option of you solicitor asking for an indemnity policy for lack of the same.

Very cheeky to rip out anything that is fitted / built in. I wouldn't want to exchange contracts until they had repaired any damage, and I'd want the price of new fittings taken into account.

Regarding the electrics, if there is missing paperwork the sellers can pay for an indemnity, which is not expensive. But if you have concerns about safety, you should arrange your own check and Electrics Condition Report. Buyers often ask sellers to provide an ECR, but they are not obliged to.

Our sellers wanted to remove curtain poles, they were really cheap ones but we didn't fancy worrying about getting new ones installed on moving day in the kids bedrooms!

We asked them to leave them and they did. If I were you I would say that you made your offer on the assumption that these things would be included and reconsider your offer if they are to be removed (as you will need to replace them), but it depends how you feel about the house really.

It's allowed but very cheeky.

Yes, really grabby, I would feel just the same as you! At the very least, they need to leave the oven and repair any damage caused by removing fitted furniture. Some sellers seem to feel that they need to "win" "the selling process by being completely grabby at every opportunity!