Is it usual to include freestanding range cooker in house price?

[Babychewtoy]

Would you expect a freestanding range cooker to be included in the house price, or would you expect it be offered for buyers to purchase for an additional cost if they wanted it?

(whole kitchen and range cooker are 3 years old in good condition)

We looked at a house with a range cooker and were told very pointedly at the time of viewing that the vendor intended to take it with them.

I'd never assume either way tbh, good ones are v expensive.

The range cooker was left behind when I bought my last house, but it was on its way out and the vendors were downsizing, so it was a good opportunity for them to wash their hands of it. I had never cooked on such a big oven before and loved it, so when the time came I replaced it.

Recently sold that house, and offered it to my buyers as an extra, since my replacement was only 2 years old, but they weren't interested. Part of me wishes I hadn't tried to sell it to them and just left them with it, because we are now in a house that needs a kitchen extension before the cooker can fit in there. So it's sitting in the garage until we can afford the extension! We're using the induction hob that was already in the house, and we're really loving it - we might not go back to gas.

Yes! Frankly, the idea of paying to uninstall our Aga horrified me, so I never contemplated taking it with us…

I would be asking early on TBH. Just because if it wasn’t staying (or they were charging ££ extra) I’d need to budget for it.

Every time we’ve bought a house everything had been left, but I know of the venders charging a relative for carpets, light fittings etc 🫠

never heard of anyone moving an Aga - that would cost a fortune.

If you have a gas range cooker to move, you'd have to pay a gas-expert to cap the gas off and then it is not a simple object to move. And then another gas-expert to install it at the other end. you could easily spend 30-50% of the value of the cooker just on the moving. I'd definitely leave it and I'd hope that any seller would also leave it or ask for a nominal sum.

Wow, how incredibly cheeky of them! They deserved to lose the sale.

Hmm, quite varied answers.

I’m actually the seller and we’ve already accepted an offer. We now need to fill in the form to say what fixtures and fittings are included.

When I was showing the estate agent the house she made a comment about everything being freestanding so wouldn’t be included. I think I need to go back to her and ask if she explicitly said anything to the buyers about what is included when showing them the house.

We don’t want to be stingy, but equally we can’t afford to turn down free money if the buyers were expecting and happy to pay for it!

Is it not mentioned in the property description in the advert?

But yes, you’re right, you need to ask the agent what she said. You are legally bound by her representations.

This is not quite correct: the seller completes a fixtures and fittings form to make it clear what is included in the sale. Once the buyer has sight of this they can negotiate on other items, state they don't want them, etc.

Do you want to take it to your next property?
And what did you put on the listing? Not binding but it will indicate what your buyer expects.

No we don’t.

To be honest I was expecting to leave it free of charge but a friend told me that usually people pay for them so I thought I’d check in case I was being naive.

Yes, but if the buyer only finds out at the form stage that the cooker is not included, when the agent says that it was, they can argue that they only offered based on what the agent told them, and walk away from the sale.

(obviously in England you can walk away from a sale at any time for no reason at all but what I mean is that it would be a bit much to blame them for walking away if they reasonably relied on a representation by an agent).

You might find that they don’t want it and don’t want the hassle of disposing of it.

Seems pretty standard to offer separately from the listings we viewed, and even seems to be the case for very large, very expensive country houses (parent's neighbours did this). I think it's reasonable if the current owners bought it themselves or know they'll have space for a range in the new place, bit cheeky if they inherited it from previous owners.

The main thing is to be very clear in your sales and marketing whether its included or not. So that there is no doubt.

when we were buying, vendor said they wanted £££ for rangemaster. We declined and asked him to remove. It was here when we moved in.

felt really stingy to me, we were overpaying for house and he was a chancer.

I don’t love it. Ovens are too small. Only use the conventional and warming ones once or twice a year. But it does cook brilliantly- makes my cakes so much better ..,

You could have gone back and claimed the removal cost.

I think it’s nickel and diming to charge extra for items that both parties know are going to stay put: bespoke curtains, cookers and big fridges included

You say you don't want to take it with you. If you price it separately and the buyer says they don't want it, you will then have to take/dispose of it which will cost you money. I would include it in the price.

When we last moved, we included the washing machine and fridge in the price because they were not right for our new house and we didn't want the hassle/cost of removal and disposal.

I would tread carefully here as you risk losing a lot of goodwill from your buyer at an early stage I the conveyancing process.

In my experience buying and selling houses, normally at least the cooker is included in the sale. And if not you need to make that very clear in the description. Other kitchen appliances, curtains etc left are a nice bonus and make the property more attractive to buyers. It's very petty and money grubbing to charge extra for everything imo, especially if they're a few years old. The buyer is paying you hundreds of thousands FGS.

The people we were buying from offered us the dishwasher and some completely hideous light fittings for an extra £1000. We declined because we had a dishwasher we wanted to bring with us and we didn't want the lights.

On moving in day, the bloody dishwasher was here! So we then had to arrange to get rid of it before we could plumb ours in. SO ANNOYING!

With a range cooker the thing to ask yourself is are you really prepared to move the bastard. Because if you're not, just include it in the house price. If you start asking the buyers to pay you extra for it, you'd better be prepared for them to say no thanks, and you have to move it. It's not just a pick it up and load it in the van job. There's a of hassle with disconnecting the gas, because they're rigged up direct to the main supply.

I don't think Agas are ever removed. Ours is fixed solidly to a concrete plinth. It's hardly "freestanding". It also has a flue which would create a big hole in the wall if it was removed and it weighs a HUGE amount. Your average removal firm wouldn't want to move it.

I would expect to be given the option to purchase within the legal/contents pack. If a new owner was planning on redoing the kitchen, they may just want it gone.