Items left in garden after house move

[FedUpandEatingChocolate]

We've just moved house, and left behind a house with an 80ft garden. It was lovely!

We took all of the garden storage, all the pots except one (huge and ceramic). We left features such as the veg bed and bean supports (bottom of the garden), stone bird bath.

In addition, we left the large parasol with base. In hindsight we should have had it removed.

The buyers are being really difficult saying we left lots of garden items behind, that they're having to get a skip at almost £300 to clear the garden.

IMO they're taking the piss. It's a large garden with lots of features. I had assumed that the large pot would be left as it's too heavy to lift with the plants and soil in, and it forms part of the garden.

Every house I've moved into has had significantly more garden pots etc left behind - I actually felt bad about taking every single plant pot bar the large one.

Can you offer to go and collect them yourself?

The ceramic pot was about a metre tall, so definitely what I would think of as part of the garden structure.

I think this probably comes down to what was on the form that covers fixtures and fittings.
If you said nothing would be left then your buyers are right in trying to claim this cost from you

Yes, I've offered to go and collect specific items. They've refused, saying they have been obliged to get a skip

If they aren’t on the fittings list they are probably in the right but also being a pain. The cost of taking you to small claims to get that money will be more than the money. I’d just ignore tbh.

Oh if you’ve offered to get them, fuck them! 🤣

Ignore

They're being idiots. I inherited some garden stuff I didn't really want. I offered it on Freecycle and it was all gone within a couple of days. £300 skip my arse!

Id be so greatful of them things being left but some people are just weird.

I agree with PP, ignore them as you have already offered to collect them. I bet they want the skip for other stuff and are trying to get you to foot the bill.

I said to DH I reckon they're getting the skip for other things ... I'm tempted to drive by and see what they've got in there!

I'm just a bit befuddled as I'd count myself lucky if I found a huge ceramic pot and parasol. The amount of crap that was in the bottom of the garden when we bought the house was something else! But we just got rid of it bit by bit.

They even complained a paving slab was loose and we didn't remove it.

They sound like idiots @FedUpandEatingChocolate - as you said I'd be delighted to discover a huge ceramic pot and parasol had been left behind.

We sold a house with 0.5 acre garden in 2024. We'd created the garden from scratch and it was a magical space with loads of features. During removals we found we couldn't fit some of my treasured pots (similar size to yours) into the two huge vans so put what we could into our cars. Unfortunately there were still a few that didn't fit which we had to leave. We left a note for our buyers explaining this and they got in touch asking if we'd like to go back for them. As we'd moved 200+ milea we couldn't do this, so said they were welcome to keep these and they accepted.

Otoh, the sellers of the probate cottage we purchased, said they were leaving the (nice, vintage) garden ornaments but actually removed half of these. We didn't think it was worth bothering to complain through our conveyancing solicitor.

I actually did need to pay for garden clearance cos of all the shit left in my garden.

However, when taking the vendor to small claims due to numerous more serious breaches, I didn’t bother including the cost of garden clearance in my claim as vendor had written something like “various pots” on the fitting form and I didn’t want the claim to have ambiguity.

(Also, raising a small claim and going to court cost hundreds and took many hours of my time, so I wouldn’t be encouraging it for something minor like this)

The thing is, you DID leave things that you should not have so really, you are in the wrong regardless of how you want to dress it up.
You don't know what they want to do with the garden so perhaps these items really ARE unwanted?
Agree they are being odd about the skip but you should have made it clear those items were being left, it would have avoided all this.
I agree, a large established planter would probably be a great feature for most people but if they had their own designs about the garden and it was a surprise to find it still there, it could well be annoying. Likewise the parasol, I would not want one as a gift (regardless of how "nice" or expensive) so they are probably annoyed at it being left with having to dispose of it.

I would be over the moon to have a free large parasol and some other garden features! They probably have no taste and are they types of people that want to cover it with fake grass then hoover said grass.

You've offered to collect it and it's been declined. Keep the evidence in writing and drop a note to your solicitor advising them that no action is required, but to let you know if it's raised by the buyers.

I am another one who says keep a note they turned you down and then leave them to it. Taking you to court will be more than the skip cost (if indeed they do have a skip...)