Fixtures and fittings - what's been the most petty thing you've seen?

[3inthebed]

Our vendors are leaving curtains but taking the matching tiebacks....

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Last house, the owners took the grill pan with them. And the nice light fittings (replaced with plain light bulb).

In this house, the curtains were included, but when we moved in, the curtains we had seen had been replaced with what I am guessing was their winter curtains - in various vile shades of velvet.

We sold our ex council flat in Islington to a young couple who paid cash. The cash was provided by mummy and daddy. It was like selling to a couple of 12 year olds.

Mummy rang up to check we were not going to take the floor boards with us

I often wonder how those two wide eyed innocents are coping, kicking the crack heads of the stairs, avoiding the poo on the landings......

When we bought our house the pervious owner took all the light fittings and curtain poles and tie backs.

I just think of her sitting in her 1 bedroom flat surrounded with the lights and curtain poles from a 4 bedroom house . I only wished she had spent the time cleaning her bloody dirty/mouldy she left.

Sorry I only wished she had spent the time cleaning her bloody dirty/mouldy fridge she left.

When we bought our first flat the previous owner took the loo roll holder off the wall.

I might understand if it was a simple matter of unscrewing the holder from the wall, but he had to gouge it off and left a ruddy great hole in the wall.

People get really cross with eachother in house buying things...I know one where the house alarm was ripped out of the wall just leaving wires poking out!

But why would you want someone else's curtains in the first place?

Surely you would want curtains to your own taste?

Maybe it's a UK thing to expect curtains to stay? Where i'm from, if it's not screwed into the brickwork, then it's fair game to take it with you.

I've probably caused offence in the past. Is this right?

We moved house one time where the vendors took the light bulbs! So we had no functioning lights throughout the house.

Pmsl at this.

I was once asked by a buyer if we were taking the light switches.
What the hell kind of a place had he bought before?!

In Austria it is normal to take all light fittings (leaving bare wire), curtain poles and even the whole kitchen

...and that's just rented accommodation (majority rent long term)

When we moved into our house most rooms had no lightbulbs (despite this being a legal requirement at the time). There were screws missing from plug sockets (surely they didn't take them with them?). And the tile splashback in the bathroom was no longer attached to the wall from where they had tried to remove the sticky tab that presumably attached a tooth mug or similar to them.

They were classy.

...an Austrian one then.
Ime curtains are generally negotiable. Blinds, fixed floor coverings and anything screwed in is included. It is detailed in the conditional acceptence (Sccotlandf).

I wanted someone elses curtains as I didn't have two sets of 3m wide ones, a floor length 3m wide set, and so on. And buying new curtains for the whole house was going to be pricey and take a while.

They were specifically included, so I didn't expect the not my taste but inoffensive ones to be changed.

You do have to detail what is and isn't staying pre sale.

The vendors of a house we nearly bought were taking the loo roll holder and towel rail (both cheapo things and screwed to the wall), a bathroom cabinet and made to measure shutters that I'm sure wouldnt have fit in their new place.

They wouldn't remove the rotting, holey shed though.

We pulled out

The vendors of our first place took the light bulbs and the toilet seat.

But not the enormous smelly fish tank filled with tropical fish!

When we bought this house the survey showed up a damp problem in the kitchen that would cost £3,000 to fix. We approached the vendors asking for a £1,500 reduction on price. They refused. A few weeks later they got in touch offering us their light fitting and dishwasher for an extra £1,000. Needless to say we declined .

The first house we bought, the vendors took the bathroom cabinet off the wall leaving a hole! And this was a nice suburban detached house and the vendors were an elderly couple!

We have just sold our flat and the purchasers insisted on doing an inspection on completion day before releasing funds. They were not from the UK and I know this is standard in other countries. It annoyed me at the time, but it is certainly something I would do when we find somewhere to buy. It prevents these problems and also makes sure they don't leave it a mess.

IlanaK I didn't know that was odd - there were four big holes in the wall from where our vendors had taken off the bathroom cabinet. We had no option but to redecorate pretty quickly.

Mind, it was a blessing that they took the gas fire with them, as when we came to get it replaced we found it wasn't up to standard so needed completely redoing and the workmen discovered the chimney breast had no lintel, just a bowed piece of thin plywood with the bricks beginning to fall down...we live in a semi btw and this was on the party wall .

Lets just say their DIY left quite a lot to be desired.

Ilana K - in the US that is called a 'walk though' and it always happens before a sale completes. My parents thought we were crazy not do the same in the UK.

Okay - I have a good one. But you'll have to bear with me. We were asking our solicitor this same question when we went through the inventory prior to our house sale last year. She said that she had clients whose vendors took A STAIRCASE with them when they moved. Apparently this was at a time when you could just go and buy a staircase from B&Q or couldn't really grasp it but DH seemed to know what she was on about. So, the buyers got there and couldn't get in to the property. The solicitor knew the vendors solictor and goes: "You are going to be getting one of THOSE LETTERS from me shortly." Staircase promptly returned.

People used to take hall carpets here too, apparently. Couldn't believe some of the things we could have ticked as 'not included' on the paperwork we had before our sale. "Double glazing?" "Not included. "Internal doors?""Nope, not included." "Roof..?" "Well, for an extra ten grand..."

I was woken up one morning by the vendor of the house we were buying,who demanded that I pay extra if I wanted him to leave the extractor above the oven.It was built into he wall.He actually turned up on my doorstep to try and browbeat me into it.I refused and later,dh who was away at the time rang him and told him he could take it if he wanted,we weren't bothered.It was there when we moved in.My new neighbours told me that they were scared to death when we moved in,because vendor had ranted to them that I was a 'hard nosed bitch' and that I 'wore the trousers in that relationship.'Probably because I refused to pay extra for his crappy sheds and twin tub washer.

when we moved when i was little the people took the light bulbs, the light switches and all the doorhandles from the interior doors. unfortunately for them they left a box behind that had all their family photos in it, which my dad refused to return before they had replaiced all the things they had taken.

When my PIL bought their first house over 40 years ago the lounge had lino on the floor covered with a large rug. The vendor offered to leave the lino for extra ££s, which they agreed to pay.

It was only when the they moved in that they found the lino was only around the edges of the room and their were just bare floor boards where the rug had been

They were so green that they even paid him extra for the refuse bin