Vendor removing fitted carpets!

Dumbledore55

I've had an offer accepted on a house, it's been a bit of a battle with the vendors who have tried to squeeze every penny out of us. We've never met them because they've been relocated through their work and are currently living in a rented property paid for by the company the husband works for.

After making a few offers, they told us the lowest they would come down to and said we would have a deal if we came up to that. The house is just what we need in every way so after revisiting the mortgage broker, we agreed. The cheeky barstewards, then recontacted everybody that had viewed the property (they advertised through an internet site) to see if they would beat our offer!!

Then they came back to us and said they had an offer that beat ours but they were in a chain (we're not) and that if we upped our offer by £5K we would have a deal. I told them to shove it and wait for the other person's house to sell. My heart was in my throat because it really is exactly what we want. Two days later they came back and accepted the original deal.

Not having met them we have never been able to establish exactly what is included in the sale. Today I get the fittings and contents form and they are removing all the fitted carpets from the 4 bedrooms, the study and the sun lounge and taking all the curtains. I then get a call from the estate agent saying that the vendors are coming up this weekend to empty the house. They want us to buy the carpets for £1K and the curtains for £450. If we don't agree, they are going to remove them tomorrow!!

Allegedly, when they buy a house it will be smaller so they'll re-fit them.

I've never heard of anyone removing fitted carpets before, I'm really not bothered about the curtains but I think tearing up fitted carpets amounts to vandalism!

They are currently living in Southampton and the house is near Preston so I'm going to tell the estate agent that we're not prepared to make an offer on teh carpets without viewing them again and that I can't view the house until next weekend. If nothing else it will leave them with a dilemma while they're up this weekend whether to rip them up or not.

I sincerely hope that when they buy a house the same happens to them!!

tanith

I'd take a chance and tell them to take their carpets.. odds on they won't bother... they are just trying to squeeze every last drop out of you and I wouldn't give them the satisfaction, I'd rather have bare floorboards than pay them a penny for second hand carpets...

ess0two

Its upto them as they own them...........but carpets is petty,but curtains cost a fortune,so can see why they want them.

princessamy86

I see this an awful lot more than you might think! Unfortunately, there is no requirement for them to leave you anything at all in the house-I have seen vendors rip out skirting boards, light fittings and coving, to name but a few things! If it's not down on fixtures and fittings, they don't have to leave it. Are the carpets really worth £1000? IMO, it sounds like if you don't just say that you want them and will pay the money then these people will just rip them out anyway-understanding they are not! On a separate, nosey note (lol) whereabouts are you buying? I'm from Preston too;)

Idiophreak

I know it's not a good time to have principals, when you're paying out so much already, but I'd tell them where to stick it.

If you're careful, you'll probably be able to get new carpet in for a little more than £1k or thereabouts - let them keep their cruddy old stuff and get some that's exactly what you want instead.

moneymare

tanith wrote: »

I'd take a chance and tell them to take their carpets.. odds on they won't bother... they are just trying to squeeze every last drop out of you and I wouldn't give them the satisfaction, I'd rather have bare floorboards than pay them a penny for second hand carpets...

Had experience of this!

We called our vendors bluff and said take them - to be honest they were not in the best condition but would have done for a couple of months whilst we sorted ourselves out.

When we got the keys, we found they had removed all the carpets and they were dumped in a skip at the front of the house.........miserable t***s!!!!!

They were not worth the money they were asking for but even so, it gave us an additional job to do......some people!!!:rotfl:

Dumbledore55

I know it's up to them, I just can't believe how petty it is when they haven't even got a house to go to.

Ripping them up to dump in a skip!! That is outrageous and just downright spiteful.

We're just going to delay answering and hope they don't rip them out on the off chance we might buy them. With a bit of luck they won't come back up if we refuse to buy them. I can't remember exactly what the carpets were like but I don't recall them being luxurious.

I bet they remove all the lightbulbs too!

We'll go and view again next week and if they've ripped them up or anything else, I might just reduce my offer at the last minute.

pawpurrs

It used to be quite common to charge for carpets.. although these days most people dont, as most people wouldnt want to take old carpets and have them refitted. Seems a waste of time to me. As for the ones that put them in the skip:rolleyes:
Curtains however..... are a completley different kettle of fish, Its taken me years to be able to have nice curtains made, and I wouldnt include them in a sale, they are all hand made out of really lovely fabrics, I really dont think thats unreasonable, nor non fitted white goods.

Dumbledore55

pawpurrs wrote: »

It used to be quite common to charge for carpets.. although these days most people dont, as most people wouldnt want to take old carpets and have them refitted. Seems a waste of time to me. As for the ones that put them in the skip:rolleyes:
Curtains however..... are a completley different kettle of fish, Its taken me years to be able to have nice curtains made, and I wouldnt include them in a sale, they are all hand made out of really lovely fabrics, I really dont think thats unreasonable, nor non fitted white goods.

Neither do I, I fully expected them to ask for money for the curtains although I generally leave them because again they don't always fit another house and end up in a cupboard!!

pawpurrs

They dont sound like very nice people, funnily enough I had someone ask me if I was leaving the carpets recently.

Badger_Lady

I can see both sides to this - sorry but my natural empathy kicks in!

The vendors may be in a really tough position - chap gets relocated with work, forcing him to sell his house at a really low point in the market (company will pay relocation costs but not depreciation). They may even find that they're not withdrawing any equity from the property and are therefore trying to scrape every penny they can for the new house because they just don't have a healthy enough deposit any more (and as we know, mortgage lenders aren't being lenient).

So yes, they are going to try every trick in the book to try and squeeze the buyers as much as possible - after all, they might have loved that house and it breaks their heart to have to sell it for a loss, and from their point of view their buyers are snapping up a bargain. They're not doing anything illegal or outside the rules.

So play the game - it's a really stressful business for everyone involved so forget who's right and who's wrong, who's being spiteful... just sort out whether you'd rather buy the carpets (at that price or less) or sort your own out when you move in. Forgive the vendors for trying, after all you don't have to buy them!