seller wants to charge for carpets

festragatto

We are close to exchanging on a house and the seller has said that she wants £500 for carpets and blinds. The carpets look in good condition and she says they are newly fitted but we have no way of knowing. If the rest of the house was pristine, it might not be so cheeky but we have to arrange and pay for some replastering and sorting out damp and damp staining. Is it reasonable for us to pay, even though we feel she's left us enough things to have to deal with that she could at least throw in the carpets for us?

reehsetin

realistically what would she do with the carpets she'd taken out, would be fairly difficult to fit them anywhere else, do you really want the carpets? have you got the money to replace them?
don't be forced to pay for something you would ahve changed anyway

bryanb

Depends how much you want the house, but I doubt he would pull out if you refused. But he might take the carpets up.

keith969

Just say no, you don't want them.

Come the day, what are they going to do with the old carpets - unless they're moving to a place without carpets and with rooms the same size, what use will they be?

AMILLIONDOLLARS

Did they include them on the fixtures and fitting lists? If so have a word with your solicitors about where you stand (not on the carpets obviously:D) I would call her bluff I would also hold a retainer (money) to pay for any damages as a consequence of her pulling them up (£500 should do the trick). You could also use the retainer for hire of a skip or two should she leave anything behind.

Good Luck

AMD

theartfullodger

Yup, call 'er bluff - cheeky c*w...

overandout_2

I would just refused to pay for it - unless you really want the carpets.

When I exchange on the house, the vendor wanted me to complete one week earlier than discussed and when I refused, she kicked up a fuss and said she will take away the white goods eventhough on the FF form, she said it would be included.

I told my solictor that she can take her white goods with her (it used to be a rented property so I didn't want the white goods anyway)...

On my completion date, when I went into the house, lo and behold, the white goods are still there..... (though she took the curtains with her - probably to spite me but I wanted to replace them anyway )

zzzLazyDaisy

The seller isn't obliged to leave the carpets unless they are on the F&F form, so check with your solicitor.

If they are not on the form it is a case of - do you want the carpets and are you prepared to pay £500 for them? If not, just say no, and take a gamble that she will leave them anyway - although I knew someone who did just that and found that the seller had taken the carpets up, ripped them with a stanley knife and left them in the back garden

bmunky7

festragatto wrote: »

If the rest of the house was pristine, it might not be so cheeky but we have to arrange and pay for some replastering and sorting out damp and damp staining. Is it reasonable for us to pay, even though we feel she's left us enough things to have to deal with that she could at least throw in the carpets for us?

As said, depends on what is on the F&F form but if you call her bluff as suggested just bear in mind you may walk in to a house with no carpets and who knows what else she may do to spite you.

I don't think you can bring in any other issues "left us enough things to have to deal with" - these are a separate issue.

Perhaps offer her a token amount maybe £100 saying basically you'd rather have some carpets than none but hers aren't anything special and you'd rather replace them with the £500 anyway.

morg_monster

i agree with munky - i know its a pain, but do you really want to have to arrange to suddenly carpet the whole house when you move in? It's quite a pain, choosing carpet, etc even without the cost of it. there is a chance she could take the carpets up so you should be aware of this, however I agree probably only a minority of people with time on their hands would do this (it can take a while to rip up carpets!)

poppysarah

it takes time and effort to take up carpets and get them refitted. And paying for a skip or taking them the tip is time or money