can you remove garden paving slabs once offer been made on house?

meritaten

my deceased aunts house is under offer at the moment and we cleared the house and my sons wanted the paving slabs which made short walkways in the garden. I told them they could have them and they removed some of them. now the other beneficiary is creating heck because they say the buyer could reduce the offer. is this right? the house originally went to auction.... wasnt sold as reserve wasnt reached but the auction house had an offer from this buyer the next day. this was rejected then another offer a few days later (after the buyer had taken a builder up to see the property) was recieved and accepted. I contacted the auctioneers as the house hadnt been cleared due to a problem with communication with the beneficiaries and was told to take anything I have wanted. the other beneficiary had had access to the house too and I have noticed there was a lot less there than there should be! which i havent made an issue of!!! now she is kicking off about the paving slabs! Its a tiny garden and its a matter of about twenty stone paving slabs.........she herself dug up all the tulips! and agreed that she had taken everything she wanted! sorry to rant on - what i really want to know is while the property is under offer and no money has been paid and nothing signed - is she right that the buyer will reduce the offer because the garden paving slabs have been removed?

Wee_Willy_Harris

Say nothing, sit tight and wait and see.

Milliewilly

meritaten wrote: »

my deceased aunts house is under offer at the moment and we cleared the house and my sons wanted the paving slabs which made short walkways in the garden. I told them they could have them and they removed some of them. now the other beneficiary is creating heck because they say the buyer could reduce the offer. is this right? the house originally went to auction.... wasnt sold as reserve wasnt reached but the auction house had an offer from this buyer the next day. this was rejected then another offer a few days later (after the buyer had taken a builder up to see the property) was recieved and accepted. I contacted the auctioneers as the house hadnt been cleared due to a problem with communication with the beneficiaries and was told to take anything I have wanted. the other beneficiary had had access to the house too and I have noticed there was a lot less there than there should be! which i havent made an issue of!!! now she is kicking off about the paving slabs! Its a tiny garden and its a matter of about twenty stone paving slabs.........she herself dug up all the tulips! and agreed that she had taken everything she wanted! sorry to rant on - what i really want to know is while the property is under offer and no money has been paid and nothing signed - is she right that the buyer will reduce the offer because the garden paving slabs have been removed?

Yes - see the bottom of this link "Deemed Inspection". Stone slabs are valuable which is why they have removed them. The buyer can reduce their offer quite rightly imo.

http://www.practicalconveyancing.co.uk/content/view/8716/1134/

eco-friendly_2

meritaten wrote: »

I contacted the auctioneers as the house hadnt been cleared due to a problem with communication with the beneficiaries and was told to take anything

I've just sent you a PM, I'm looking for some flooring and half a dozen doors!

PasturesNew

A buyer can expect a house to be in the same condition it was in at the moment of exchange.

Did they view it?
Were the stones removed before/after a viewing?
Were the stones removed before/after exchange?

googler

Why stop at the flagstones?

Why not cannibalise the house for the pendant light fittings, light switches and mains plugs?

Take out the bathroom suite?

Need I go on...?

G_M

Why don't you take the tiles off the roof too? Come to that, there must be quite a lot of valuable bricks in the walls!

Come on - the buyer bought the house as viewed. If the garden paths etc are removed, he's not getting what he's paid for.

meritaten

Thank you Milliwillie!
I am very grateful for the advice! the website was perfectly clear!
I didnt realise that stone slabs were valuable! Or that there was 'deemed inspection'. I think the auctioneers should have told me - but never mind.
I have some grovelling to do tomorrow and the sons will be told to bring them back and replace them. problem is it may take a week or so as they removed them in a van and will have to replace them a few at atime in thier cars. but they will be replaced. should i put a note through door saying so?

meritaten

I think I stated that due to a breakdown in communication between the beneficiaries the house wasnt cleared before the auction. when i phoned the auctioneers to ask if the house was sold they said no. they also said that there was an interested party. it turned out that it was only then i learned the house hadnt been cleared (the other beneficiary had insisted it was up to her to do it and she hadnt) so i asked if it was ok to clear the house and take statuary etc out of the garden. they said ok.
I contacted the other beneficiary and she went up and took the plants etc she wanted. me and the kids went up and there wasnt much left! I assumed the walkways were ok to take.
I resent the posts which imply I stripped the house and garden! I didnt!!! we took the flagstones yes, we took the plants in pots as they were dying through lack of water anyway.we dug up a few plants....so???
in the house we left carpets most light fittings except for one lightshade my mum really wanted.
the buyer got a lovely three bedroom semi for £65k needs about 20k work on it. the house will prob be almost gutted. the garden was so overgrown it needs a bulldozer to sort it out. taking the plants was almost a rescue operation!
oh - and I was born and brought up in that house! and i cannot wait to see if it becomes a family home once more! even though it upset me to clear it!

meritaten

oh - and I forgot to say - I am the lease holder from another will! So from my understanding - I own the ground?

tomstickland

If they were concrete slabs then I'd not be too bothered.
If they were stone or slate then maybe more interest would be taken.
Considering that it sounds like a bit of a project then I'd tend to not worry too much. The worst outcome would be the buyer not being happy, in which case lower the price by the market value of the missing items.