fixtures and fittings

roastduck

Hello all,

we have successfully had our offer accepted and are in the process of sorting out our mortgage and conveyancing.

Our solicitor seems to be a bit reluctant to reduce the selling price by negotiating the fixtures and fittings.

The seller is going to leave all his stuff (fridges, washing machine, cupboards, sofa, dining table except his bed and a few lamp shades) to us becasue he is moving abroad. We are keen to reduce the selling price and hence reduce the stamp duty cost. I know this is a bit cheeky but we are not greedy. The total price of F&F probably is around £1k to £2k. The saving is probably around £60:money:.

Any advice?

Tassotti

Is the property around a stamp duty limit? This may be why the sol has reservations, as the IR are more likely to look into it if it is.

currantbun

From what I remember from buying our place, furniture isn't classed as fixtures and fittings and so can't be included in the sale price. We bought some kitchen "white goods" from the vendor and the solicitor told us to pay for them privately. F&F is classed as anything thats atteched to the walls/floors/ceilings.

Mrs_pbradley936

Loads of info on here about this here is a post I made on a different thread a few days ago:-

Are you near the stamp duty band change? If you are then many people do two transactions. One for the house at say £249k and another for the fixtures and fittings say £8k. The advantage is that it keeps the property in the lower band as well as giving the vendor more. Perfectly legal so long as the figure is "just and reasonable" We have had a few posts on here about what that means and most of us think a single figure per centage would not cause any waves. But you could not pay £249k for the house and £150k for the carpets!

Mrs_pbradley936

This is also from another thread, I will put the link to it in case you want to read all the points raised.

I know lots of people that have. They have a price for the house and a price for fixtures and fittings fully itemised i.e. "Lounge:- carpet £300, wall lights £150, ceiling light £100, curtains £250, curtain pole £50" and so on all through the house. It cannot be illegal because people are doing it all the time.

The key point is do they form part of the structure? Or could you take them away with you in the removal lorry? You obviously can pull up the carpet and take down light fittings and curtains. Whether you would want to because they probably will not fit where you are going is another matter. If you did take them all with you and the buyer went out and replaced them, what difference does it make if they buy the replacements new from shops or second hand from Ebay and if they can buy them second hand from Ebay why not buy them from the vendor

Mrs_pbradley936

Mhttp://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=262129&highlight=fixtures+fittingsore info here:-

Debt_Free_Chick

roastduck wrote:

I know this is a bit cheeky but we are not greedy. The total price of F&F probably is around £1k to £2k. The saving is probably around £60:money:.

Any advice?

Speak to the vendor. Simply pay £2k less for the house and hand over £2k, separately, for the furniture (or whatever price you agree).

If you get your solicitor to do it, it will probably cost you more in fees than you save!

As others have said, be careful about doing this if you are close to the stamp duty threshold.

What value has been placed on the property by the valuer/surveyor?

roastduck

thanks for the replies.

Unfortunately, the price is £299,950 ie not just above stamp duty threshold. The surveyor has matched the asking price and we are happy to pay for the house.

The kitchen is new (fitted in july) and all the kitchen appliances are new and included in the price. I think £2k is reasonable and not breaking any law plus can allow me to save some money for a good bottle of champagne!

We will arrange a meeting with the vendor. Just feeling a bit uneasy that the solicitor is a bit too cautious. May be the saving is not worth the hassle.

Many Thanks again.