Clearing house of furniture/belongings before completion - standard or not?

KateLiana27

We are buying a house that is a probate sale as the old owner passed away. It is currently filled with her furniture and personal belongings. We assumed that it would be reasonable and standard to ask the vendors (her executors) to ensure the house is empty before completion, when we get to the point of agreeing on fixtures and fittings. (They could probably sell a reasonable amount of it as it's in good condition - just not to our taste and we don't want the hassle of selling it ourselves).

Is this an expected/reasonable thing for a buyer to ask, or is it considered cheeky?

We haven't asked yet, but want to make sure we don't cause offence as the vendors are going to be our new neighbours!

Doozergirl

Are you getting confused with what completion is?

Agreeing fixtures and fittings is a 'before' thing. The vendors fill the form out at the beginning of the process and you will see what they intend to leave.

Completion is the moment you own the house. Of course you'd expect it to be empty at completion(!), but you can't ask anyone to do anything before that moment - it's their house, not yours.

KateLiana27

Sorry, yes, I meant can we reasonably expect it to be empty of all furniture when we get the keys. I assumed we could, but I've just read another thread where the vendor apparently refused.

G_M

The F&F form should be completed/agreed before Exchange.

If it says they are leaving junk, and you agree, that's what they'll leave at Completion. Often with Probates that's the case as the 'owner' is not around. Same with Repos. Buy as seen.

But it's up to you to negotiate.agree. If they won't agree to remove junk you have option of buying with the junk or looking for another property.

KateLiana27

G_M wrote: »

The F&F form should be completed/agreed before Exchange.

If it says they are leaving junk, and you agree, that's what they'll leave at Completion. Often with Probates that's the case as the 'owner' is not around. Same with Repos. Buy as seen.

But it's up to you to negotiate.agree. If they won't agree to remove junk you have option of buying with the junk or looking for another property.

That's what I was getting at. So it sounds like it comes down to how generous the vendor is feeling and they may reasonably choose to sell as seen. Hmm. We wouldn't walk away but it will be a bit irritating.

Doozergirl

KateLiana27 wrote: »

That's what I was getting at. So it sounds like it comes down to how generous the vendor is feeling and they may reasonably choose to sell as seen. Hmm. We wouldn't walk away but it will be a bit irritating.

To be fair to the vendor, if they're next door, they haven't got much reason for leaving it there!

If they do decide they're leaving stuff then you need to renegotiate by the cost of removing it.

What normally happens is that you get a nice surprise on moving in day, when they've said they're taking everything and they leave you the equivalent of a skip full of rubbish. That's happened countless times to us, I just take it as granted that I'll be left with someone else's tat even after I've left every place we've ever sold completely spotless.

The *best* one took three men three weeks, thirteen large skips and twenty one full black bags to charity shops. The house got broken into as well after we bought it, so the thieves helped relieve us of some more of it and H has filled his parent's garage with stuff along the lines of Only Fools and Horses believing his fortune lies in some slightly mouldy furniture. It cost over £5000 in hard cash to get rid of it all.

KateLiana27

Doozergirl, that's exactly what I'm afraid of :eek: Though if any thieves would like to make an appointment to clear the house, they would be more than welcome.

So it sounds like it's a reasonable thing to ask, but they may say no, (or say yes and then not do it)?

Doozergirl

KateLiana27 wrote: »

So it sounds like it's a reasonable thing to ask, but they may say no, (or say yes and then not do it)?

It forms part of the contract that they say they will, but if you want to ask your solicitor to ask to confirm as part of additional enquiries, they will do that for you.

paddedjohn

if there is anything when you move in just bung it on freecycle, it will be gone in seconds

KateLiana27

paddedjohn wrote: »

if there is anything when you move in just bung it on freecycle, it will be gone in seconds

Great idea. I haven't used Freecycle before so wasn't sure how quickly stuff goes. I've also found out about a charity shop that will accept and remove furniture so that's another option.

Thanks everyone!

tyllwyd

I think it is perfectly reasonable to ask the vendors to clear the house before you buy it - I'd have thought most vendors would expect to do that, and there are house clearance companies that will do it for them if they don't want to, so I shouldn't worry about them taking offence.

Are you moving in on completion day? Because I imagine when everything is taken out the house is going to need a good clean, if nothing else, so you could always try asking if you might be allowed access to the house to clean up a few days before. (They might say no, but it is worth a try!)