Taking things from the house when you move?

glenstan

many years ago a house we bought had the gas fire removed and an old one stood in its place ( we had asked before purchasing if the gas fire was staying in situ) they had not reconnected the old fire. We had to get a gas fitter in to make the pipes safe and we were told not to use the old fire as it would be condemned if we did. The folks had moved to another town , we tried for months to get some sort of recompense, but never did. A lesson learned , The next time we moved house we took pictures of the items supposed to be being left. They were all present and correct.

MJMum

I suppose the worst case I have personally heard of involves my husband, and his practice ("first") wife. They hadn't even sold their house. When he was out at work, she turned up at the house with a removal van, told the neighbours that they were moving, who helped her pack the van with everything that wasn't cemented in place - rolled up the carpets, took the lightbulbs, everything.


Hubby was a bit surprised when he got home! :eek:

He was famous in our home town afterwards :rotfl: (The house was in negative equity at the time, or I'm sure she would've made a play for it too).


Edited to add: But then he met me, so really she did him a favour ;-)

newbie71_2

When we moved in, just after Christmas this year, all the plugs (bath and sinks) had been snipped from their chains and taken! Couldn't believe it! Thankfully we still had a few days left on our old rented place and could go back there on the first evening to have a bath!

But all the other crappy old decor (filthy wooden soap tray, rusting metal cup holder etc.) had been 'kindly' left in place covered in scum, grime, cat hairs and things I'd rather not think about.....needless to say we have had many trips to the tip.....

Nenen

:eek:

Daisies wrote:

The vendors had to fill in a fairly comprehensive questionnaire about what was included in the sale and what wasn't when I bought last year - I assumed at the time that the questionnaire was standard (my solicitor/conveyancer sorted it all out).

Mine was fairly straightforward as I bought from a couple who'd done up a repossession so there wasn't a lot in the place - but it did include curtains! There was an opportunity on the questionnaire to query anything you weren't sure about!

Yes Daisies, I think solicitors do have a standard form to state what is being left... and it's supposed to be a legal document! However, on one of our moves, the garden shed was clearly written on the contract as staying. When we got in, it had been taken:eek: Our solicitor advised us that we could take them to court for the money but it would probably not be worth out time and we'd end up out of pocket!:mad: (this was in the days before small claims court was so accessible).
I think vendors who take things like this rely on the fact that with all the expense, stress and hassle of moving the new buyers won't be in any position (financial or emotional) to fight over items worth a couple of hundred quid or less! I just hope that people who do this have it done to them some day!:rotfl:

Tootsie_Roll

My very first job after leaving school was working as an office junior for a local estate agent - taking light fittings was very common as was leaving bare live wires. The worst one I can remember was someone taking the grass - the contract hadn't stated that the garden was 'mainly laid to lawn' so the vendor took it !!! Cue one very p1ssed off purchaser.

Poppy9

First house we bought they owners wanted us to pay for the TV aerial on the roof or else they were taking it. We told them where to go and it was left.

When I've moved I always leave all carpets, curtains, light fittings etc. When you are paying thousands for a house it's really petty to take these things.

Daisies

Yeah, I can't understand taking carpets, curtains, light fittings etc. Often (especially carpets) they're made to fit the house so will look daft/won't fit elsewhere. Curtains can be altered, true, but now that it's so easy to get new ones from places like Dunelm Mill, why take the old ones with you when they fit in with the house?

It all just seems so petty.

jackieb

I moved into a council house in the late 80's. The previous occupant wanted £600 for the carpets - the stair carpet was worn but she would have got it turned for me. £50 extra if I wanted the small bit of vinyl in the kitchen. She told me that she'd give me the carpet that was in the dining area of the kitchen for nothing! She wanted £100 for the 2 venetian blinds (which I was informed of later that the occupants that had lived there before her, had left for nothing). Needless to say I declined her kind offer. The vinyl had been glued down and was no use to anyone but as I wasn't paying £50 for it they ripped it up. They also took the sticks that are on top of your windows (where the curtain rails are screwed into). That took the biscuit. I didn't expect curtain rails to be left but I didn't expect the sticks to be taken off the wall either!
I vaguely knew these people. They were very church oriented people. I couldn't believe someone who professed to being such good Christian people had such greed in them.

black-saturn

The house I'm in now the seller left loads of stuff behind but a lot of it was stuff I could do without like bags of cement, step ladders, piles of bricks, planks of wood, tins of paint etc etc. He also left loads of rubbish furniture which meant there was no room for my own furniture so the house was chaos for about the first month while I got rid of it all into the garden and then employed a garden clearance firm to get rid of it all.

However, the house I had before this one didn't leave anything behind. No light bulb, curtain or anything and they even took their taps off the bath!!

[Deleted User]

I could not be bothered with all the hastle of re-fitting things that were relatively cheap compared to the house sale. We had a lovely relationship with the purchaser and left her loads of good extras including hedge trimmer, tree lopper, new fridge that I was going to take, almost new td in the garage. Carpets, curtains, excellent and expensive venetian blinds, long ladders and so on. There was loads of value in what I left and I simply asked her if she wanted them

She was very grateful and it made the house completely ready to live in as a home. Also I left it spotless and left loo rolls and clean towels by the loos

I think our buyer was lucky but the good vibes that we always had in that house remained for the new owner