House sellers asking for money to leave carpets/blinds etc

fishfins

Hi everyone,

We are just after some advice please!

In February this year we put an offer for £250,000 in on a detatched house. We really liked the house, though we felt we were paying a little bit over the odds for it. The owners were very awkward at the time of putting in the offer, they wanted our house to be sold before we could go for a second viewing, which we did, and we were not allowed to try any taps etc or go in the garage.

Our offer was on the condition that they were out of the house by August, or we would want to re-negotiate the price.

One week after the offer was accepted (when they had said they were happy and were going to move as fast as possible) we had an email from their solicitor saying that the transaction had been put on hold until they found a house. 14 weeks later, just as we had completed on our house and were about to sign up for a 6 month rental, having given up on getting the house by August, we had a phone call from the estate agents saying that they had decided they would like to move out at the end of August.

We decided to trust them but asked for the property fixtures and fittings form and property information form before we went ahead with the survey. The estate agent told us that they were posting the forms that night. The mortgage moved so quickly that the survey was arranged sooner than we thought, and seeing as the survey fee was not refundable at that point, we decided to go ahead with the survey even though we still had not received the forms we'd asked for.

Today we received the forms. They are asking that we pay the following amounts for carpets and blinds/curtains:

Hall, stairs and landing carpet £450
Living room carpet £700
bedroom 1 carpet £250
bedroom 2 carpet £150
Bedroom 3 carpet £125
Bedroom 4 carpet £125
living room curtain pole £50
living room blinds £550 :eek:
vertical blinds in dining room £100
Kitchen blinds £150

They are also taking all of the light fitting apart from the kitchen.

In our opinion, we offered £250,000 on the assumption that these would be included. We feel that if they are taking these items, instead of us paying them to leave them, we should be paying less than the offer because they are taking them.

The whole lot adds up to £2650. We didn't offer £250,000 thinking we would have to pay that much on top.

Sorry for the long post, just wondering if this is normal and what people's opinion of it are.

Make-it-3

Tell them to stick it and you don't want them. They are just trying it on. What use are old carpets and fitted rails to them after they have moved out? The prices are a joke too.

I bet you move it to find them all still in place, people often have a change of heart about valuables and treasured possessions once they get to the hassle of having to ship them out and a full van already.

Debt_Free_Chick

fishfins wrote: »

In our opinion, we offered £250,000 on the assumption that these would be included. We feel that if they are taking these items, instead of us paying them to leave them, we should be paying less than the offer because they are taking them.

If the sales particulars did not state that these were included and your offer did not make it clear that you were including them then, unfortunately, your assumption was misplaced.

I do think that the prices of the carpets are somewhat OTT unless they're brand new and exactly what you would choose, if you were buying them.

It's possible that if you "call their bluff" and say no-thanks to the carpets, that they'll leave them anyway. They'll be a pain to take up and then refit in to other rooms. Probably a try-on, but can't be entirely sure.

tbs624

fishfins wrote: »

In February this year we put an offer for £250,000 in on a detatched house. We really liked the house, though we felt we were paying a little bit over the odds for it

........They are asking that we pay the following amounts for carpets and blinds/curtains:

Hall, stairs and landing carpet £450
Living room carpet £700
bedroom 1 carpet £250
bedroom 2 carpet £150
Bedroom 3 carpet £125
Bedroom 4 carpet £125
living room curtain pole £50
living room blinds £550 :eek:
vertical blinds in dining room £100
Kitchen blinds £150

They are also taking all of the light fitting apart from the kitchen.

In our opinion, we offered £250,000 on the assumption that these would be included. We feel that if they are taking these items, instead of us paying them to leave them, we should be paying less than the offer because they are taking them.

The whole lot adds up to £2650. We didn't offer £250,000 thinking we would have to pay that much on top.

Sorry for the long post, just wondering if this is normal and what people's opinion of it are.

The vendor can do as he thinks fit with his carpets/curtains/blinds/light fittings etc so long as he makes his intentions clear on the form.

You likewise can decide that you do or don't want to pay for the items in question.

Unless the sales particulars specifically said that these items were included in the sale it was up to you to *ask* rather than to simply assume that they would be left as part of the deal.

Your options are:
(a) try to [typo edit: renegotiate] the purchase price if the property or choose to pull out of the sale (losing what you have spent on survey etc)
(b) try to negotiate downwards on their prices
(c) tell them you don't want any of the items in question

Hoof_Hearted

I don't think you can assume anything with some people. I agree with the above -- tell them you don't want any of it and see what happens.

Some people are very mean. When we sold recently, we left everything that would not be of use to us in the new place. We took one pair of curtains but replaced them with older ones that we had already.

If they do take the light fittings, they must be replaced by safe pendants etc. Could be worth another inspection before completing.

phill99

I agree. Tell them to stick them. I'd be surprised if they could be bothered to take them up and they never fit into the house you move in to. They are hardly likely to sell them on eBay now are they?

googler

Tell them to stuff it.

If you agree to those prices, HMRC will be at your door for more Stamp Duty.

What will they do with them if they take them? How likely is it that they will fit their new house? They won't, and they'll likely leave them.

Wouldn't happen in Scotland...

girl_withno_name

phill99 wrote: »

I agree. Tell them to stick them. I'd be surprised if they could be bothered to take them up and they never fit into the house you move in to. They are hardly likely to sell them on eBay now are they?

Maybe:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CLARET-RED-EXTREMELY-HIGH-QUALITY-LOUNGE-STAIRS-AND-LANDING-CARPET-18-MTHS-OLD-/160821268810?pt=UK_Home_Garden_Rugs_Runners_Mats&hash=item2571b1d14a#ht_682wt_881
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Large-Oatmeal-carpet-thick-wool-quality-carpet-/251078803406?pt=UK_Home_Garden_FittedCarpets_Underlay_SM&hash=item3a75767fce#ht_500wt_898
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DERWENT-TWIST-CARPET-/270987528466?pt=UK_Home_Garden_FittedCarpets_Underlay_SM&hash=item3f181d8912#ht_500wt_898

Mojisola

fishfins wrote: »

The owners were very awkward at the time of putting in the offer,

we were not allowed to try any taps etc or go in the garage.

This alone would have made me think about walking away. People aren't usually awkward about small things and then reasonable about big stuff.

faerie~spangles

Withdraw your offer.

I doubt very much that the vendors will be able to proceed in the purchase of their new home if the sale of their present one falls through.

jimbog

Why would anyone want to buy anybody's manky carpets anyway? God knows what creepy crawlies there are in there.
The only thing I would request is the curtain poles (as they can be a bu**er to fit and they are not much cheaper at Dunelm:
http://www.dunelm-mill.com/shop/curtains/tracks-and-poles/curtain-poles/
By agreeing (politely!) to them, and by purchasing something from them, it shows you are not doing a strop and the result is that they will leave a lot more (as they did in mine) - I know hard, but grit your teeth!

Good point made by googler - a very real risk even after completion!