House sellers asking for money to leave carpets/blinds etc

STAR_BUCK

The sellers for the house I bought wanted extra for leaving behind some white goods in the kitchen. I politely said no thanks, but they left it there anyway.

So just be polite and say no thanks. In today's climate the last thing they should be doing is pi$$ing the buyer off

phoebe1989seb

Our last lot of buyers (Spring 2011) made it a condition of their offer that we left behind certain items - including a custom-built granite-topped island unit that was in a conservatory and hand-forged enormous light fitting. They also wanted to buy the incredibly large curtains in our vaulted-ceilinged main reception room. They were discontinued (and very expensive) fabric and we declined as we particularly wanted them for our new house.

In a previous sale we were down-sizing and our buyers approached us with regard to purchasing any of the items we wouldn't have room for in our new house........we sold them a vast quantity of pictures, a couple of antique light fittings and some furniture for around £5000 but we would never have thought to do this had they not asked first - and nor would we have tried to sell them our carpets

I can't advise whether buying a house without being first allowed access to the garage would put me off as we once bought a house without seeing any of the downstairs rooms :eek:

Littleweedj

pimento wrote: »

I'd be wondering what's in the garage and what's wrong with the plumbing.

RUN! RUN! As fast as you can. There are other houses.

I completely agree with this comment and wouldn't touch this house with a bargepole!!

If you haven't spent too much money already then tell them to keep their fitted carpets etc. and withdraw your offer. That will teach them to treat people in such a disrespecful way.

From what you say I think there may be other problems concerning this property that you don't know about - BUT SOON WILL.

GO - AND GO NOW.

botchjob

It would be an overreaction to pull out of the deal but the correct response is one of surprise and a clear indication that you expect the carpets to be included as part of the sale, at the very least. As others have said, there’s a good chance that they’ll leave the other stuff anyway if you call their bluff. But you do need to see what's in that garage...

Poor you, sounds like you have tricky sellers. But you should be very aware that, now you are in rented, you have a very strong hand to play. If they mess you around over the August move date then they should expect to pay your monthly rental at the very least. As the clock ticks closer towards exchange (and they’re making plans for their next place) you hold the strongest hand. Practice your poker face.

Meadows

fishfins wrote: »

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.

Assuming is where you fall down, with all sales you agree to what fixture and fittings, garden plants etc. are to be left and if they are included in the sale price, they are not responsible for the fact everything moved quickly before you agreed what would be left freely and what they might want money for.

Why would you not be allowed to turn on taps and view the garage, that is all part of buying the property, for me that would have rung loud alarm bells. Buying a house is probably one of your biggest outlays in life so the onus is on you to make sure you are buying wisely.

You question is how much would the above cost you if they take it all and you have to buy new? Are they in god condition and do you want some one else's choices or do you want to put your own mark on the house. And .... if you say I don't want them will they leave them (at no extra cost) anyway?

Ivana_Tinkle

Agree with the other posters: the carpets are the least of your worries - the garage is about to collapse and there's no running water!

tom84

People sound very cheeky and petty. They should show some goodwill and just leave them in place, you have been patient with them. Personally I would not offer to pay for them and let them take them if they wish, they probably wont due to the hassle of messing around and what use would they be in a new home, not much.

The attitude of some people is not right, its a buyers market and they are doing silly things jeopardizing a sale over a measly 2k or so on a 250k house, they should be pleased they have a serious buyer, idiots.

BitterAndTwisted

I suspect the OP's patience has been interpreted as weakness. Time to test all the utilities and see inside that garage before you go any further.

SunnySusie

I suppose technically, if you chose not to take the fittings and agree the house will be cleared, and then they do leave them, you can sue for inconvenience, cost of removal, etc?

But some people really do strip all this stuff out and take it with them, happened to my parents, and my in-laws.

This buy is starting to sound like a pain, but I guess there isn't an alternative to go for instead? It's easy to say it's a buyers market, but if the alternative properties aren't there you don't have the best negotiating position! You either jump through the hoops or put the whole move on hold...

Not an easy choice imo.

fishfins

Thank you everyone for all of your replies! It has been really useful hearing different peoples' opinions.

I know a lot of people have said we were wrong to assume, and I know we were, but I didn't make it clear why we assumed. When I rang up the estate agents and made the offer I asked them if the carpets, fittings etc would be included and they told me that yes, normally things like that are all left behind but anything they wanted to take could be negotiated later on. We asked them to check with the sellers about the light fittings and bedroom cabinets in particular, and they came back with a bit of a wobbly yes, stupidly I assumed they would have asked about the carpets and stuff too, that's where I went wrong.

The estate agents have been really, really hard work, they seem to be useless. To be fair to the sellers it was actually the estate agent who wouldn't let us try the taps and shower, they seem to be terrified of them and she said they're so particular she couldn't let us try them.

Mr_Thrifty wrote: »

What a dilemma. Who has the upper hand?

That is a bit of a hard question to answer, on paper it seems to be us: we are chain-free buyers who have offered more than the average price in that area for their house. But we think they actually aren't that bothered about moving, the feeling we are getting is that they only want to move if they can find a house they love. So it feels like that takes any "good buyer" advantage we have away.

Paul_the_Painter wrote: »

What most people above seem to be forgetting is that you haven't agreed to anything yet! You have made an offer, but signed nothing. You certainly haven't exchanged contracts.

Phone up the estate agents, simply state that

"Our offer stands at £250,000, this includes all carpets, light fittings, and the blinds (if you want them that is!), we also require access to test taps/view garage. If the vendor finds this unacceptable, the offer is withdrawn"

"If the vendor has sentimental attachment to any particular light fitting or carpet, we are more than happy to negotiate a reduction in the purchase price to reflect the cost of a replacement"

You are the ones with an agreed sale, who are mentally prepared to move into rented - you are in a very powerful bargaining position - the vendor is not.

I would hazard a guess that the vendor really thinks their house is worth £260 - £270,000 but the stamp duty threshold is stopping people paying that. They are trying it on. Resist!

Thank you for that, it is really helpful. That is the kind of negotiation I was hoping we could try. I understand that a lot of people are saying just say you don't want the carpets and they might leave them anyway, but I have a feeling they will take them just to be awkward and we can't afford to pay £250000 for a house and then buy carpets/blinds etc on top. The only reason we stretched to £250000 was that nothing needed doing to the house.

gravitytolls wrote: »

I'd politely (don't naff 'em off, they'll strip it just to be spiteful), say that you assumed this would all be included, you apologise for not checking, but you're not in a position to increase your offer to take into account these added costs. Therefore you wil regretfully have to withdraw your offer and look for something else.

They'll have a change of heart when they think they've lost their sale,and hopefully allw ill go as planned.

Alternatively, say no thanks, and keep an eye on ebay, buy 'em for a fraction of the asking price, and when you turn up to collect, say they can leave them down as that's where you want them.

:rotfl:

I like what you said about withdrawing the offer and the wording you used too (are you a solicitor??)

vax2002 wrote: »

Send a letter back saying the offer is reduced due to house prices falling by 1.4% per month until completion.

We did think of that actually, we also think that might be one of the only reasons they finally agreed (well, we don't really trust them!) to move out in august.

SunnySusie wrote: »

I suppose technically, if you chose not to take the fittings and agree the house will be cleared, and then they do leave them, you can sue for inconvenience, cost of removal, etc?

But some people really do strip all this stuff out and take it with them, happened to my parents, and my in-laws.

This buy is starting to sound like a pain, but I guess there isn't an alternative to go for instead? It's easy to say it's a buyers market, but if the alternative properties aren't there you don't have the best negotiating position! You either jump through the hoops or put the whole move on hold...

Not an easy choice imo.

We did find one other house we loved but we put in an offer of £250000 (can't afford to go over because of stamp duty) and it was refused, it was being sold through probate and had been valued at £275,000.We have seen an awful lot of houses now and these two are the only ones we feel we could enjoy living in for a long period of time.

About the taps/shower and garage, I am feeling now like we should be asking to test these and go in the garage before we buy. The reason we didn't feel too bad about the waterworks was that on our second viewing we had a good look and saw water drops on the inside of the shower door and in the sinks which made us think it was working ok. On the garage, we did think of putting a retainer in the contract but knowing how they have been so far with money etc, we felt like they would run a mile thinking we would rip them off. It would be worth trying that before pulling out maybe though.

Thank you again for all your replies, and sorry for another huge post!