Fixtures and fittings report

littlesaint

Thanks for the replies. Very helpful. I have had another look at the report and it includes the upstairs curtain rails and curtains, but not the downstairs ones. Fine by us because they were not to our tastes.

It doesn't include the light fittings in the lounge or the dining room either. Again, the existing fitting is not to our taste but if they remove it we don't want to be left with any wires or anything unsafe.

In response to StuC75. Yes, I expect it might be in mitigation of accepting a lower offer. But nothing was mentioned to us about fixture and fittings deals at the time of putting in the offer and we consider the oven certainly, and perhaps also the fridge freezer to be fixtures.

By way of further information. The oven and hob are electric. We've also had a valuation report which confirmed it was worth exactly what we offered. The full survey includes quite a few minor defects that we need to sort out, though nothing particularly urgent.

In terms of going forward, would it be a good idea to speak to the solicitor about what should be considered fixtures and fittings, then email the agent telling them what we accept and what we want included that is not currently included - maybe include an alternative inventory?

In terms of the light fitting - happy for them to remove the existing ones downstairs as long as they make good and replace it with something safe that we can use. Is there any way we can make sure that they do that?

Not sure about a revised offer. If they don't accept that I would probably rather concede the fridge and negotiate a price for it and if that is not acceptable then negotiate to lower the price on the oven.



In terms of the lights

DVardysShadow

There is a believe a term in the standard contract which requires bulb holders and a bulb to be left. You could check with you solicitor, but unless the light fittings in question are really valuable, not worth worrying about.

Fixtures and fittings are things which don't come away if you turn the house upside down - or you need a toll to remove. If you are taking a list to the EA, avoid trivia. The fitted appliances are worth the effort. Some things just are not.

In my earlier post under [4] I mentioned dropping your offer by the cost of new plus fitting. This is intended to make the prospect of removing the items very unattractive to the seller - essentially, to meet you in the middle they must leave them and sell at the agreed price.

StuC75

littlesaint wrote: »

In response to StuC75. Yes, I expect it might be in mitigation of accepting a lower offer. But nothing was mentioned to us about fixture and fittings deals at the time of putting in the offer and we consider the oven certainly, and perhaps also the fridge freezer to be fixtures.

In thats case respond to your solicitors that the F&F doesnt match your expectations given the property description and that no indication was given by the vendor to the contrary when they accepted a lower offer.

Is the vendors price reflective of replacement costs (less wear & tear for age?).. Is the agreed sale price anywhere near Stamp Duty thresholds - where such ploys can be to avoid stamp duty..

to be honest its a standard part of the process -- we recently had an Annnoying Buyer who hammered us down on price; never realised that we had listed vertical blinds as 'For Separate Consideration for Sale' until he came to move in and I was giving the blinds to the Next Door Neighbour (sweetened the whole experience for me no end!!)

littlesaint

StuC75 wrote: »

In thats case respond to your solicitors that the F&F doesnt match your expectations given the property description and that no indication was given by the vendor to the contrary when they accepted a lower offer.

OK. Thanks, will do.

StuC75 wrote: »

Is the vendors price reflective of replacement costs (less wear & tear for age?)..

No price is given for the fridge freezer (open to negotiation), but personally I think the oven price is too steep. It is priced as brand new and not a cheap brand new oven at that. It's nothing fancy. Obviously we would have to pay for it to be installed if we got a new one, but still...

StuC75 wrote: »

Is the agreed sale price anywhere near Stamp Duty thresholds - where such ploys can be to avoid stamp duty..

Yes, just under the threshold. They accepted our first offer without any further negotiation and at no time was there any mention of paying any extra for the fixtures.

Thanks.

littlesaint

DVardysShadow wrote: »

There is a believe a term in the standard contract which requires bulb holders and a bulb to be left. You could check with you solicitor, but unless the light fittings in question are really valuable, not worth worrying about.

Fixtures and fittings are things which don't come away if you turn the house upside down - or you need a toll to remove. If you are taking a list to the EA, avoid trivia. The fitted appliances are worth the effort. Some things just are not.

In my earlier post under [4] I mentioned dropping your offer by the cost of new plus fitting. This is intended to make the prospect of removing the items very unattractive to the seller - essentially, to meet you in the middle they must leave them and sell at the agreed price.

Thanks for the information. I will think about doing this but we need to tread carefully. As I mentioned in the above post they accepted an offer substantially under asking and we are just under a stamp duty threshold.

We also want to keep this amicable and don't want them thinking we are being petty. We may suggest an alternative offer as a starting point if they want to take the oven etc but make it clear that we are open to negotiation.

DVardysShadow

littlesaint wrote: »

Thanks for the information. I will think about doing this but we need to tread carefully. As I mentioned in the above post they accepted an offer substantially under asking and we are just under a stamp duty threshold.

We also want to keep this amicable and don't want them thinking we are being petty. We may suggest an alternative offer as a starting point if they want to take the oven etc but make it clear that we are open to negotiation.

The other way of looking at this:

I often advise that when you make an offer, you have in mind your 'walk away price' at which you drop the deal.

If your accepted offer was £249995 to come under the Stamp Duty threshold, an extra £5 would result in you paying another £5000. If you had done this,although your walk away price would have been £252,000 but for the stamp duty threshold, it might be reasonable to pay the vendors very nearly the new replacement and fitting price for these big items

littlesaint

Just an update on this. We are now in the house and managed to get all the fixtures and fittings included that we wanted for the offer price. We just told our solicitor and she said that those items should be included it and she dealt with it from then on. The sale went smoothly and we are on really good terms with the vendors. We later found out that they had more issues with their vendor and people further up the train than selling this house.