How much would you pay for hall and stairs carpet?

Poppy9

I think its really petty taking up any carpets. When you are paying tens or even hundreds of thousand for a house taking up carpets - no matter how new is stupid. When cut and refitted in next house they never look as good. I think if you want to be so silly as to take fixtures and fitting you should set this out in the information leaflet. That way people can make an offer based on that information. Most people buy a house because of how its presented, thats what sets it apart from other houses. To tell them after offer they are getting a shell is not really on.

mrcow

Poppy9 wrote:

I think its really petty taking up any carpets. When you are paying tens or even hundreds of thousand for a house taking up carpets - no matter how new is stupid.

Actually I saved myself about £1800 (or more) by doing this and really had no choice, as the house that we were buying was in such a state that I wouldn't have let my 9 month old son near any of the carpets that the old owner had left. So I had the carpet fitter in on the afternoon of my move to refit, and to honest, they don't look any worse than if we'd bought them for this house (but they were expensive carpets anyway).

I was up front at the initial viewing about taking them, and the buyers understood why. I think she wanted to put down laminate anyway.

Yes okay, the price of the carpets was a mere fraction of the purchase price of our new house, but we'd completely stretched ourselves with the new mortgage initially anyway (I was only working part time after having the baby) and needed every penny. Moving is an expensive exercise.

As it was, I had to get new carpets pretty quickly for all the other rooms in my new house because the old ones smelled so chuffing awful. I would never have been able to afford to carpet the entire house straight away and would have had to live in someone elses scank for many months if I hadn't done this.

What I wouldn't have dreamed of doing was asking for more money for stuff that I was going to leave anyway.

alona1

With a little help from a friend, i got a stairs and landing carpet for £12 (was not stolen). And I furnished the lounge, and 2 of the 3 bedrooms for £250!

malteser

gosh this has been really interesting reading, I wish we hadn't offered anything now and just chanced it. Hubbie offered £100 and they are also leaving a small old cooker and old mini freezer so i guess its ok. I still find it petty and downright cheeky but need to just get on with it now.
Its still taking so damn long, i'm about to do another post about that....!

thanks
mx

bunking_off

OK, so I'm in a minority of 1 on this.

My view : make your own decisions on whether to buy the carpets, based on the obviously over-stated price versus hassle factor of having to have new carpets fitted immediately on moving in, or managing without them for a few days.

However, the vendor is categorically not greedy for asking you to pay for the carpets. You can argue about the pricing, but there is a convention about what is and is not included, and carpets (and curtains for that matter) are one of the items that are not included unless specifically stated on the inventory during the conveyancing process. Did it say on the estate agents particulars "carpets and curtains included"? No? Then why expect them to be any more than you'd expect the car in the garage to be included?

There are some things that are definitely included...the fabric of the house, the heating system, the electrical system, anything else mentioned in the particulars (so the earlier poster who was charged for various items in the garden was fleeced/let down by their solicitor, if the estate agent's particulars mentioned the items). Sorry, but unless specifically agreed carpets aren't in that category. A purchaser once tried to screw me into giving the carpets & curtains away for free....suffice to say spare curtains are always useful, and it's nice to have a carpet in my garage, even if it isn't a perfect size.

I guess a lot depends on how much you got the house for. If you paid asking price, then fair enough it's a bit rich. If you beat them down on price, then in their shoes I'd be trying to hold out for everything I can get. That's not greed, it's negotiation. My opinion - for £100 I'd put up with it. The one thing you don't want as you're moving into a place is a brand new carpet in the hall - it'll be nackered by the time your removal workers have tramped over it a hundred times!

Incidentally, I believe you'd have been very unwise to take up an earlier view on insisting that gripper rods etc be taken up and made right - unless you're intending to replace with laminate flooring or were absolutely sure that the vendors would back down. I recall from carpetting a new property that these rods and their installation cost a fair bit, especially for stairs.

KrazyFool

expect carpets to be included in the price. They are worth having. if you dont like the colour it makes great underlay! plus good underlay cost almost the same as the carpet! Dont want it? it really isnt any hassle taking it up and using it for your new place. Ive been doing that for all the houses ive moved to. Plus if you have kids moving out then they can use it! People either take them or leave them depending on what their new house has.....

BrightonLad

i wouldn't recommend using old carpets as under lay for new ones. if you buy new carpets, i think you should get new underlay to make them last longer. Also all the dust mites and other things that live in an old carpet will be transferred to the new carpet so will never be as clean.

KrazyFool

ok maybe not someone elses depending on how old but i would be happy using my own. If youve got reasonable carpet going spare you might as well use it - saves you £50+ to alot more if for a large house plus will make it all much warmer & cosier for your feet

Blondiefan

Malteser, can't believe the cheek of anyone asking for anything for carpets of 6 years old! Stick to your guns and refuse their offer, stating clearly any damage to flooring by removal will be chargeable. (It's one thing if you damage it yourself by careful removal, but if they are hauling it up willy nilly, just to spite the fact they haven't got £400 out of you - and doubt if anyone who has same house as them is willing to spend that much on 2nd hand carpets, when they can probably get new for much cheaper.)
Might be shooting myself in the foot here, as likely to sell this house over next few years!

bunking_off

Blondiefan wrote:

Stick to your guns and refuse their offer, stating clearly any damage to flooring by removal will be chargeable.

Quite how would that work? There are carpets down at the moment. Therefore, there's no way anyone can say what condition the floor is in underneath the gripper rods. If you don't know the condition now, it's impossible to charge the vendor for "making good" as you won't know what damage has been caused. If I was the vendor, I'd say that when I took the rods up there were already holes there from when previous rods had been removed so I did no additional damage : prove me wrong.

You're perfectly at liberty not to take the vendor up on their offer, but charging them because they remove their own property is not on.