Vendor won't clear property

hannhol

We are in the process of buying a property and there are a number of furniture and miscellaneous items in it, including white goods and a number of pieces of bulky furniture (double beds, wardrobes etc) and personal items (including two zimmer frames).

We have made it clear all along that we do not want to keep these items and we want the property cleared prior to completion (and ideally prior to exchange). However on the fixture and fittings form it states that the furniture will remain (and does not cover the many smaller items).

What recourse do we have to insist they clear the property? I appreciate we cannot make them, but since one of us would have to, at a minimum, take some time off work to supervise a house clearance, could we knock a bit of money off our asking price.

The seller has really dragged the process out so far, and we're getting a bit fed up with constantly accommodating them.

Grateful for any thoughts, even if it is just there is nothing to be done!

[Deleted User]

You ask them again and tell them that you will not buy if they do not empty the house, you could say that if they do not do it you will deduct clearance charges from the price you're willing to pay or you deal with it.

The house sale is your leverage, they want the sale. Decide what matters more, having the house at all or the house having junk you have to clear.

jc808

if its full of items including a 'zimmer frame' it indicates the owner is elderly/infirm

swallow it and buy a skip on day one - job done

PasturesNew

House clearance people will probably take it all for nothing. Try to take some photos to show them.

Ivana_Tinkle

Assuming the house isn't so full of junk that it's difficult to move in, you could stick the lot on Freecycle and arrange for people to collect it at times that suit you. Or charity shops (esp. British Heart Foundation) will often collect.

That way it's both free and you can get someone else to lug everything out for you!

LisaLou1982

If it has stated on the F&F form that it will stay then it is fair to say that you have know that from the beginning.

Ask your solicitors to confirm that you want the house emptying before completion but tbh if you have been progressing for a while and are bringing this up at the last minute then that is slightly unfair since they have stated from the beginning that everything will stay

calicocat

I am in the middle of the house buying too, if that happens to me I will be ringing a charity to take what they want, anything else I guess i'd skip....a pain, but not sure what else you can do. Your solicitor will have conditions of sale for what they were meant to leave....stuff on top of that give away, one persons junk is always useful to another.

Cissi

LisaLou1982 wrote: »

If it has stated on the F&F form that it will stay then it is fair to say that you have know that from the beginning.

Ask your solicitors to confirm that you want the house emptying before completion but tbh if you have been progressing for a while and are bringing this up at the last minute then that is slightly unfair since they have stated from the beginning that everything will stay

I got the impression OP only just got the F&F form?

I'd go back and take some money off the agreed price to compensate you for the inconvenience - even if you find a clearance company that will do it for free it still means that the house won't be empty on completion (unless the vendors will agree to let you clear it beforehand??? Not sure if this is possible). Sounds like you're either dealing with elderly people or their relatives and your best bet may be to organise it yourself tbh.

ACG

I bought my house off a 92 year old man, it was full of his stuff.
I had to just take it on and get rid of it. To be honest though, it hadnt been done up since the 70s. I earned a fair few quid off ebay - original light fittings, old style 1980's telephone, record player and a walking stick which i still have now... no idea why though!

The rest went to the tip but it all easily paid for a van for the day.

I even found in the loft one of those Singer sewing machines which are worth a few hundred pounds!

I suppose you could argue it but if theyre elderly then i think you might struggle to get them to remove it.

Riggster

Two ways of dealing with this I guess?

1. Make it clear through your solicitor that a condition of the sale is that these items are removed (you as the buyer have an awful lot of power as they won't want to lose you as a purchaser).

2. If they are elderly/infirm or plain awkward or you can just stomach it and hire a van, call a charity or a house clearance team. Won't cost much if anything, certainly not compared to buying the house of your dreams.


PS If it's not gone by exchange of contracts, its not going to be gone by completion...

hannhol

LisaLou1982 wrote: »

If it has stated on the F&F form that it will stay then it is fair to say that you have know that from the beginning.

Ask your solicitors to confirm that you want the house emptying before completion but tbh if you have been progressing for a while and are bringing this up at the last minute then that is slightly unfair since they have stated from the beginning that everything will stay

that's a little unfair. we only just received the F&F Form and we have said at every step so far that we would prefer the property to be clear. we were not told in advance of this that they were just going to disregard this and leave the items in without at least asking.

For example on a third viewing of the property, after the offer had been made and accepted, survey done and mortgage approved we spoke to the estate agent who asked us about whether we still wanted the furniture cleared and we said yes. they said it wouldn't be a problem. I appreciate it might not be the EA's responsibility, but that's hardly us bring it up at the last minute.