Money Moral Dilemma: Should I take my garden plants to my new home?

TBagpuss

As others have said, you need to be clear up front about what you are planning, and ensure that this is very clear at an early stage - on the estate agents details, and very definitely in the Property Information forms.

Do your research, however - are the plants likely to survive being uprooted and moved at the time of year you plan to move? How many plants are you thinking of moving, and will the extra make a difference to the cost of the move? What are you planning to leave - empty beds? or will you replace with cheap bedding plants?

When I moved, I dug up the few plants which mattered to me and those pots went into the back porch during viewings so that they would be seen as 'house plants' not part of the garden.

Alternatively, make sure that the plants you plan to take are moved into pots / planters before you start to have viewings and make sure that the information forms are clear that the planters etc are going with you.

alittlemadam

I would be honest and inform any potential buyer up front that you will be taking some/most/all of the plants out of the garden. Providing you are up front and inform them they should be happy with it afterall you have bought and paid for them.

I would rather be informed than to move in to what I thought was a nice garden only to be disappointed.

browneyedbazzi

BrassicWoman wrote: »

I'm not sure this is a moral dilemma - it's a simple legal one!

That's what I thought!

It doesn't matter if you think it's moral or not to dig up the garden. You need to consider your legal position in doing so. If I bought a house with lovely mature gardens (something that would be a key selling point to me) then on completion day found that the mature garden had been dug up to be taken with the seller without this being detailed in the fixtures and fittings, I'd be on the phone to my solicitor.

Jenniefour

A nice established garden would be a selling point for me. I would not be pleased to move and find that plants had been dug up.

Having said that, the gardens I inherited when I bought this house were far from a gardeners dream and I asked the vendors to take with them any plants they wanted for their new house. They took some plants they had a sentimental attachment to so saved me digging them up and they got recycled. I knew I would be completely re-doing both gardens when I viewed and expect them to be a selling point in the future. And I won't be digging anything up to take with me when I move again.

Brian_Steele

This is one of the questions that comes up in the standard disclosures during the pre-exchange period. Therefore, take them if you have invested too much time to lose them, as long as you are truthful on the questionnaire that you are doing so. You have the same discussion about carpets, curtains and even doorhandles and light fittings, so why not the plants too?

Annie1960

Brian_Steele wrote: »

This is one of the questions that comes up in the standard disclosures during the pre-exchange period. Therefore, take them if you have invested too much time to lose them, as long as you are truthful on the questionnaire that you are doing so. You have the same discussion about carpets, curtains and even doorhandles and light fittings, so why not the plants too?

The buyer will have made their offer with the garden there, that's the difference.

If you are taking the shrubs and plants with you, then it's too late to mention it at this stage. You should be open about it from the beginning, then any buyer can take that into account in the price they offer.

If someone filled in a fixtures and fittings questionnaire for me and said they were taking the majority of the plantings in the garden, I would either pull out or expect a reduction in price.

nhampson

Unless it said VERY clearly that you were digging up plants I would be livid as a buyer if I got to my new house and the garden looked nothing like either the pictures or my viewing.


Some of the paint you used on the walls will have cost more than the plants, are you taking that too?

JeremyCH

Entirely up to you but, as many have already mentioned, make absolutely clear when viewing, selling and most especially in the contract of sale where you list fixtures and fittings to be removed/left that you list in detail everything that is going

jaylee3

Taking the plants that are in the ground is ludicrous and pretty petty. I would be fuming if someone did that to me.

Take the ones in pots yes of course. But not the ones in the ground!

jaylee3

nhampson wrote: »

Unless it said VERY clearly that you were digging up plants I would be livid as a buyer if I got to my new house and the garden looked nothing like either the pictures or my viewing.


Some of the paint you used on the walls will have cost more than the plants, are you taking that too?

:rotfl:Ha ha ha! Love it! Good point!