Buying House Fully Furnitured - Mortgage Query

johng1983

Hi All,


I have seen a house which I am interested in purchasing, its £125k and I am hoping to buy with the 5% mortgage guarantee.


When I viewed the house last weekend the owner told me she is no chain due emigrating to Tenerife. She informed me that she was leaving all the furniture excluding the TV's.


The house is furnished really well and that would be a massive bonus if it is included in the sale. My questions are that although we have not formally discussed the furniture I believe I could get it included for the sale price of £125k. However I have been advised that this can cause issues with the mortgage lender and might not actually get the mortgage due to the furniture being included. Does anyone know if this will cause an issue and if it does what would be the best way around this as I could save my self 3-4k in furniture.


Many thanks

Mogley

We bought our last house with lots of furniture included because of the previous owners downsizing and moving 200miles away.
I would recommend you using the fact it's fully furnished as a bargaining tool especially being a first time buyer and it being the shortest chain possible. From the sellers POV you may not want all that furniture. It would be a lot of hassle for them to sell it all before moving. You should see it as a bonus that it's there and pitch your offers based on the house value only.
The mortgage lender will have their own valuation when the survey is carried out so if it is overpriced then you may not get the mortgage you require so be sensible with your offer.

davidmcn

If the furniture is worth a significant amount then you should be declaring it to the lender as an incentive. But ordinary second-hand furniture, handy though it may be, isn't really worth that much - look at the sort of stuff which is given away on Freecycle etc.

amnblog

The furniture is not part of the value of the house for mortgage purposes. The lender has no problem with you buying it, but do not expect to borrow against it.

If you are buying the house for £125,000 and it is worth £125,000 fine. If it is worth £120,000 and the furniture is worth £5,000 your borrowing will be based on £120,000.

Look at it like this...

If you turn the property upside down and shake it - all the stuff that is not part of the value falls out.

Everything else is either property or fixtures and fittings of the property.

Make sure you clarify what is happening with your solicitor.

silvercar

We bought a fully furnished flat. The furniture was cheap and 3 years old, it wasn't really worth much as second hand cheap furniture, so we just ignored its value. Our solicitor didn't have a problem with this stance.