Vendor has taken items on Fixtures/Fittings list

yip35uk

After 7 months of many delays and waiting, we finally got the keys to our first ever house yesterday. Unfortunately the elderly vendor had had a clearance firm in and they have taken items which were on the Fixtures/Fittings list as remaining. We have contacted our conyenancer, who has said the the vendor's family want to discuss it with us directly which is fine by us.
Anyway what kind of figure should we have in mind for a possible recompense? The items that were supposed to remain were: washing machine, tumble dryer, fridge, freezer, microwave, and garden furniture (wooden table and chairs).
Being FTB coming from rented accommodation we don't have any of these already (bar the microwave!) so it's another expense for us now.
Thanks for your help!

agrinnall

Honestly, their second hand value is likely to be negligible. Rather than look for a financial settlement you could ask the family if they will source replacement items from the likes of Freecycle, charities who sell such items, and websites selling stuff cheap.

gazfocus

yip35uk wrote: »

After 7 months of many delays and waiting, we finally got the keys to our first ever house yesterday. Unfortunately the elderly vendor had had a clearance firm in and they have taken items which were on the Fixtures/Fittings list as remaining. We have contacted our conyenancer, who has said the the vendor's family want to discuss it with us directly which is fine by us.
Anyway what kind of figure should we have in mind for a possible recompense? The items that were supposed to remain were: washing machine, tumble dryer, fridge, freezer, microwave, and garden furniture (wooden table and chairs).
Being FTB coming from rented accommodation we don't have any of these already (bar the microwave!) so it's another expense for us now.
Thanks for your help!

Firstly, my thoughts are that you should deal with this through the solicitors, not direct. You are much more likely to get the right (and fair) outcome going through the solicitors and it is what you have paid them for. If you deal direct with the vendor/their family, they could make promises that don't materialise, or could fiddle you out of what you were legally buying when you bought the house (i.e. the items on the fixtures and fittings list).

I would have a look on ebay (looking at local listings) and see what similar used items would cost you to buy, then use this to come up with a figure that you expect the vendor/their family to compensate you, inform your solicitor and ask them to contact the vendor on your behalf.

agrinnall wrote: »

Honestly, their second hand value is likely to be negligible. Rather than look for a financial settlement you could ask the family if they will source replacement items from the likes of Freecycle, charities who sell such items, and websites selling stuff cheap.

While I agree that the second hand value isn't likely to be much, when you have just bought your first house, even a few hundred pounds for second hand white goods is likely to be a lot of money to the OP.

eddddy

In legal terms, the seller has breached the contract, so the damages should be whatever would put you back in the position that you would be, if they hadn't breached the contract.

i.e. The cost of buying similar goods and getting them delivered to you (and plumbed in etc).

Realistically, these would be goods of the same quality, condition etc as the ones you should have got (i.e. probably not brand new.)

Maybe you could look on ebay and make a list of similar items with selling prices, including delivering costs - and the cost of a handyman to plumb in the washing machine, if you can't do it yourself.


Edit to add...

I would avoid getting your solicitor involved - given the amount of money involved.

Many solicitors charge £60+ just for sending a letter to the other party. And you can't claim that back from the other party.

gazfocus

eddddy wrote: »

Edit to add...

I would avoid getting your solicitor involved - given the amount of money involved.

Many solicitors charge £60+ just for sending a letter to the other party. And you can't claim that back from the other party.

I beg to differ...this is still under the issue of buying the house so SHOULD be within the realms of what the OP has already paid the solicitor.

davidmcn

gazfocus wrote: »

I beg to differ...this is still under the issue of buying the house so SHOULD be within the realms of what the OP has already paid the solicitor.

Sorting out post-completion disputes are unlikely to be included in a standard conveyancing fee, though solicitors will often humour them to a small extent.

Purplepenguin88

We had this, (not with white goods but with other items), our solicitor said that although we had a case, it probably wasn't worth throwing "good money after bad" and instead we should just put our energies, efforts and money in a more positive direction.
It left a pretty sour taste in our mouth but I can see his point. We moved on, and we have a story to tell.

Maybe your solicitor will suggest differently, but I know in our case the costs and stress just wern't worth it.

Rosemary7391

Even at £50 each, then that's £300 quid. And if you're getting them for £50 each you'll likely have to pay for delivery of each one separately. And deal with the hassle of 6 different large items arriving at different times. Not fun! What did the clearance firm do with them? Can they bring them back/bring suitable alternatives from another house clearance they're doing? (assuming they were told to leave them of course!).

cloo

Yes, annoyingly I think you might just have to write this off unless the vendors have something particularly helpful to offer, so do talk to them. I know I would feel awful if stuff I left for buyers and that would save them money got taken accidentally and would want to put it right (probably by claiming off clearance guys), so they may want to help.

yip35uk

Thanks everyone. We'll talk with the vendor's family and see what they say. We don't really want to make too much of a fuss about it as we were going to get them replaced, but they would have tided us over in the meantime (especially that garden furniture!)
I'll let you know how we get on.

rach_k

I would ask for whatever the going rate is for good working order second hand items plus delivery and plumbing costs, but then choose what you actually buy with the money carefully. I might, for example, buy a new washing machine instead of a second hand one and skip the tumble dryer for now. I'd not replace the garden furniture either - put the money you get for that towards better/newer kitchen essentials.