Vendor insists on selling her furniture

SophiaF

Hi MSE community,

In need of bit of advice here. We are first time buyers and the vendor has been pushy on selling some of her stuff to us (carpets, shelves, curtains, blinds, fireplace). Carpets and curtains/blinds are red/with flowers and her wallpaper is old and red too. Because we are planning to paint all the house in neutral colors (cream, white), none of her items will match that.
We tried to tell her nicely that we have our own furniture, but she insists a lot on the fact that she just got these done a few months ago and that cost her a lot of money (don't know if she tried to make us feel guilty?).
We told her on Sunday that we will not be needing any of these as we have everything already (didn't want to tell her we are not happy with the colors), and she now texted me insisting again that "she feels it's a great bargain and would help us all as we need to move forward for a quick sale).
I am now under the impression that she expects us to buy all her stuff, initially priced over £1,000 now reduced to £600.

Any advice on how I could nicely but firmly explain that we don't need her stuff?
(NB.: she hasn't even sent her paperwork to her solicitor yet, while we have everything in place)
Thank you all,
S.

AnotherJoe

Just send the same response back, keep it neutral "thanks for your offer but we will be using our own furniture"

More worrying is the signs she is flaky (by pressing this) and this whole thing may go nowhere.or she might be desperate for money and sell to a higher bidder

An alternate POV, If you were desperate to get this particular house you could regard buying this stuff as a cost of purchase, plus it does mean you don't need to get new curtains and carpets on day 1 unless you won't be mov8ng in immediately so it doesn't matter. Is she really trying to sell fitted carpets though ?

. What is the price you agreed compared to asking price?

SophiaF

Thanks for your reply. Asking price was in the region of £290,000 and we offered £292,000. Offer was accepted but during the second house visit yesterday she was making comments such as "I am selling my house at a really good price as houses big like this are sold more". I thought I would let her say what she wants. The valuation report came back lower than agreed price so we had so fund an extra £3,000 to get our mortgage approved.

We wouldn't be moving immediately and have a budget for new carpets (we always said that we will put new ones as hers are red and green) and curtains. We feel £600 is too much if we will be getting rid of the items anyway.

DigForVictory

Until the paperwork is in, I'd make nice. £600 plus disposal costs (and you can find charities who will come & fetch furniture) to ensure the place is yours *may* be worth paying.

She may be frankly dreading having to shift stuff & has seized on "helping you off to a good start" as a pretext to avoid a proper house clearance. At which point, if this is the house you want, swallow hard & look up how much extra getting it cleared (& cleaned - may as well) will cost.

You could say "Look, it's very sweet of you but we don't need it, don't want it & need the space for our own stuff", but you Might risk loosing the sale.

Only you know how much it'll cost to start over as opposed to clear the place.

SophiaF

+ she was initially saying that her daughter wants the carpets, so her text comes as a surprise, it felt to me like a threat (I may be exaggerating a bit).

artyclarty

Our vendor did this. Although in this case what she was charging for was charity shop (at best) quality and at least decade old carpets and blinds. We politely but firmly declined several times and they left it all anyway. Plus side, the carpets are old, but still usable, the white goods that were left got a few years use and the table ended up as shelving. The only thing we had to dispose of was the bed that went to a charity shop. If she leaves it you could either sell it yourself or sue for costs of removal if you are so inclined.

I'm guessing that she spent silly amounts of money getting it ready for sale and although it looks 'great' (at least in her eyes) it has added little value to the property.

Carpets and stuff I would call her bluff and say thanks but no thanks. It will likely cost her more to rip them out than leave them in situ.

The point is stick to your guns! No Thank You should suffice.

SophiaF

The thing is I will remove them anyway as the colors are awful. But she wants to charge us a significant sum of money for stuff that we do not need or want.

bouicca21

How much do you want the house? You are already paying over valuation.

dunroving

As others have said, you have at least two potential courses of action:

1) Very politely say Thanks, but No Thanks and hope she backs off her insistence (and doesn't take sufficient offence that she withdraws from the sale - but if she does, she is too flaky to be entering into a house purchase with)
2) If she is still insistent, ask yourself whether you are prepared to pay an extra £600 for the house (as that's what you will effectively be doing). If so, proceed, if not, withdraw.

All other comments about decor, colours clashing, etc. are irrelevant - you don't want her crap, basically.

SophiaF

We love the house, but I am not happy with the vendor trying to take advantage by adding unnecessary expenses.
We are ready to pull out if she is not happy with the idea that we already have our own furniture and overstretched our budget to buy the property.

dunroving

SophiaF wrote: »

We love the house, but I am not happy with the vendor trying to take advantage by adding unnecessary expenses.
We are ready to pull out if she is not happy with the idea that we already have our own furniture and overstretched our budget to buy the property.

Therein lies your answer, then. You are not prepared to pay an extra £600 for the house and if she insists, you withdraw. Simple.