Buyer tried to gazunder. Can we take the drawers from fitted wardrobes?

Housebuyer2019

Due to exchange this week and our buyer tried to gazunder us today! Wanted £5000 off because of ‘market uncertainty because of coronavirus’. He’s an investor buying our flat to rent out so I understand his concern, but quite frankly it’s not our fault and as an investor he should have money to fall back on in situations like this.

We’ve told him to exchange by Friday at the agreed price or we’ll relist. I’m so angry at him because he has been dragging out his paperwork since the beginning of December. If he agrees to proceed can we take the drawers out of the ‘fitted’ wardrobes to take them with us on completion? They’re not really fitted wardrobes but I described them as fitted on the TA10 Fittings and Contents form because they’re the tallest version of the Ikea PAX range and we had to build them standing up because they’re only 2cms away from the ceiling. We’d have to dismantle them completely standing up if we were to remove them.

As long as we leave the hanging rails in the wardrobes, can we take the drawers & runners with us? Very petty I know...but the house we’re moving to has Ikea wardrobes that the seller is leaving, but we’d want to add additional drawers into them anyway. It would make me feel slightly better about being messed about by our buyer.

PasturesNew

It is petty... and really not worth the anger you'll always associate with those drawers whenever you see them. 

Either take his lower offer, or relist.... but leave the drawers alone. 

onwards&upwards

You can take them if you want, if you unscrew the fittings it’ll look like they were never there though so it probably won’t annoy them much.

Thrugelmir

Just remove all the lightbulbs before you leave the property. 

BrassicWoman

Much better to have the moral high ground than a pile of chipboard.

Housebuyer2019

Thrugelmir said:

Just remove all the lightbulbs before you leave the property. 

The fittings and contents form says that light fittings should be left with a bulb in place. Would it have to be a working bulb? we have a couple of spotlights with blown bulbs. We were planning on replacing the bulbs with working ones but we won’t bother if we can get away with it!

diggingdude

Housebuyer2019 said:

As long as we leave the hanging rails in the wardrobes, can we take the drawers & runners with us? Very petty I know...but the house we’re moving to has Ikea wardrobes that the seller is leaving, but we’d want to add additional drawers into them anyway. It would make me feel slightly better about being messed about by our buyer.

How would you feel if you arrive at your new home and find the ikea wardrobes gone?

tom9980

I doubt you will be able to sell your property in the next 3-4 months given the current situation so begrudgingly I would take the hit.

Housebuyer2019

diggingdude said:

Housebuyer2019 said:

As long as we leave the hanging rails in the wardrobes, can we take the drawers & runners with us? Very petty I know...but the house we’re moving to has Ikea wardrobes that the seller is leaving, but we’d want to add additional drawers into them anyway. It would make me feel slightly better about being messed about by our buyer.

How would you feel if you arrive at your new home and find the ikea wardrobes gone?

Yes I’d be annoyed because they’re on the F&C form as being included in the sale, but we haven’t had any problems with our vendor or tried to gazunder her the week of exchange, and she has already moved out so the house we’re buying is empty and with the wardrobes still in place, so I see no reason to justify that happening.

I get your point, but in our case we’re not removing the actual wardrobes or the rails from inside - just the 3 drawers inside the wardrobe. 

greatcrested

I'm going to play devil's advocat. In fact no, just offer a contrary opinion.

If something arises during the conveyancing process that can or does impact on the value of the property, it is perfectly valid, and commonplace, to renegotiate the price. Provided of course a reasonable person could not have known of or foreseen it.

So if a survey reveals a significant, otherwise hidden, defect, the vaue is affected and renegotiation often happens.

In this case an unforeseeable event (COVID-19) has come along, and it is having a genuine impact on the property market and property values. The same thing happened on the occassion(s) when it looked like we were about to 'crash out' of the EC.

Given the current uncertainty, and, as Tom9980 says above, the difficulty you would probably have finding a replacement buyer at the same price, I don't think your buyer is unfairly 'gazundering'. He is responding to a new market situation.

As for the drawers - wow! Yes, very petty.

Whether you think the guzunder is fair or not, leave the drawers.

If you don't like the new price, don't sell.

If you are willing to sell the property at the new price, sell the property as the buyer expects to receive it - with the drawers.

And if you want to take the drawers, exclude them from the sale and let the buyer decide whether he's happy to proceed on that basis.

steampowered

Housebuyer2019 said:

He’s an investor buying our flat to rent out so I understand his concern, but quite frankly it’s not our fault and as an investor he should have money to fall back on in situations like this.

I think you are too emotional over this. It's not your buyer's fault that coronavirus has emerged. If your flat has dropped in value then it's dropped in value - end of. If you agree that your flat has dropped in value given current market conditions, I'm not sure why you think your buyer should be using his money "in reserve" to prop you up just because he is an investor.

Removing the drawers would be ridiculously petty, as you have identified, and as they are on the TA10 form you'd be opening yourself up to a small claim.

I don't think you need to go round replacing bulbs though.