FTB - storing vendors furniture until lockdown over

Sailtheworld

Probably the biggest financial transaction either party will make and it's being put as risk because of an argument about who takes a couple of beds and sofas to the tip?

valuepack

Sailtheworld said:

Probably the biggest financial transaction either party will make and it's being put as risk because of an argument about who takes a couple of beds and sofas to the tip?

The seller is an investor so I expect it's not her biggest financial transaction but you're right, it certainly is the biggest one for us. You're also right about the the transaction being put at risk, the vendor must have had some uncertainty about us pulling out or trying to negotiate a lower offer when the pandemic hit, but we stuck to the agreed deal. We've now received our statement from the solicitor so we're ready to agree a simultaneous exchange and completion once we've inspected the property to check it's empty, which was the basis upon which we agreed the sale. 

There's a distinct difference between being able to do something and being willing to do something. We were initially told the vendor isn't able to empty the property right away but is willing to get the furniture removed once the lockdown is lifted. Today we were told the vendor is not willing to pay for the furniture to be removed after we've moved in, so if we want to move in now we must arrange to dispose of the furniture ourselves. We don't have a vehicle large enough to transport large items of furniture, including a freezer, so the only option for us would be to try and donate it to charity when lockdown is over or hire a vehicle when the recycling centres open again. We could pay the council to remove a few large items.

Maybe we should just roll over and suck up the extra cost just to get on the ladder, but when my partner and I found out we both looked at each other and said "no way". The seller should be bending over backwards to facilitate the deal at this time of uncertainty rather than leaving the property empty, earning no rental income and still probably having some outgoings to pay on it. We might be FTB and not  wise to the tricks estate agents and investors use to squeeze every last penny out of the customer, but we are trying to deal with them fair and square.

If they pull out of the sale over this that's their decision to make, we'll just have to wait and see what happens.