Things left in loft after completion

TBagpuss

mrsmsebastian said:

ProDave said:

Never under estimate buyers.

I once left boxes of spare wall tiles when we sold a house, so if they had a breakage or wanted to do alterations, there were spare tiles of all the sorts we had used.  The very disgruntled buyer insisted we remove them which we did.

I can never understand how some people can be so illogical, so miserable and so downright obnoxious to deal with.

When we bought our property last year, the seller accepted our offer on the condition that they will leave whatever furniture left in the house when we viewed it.
There was a three seater sofa, tv, almost new fridge freezer, coffee table, single bed with mattress, double bed with mattress, washing machine and dining table with chairs.
In my head I am thinking, you are doing me a favour as I can sell all that! And yes I made money out of them.
Some people may not like the idea of it but not in my case but if they are just pure junk I will just take it to tip and not be bothered about it besides I will have to clean the house anyway. 

I think it you knew in advance it's fine - it's finding someone else's crap which is less good. 
On ne of my moves, the sellers left a broken fridge - it had stopped working about a week before exchange - they didn't empty it, but dumped it, unopened, in the mini greenhouse. If was nearly full and had been sitting there for at least 3 weeks, in early summer, by the time w completed and I found it...  The smell was indescribably awful - the blokes at the tip blenched at it, and they must be used to some pretty horrible stinks.

AdrianC

Jumblebumble said:

Nik85 said:

My buyer has sent me a letter threatening small claims court for items left in the loft of my old house after completion. She wants £600 for removal and skip hire costs

I would never pay someone anything if they would not allow me to remove the rubbish myself.
I would tell them they can wait till the pandemic ended

Meanwhile, they pay somebody to do it, and the next thing you hear is a small claim for the invoice for the clearance.

What defence do you lodge...?

Ashworks

When we bought our 5 year old house, the vendors (who had had it built)  left loads of spare tiles, paint and even spare cupboard doors for the kitchen. Over the 15 years we have been here we were really grateful. Who buys extra kitchen doors though?

lucypilates

I'm just about to put my house on the market and one thing I'm going to do is to take a photo of my empty loft before I go ... there's no way of knowing if that stuff was there whilst you were living there or whether she's just 'put' a lot of her own rubbish up there to be disposed of at your cost ... i'd want photographic evidence of it actually in situ too ... 

wilfred30

AdrianC said:

Jumblebumble said:

Nik85 said:

My buyer has sent me a letter threatening small claims court for items left in the loft of my old house after completion. She wants £600 for removal and skip hire costs

I would never pay someone anything if they would not allow me to remove the rubbish myself.
I would tell them they can wait till the pandemic ended

Meanwhile, they pay somebody to do it, and the next thing you hear is a small claim for the invoice for the clearance.

What defence do you lodge...?

Presumably "I offered to clear it myself but they wouldn't let me".  If it went to Court, I imagine any decision would be based on the 'reasonable' test i.e. was it reasonable for the current owner to deny the previous owner the opportunity to clear the loft themselves once advised of the issue.

Ditzy_Mitzy

lucypilates said:

I'm just about to put my house on the market and one thing I'm going to do is to take a photo of my empty loft before I go ... there's no way of knowing if that stuff was there whilst you were living there or whether she's just 'put' a lot of her own rubbish up there to be disposed of at your cost ... i'd want photographic evidence of it actually in situ too ... 

The situation is complicated, slightly, by the OP's implication that the stuff in question isn't actually hers.  Rather it's the chattels of the previous occupier/owner, which have sat up there undisturbed during her occupation.  As such there is no reason why she would recognise it, specifically, rendering photos etc. useless.  The best thing, no doubt, is to call the seller's bluff and offer to clear it personally.  

AdrianC

wilfred30 said:

AdrianC said:

Meanwhile, they pay somebody to do it, and the next thing you hear is a small claim for the invoice for the clearance.

What defence do you lodge...?

Presumably "I offered to clear it myself but they wouldn't let me".  If it went to Court, I imagine any decision would be based on the 'reasonable' test i.e. was it reasonable for the current owner to deny the previous owner the opportunity to clear the loft themselves once advised of the issue.

The vendor had plenty of opportunity to clear it themselves prior to completion.

You want to apply "reasonable"? Fine. Is it reasonable to suppose the vendor never so much as looked (themselves or getting somebody else to look) in the loft ONCE in the entire time they owned the property?

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

The situation is complicated, slightly, by the OP's implication that the stuff in question isn't actually hers.

It became the OPs, along with the house, after completion when they didn't challenge their vendor.

Jumblebumble

AdrianC said:

Jumblebumble said:

Nik85 said:

My buyer has sent me a letter threatening small claims court for items left in the loft of my old house after completion. She wants £600 for removal and skip hire costs

I would never pay someone anything if they would not allow me to remove the rubbish myself.
I would tell them they can wait till the pandemic ended

Meanwhile, they pay somebody to do it, and the next thing you hear is a small claim for the invoice for the clearance.

What defence do you lodge...?

The claimant has not mitigated their losses which they are obliged to do perhaps

m0bov

AdrianC said:

Jumblebumble said:

Nik85 said:

My buyer has sent me a letter threatening small claims court for items left in the loft of my old house after completion. She wants £600 for removal and skip hire costs

I would never pay someone anything if they would not allow me to remove the rubbish myself.
I would tell them they can wait till the pandemic ended

Meanwhile, they pay somebody to do it, and the next thing you hear is a small claim for the invoice for the clearance.

What defence do you lodge...?

That the items were not the OPs.

saajan_12

Jumblebumble said:

AdrianC said:

Jumblebumble said:

Nik85 said:

My buyer has sent me a letter threatening small claims court for items left in the loft of my old house after completion. She wants £600 for removal and skip hire costs

I would never pay someone anything if they would not allow me to remove the rubbish myself.
I would tell them they can wait till the pandemic ended

Meanwhile, they pay somebody to do it, and the next thing you hear is a small claim for the invoice for the clearance.

What defence do you lodge...?

The claimant has not mitigated their losses which they are obliged to do perhaps

Mitigating damages would be finding a reasonably priced tradesperson to complete the job - not paying for the Queen's butlers to come remove the items. It doesn't mean they have to DIY it, or allow the OP to physically do it. 

m0bov said:

AdrianC said:

Jumblebumble said:

Nik85 said:

My buyer has sent me a letter threatening small claims court for items left in the loft of my old house after completion. She wants £600 for removal and skip hire costs

I would never pay someone anything if they would not allow me to remove the rubbish myself.
I would tell them they can wait till the pandemic ended

Meanwhile, they pay somebody to do it, and the next thing you hear is a small claim for the invoice for the clearance.

What defence do you lodge...?

That the items were not the OPs.

That only contradicts the OP's claim to the value of any items (less their transport costs) should the vendor dispose of them and should the OP be able to prove value. 

It doesn't negate the contradict the agreement OP made in the exchanged contracts, to provide vacant possession of the property - ie vacated of all people, pets, items, etc, whoever they may belong to.