Vendor's taking listed fixtures and fittings.

mattbro

Hey there.

first time poster here, so bare with me

long story short, we finally moved into our house about 2-3 weeks ago. When we got the keys, we went around to drop some stuff off and check out our new house! we were quickly disappointed when we realized that they had removed the cooker, all the carpets from the bedrooms, and all the curtains and curtain poles throughout the whole house.

I thought i had messed up and missed it off the fixtures and fittings form, but i hadn't, and they were included in the sale of the house according to the fixture and fittings form which they have signed.

The cooker, carpets and curtains/poles weren't brand new but the would of lasted us quite a while until we had enough money to redecorate/ do up the house a bit.

I have let my solicitors know and the vendors offered a low £100 which they later bumped to £150 which i also declined. 

They even had the cheek to turn around and say by the time you pay solicitors, it wont be worth your time to chase us for any money, which makes me want to pursue it more.

I was wondering what the best route would be to go down. I was thinking small claims court as i know the solicitor fees will cost alot.

Any advice would be greatly appricated! 

Mutton_Geoff

They are in breach of contract, it will never get to court. Tot up a generous but reasonable amount for the items to be replaced then send them an invoice, then a "letter before action" before filling in a moneyclaim online.

mattbro

thanks for your reply, allright that sounds like a good idea. They seem quite stubborn so i will see if it works. Thanks again!

hazyjo

Remember to be realistic. You can only charge for second hand goods, not new...

SpiderLegs

They are screwed, but you’re not looking at a massive windfall for an old cooker and some carpets.

LBA it for £500 I reckon.

Pepod

I'll ask another question for the OP's potential benefit.

Could they also be asking for a sum for inconvenience/put out that this breach of contract has caused? Whilst I agree that they can only charge for second hand goods, that won't obviously match the cost to replace them, and I'm thinking things like replacing the cooker which is pretty essential for normal living and won't have been budgeted/planned for to replace straight away.

Thrugelmir

mattbro said:

They even had the cheek to turn around and say by the time you pay solicitors, it wont be worth your time to chase us for any money, which makes me want to pursue it more.

Surprising how what they've removed from the property adds up. Remember to include every last screw and fitting in your detailed claim. Along with the cost of your solicitors advice. 

MalMonroe

If you look around the internet (including on this site) you will see that unfortunately, it seems that the Fixtures and Fittings form is not worth the paper its printed on. 

Generally, £100 seems to be the standard payout that most vendors in that position offer to pay so in your case, they've upped it a bit, after you said 'no thank you'. 

These vendors are in breach of contract, yes but it's going to cost you to take it to court even without solicitors and also there's no guarantee that they will comply with any order. Or if they do, the items they return may not be the same ones they removed. They could turn up with any old tat. It seems to me that these people have done this before. Why else would they say "by the time you pay solicitors, it wont be worth your time to chase us for any money"? 

It's appalling, I do agree. And it happened to me, too once when the vendor removed a built in oven she was supposed to be leaving, yet left the built in hob. I didn't bother trying to chase it as she'd left the country.

Next time I bought a house though, I told the vendor I didn't want anything leaving. Especially their rubbish.

I know it's really unfair and it sounds a paltry sum but if it were me, I'd take the £150. It's better than nothing.

Nikkilou86

Last time we moved the Vendors said they were taking all the light fittings, blinds, curtains and curtain poles and tbh the ones they did leave we weren’t worried they had taken the rest. We bought our curtains but nothing else, but we said that on the form. 

They had said they were leaving two heaters for the conservatory which they took with them but tbh we didn’t chase it up. 

One think I will be adding next time is all rubbish to be cleared as we’ve stung by that twice now 🤦‍♀️

pinkteapot

Does anyone else think it's disgusting that OP will only get a few hundred quid as second hand value? It's going to cost them far, far more than that. They may well find a second hand cooker on eBay/Facebook, but there's hardly a raging market in second hand carpets so they'll probably end up buying new. That's a really significant expense if you weren't expecting it (OP said what was there should have lasted a few years if not longer). Vendor gets to save those costs on their new house at the expense of OP!

What is your solicitor advising you do, OP? Keep us posted on the outcome. 

Scotbot

pinkteapot said:

Does anyone else think it's disgusting that OP will only get a few hundred quid as second hand value? It's going to cost them far, far more than that. They may well find a second hand cooker on eBay/Facebook, but there's hardly a raging market in second hand carpets so they'll probably end up buying new. That's a really significant expense if you weren't expecting it (OP said what was there should have lasted a few years).

You beat me to it, I  agree carpets  can't be replaced with second hand. I would get a couple of quotes for replacing  with a cheap carpet range (arguably cheap carpet is equivalent to second hand) plus fitting and base the cost on that.