?O/T House purchase - sellers leaving junk

[Mike the Unshavable]

My daughter is just about to complete on a house purchase and the sellers do not look like they will be removing the remaining furniture (it's an executor sale) and a quantity of what is best described as 'junk' - old washing machine, TV, odds & ends in loft etc. None of which is of any use to my daughter. Her solicitor has been as much use as the proverbial chocolate fireguard - so I'm turning to the gallery for advice - can she charge the seller for removal, is she stuck with it? Advice please!

[Mary Fisher]

A son had the same problem, he contacted the local charity furniture store who were pleased to take it away. Try the Salvation Army if you don't know of any other organisation.

Mary

[fred]

In article , Mike the Unshavable writes

Presumably you intended to post to uk.legal :-?

Unless your sol is completely useless your contract will be for vacant possession and leaving a ton of junk is not that, so yes, you can have the house cleared (and possibly cleaned) and charge the cost to the seller. Warn them of this (in writing) before you exchange to avoid the suggestion that the junk was left with your consent or that you are, in fact, benefiting from their kind donation of furniture and such.

[Dave Fawthrop]

|My daughter is just about to complete on a house purchase and the sellers |do not look like they will be removing the remaining furniture (it's an |executor sale) and a quantity of what is best described as 'junk' - old |washing machine, TV, odds & ends in loft etc. None of which is of any use |to my daughter. |Her solicitor has been as much use as the proverbial chocolate fireguard - |so I'm turning to the gallery for advice - can she charge the seller for |removal, is she stuck with it? Advice please!

There are shops who will clear houses, and sell the junk for what they can get. Knives forks and spoons will make a quid or two as half dozens. Check it first to see if there are any antiques or collectables.

[Paul]

if most of it is usable see if there is a freecycle group for the area and get rid that way.

[Bill]

In message , Mike the Unshavable writes

I had the same problem with an executor sale 20 years ago. I was told by the seller to basically take it or leave it but they weren't going to remove any more than they had done. It wasn't worth the hassle of chasing them so I disposed of most of it on the bonfire. Apart from

200 rounds of .22LR and £300:00 I found under a wardrobe. So make sure to check everything before you chuck it out! You could end up in profit.

Even fairly decent furniture doesn't make a lot in my area but it might be worth her calling a house clearance company for a quote to get their views.

[Guy King]

The message from Mike the Unshavable contains these words:

Take it down the dump.

[Tim S]

Yep. The removals bloke who did my last move (and my parents before) I knew quite well. He also did house clearances. He also knew what would be worth salvaging and selling on, especially some old bit of furniture which, actually had significant value as an antique.

Do you have any friends who can spot items of value (which may not be obvious).

Tim

[Jonathan Pearson]

Despite what may appear otherwise, buying a house is like buying a car from a private seller in the autotrader, as you have very little come back once its sold to you - so essentially a house is 'sold as seen' - so treat it as the case - hence assume that the rubbish will be there once she moves in, the goodnews however is that your local council will normally collect these sort of items free of charge - ours is called a 'bulky rubbish collection' - give em a ring!

Jon

[Roger Mills]

The sellers should have completed a Fixtures & Fittings form to say what contents are included in the sale. If they've included all the 'junk', and if your daughter (or her solicitor) hasn't queried it, your daughter will be buying it - and will have to dispose of it if she doesn't want it.

When we sold my father's house after he died a few years ago, we included a shed full of coal - which would have been a right pain to dispose of - in the sale even though no-one had used a coal fire for years!

[Tim S]

I can envisage the buyer's housewarming BBQ now: "Hey, this burger tastes funny... ...and where did you get such shiny charcoal?"

Tim

[Derek ^]

Not our experience here in Leeds. Despite acres of adverts in yellow pages, if they came at all (30%) they were only interested in the "antiques or collectables" and , BTW, they know their stuff.

Nowadays with the advent of "luxury" purpose built student accomodation furnished to IKEA standards the demand for the run of the mill "utility" to modern furniture is just zilch.

You can get new sets that price, stamped out of shiny stainless steel.

Then rent a skip and chuck it in.

DG

[Dave Liquorice]

Conversely and importantly if the "junk" isn't listed the daughter isn't buying it. I'm not sure what the situation is once completion has taken place. I think she can dispose of anything left behind she doesn't want and any costs in that disposal can be claimed from the sellers. How succesful that would be is another matter...

Get legal advice, the daughters solictor should know this beat them over the head to DO THEIR FING JOB! She'll be paying them enough.

[Pete]

The council charged me £80 to empty my fathers house 5 years ago. The 'house clearers' only wanted readily sellable stuff. I'd get a quote and try to have it in the house contract otherwise just take it on the chin.

[Mary Fisher]

Here in Leeds there are charities which will collect everything for use.

Mary

[Dave Plowman (News)]

When I bought this house long time ago, the widow who owned it wanted to take the TV aerial (she was moving from London to Hastings ;-)) and a few favourite roses from the garden. She asked me if I'd like to buy some furniture which I declined. The contract had the normal stipulation of the house being cleared.

On completion, I discovered she'd taken the aerial, but not the roses. The furniture she didn't want was left behind. All the light bulbs had gone as had many light fittings - so no lights in those rooms at all. All the lino had gone leaving bare floorboards throughout. And the cellar was stuffed full of mainly junk. But in among the junk was all her husbands tools. Some of which I'm still using today.

She also left a cat...

[Lobster]

I was once faced with the same issue, and asked me solicitor to ensure that the property had been emptied before completion of the contract (in this case it was a garden full of junk), ie, it was a condition of the sale. The seller wasn't about to lose the sale at the eleventh hour, and didn't argue.

David

[Andrew Gabriel]

If you dig a bit deeper, you might find the husband too...

[justcalledfubar]

What did you do with the 200 rounds? Good thing you noticed them before throwing them on the fire (having said that they would have been heavy enough for you to notice!!!)

[tim (back at home)]

are you sure that it didn't come back by itself?

tim